The wheels on the bus go round and round...

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We all clambered onto the bus early in the morning for the 6 hour road trip to Poipet via Persat. F joined us for the trip to Persat to show us a project there for people with disabilities. After a presentation from the project co-ordinator, a Khmer national, who told us about how they had helped villages to set up pre-schools, pig banks, cow banks and rice banks, we jumped back in to the van to visit two of the nearby villages to see how some of the projects worked in practice. When we arrived at the first village we were met by the village chief himself and the leaders of the disability group. Thanks to our earlier language lessons, were were able to return the greetings we received from the people who lined the path as we walked to see where the pre-school had been set up. I think a number of us found this a bit weird and and actually quite uncomfortable, being treated essentially like royalty. There were some official proceedings, lots of translation and smiling and we were each presented with a coconut, complete with straw, and some bananas. Again, I felt uncomfortable, sitting up there in front of the people and eating and drinking in front of them. But at the same time, I realised it would be quite insulting not to accept the gifts. I really felt a deep sense of gratitude and I guess personal unworthiness - this project isn't something that I had personally contributed to, so it felt wrong to be accepting gifts and appreciation from the people who it has helped. It was exciting though to see just how much of a difference had been made - there were maybe 30 or more kids in the pre-school, starting to learn basic letters. We saw the sow that had been provided by the pig bank project too. The projects themselves benefit the whole community, but I think the most moving thing was to hear about the difference these projects had made to the disabled people of the village. One woman told us how since the group had formed and they had started out with these activities, she has encountered less discrimination, and a much increased sense of value as they allow her to contribute to the community in a way that wasn't possible before.

The second village we visited for a shorter time, but the story is quite similar.Then we headed back to Persat and on to Poipet. The villages had turned out to be a bit less 'nearby' than we expected, so we were a bit behind schedule. Brett and our new friend Sokren (who is also our guide and driver while we are here) stayed awake for the 3 hour drive to Poipet while the rest of of napped. We arrived at the hotel at about 11pm, 5 hours behind schedule and rather exhausted but eager to see a different side of Cambodia from the capital city.

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