Friday, Friday Friday!  Our team grew in size which made for a bit of a challenge finding space to work, but we managed.  The team was very motivated to finish this water tank before we quit at noon to attend all the site dedications and celebration.

 We knocked it out with quite the assembly line of brink layers and cement makers :)

 Noodles, took the opportunity to show off his "wax on/wax off" techniques.

We stopped to get a few pictures when the home owners son caught a rat that we was going to fry up and eat.  I think the puppies were also VERY interested in it!

We ate lunch and waited for the water tank to arrive.  We watched the boys play marbles - some games never go out of style:

The tank arrived and we were ready to set it and begin the rounds of dedications.  The other team arrived so we were all together.

It was time for the ribbon cutting - once we discovered what a lengthy process it would be with each person cutting a little we modified the procedure by having one representative cut part, then the home owner cut.

 

 

We then loaded up the vans and proceeded to the next 7 sites to repeat the process....

 

 

 

 

 
 The whole group then posed for a picture.

We also had a celebration.  All the families and locals showed up.  Many had put on their "Sunday Best" and had gotten cleaned up for the even. 

Barbara and Don brought bubbles and then Margaret took over and entertained the kids by blowing bubbles and letting them chase them :)

Here are a few other shots

 

It was then time for the village leader and the home owners to speak.  It always amazes me to hear that we made such an impact.  To us, we were just doing what we could with the time we had.  To these folks, it made a world of difference - having clean water or NOT having to walk out into a field in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom where there are snakes, scorpions and RATS....

 

 

This is the widow we built the latrine for.  She has two daughters and her mother living with her.  She makes about $50 a MONTH.  She said she never could have affored to have a latrine built - some days she doesn't even know how she is going to feed her family.  She really touched my heart.  I got to see her every day because our 2nd site was right by her "house".  She always greeted me with a smile.  She has a kind heart and gentle spirit!

Then the dancing started - that was an experience.  First, the Cambodians sang and we danced:

Then it was our turn.  We sang about the only thing we thought would translate in both word and dance - The Hokey Pokey :)

After the festivities, we returned to the hotel.  Not a bartender in site so I took over the duties.  Another perfect end to a perfect day :)

More to follow

Ah, Thursday - or as we like to refer to it, "cultural day"  :)  We started out at the site ready to finsih what we started.  We were greeted by the kids right away when we got to the site!  Day 4 and the kids are no longer frightened by us :)

We were ready to finish covering the foundation with cement.

 

Then it was time to practice our "wax on/wax off" technique to smooth out the concrete.  Mom is really trying to improve his English so we taught him the words circular motion - very hard to say for him, but he learned it!

Apparently we did NOT learn the smoothing technique because all of a sudden Mom announced it was time to take a "culture break" ha ha.  We walked to the near by homes and met some of the home owners and talked about what they did for a living.  We met one gentleman cleaning out his rice.

I was amazed at how welcoming everyone was and how open they were to telling us about their lively hood, lives, etc..  You start to realize that with the violence going on in Cambodia well into the 1990s, many of the people we met had experienced these brutalities or were exposed to them.  Yet, even with that, they still seemed to have the most gentle souls and they smile A LOT!   We continued the field trip and took in the sites.

This is an examples of a typical home:

This is NOT the toilet we were trying to build!

 Drying out palms to weave into floor mats.  I was struck by how incredibly resourcful the Cambodian people are - NOTHING seems to go to waste.  We could learn a lot from these folks!

We then got to meet one of the village elders.  This is actually the mother of the home owner we are building the water tank for. She is 73 years old - quite possible could have been one of the city folks relocated by the Khmer Rouge.  I did not feel comfortable asking her about it though.  She was so sweet.  She had so very litte - and no teeth - but still offered me a taste of a "snack" she was making. 

I was tickled when she asked what "medicine" I took to get so big :)  Mom, our interpreter assured me this was a compliment - he and she and many of the folks we met are quite thin and frail. She told him that she wanted a strong body like mine. Funy how different her perception of me and my own perception can be so different.  Again, she had a gentle soul about her and a smile.

We came back and helped Mom with his English lessons....or maybe Noodles was just practing his reading :)

It was then time for lunch.  We always had more than we could eat and found great pleasure in sharing with the home owner and his grand daughter.

We made excellent progress on the base, so it was time for a lesson in "cupping".  This is apparently done to remove toxins from the body, our home owner was covered in the marks.  He said he hadn't been feeling well the night before.  So....when in Cambodia...

We first had a demonstration by Mom and our home owner;

Now it was our turn - Noodles (aka John) went first:

Then Colbie, Cory, Christine and I had our turn.  Christine was NOT a fan of the technique :)

 Yeah, that'll leave a mark :)


We made great progress, but our supervisor/mascot needed to take a nap.

We finished our base and it was time to head to another site for another water tank!  This family was that of a soldier and his family.  Because it is peace time, the soldier has no work.  His wife works at a factory.  A good portion of the money they make has to be spent of firewood because ALL of their water must be boilded because the water in the holding tank is not safe to drink.  Can you imagine that?? 

Our home owner shows us where he wants the tank.

This is the holding tank for their current water source - not safe for drinking of for the kids when they have to draw water.  The father tells us he worries about his kids falling in.

Colbie feeling a little brave and decides to tie the rebar with the young son of the home owner. 

She then got some support bending wires from Cory and Noodles.

That wrapped up the work for that day.  It was incredibly hot with very little shade.  It was easy to start to complain about the heat until you realize these folks live and work in this every day!

More to follow!