Hi everyone,

Two of the photos are from a sunset expedition we did on Wednesday(details later); one is from our visit to a cooking school (details later); one is of the local water bottling factory!; one is at a dinner we had with Thieng plus Chorda and her husband; and the last is of children being collected from the villages and being taken to the hospital for encephalitis injections.

Anyway it's now Friday and we only have to work half a day as we are now handing over our classes to two new volunteers who will take over from us when we leave. Next week is our last and we will only be working two days. One of these will be Thursday when we are planning to have a party for the children at each of the locations. So we will be carting 20 pizzas, 3 cakes, 12 bottles of coke, balloons, and various other odds and ends during the day on the tuk tuk. Our last lesson will be a concert that we planning with the blind children. They have been learning a few songs and will be singing their whole repertoire in front of the teachers and maybe some parents. So it will be a monstrous day!!!

We have had another interesting week. On Wednesday went to visit a training school, called SalaBei which has been set up to provide training to disadvantaged students for employment in the hotel industry. Subjects taught are waitressing/waiter, cooking, housekeeping and receptionist work. They are also taught English. A waiter earns about $50 per month, but if they can speak English, they can earn up to $100 per month. They spend 11 months at the school which includes several months of hands-on practice at a hotel. They have a restaurant and also 3 rooms where you can stay. This gives the students additional practice. We had a personal tour of the school and were introduced to 2 of the classes. They wanted us to have some conversation with the students in English so that they could practice their skills. They also employ a social worker who visits the potential students in their homes to assess whether or not they qualify for a place i.e. whether they come from poor families. The school is funded by some French funding as well as AusAid. At the end of their training, the school finds them a job. They have a 100% success rate which is pretty impressive. We had a beautiful lunch and the service was excellent, but perhaps a little over-attentive due to their enthusiasm. However, we enjoyed it very much.


Some of the animals that we encounter on our way to school are worth a mention. Last week as we drove to school on the moto we drove through a herd of the most beautiful goats. All shades of brown, black, brindle, being herded along by small children. Other children are in charge of water buffalo or cows.Other cows just roam completely unattended. On one of the new main roads to the temples, complete with lines down the middle which people mostly obey - there is a large roundabout. In the middle of this roundabout there was a herd of cattle having a lovely time eating the fresh new shoots on the newly planted shrubs! The lazy dogs are also worth a mention. They lie in a soporific stupor in the middle of the road and the traffic just goes around them. They are so docile that I have almost conquered my dog phobia. Every house also seems to have a number of hens, always accompanied by a brood of chicks. As the chicks get bigger they seem to loose their fluff and go bald before their new feathers grow - so they look quite a sight. Often we see women selling boiled eggs on the side of the road which they sell to the local people with salt and chilli. It is a delicacy to have a boiled egg, complete with embryo inside!

On Monday we visited the other Family Centre which is about 1.1/2 kms from where we teach. The children usually walk to our centre for their class. They were very excited that we were visiting them to take their photos. All of them had put on their best clothes and brushed their hair. We were greeted with fresh coconut juice and were given green mangoes with salt and chilli and some small bunches of fruit - similar to a small lychee. All of these were picked from their own fruit trees. We then had a tour of the house which is 3 storeys high and rendered brick, but each story is quite small. The bottom floor has a basic kitchen and eating room and main bedroom where the foster parents sleep. The first floor is reached by climbing some incredibly steep wooden steps and is where all the children sleep. The foster parents have 3 of their own children, including a 16 mo baby, and they look after another 10 children - so 13 of them sleep on this floor which is about 10ft x 10ft for the boys and and another small room about 8 ft x 8 ft for the girls. They do not have any beds, just sleeping mats. The third floor is a small attic room where the children each have a small basket for their belongings, clothes &c

The family home where we teach is the same design. The foster mother spoils us everyday with special treats. Today we had some packets of sweet rice which are stuffed with bean paste and wrapped in a banana leaf, and also some Cambodian cakes which made of white glutenous rice with pink stripes. They are quite delicious. In the afternoon, we had some yellow and green mangoes and Barry made the mistake of inadvertently dipping them in the salt and chilli! HOT11111111111 We are also treated to lunch at the Reception Centre every day and today we had some dried fish with watermelon. Sounds weird but I can highly recommend it. I can only hope tht the fish did not meet the same fate as we witnessed at the cooking school where the fish were put straight into the hot oven ALIVE!!!

We went to see the sunset at Angkor Wat on Wed and had a lovely tuk tuk ride out past the Tonle Sap River. It was a balmy evening and we enjoyed the evening air rushing past cooling our hot bodies after the opressive heat of the day. We were then faced with the challenge of getting to the top of the mountain. The choices were to go by elephant or by foot. In the best interests of ourselves and the elephants, we chose to go by foot! All of our efforts to get fit before our trip have now completely evaporated as it is just too hot to bother with any recreational pursusits. The climb took about 15 minutes and then we had the final climb to the top of the temple. The steps up the temple were designed to break the leg of even the fittest person. Straight up and each step too narrow to put your whole foot on - a handrail? Forget it! I had visions of us trying to get down again in the dark and with such a large crowd of people, an accident was just waiting to happen. So, we left before the final setting of the sun when we still had enough daylight left to at least see where we were going. If anyone did fall, the only assistance I could see anyone getting would have been from the couple of monks who might have been able to pray for you!

As our trip is coming to a close, we are starting to do some reflection. I would like to particularly acknowledge and thank all of my friends and collegues at Wesley Do Care for their support during my absence. Particular thanks to Viv, Leonie and Gini who have all taken on extra duties on top of their busy caseloads. Also to Robert for your support in allowing me to take the time off. Without you all, we would not have been able to do this trip, so we are truly thankfull.

Also to our family and friends who have given us so much encouragement and support as well as your generous donations towards helping to change the lives of many Cambodian children and families. We have enjoyed and looked forward to your emails which have given us a sense of connectedness to our lives at home. Thank you all so much. We look forward to catching up with you all on our return.

Much love to you all..................Barry & Rhon xxxxxxxx