Around the 'Bode

Holidays

Has it really been another month?! I guess the time flies when you are having fun, right? During that time a few of the innumerable Khmer holidays have passed, including Visak Bochea Day on May 24^th which commemorates the Buddha’s birth, enlightenment, and passing to nirvana (remember Meak Bochea Day Feb 25^th which commemorates Buddha’s preaching to the gathering monks). There was loud music playing from the wat all day but mostly everyone seemed to go about their daily lives as usual. Then there was Pithi Chrat Preah Neangkol, or the Royal Plowing Ceremony, on May 28^th  which corresponds to the start of planting season (rice that is). However this holiday is not strictly observed by farmers, who adhere more to the weather and rain to come. In my community, one of the midwives threw a huge house party for the occasion. Yesterday marked the last public holiday for a long time. It was the Queen Mother Norodom Monineath Sihanouk’s 77^th birthday.

I was 30 feet from the Queen Mother. Why? Read on!

Still G.L.O.W.ing

My GLOW gals surpassed their goal of educating 100 community members! Within 3 weeks of finishing the camp in Siem Reap, they had conducted one session on goal setting (see last month’s post) and three sessions on puberty and healthy relationships (two of which were co-ed). Can you imagine four 9^th-grade girls teaching their peers about puberty (and co-ed groups at that!)?? It made my heart soar. These young women were incredibly mature, prepared, posed, confident and supportive of one another. They educated 102 people and contributed to the 641 indirect beneficiaries of the Camp G.L.O.W. project (I submitted the completion report last weekend to the Small Project Assistance aka SPA community).

another GLOW Superstar, Kimsan leading a co-ed session on puberty

Visitors and twer dom nar-ing ("traveling")

I have been truly fortunate to have had visitors well before the first year mark which is more than most PCVs can say. There was Marcy and Jerry, Buffy and Bob, Madli and Leigh (fellow Kenyon classmates), and Rachel aka Ratna (my friend from studying abroad in Nepal with the School for International Training). Lucky for me my site is near the famous Angkor Wat temple complex housed just north of Siem Reap town and so very conveniently located for friends and family who are visiting Cambodia to meet up with me for lunch, dinner, or a stroll through the markets. In other cases I have had a couple of visitors spend the time and money to fly around the world with the sole purpose of seeing me (and the added bonus of seeing one of the 7 human-made Wonders of the Worlds, but that is a sidenote…) Cori came for a week around New Years. And most recently the lovely Laura!

On May 26^th I met Laura (one of my college room-mates) at the Thai-Cambodia border town of Poipet and we hopped in taxi headed to Battambang. (Sidenote PC: if you are reading this, know that AL was approved for the entirety of this trip.) We lost no time exploring; we hiked up to 3 different wats on hills (Wat Ek Phnom, Phnom Sampeau, and Wat Banan) totaling something like 1048 stone steps! All in a day! Then we headed south to Phnom Penh and met up with Jen (my middle and high school friend on a Luce Fellowship in PP) and hit up the national museum, the Royal Palace, the Central market, the Russian market, and Wat Phnom (another wat on a hill) before making the trek northeast to a part of the country I have never been to before. We stopped for a night in Stung Treng which is a provincial town tucked along the east side of the Sekong river which flows direct south from Laos. Beautiful sunset from the tourism training center where we stayed. Made our way directly east 2 hours amongst rolling hills and rubber and cashew plantations to Ban Lung where we spent one day visiting and swimming in waterfalls (Kay Tieng and Kinchaan) and a volcanic crater lake called Boeung Yeak Laom. The next day we went on a full day jungle trek (15K or so) for which we received red ant bites, bramble scratches and beautiful bamboo shot glasses carved by our guides. We were exhausted and enjoyed watching a thunderstorm roll in from the confines of our lodge - too tired to worry about the mice scurrying around our mosquito nets. We backtracked to Kratie a provincial town south of Stung Treng along the Mekong River (that's right, not the Sekong a different one) and took a ferry across to an island called Koh Trong where we biked the 14K around the island which thrives on its distinction as an ecotourism destination. The perimeter is lined by a half dirt half paved path with houses running along the interior and a huge expanse of farm land that boast plots of rice, green beans, watermelon, and corn and orchards of pomelos and bananas. Many houses had stunning garden and we got to check out a thriving oyster mushroom crop under one of the home. On the west side of the island was a floating village community and because of the unseasonably low amounts of precipitation the beach on east was massive - desert-like. Headed southeast to Sen Monorom where we took a break from our furious pace and rested and read in the comfort of our bungalow looking out on a land as green and lush as the Emerald Isle with hills and cool (I thought it was cold, but Laura thought I was exaggerating…) weather. The last leg of our trip was in Siem Reap where we spent 2 days tuk-tuking around the massive temple complex and meeting up with some friends. Some highlights included: Angkor Wat at sunrise, the relative emptiness of the temple on the outer circuit, our tuk tuk driver Mr. Nee, and seeing the King and the Queen Mother in Angkor Thom (massive ancient city complex) outside of the Bayon (boast 216 stone faces) at a ceremony of sorts - we were 30 feet away. As one fellow PCV remarked, I hit the height of my PC career right then and there. Laura was able to meet my community, host family (we played too many games of UNO to count) and health center staff and see some of my work before I put her on a bus to Bangkok. She seemed to leave on the wind as quickly as she had come. Despite the total time spent busing around the country (something like 45 hours of bus time!) we were able to see and experience so many wonderful things and I am so grateful that Laura took the time to see me and Cambodia.

