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Published: March 3rd 2010
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So the Puppet Parade was a great success. Hundreds of children from around the Siem Reap area gathered at 7pm for the parade. The whole city came out and the streets were rammed full of people watching and taking photographs. The atmosphere was brilliant. The children from my school made a giant crab which was on wheels and pushed along. All the children (and me) danced along and chanted ‘Grace House, Grace House!’ (the name of our school.) The humidity was sky high and everyone was drenched by the time we had finished but we had so much fun. Everyone gathered afterwards onto a big stretch of land where there was clowns performing (the oddest clowns you have ever seen) and dancing. The children then all jumped into a truck and back they went home. I love the fact that you can do things like that out here. There were no head counts and the children were pretty much left to jump back on the truck without a register and hoping we had everyone. Miraculously we did and there were no children left wandering the streets at night. The previous day I went out with leaflets to the tourist area trying
to advertise the Puppet Parade. However, as I haven’t previously leaflet dropped I took it all rather personally when tourists walked straight through my arm. It began to irritate me so much as it was a free event and at one point I almost ended up in an argument as a miserable looking man wouldn’t take my leaflet and was very rude. Now I am making a point of taking every leaflet that is handed to me.
I went out to the villages of New Hope with a group of about 8 volunteers last Friday. We rode our bikes through the villages until we found a water pump. It was there that we did a mass wash of the children. Loads of random children from around the area joined in and we washed their nit infested hair with treatment. It was a great experience. There were no tears or crying. The very tinest of children got soap in their eyes but they just smiled and splashed around in the cold water. Afterwards we found a big lake surrounded by trees tucked away in the middle of nowhere. We sat there on the sand and had a drink - it
was like a mini beach.
On Sunday a group of us hired a mini bus and we drove out to this waterfall about an hour and a half away. We joined all the locals swimming in this beautiful, huge waterfall. We all stripped down into our swimming gear and they obviously weren’t used to seeing all the ‘barangs’ (westerners) and kept looking at us. There were also some Japanese tourists there. Like the Cambodians they cover right up to protect their skin from tanning. They got us to pose in photographs with them. It was so funny. We stood right under the waterfall but the rocks made it very slippy. After our fun the mini bus driver didn’t turn up. We were literally stuck in the middle of nowhere, luckily there were some stalls selling snacks which we munched on. Finally after many phone calls and a ride on a local’s moto the mini bus driver rocked up in a different mini bus.
On Monday I was given the day off. I went to the Children’s Hospital to give blood. Before you all start freaking out everything is very sterile (it has to be as they need the
Westerners blood.) Now I haven’t previously given blood before but there is a massive blood shortage here and they are desperate for it. As I walked into the hospital we were sent through a different entrance (a nicer one as we are westerners.) My blood pressure was taken and a blood sample taken. They had to tie a rubber glove round my arm to get the vein. Then they took the blood. Like I said before everything was sterile and I saw a new needle being taken out of its packaging. However the blood was just collected in a little bag which was under the bed. As my blood was being taken I spoke to the lab tech. He explained he wanted to be a doctor but didn’t have the money to train. This is a story I hear over here frequently. On the wall there was a display which said they had received 700 blood donations last year. Those blood donations are then used in that very hospital. The funny thing was after I had finished I was handed a package with a free t-shirt, coke and packet of wafers. As I walked out the building (the normal way)
we passed wards of children. There weren’t enough beds so they were lead on the floor with a small cushions under their heads. It was heartbreaking. Although the free t-shirt obviously comes out of a different fund I couldn’t help but think the money could have been better spent - on a bed perhaps? As we walked through the entrance there were hundreds of children waiting to be seen. They were sat everywhere. Apparently these people wait days and days to be seen. I was strutting through their looking at all these sad little faces so I gave away all my free wafers to some of the children sat there. It is unbelievable the extreme contrasts that I am constantly facing. Although I had just given blood those children needed those wafers far, far more than I did. 700 blood donations seems like nothing when you compare it to the amount of people I saw waiting to be seen just on that single day. I then cycling up to New Hope again and went to the Doctors clinic they have there. I was only in there helping with some other volunteers for a couple of hours. It was frustrating. A
lady came in for example with blood pressure so high she was a walking heart attack. The drugs aren’t available though so all we could give her was multivitamin tablets. Afterwards we did some home visits. We met this lady who lived in a house made primarily of chicken wire and concrete. She had 8 children and wanted an abortion because her husband had raped her and they were extremely poor. While the doctor spoke to her I played with the children who were very excited to have me in their house. They could hear everything that was going on but for them it was just a normal day.
A list of weird foods I have tried out here:
- Fried cricket,
- Fried cockroach,
- Fried stick insect (sorry Dad!)
- Snake,
- Frog (yes the whole body and not just the legs)
- Crocodile,
- Duck foetus.
Duck foetus is very common out here. It is a fertilised egg which is then cooked before the chick is born. With most these foods it is best just to eat them and not think what they are. For some strange reason I am the only volunteer who hasn’t
suffered from a stomach bug yet - touch wood!
I met a Dutch girl out here who is volunteering at an orphanage. Today during lunch I went to visit. It was truly inspiring. There were 35 children all sat round a great big table eating together and laughing. Now the majority of these children have horrific stories behind them. There was such love in this place and you could really tell the children were looking after each other it was wonderful. Speaking to the manager he took my details and said later on in the year there will be a big meeting held in London to get charity status which I hope to go along to.
Anyway, despite all this going on I am still thinking of you all and send every one of you my love. It is so lovely to hear from you. Xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
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Sam
non-member comment
Very good!
Hey Ellie! Can;t believe you ate those things! Remember to avoid uncooked street food, since cooked food, kills the bugs :D I gave blood once, last time I went to do it, they wouldn't let me, they are very strict, I couldn't do it as I had been living out of the country, been on anti botics, and had a cold the week before! Be careful out there, especially in people houses, where there are strange men! Well done with it all! Sam