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Published: February 22nd 2010
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So the heat is really hotting up here and the humidity is rising ready for the super hot months of the year - March and April. I am still struggling under this heat and that combined with the emotional rollercoaster you are constantly exposed to exhausts you.
So last week I went out to visit one of the other community projects out here called New Hope. New Hope is set in the poorest area of Siem Reap. It was unbelievable. I went out into the villages. I kid you not practically every building was a brothel and as it got nearer to 6pm prostitutes came and stood outside. Some of these girls all dolled up looked as young as 14. Prostitution is the main form of income within these villages. Little children ran around everywhere totally exposed to all this. Most of them were naked as they had no clothes. It is really sad because if you go into these brothels and order just a drink or something to eat then you get the sex for free. HIV is massive over here because of the lack of contraceptives and many of the children were sufferers of it. As I walked
through the village I got mobbed by little children just wanting affection. They just leapt on me for a cuddle. Some of them were so thin they looked like little children you see on a charity appeal for Africa. Walking through the village the children followed us happily playing with a bit of rubber on a string. Some of them had really nasty sores and rashes. New Hope is a community project which works with these poor families providing education, health care, rice to the poorest families and training for adults. In these situations you have to focus on the positive small changes as the need is so overwhelming. I am hoping to go back to the village and help bandage some of the children up.
So my Mum came to visit for a week and seemed to enjoy herself. I think she just about acclimatised and then it was time for her to go. We went to see the Angkor Wat temples. It was an exhausting day but definitely worth seeing. It is incredible how such beautiful buildings were built all those thousands of years ago. The sad thing is the temples are owned by the Vietnamese and
not much of the ticket money goes into restoration. You can practically climb on anything which as you can imagine is slowly making the temples loose their beauty. If they carry on like that in 10 years time they will be nothing but a shell. Everything in Cambodian is owned by someone else in a different country - mostly westerners. As a result of that the Cambodians are still being exploited and the westerners making their money.
We also went to visit the landmine museum. It was a long ride out in a tuk tuk but definitely worth seeing. It was set up by a man who as a child soldier had laid landmines during the Khmer Rouge. Now he spends his time removing them. I tensed up as a watched a video of him prodding an unexploded landmine with a stick and then shaking it in his hand to remove the detonator. The Cambodian man has also set up a school in the grounds for children that are landmine victims. It is estimated there are still between 4 and 6 million unexploded landmines out here. It is the Khmers that are the victims working out in the fields.
The landmine victims out here are just treated like the bottom of society. It is awful. They are just on the streets begging and selling photocopied books. However, education is the way forward and that is what we must focus on.
So the big focus out here at the moment is the Puppet Parade which will be held this Saturday evening. A man comes over from England every year to help run it. Basically hundreds of children from around the area come in for one day and make puppets (think Notting Hill Carnival but smaller.) They are made from thin bamboo strips and then covered in tissue paper and PVA glue. Lights are set up inside them and the children walk through the town carrying these large creations during the evening. Our children made a giant crab which they will be carrying on bamboo sticks in the air.
My little munchkins in my class are all doing well. I am trying to teach them how to tell the time at the moment which is proving pretty challenging as the majority of Cambodians don’t have a clock or a watch. How the children turn up to class on time
I really don’t know. Anyway they seem to have the hang of quarter past and half past which is something. Everyday brings new experiences. It is just laughable as such strange things happen. We have chickens and dogs wandering through the classroom, random children turning up whom no one seems to know, villagers sticking their heads over the wall and getting involved and the other day a beggar turned up on crutches and stood their begging for money while I was trying to teach. All this happens on private land. Anything goes here. The weirdest story I have heard out here is about how women let pigs and dogs suckle on their breasts to bring on the milk…
www.cambodialandminemuseum.org
Anyway I must sign off,
Hope everyone is well J
Ellie xxxxxxxxx
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Sam
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Very good!
Hey Ellie! very good post, until the last line of the last paragraph - yuk! Glad Val had a great time :D I like your trendy sunglasses! We should skype sometime, drop me an email I am free all day wednesday and friday :D ! Miss you, Sam P.s. I am learning break dancing at uni this term :D