Laura in BTB

@ the National Museum in PP

on Koh Trong in Kratie province

Royal surprise at the temples - the King and Queen Mother

Many Things to Celebrate and Others to Remember

Call me sentimental or nostalgic if you like, but today, on the 1^st anniversary of my graduation from Kenyon College I celebrated by watching Josh Radnor’s film Liberal Arts under my mosquito net. I saw friends and familiar places pass by on the screen (note: it was filmed at Kenyon the summer before my Senior year while I was working on campus in the International Education office.) and couldn’t help reflecting on the years I spent on the Hill. But as the final credits rolled and I found my eyes dry and a sense of contentment and acceptance. The kind of feeling that the character Jesse embraces in the final scene as he talks about how the process of getting older kicks you’re a** but that it is all okay. Call me silly or young and naïve, but a year out of college (and a heck of a year it has been!) I can appreciate the sentiment that I should embrace the fact that time moves forward and we with it. So on this anniversary I raise a Nalgene half-full of lemonade (courtesy of my flavored drink packets) to my fellow classmates and friends, professors and mentors. Because for all those days off of the Hill that really suck, there are so many others for which to be truly thankful out here in the “real” world.

In other news, the past 2 weeks since G.L.O.W. there have been many things worth celebrating:

GLOW Community Educations

The eight girls (Hanny, Kimsan, Leat, Neat, Phann, Salom, Sophann, and Thea) who participated in G.L.O.W.  from my community, spent last week making preparations for their first of a series of community education sessions. They jumped right into plans and last Sunday over 30 7^th-grade students participated in a 2 ½ hour program about goal-setting. I am so proud of these young ladies! They will be well on their way to educating the target number of people (100) after the next session on Tuesday.

One of the GLOW Superstars, Hanny, talking about goal-setting

Mothers’ Day (belated)

Shout out to my mom, GG, Nana, and all the other mothers out there! I interact with mothers and women who are expecting on a daily basis here since my role in the health center involves discussing nutrition for newborns, infants, children, and mothers primarily. Here, babies abound often in the arms of lovely mothers (although more fathers and uncles and doting older brothers are finding their way to the health center). So although Mothers’ Day (or Fathers’ Day for that matter) hasn’t found its way to Cambodia quite yet, I want to take the time to celebrate all the mothers here and the world around (biological, adoptive, or otherwise connected) who continually sacrifice for their children’s wellbeing. I appreciate you!

