Buddy Week in Kratie

Hi Everyone

We've been back almost a week from our trip to the SE of Cambodia - 1 1/2 days of buses and an overnight stay en route each way.We're getting used to feeling saddle - sore but I'm so grateful for Yoga and the Alexander technique which I have plenty of time to practice and which seem to sort us both out. Geoff arrives in the UK today, for 2 weeks, having booked a flight via Singapore so as to have a night with Laura and Alberto.He's spending time largely with his Mum and Nick.

We stayed with 2 volunteers in Kratie, our age, the wife, a doctor, working in health promotion and her accompanying husband, teaching english to young people recruited to work in the tourist industry. They made us feel very welcome in their large wooden house in spite of the heat and frequent power cuts. I visited villages with her and her health promotion team, spent time with a volunteer working as a maternal and child health adviser, and also a Kenyan volunteer who works as a health adviser to a small NGO like me but is having a really difficult time with inadequate funding and poor organisation.Kratie is a poor, small town, very much in need of building repairs and a general clean - up, like so many places in Cambodia, but the sunsets over the Mekong were stunning, they had a couple of western restaurants, and it felt good to meet new people. We then had a stunning day watching the Irawaddy dolphins from a small boat on the Mekong. We saw lots, swimming in the deep pools , but their numbers are falling and the WWF in Kratie feel that their nos, about 70, are nearly unsustainable. Pollution from the likes of China and Laos seem to be the major culprits.

We had a night of luxury on the way home - we've found a great boutique hotel in Siem Reap, Golden Banana, which we would recommend to any of you planning to visit us and Angkor Wat.It's run by a couple of guys, Thai and New Zealand, with a great pool, stylish rooms, and of course, a/c. Very friendly staff too. So all this along with massage, pedicure, 2nd hand bookshops and a lovely French restaurant set us up well for our return to Samraong. The road is still good inspite of heavy rain and we were home in 2hrs.

It feels good to be home. I think that I have turned a little corner in that I feel more settled and time seems to be passing more quickly. Geoff has really settled in well - I wonder how he'll feel about the UK? I've begun to work on my activities which I need to come up with for my VSO review visit in August/Sept. and we've heard this week that we are getting 3 more health volunteers in October. So then we'll be 6!.

I've just come back to the office from a day's celebration to mark the completion of a village irrigation scheme and a new bridge. A crowd of about a 100 villagers, lots of speeches from the likes of the district governor and the programme coordinator of ZOA, a Dutch international NGO, - she's Irish, married to a Cambodian, speaks fluent Kamai and has lived here for 15 years! - and followed by a big party with food, lots of beer and whiskey, and dancing to a live band. These people know how to enjoy themselves - Dad, in his younger days , would have loved it!

On that happy note I'll close - keep the comments and emails rolling!

With lots of love
Carol and Geoff xx