December 10, 2008

Today we went with Kunthy to Cham KaBai to interview deputy village chief who attended last year's educational module. She is a very gracious lady who invited us into her home and willingly answered our questions. Half a dozen delightful children gathered around and entertained us.

We decided to travel by tuk-tuk rather than motorbike and it turned out to be a very rough ride to the village. However, we had the opportunity to stop to take photos and hear Kunthy's explanation of rural life. One of the highlights was watching a man separating the rice from the sheath by beating it on a wooden board.

Tomorrow we will be somewhat disappointed as our time has come to leave Kep. We have a final meeting with Epic Arts in Kampot and then head to Phnom Penh by taxi. We are looking forward to about 10 days vacation exploring PP and Siem Reap. This is our final blog posting. We hope that you have enjoyed reading it as much as we have enjoyed writing it.

December 8, 2008

Just returned to Kep after a short few days relaxing in Sihanoukville, the beach town of Cambodia. We actually experienced a bit of culture shock travelling from rural Kep to a major tourist centre. Some of the sights that caught our attention:

• a man riding a motorcylce with one hand and the other hand holding up an IV bag for young boy sitting on the back of the motorcycle
• many people that looked like they had arrived in the 70's and forgot to go home
• a wedding for 500 people and the food peparation and dish washing taking place in the parking lot/side walk
• contrast in attire on the beach, scantily dressed tourists and fully clothed Khmer swimmers

Apart from exploring the sights, sounds AND smells, we also enjoyed relaxing by the pool, and a little shopping in the many NGO run shops (supporting children at risk and people with disabilities). A highlight of our food experience was enjoying a banana blossom salad in a garden oasis away from the crazy beach and street scene. Much to our surprise, we found a banana blossom on one of the trees beside the pool at our hotel (see picture above).

Now back to wrap up all the loose ends of our work in Kep area.

December 5, 2008

Today we attended a most amazing theatre arts performance presented by the Epic Arts troupe who have just returned from a tour of Cambodia. Their message through dance, song, video and drama is "abilities not disabilities". The troupe is composed of young people with disabilities and other members of the Epic Arts community. This was the final component of our workshop. We hired a mini-bus to pick up any of the workshop participants who wanted to attend for the 4 p.m. event. The evening began with a social gathering at the Epic Arts Cafe for ginger tea and baked goods (prepared by the Epic Arts staff). The attendees filled the cafe and spilled out into the street - wide range of nationalities, and ages. At about 5 p.m. the troupe paraded across the boulevard to the Music School for Orphans building. We sat on the floor and were moved to tears by the impact of the message - abilities not disabilities. Our 8 guests expressed amazement and overwhelming appreciation of these talented young people.

No more blog until Tuesday. We are off for a 3 day vacation in Sihanoukville, about 2 hours west. We hear that the beaches are amazing. Looking forward to a little R&R.

December 4, 2008

We had a great time the past 2 days doing the workshop in the village of Am Peng.

The total in attendance was 15 motivated and engaged participants.

We used the "River of Life" group activity as a tool to engage the community in the development of an action plan to assist the people with disabilities in their community. With the limited time that we had they came up with 6 action steps for their community. AMAZING! Without the assistance of Kunthy and Leukhena this process of developing a community plan could not have happened.
During the workshop we had 2 ASL interpreters that provided communication for one of our panelists, but was also an education for all of us.

The panelists provoked a wealth of discussion and questions and in the end provided education to the participants about the possibilities for a person with a disability. For example on of our panelists was hearing impaired, and to the amazement of many of the participants she is able to write in Khmer AND English, and computer keyboarding. The deputy village chief even commented that it was better than he could do. The commune chief summarized the day by saying 'I learned that people with disabilities can do things that I didn't know before'.

After completing the 2 days of workshops we headed back home (Vanna "Bunga Lows") for deep fried prawns and cold Angkor beer on the patio! Well deserved.

December 1, 2008

We really can't believe it is December. No snow, although it is much cooler than we had anticipated. The local people are feeling the cold.

Sat. had a meeting at Epic Arts in Kampot with Kunthy to finalize details of our education module.