The King’s Birthday and Time Off

The current sovereign is King Norodom Sihamoni (spelling varies) was born on May 14, 1953 to the late King Father Norodom Sihanouk (see previous posts from October discussing his passing) and the Queen Mother Norodom Monineath (still alive). King Sihamoni has ascended to the throne in October 2004 after years as a ballet instructor and cultural ambassador in Europe. Although the current King is not revered as much as his father was, the country celebrates his birthday every year as a 3-day public holiday, observed May 13 - 15. Not much is done during this time. Some people use this time off to visit family or vacation to other places in Cambodia.  I took this holiday to visit southern Cambodia, specifically Kampot, Kep, and Rabbit Island on the Gulf of Thailand, with my friend Sam. While the K5s (the group of volunteers before my group) were in Phnom Penh for their close of service (COS) conference, Sam and I celebrated our 10^th month in country eating crab and squid and exploring the coastline. It was a great trip, but it is good to be back at site.

view from the bungalow on Koh Tonsai

Other happenings:

Shoe Factory Collapse

Cambodia (especially near to Vietnam) is home to many many factories. Mostly producing clothing and apparel, these factories are typically closed to the public and health volunteers working in communities where there are factories tell stories of trying to speak with factory employees but being prohibited by managers, employers, etc. I cannot comment  firsthand on the conditions within these workplaces, but one factory in Kampong Speu province (mid-western) made international news this week when it collapsed, trapping workers, injuring at least six and killing at least two. Here is the BBC Worldwide News article: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-22559531.

NYC Exhibit

If you cannot make it out to Cambodia (or even if you can) and you are around New York City in the coming months, you should check out this exhibit by a Khmer artist at the Met. Here is the information: http://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/listings/2013/sopheap-pich (now through July 7th!).

GLOWING!

Camp G.L.O.W. (Girls Leading Our World) is a popular Peace Corps project done around the world. It began in Romania in 1995 with the purpose of encouraging young women to become active citizens by building their self-esteem and confidence, increasing self-awareness, and developing their skills in goal setting as well as career and life planning. Since that time the project has expanded to include 6 main topics: gender equality, self-esteem, leadership, health, aspirations, and volunteerism. The number of participants, focus of the camp, topics presented, facilitators involved, number of days, etc. differs from country to country and within countries depending on the participants needs and the focus of the camp (i.e. different topics and activities). This year in Cambodia, there will be at least 7 of these camps ranging from 1 to 4 days in different provinces. 

Blair, Sally, Trophie, Katie, Neysa, Kateri, and me

Since January I have been working with 6 fellow PCVs (Neysa, Katie, Trophie, Blair, Kateri, and Sally) in Siem Reap and Banteay Meanchey provinces (northwest of Siem Reap) to put on a 4-day Camp G.L.O.W. in Siem Reap town for 62 girls and 3 female teachers or counterparts from 7 different high schools. In February, we applied for and received a small grant to fund the hiring of facilitators from 3 Khmer NGOs to present on topics like puberty, women's health, domestic violence, self-awareness, career planning, goal setting, and how to be an effective community educator. The grant also included food, lodging, and facilities while each community contributed supplies and raised funds to cover transportation costs. Needless to say it was a big undertaking and I am happy to say that our Camp G.L.O.W. successfully ran May 2nd-5th.

Sophann, Salom, Phann, me, Thea, Neat, Leat, Kimsan & Hanny

Eight 9th grade girls from my high school's girls club, chosen by application and attendance record, participated in the camp. Although age doesn't seem to really dictate what grade you are in in Cambodia, my girls were in general the youngest there, but I am proud to say that with some encouragement they definitely held their own. In sessions with Our Strength, the Women's Resource Center, and the Royal University of Phnom Penh's Career Advising Service team, the girls from my community asked and answered questions and volunteered for activities. 

The PCVs led icebreakers which included "find someone who..." human scavenger hunt, a name game (where there are two teams and a person from each team steps up to opposite sides of a bed sheet and when the sheet is dropped and they see each other the first person to shout the other's name wins and the other girl joins the other team), and a balloon game (where you tie a balloon to your ankle and while defending yours you try and pop everyone else's balloon by stomping on them). 

For those who don't know me, I was completely in my element. As a 7-time camper and 3-time camp counselor, I easily slipped back into my old role (except this time speaking Khmer!) and found my stride explaining and creating groups for a newspaper fashion show (including plastic bags, string and tape), distributing t-shirts, and leading a trip via remorks (motos attached to hayride type platforms) to Angkor Wat. Our last night, while hanging out with my girls, watching a Thai soap opera, painting nails, and making friendship bracelets, one of the girls turned to me and said that she didn't want to leave. Then all the other girls chimed in to tell me the names of all of there new friends for the different communities.

