This past weekend, we experienced extremes--from extreme poverty to extreme wealth, from eating soup made with "skin from the pig" and chicken "with skin and bones" to fresh passion fruit and lavish desserts, from a Cambodian village-style bathroom (see picture - click to enlarge) to matching bathrooms with sauna and jacuzzi, from loud speakers and karioke to elegant ambiance. But in both extremes, we found people who invited us in with open arms.
On Friday morning, we traveled to the village that we discovered through one of our class readings, "Bones That Float." In the book, Kari Grossman, the author, talks about adopting a Cambodian boy and, in the process, adopting the country as well. She and her husband, George, in searching for their son's birth family, had discovered a village in the Kampong Spue Province. Over 6 years, they have been working with the village, helping them grow the Grady Grossman School, dedicated in honor of their son. They have also helped the village produce sustainable income to pay the teachers by making and selling briquets made from trash. We contacted Kari and she asked us to visit the village and assess the nutritional status of the children, do some health teaching, and provide bicycles to all students who had completed the 6th grade so that they could ride to the next village to continue their schooling. We worked with her Cambodian contact, Yeong(?), to make the arrangements.
After a 3 hour van ride over some BUMPY roads, we arrived at the school where we were to stay in the teachers' quarters and to do the nutritional assessments. Our accommodations were worlds apart from our comfort zones. See the pictures of our bedrooms--complete with mats on wooden frames with mosquito netting--which also served as our pharmacy. My roommate was Phalla, one of the nurse educators from Sihanouk Hospital, who was invaluable as a health translator and as a roomie. She showed me how to take a "bath" Cambodian-village style. Imagine donning a saroung and going behind the house to wash in the rainwater caught in large clay pots.
In the evening, we were well entertained with music and Cambodia dancing and had to beg to have the music turned off by 9:30. The stars were brilliant without the city lights and again, the people were endearing and hospitable. We had planned to give the bicycles to the 6th graders at the end of the day on Saturday but discovered that the 6th graders had been to school in the morning. (Another failure to communicate--lost in translation!) All the children were excited to see the bicycles and the teachers promised to give the bicycles--complete with horn, basket, and locks--to the graduates.
We left on Saturday in time to get back to Phnom Penh by dark and in time to attend a barbecue to which we had been invited. Susan and Chas are friends with the director of the World Health Organization in Cambodia, so we were all included in the invitation. So after our culture shock in the village, we had to adapt back to a different way of living. We met people from Belgium, Hungary,and even Atlanta! And our hosts were wonderful people.
From one world to another we travelled this weekend. People are the same everywhere, and we all have needs. Hopefully, we met some needs this weekend. Our needs were surely met!
Thanks for your many prayers as we ventured into another world.