The education workshop will be presented the village of Ang Kowl on December 3rd and 4th. The workshop will be attended by, village chief, commune chief, Red Cross workers, representative of Min of Ed., 3 village representatives, a panel of people 3 people with disabilities, and 2 representatives of Dept of social affairs. Kunthy and Leakhena will facilitate the workshop with us and also provide translation (Khmer/English). The main objective of this workshop is for the particiapnts to develop a commmunity action plan for responding to the needs of people with disabilities.

After a hard day at work we treated ourselves to a dinner at the local crab market in Kep. Recommendations: check the tidal schedule prior to dinner reservation! We found that low tide revealed more plastic bottles and bags than we wished to be looking at during dinner.

Sunday started as a work day, but ended with an afternoon of sightseeing with our NEW favourite tuktuk driver David. Saw many sights in the Kep region, pepper plantation, local "killing fields", salt flats, and caves. David was a great guide giving us many side stops explaining the local vegetation and how it was used locally.

November 29, 2008

Yesterday was a busy work day for us. Things just kept falling in our plate (literally).
The morning started as usual with breakfast at Vanna bungalows on the porch/restaurant and then it was off to meet Kunthey to work out details/logistics of the education module that we will be teaching next week. Kunthey is local staff member who also works for Centre for international Health (CIH, UofT). Much of the work we are doing here would not be achieved without the assistance of in country contacts who already know the decision makers and also know what is culturally acceptable. We went to the meeting with a list of about 14 questions that we had easily developed, a sign of our anal north American action plan approach, probably not too appreciated in this setting.
After our meeting with Kunthey we were off to a meeting across the road at Kep Lodge with Dr. David Zakus. Lunch at Kep Lodge and a little prep before our next meeting at the OD.
A short drive out of Kep and we were off to our next meeting - Operations Department, overseers of local projects under the Ministry of Health. We were a bit distracted by what sounded like a pack of dogs just outside the building howling and barking but no one else seemed to notice at all.
Made arrangements with Bountheon to visit the Physio School in Phnom Penh when we are there at the end of our time here.
Dinner at Kep Lodge with David and Jim Glollogly and his family. Conversation provided some interesting insights into the political and cultural issues in Cambodia as well as the work that Jim’s Centre does. We plan to visit his children’s surgical hospital in Phnom Penh too.
So far our life in Kep has centred around work. However, after a trip to Kampot today to meet with Kunthy and buy supplies for the workshop, with Mr. Chen our favourite tuk-tuk driver, we plan to have dinner and beer at the crab market and enjoy the sunset over the gulf.

November 28, 2008

An early start yesterday morning with a trip to Kampot by tuk-tuk to purchase workshop supplies and meet officially with the General Manager, Hannah Stevens, the Creative Director, Katie MacCabe, and Program Manager, Roth Leahkena of Epic Arts (British-Cambodian organization which promotes inclusion, social integration and community regeneration. They organize and run arts projects for disabled and disadvantaged children and adults). Of course we could not have had a visit at Epic Arts without one of their mammoth, delicious, decadent brownies that we had heard so much about from previous teams. The bakery/cafe is all part of the Epic Arts program for facilitating the development of new skills, self-confidence, community inclusion.
Once again a great adventure travelling in a tuk-tuk with Mr. Chen who donned with great flare a full helmet with face shield and driving gloves to drive the 15 km. at 15 km. per hour. Highly entertaining for us considering the context in which most people driving the roads wear no protection of any kind. Our time in Kampot was spent trying to find paper goods in the maze of stalls selling live (almost) fish, live chickens, vegetables, pharmacy supplies, clothing – everything except notebooks without advertising for WWF on the cover (probably not appropriate for our educational workshop!).
After the day, which seemed longer than it was, returned to Vanna Bungalows and enjoyed deep fried prawns and a cold Ankor beer on the restaurant patio overlooking the lush forest opening out to the sunset on the Gulf of Thailand. As we gaze around the patio, we see orchids and bird of paradise growing in pots but untendered and we think about how much effort and cultivation people in Canada put forth to nurture these plants. Although it is winter in Cambodia and locals are finding it quite cool, the temperature has been ranging from about 22 degrees at night to over 30 degrees (plus humidity) in midday.