These girls are the next generation of leaders in Cambodia. They formed relationships across communities, gained knowledge, and built upon skills. They will now go out into their respective communities and share that knowledge as community educators; roles they might have shied away from less than a week ago.

Travels & Tribulations

Su-sa-die Chnaam Thmei! Happy Khmer New Year! After three days of official holiday it is now year 2557 according to the Buddhist calendar. And like all great new year traditions, I was able to celebrate the close of a great year and the beginning of another in the best of ways: surrounded by friends and family - a group of people whom I knew nothing about exactly 9 months ago.

As my community began to wind down as the new year approached - school closing for the holiday, college kids back at home, businesses with irregular (even more so than usual) hours, etc. - I took off on a vacation to Thailand with my friends Sam, Miriam, and Pete. The trip was marked by a lot of great moments and altogether flew day. We crossed the border in Poipet smoothly despite warnings that it would be a royal pain in the butt and arrived in Bangkok to be visually accosted by the sights and sounds of a bustling city. So many multi-colored taxis, a subway, an air train, water taxis - the public transportation possibilities alone were new and exciting. We spent a few days riding as many of these different vehicles as possible exploring the city and the astounding temple complexes that it boasts - The Royal Palace with the emerald Buddha, Wat Pho with the 15x46m reclining Buddha, Wat Arun with its intricate stonework - while eating plenty of pad thai and thai milk tea at street vendors along the way. 

view of the Royal Palace from the outside

Other excursions included an all day bike tour of the city winding through a lush jungle-like conservation area and in and out of traffic. 

Miriam, me, Pete, and Sam

Taking the train to Chiang Mai (northern Thailand) I fought a little bit of a battle with my stomach, but that didn’t stop me from going to an elephant farm to play with elephants.

3 idiots on an elephant (named Tukea)

From Chiang Mai bused up to the sleepy city of Pai, made famous by the Thai film Pai in Love. A city snug in the mountains with a lot of day trip options like traveling by bamboo raft through the Lod Caves, splashing around in a waterfall, soaking in the natural Thai Pai hot springs, and watching the sunset from the Pai Canyon, all of which we crammed into one long day. 

the "resort" bungalows we stayed in

Then came the epic journey back to Cambodia…

Arrived back at site and spent a few relaxed days before traveling down to Takeo province (a total of a 8 hour trip south) to visit my host family from training for the new year. I spent a lot of my visit angkwelane-ing (hanging out), eating guo diyo (a noodle and beef soup) and nom baan chowk (noodles with curry and veggies) and ripe, ripe mango from the trees around the yard. I met and re-met neighbors and extended family and gave offerings at the local wat (Ta Phen) led by my yeay (grandmother). We laing bier-d (played cards) and a boci-like game with round stones that you hit on the losers’ knee or shoulder. 

a family meal

But what I really got out of Khmer New Year was the importance of family. It reminded me of the holidays back home - despite the sweltering heat. So as we move into year 2557 I celebrate the old friends and family whose love and support keep me going on the toughest of days and the new friends and family whose love and support make this journey even more worthwhile.  

Marching Forward

After quite a hiatus from blogging, I am back! It feels like just the other day that I posted and at the same time a very long time ago. I have found that this disorienting conception of time is quite common for me here in this land where the subtle seasonal changes that mark the passage of time are often difficult to see. A lot has happened since my last post, but instead of cramming it all into one long word vomit, I will be posting a few more times in the coming week as more things come and go. So let's rewind to mid-March...

I headed down to Phnom Penh mid-March to attend the first meeting of the PC/Cambodia Gender and Development (GAD) committee. This kick-off meeting got all 6 members excited about our upcoming work with the PC family and our host country partners - projects focused on gender issues. We set up our mission statement and goals and created a blog to get word out about the work we will be doing in the future: http://pckhmerwidgad.blogspot.com/ Check it out to find out more!

