3 Days to the End of the World... Oh Wait that's Not Right...

So in 3 days time the world will come to an end and I spent today making paper snowflakes to put on my door in the hottest holiday season that I have ever experienced and biking around to 7 different villages in my commune on outreach to promote IUDs. (Needless to say I can tell you A LOT about birth spacing methods!) But what is the point of telling women about a device that can prevent them from having children for up to 10 years if the world as we know it is fleeting? Well because the Mayan calendar got it wrong... instead it looks like we are just going to have a worldwide blackout. (And I am not talking about something like the Kenyon College blackout of fall 2008...)

According to my host family, people in my village, Cambodian pop culture magazines, and other such reliable sources, starting on Sunday December 23rd the sun will not rise for 3 straight days. That's right folks, the saying "the sun still rises if the rooster doesn't crow..." will be proved dead wrong. When I first heard about this phenomenon, I thought that it was just not understanding the Khmer and that they were telling me that an eclipse was scheduled to occur. But after more of the same conversations and some investigative research, I found that my ears did not deceive me: the sun would be taking a vacation. It gets better. My 12 year old host sister explained to me that I should, in essence, hibernate for 3 days. I was planning to visit fellow PCV friends to celebrate Christmas, but my sister logically pointed out that I will not be able to see anything and was thus adamant about me not leaving the house (despite that electricity and flashlights will still function...). 

So buckle up folks. Start hoarding food and enjoy the sunlight while we have it (sorry to those in the polar regions who don't have much anyway right now... then again you are probably better prepared than the rest of us...), because our stamina, survival skills, and tolerance for adversity will be tested in 3 days time. I will report back after the 3 day blackout, when the sun has risen again and we can all go about our lives. Good luck to all. Happy holidays and happy hibernation!

Keep the land safe!

Yesterday, marked the 15th anniversary of the Mine Ban Treaty (also known as the Ottawa Convention - signed in Canada). This anti-personnel mine ban resulted from collaboration of NGOs, INGOs, and governments and has been signed by over 158 countries to-date. The treaty prohibits the use, stockpiling, production and transfer of anti-personnel mines and their destruction. Weeks after the document was signed in December 1997, the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) and its spokesperson, Jody Williams, won the Nobel Peace Prize. The treaty went into force on March 1, 1999 and was signed by the Cambodian government that summer. Work to clear Cambodia of mines and other unexploded ordinance (UXO) began in ernest January 1, 2000 however mine clearance in Cambodia has been happening since late 1992 and the near end of the civil war.

The Mines Advisory Group in Battanbang -
one of the main mine clearing INGOs in Cambodia. 

"MAG’s clearance and Mine Risk Education activities helps local populations reclaim ownership of their land and provides them with the knowledge to help reduce accidents in the future."

After a long history of war, Cambodia is still recovering. People hear call 1993 "Year Zero" - as in the year that they started from scratch. The scars from that history emotional and physical, individual and infrastructural. The work being done by the government, INGOs, and NGOs, to help those affected by landmines and to ensure that more are not affected is apparent. There are plenty of stories of people who have lost limbs because of landmines and/or UXO. (I have been told to avoid specific areas and how there were four or five deaths or accidents in my village as a result of contact with these dangerous objects.) And there are numerous rehabilitation centers and landmine clearing teams. I hope that these efforts to clear Cambodia of mines and UXO continue so that the next generations will be safer than their predecessors - playing, living, learning, and thriving in areas where those before them could not.

A good friend (thanks Mike!) passed this article and video along to me before I set foot in Cambodia. The article gives a good account of Cambodian landmine history and the video is pretty neat too. Be inspired.

Chasing History

This morning I ran in the 17th Angkor Wat International Half Marathon (http://www.angkormarathon.org/?lang=en). At the 6:30am start, it was announced that 58 countries were represented by over 5300 runners (38 of whom took potty breaks along the trail - yes I was counting! - and a good many more were running with cameras, myself included).

Me at the start with part of Angkor Wat at sunrise behind me

Waiting for go time!

The course took us around and through a number of the famous temple complexes including: Angkor Wat, Prasat Kravan, Banteay Kdei, Ta Prohm, Sarah Srang, Ta Keo, Bayon, Angkor Thom, and Phnom Bakheng. The temples are currently in varying states of disrepair (they are temple ruins after all), having been completed anywhere from 900 to 1218. My favorite temple views as I sped by - well kind of - were of Ta Keo and Bayon near the end of the race.

Ta Keo Temple
a sand stone temple dedicated to Branmanish and built from 960-1000 under Jayavarman V's rule

Bayon Temple in Angkor Thom complex
a 3-story high sand stone temple mountain of giant sculptures of Jayavarman VII's divine face built from 1181-1218

The temples together made up a vast city until the Jayavarman dynasty before the decline of Khmer Empire and now are popular tourist attractions. We ran by souvenir shops and monkeys along the trail all the while dodging between tuk-tuks, motos, and on one occasion I had to give an elephant a wide berth. It was a beautiful run that I highly recommend no matter the level of training, because really it is about being with friends and seeing the sites, absorbing the history as you chug along.

3 PCVs nearing the East Gate of Angkor Thom complex

Me and my friend Sam after the race :)