Samrong - our new place!

Hi everyone
We arrived here last Sunday for our Placement week. It took 9hrs via coach and taxi to get to this remote little place and, as usual in Cambodia, we have been greeted with smiles and friendliness.VSO pays for 2 seats for each of us so we were allright in the back of the taxi for the last leg -80 km on a dirt road with 1 other person.The taxi then filled the front seat with a girl and her 3 children,the youngest of whom shared the driver's seat.The driver put his arm around the little boy to get at the gear stick and when he fell asleep he told the girl to lay him down across the driver's lap.It made us smile; so much for health and safety but a plus for human kindness.

We're staying in a surprisingly nice hotel - new, with a/c and wi-fi but with no staff who speak English!I have met my employer, a non government organisation called CHHRA - Cambodian Health and Human Rights Alliance and the 3 VSO's already here have had us round to their places.They had found 3 houses for us to look at and we've chosen one of them to rent. It`s new,made of cement,pink,tiled beautifully throughout and with a balcony from where we can see the lake and the hills of Thailand.There is a large lounge and a kitchen downstairs and a bedroom upstairs,so not too much to clean. The family who own it are charming and have 2 other houses on the same plot,one for mother and father and one the for their son.

We now have a bicycle each and this is a real bonus because Samraong is strung out over quite an area but is very flat.I can cycle to work in 10 minutes down a country road with traditional wooden houses on stilts, cows, ducks and chickens on the road, a few bikes and motorbikes and lots of little children calling 'hello'. Beats the M60!

Today I went out on the back of a motorbike with Bona, one of the health promotion workers,to several villages.She talked about clean water, covered food cupboards and the value of village vegetable gardens but none of the villages had latrines.I was treated with great respect,fed breakfast of rice,ground green beans with chillies and garlic and then coconut milk. Had a rest in a hammock and was given 2 coconuts to bring home.We sat on a raised wooden platform under a thatched roof.It was cool
and airy and I felt very privileged to share these peoples' lives for a short while.

Hopefully we'll sign the contract on the house tomorrow. Then it's back to PP for more training.Not long now to Laura and Alberto's wedding, April 13th. I'll need a masssive make - over as helmets do nothing for my now very curly hair!

We'll speak again soon. Hope all's well with you all.
Lots of love
Carol and Geoff xx