My friend Katie approached me in December about joining with her to work on a Domestic Violence Training of Trainers (ToT) workshop. Although I offered my support, at that time it was not feasible for me because of a lack of established community support or buy-in at my site (however since then there has been expressed interest to do something similar in the future). Katie, and her husband Tim, generously offered to host me so that I could observe the training and the behind the scenes work. The 5-day workshop kicked-off after International Women's Day and was facilitated by Khmer NGO staff while Katie made sure everything went smoothly. It was great to see the project in motion and all of the hard work that Katie put in to make it happen. Although I was unable to observe the community outreach sessions that the participants led (and will be leading) post-workshop, I was lucky to be there to witness as much of this project as I did. Below are some photo from the workshop:

woman from the District Office of Women's Affairs speaking about domestic violence

Katie working behind the scenes

facilitator from World Vision Cambodia engaging participants

More on my adventures in Thailand and Khmer New Year later...

International Women's Day (IWD)

Happy International Women's Day! Well technically it was yesterday here in Cambodia, but who says that it has be just one day?! While IWD began in 1911, Cambodia did not adopt it as a holiday until 1994 and began plans to adopt laws to stop violence against women. The Secretariat of Women's Affairs that year wrote that "Although war and destruction have affected all Cambodians of every level of society, women have undoubtedly been most victimized by these years of conflicts. Women are over 60 percent of the population...and more than 30 percent of these women must raise their families alone...The improved status of women, including the full recognition and participation of women in the reconstruction of the country, is the fundamental base for sustainable development and peace...Cambodia cannot afford to ignore the strength of its women and the suffering they have endured for more than two decades...The culture of violence pervading a society at war has fostered tolerance of violence against women. Although recent economic improvements have benefited a very small portion of the society, women have not reaped many of such gains."

"It will benefit our children. In fact we are doing this for them. It is a first step. We hope it is the first step to build a society which creates effective laws and puts them into practice to protect women's rights...."

Since 1994, women's status has improved in Cambodia because of efforts by passionate individuals and groups, however equality and human rights are not easily achieve here or anywhere in the world (America included). Yet, the focus of IWD in Cambodia and the across the world in recent years has been to celebrate and continue to look toward the future. IWD is a celebration of the achievements of every woman and a day to inspire the next generation of female leaders to build a world where equal rights is a reality. 

I meet weekly with a girls club at the high school in my community. The club is made of about twenty 9th grade girls and we discuss gender issues in the community and country and women's rights and health. This week the girls decided to make a sign to put in front of the school to raise awareness for IWD and then to have a small party to celebrate their achievements and talk about their bright futures. This is the beautiful work that they did and here is a little video where the girls discuss why IWD is important to them, the community, and the world. Enjoy!  

Laying Out and Remembering the Buddha

After a lovely evening spent with my family friends, Marcy and Jerry, who are visiting Cambodia with the Lindblad National Geographic Expedition group, I traveled down to Phnom Penh for the weekend to participant in the 5th annual Big Phat Phnom Penh Hat - a two-day Ultimate Frisbee tournament where you register as an individual and get assigned to mixed teams. I roped one other PCV, Vicki, into playing too. My team Maroon ended up winning the "B pool" and having an absolute blast. It was great making new friends from all across Southeast Asia! (That's the thing about sports, and especially Ultimate; it's all about bringing people together.) The tourney ended with a slip-n-slide layout contest (you dive for the disc onto a slip-n-slide). Needless to say after 7 games of Ultimate over less than 48 hours, I am exhausted, sore, have blisters and am dangerously close to losing both big toenails. But all in all, totally worth it!

spirit shown after the B-championship and before a shirt-less T-Rex arms point!

Me and Vicki post-tourney!

Slip-N-Slide!

I have a day to recover from the weekend as today is Meak Bochea, a Buddhist holiday celebrated on the full moon day of the third lunar month to commemorate the Buddha and his teachings. It is said that on this day more than 2250 years ago the first 1250 of Buddha's disciplines were ordained and listened as the Buddha predicted (correctly) his death three months in the future. That day in late May is now marked as Visakha Bochea, also the same day as Buddha's birth and day of enlightenment. At most temples in Cambodia this evening there will be a candle processional called wien tien were Buddhists walk 3 times around the temple with candles, incense, and lotus flowers to venerate the Buddha, the Dharma (Buddha's teaching), and the Sangha (the monastic life). Should be a beautiful display.