A Frantic Farewell to Cambodia and Christmas Greetings

Hi Everyone

This is as close as we get to a Christmas party here, an engagement celebration for Ratana - the little guy in yellow to the left, one of Geoff's students.We were invited only the night before, for 7.30am, and walked with Ratana's family along a dirt track on a cool, bright morning, bearing the gifts you see laid out on the floor of the bride's home. Money was also given by the groom's family, all counted in public, and there was an exchange of vows, followed by a breakfast of noodles in a chicken/vegetable soup with bamboo shoots and fresh mint. I was back at work by 9am! Its hard to believe that next week we will be getting ready for Christmas in Singapore, but before then we have a lot to pack in, with not a snowflake or Santa Claus in sight.

Geoff is working hard on his 6week paid job to get all his interviews done, with villagers, commune council members, teachers and non government organisations ,and is trying hard to improve the English of 'success stories' where individuals and organisations have had funding from ICS, a Dutch development organisation who need these successes to try to raise more funds. I'm busy writing a VSO placement report, a case study to reflect changes in poor peoples' lives and, as ever, helping my project manager with end of project reports. I've got 12 staff references to write next and then will clear out the office.Not quite like leaving the NHS, but it does bring back memories of feeling panicky at the thought of not getting everything done! Vatnak and I have been to Samrong Police station today to get a signature and stamp on a letter from CHHRA, stating that I have been a law abiding citizen here. A great lesson in patience and hierarchy, but Vatnak wasn't intimidated, in spite of having to return twice with a photo and endure the humiliation of having his written Khymer criticised. No bribes needed as I was around! We should have it signed in 2 days time, all just in case I decide that I want to work when we return to UK.

The leaving parties have started, 2 so far, and we'll give our own party for about 50 on our last night, Dec, 20th. We've invited locals like Noem, the taxi driver, who plies up and down the dusty and pot holed road from Samrong to S Reap everyday and has seat belts,a left hand drive old Camray and always drives well, Sam, the young guy we buy our phone cards from, the laundry ladies and fruit/vegetable sellers in the market who have bought colour and good food into our lives as well as CHRAA staff and all the volunteers.It will be in the garden of my office where the purple bourganvillia is brilliant just now. The staff will spend all day chopping and slicing vegetables, spices and meat, on the floor in the office, and there will be lots of high spirits. Loud Khmer dance music and karaoke will start at 6pm, the beer will flow, virtually everyone will dance and then the speeches will start. Geoff is working on a Kymer song which he'll sing in Kymer.I shall just say a few words - so as not to cry! -primarily about my 2 favourite Cambodian men, Vatnak, my VA and Hing, CHHRA's project manager, who have been incredibly generous, kind and patient, have taught me a lot about this impenetrable culture, and without whom, I would have achieved very little.We'll leave the following morning and hope we'll get to visit Geoff's primary school, out in the sticks in Siem Reap Province, where he'll return Jan 1st for 3 weeks to try to improve the teaching skills of staff.

The house is virtually packed up and tomorrow the 4 volunteers here will come for a farewell brunch and to collect all the stuff that we're leaving behind. I think we have lived pretty simply here, but I'm amazed at the stuff we have accumulated. I have had lots of clothes made by Cuntia, a seamstress who works away on a treadle machine, in a little shack just across the road from our house and is great at copying Laura's fashionable dresses. Will just have to stay slim!

Samrong feels so much better than it did on our arrival in March 2009. I guess that we have changed far more than the place and I am surprised that things that really bothered me like the litter, filthy market and high humidity now no longer seem such a big deal. I hope that the good things about Cambodia we'll remember - the lack of materialism, at least in the rural areas, the importance of family life, the hard working women and the way that children take care of each other, the can do attitude of many people, and of course the smiling faces of poor people who really have very little in the way of home comforts and often do not have enough to eat. I hope that these images will stay in our memories for ever. I will blog again soon with thoughts and reflections of our time here. Meanwhile, thanks for all your Christmas greetings. We shall think of you all as we enjoy Enrico's 1st Christmas in Singapore!

With love from Carol and Geoff xx

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The Cool Winds of Samrong

Hi Everyone

Well, its stopped raining, there's little sun and a coolish breeze most of the time, so we guess this must be the start of the cool season.The mornings are chilly- I'm wearing a cardy to bike to work, we don't need fans , at least in the mornings, and we have a blanket on the bed. It's great, just hope it lasts a while.This is also the season of holidays, so we've had a long weekend to celebrate the King's birthday when we were tourists, and visited some remoter temples and a beautiful sight Kbal Spean where we trecked uphill through jungle to a spectacular carved river bed and waterfall with lingas and animals carved into the rock to deify the water on its way to Angkor Wat.Never has a massage felt so good at the end of the day!
We've also had a weekend away with 5 vol. friends to Prehear Vehear Temple, a World Heritage site, the one which you occasionally hear about on the News as Thai and Cambodian soldiers take pot shots at each other. It is magnificent, perched high on an escarpment on the border,in a very remote and poor province, looking down on flat Cambodian plateau and slightly more undulating terrain on the Thai side. The road has been improved recently to accomodate the Army, but it felt an adventure, especially when we were piled into the back of an open truck with locals hanging on to the sides for a freebie trip up the steep approach and were met by friendly, smilng soldiers with guns. Reminded me of trips up Sutton Bank in Dad's Morris 8!

Work is still good, and busy.Those of us working in Samrong,went off to visit Oly Shipp, from Delph would you believe, and working as a VSO management advisor in a small hospital, Tmar Pouk, on a terrible road, more remote than Samrong. He and Alison, a volunteer from Cambridge inspired us with their hospital garden, new children's ward funded by the American Army I think, and their health promotion sessions for relatives and carers.Mary's hand washing demo of using oil followed by potato flour to demostrate how germs are transmitted when shaking hands, touching a baby's face etc and how just using water doesn't remove the flour, has so impressed my Project Manager that its now part of our hand washing strategy, and we have not only soap but washing up liquid and washing powder for field staff to demonstrate in the villages. For some reason, I think cost - most things come down to that here - there is no culture of using soap, so I hope that by showing alternatives, we will remove another barrier to better health. A small thing, but it made my week, as there is a chance that it will be sustained when I leave!

I've also supported our most senior health promoter to present a workshop to staff about working in Schools which went well, even though we have few resources and staff find it difficult to think imaginatively about games and activities to get across the usual health messages around hygiene and sanitation. I got the idea from another volunteer colleague for a 'crying stomach' plastic bag which the children fill with picture cards of the things that cause diarrhoea - dirty water, uncovered food etc and a 'laughing stomach' plastic bag - picture cards of washed hands,a food cabinet etc.How will I transfer these skills back to Saddleworth!

We will leave here at Christmas and we both feel there's lots to pack in before then, like nice souvenir shopping and our favourite restaurants in SR and PP, as well as things like the never ending reports, an exit interview with VSO, the dentist and a visit to the local police station to get a letter stating that we have not committed any offences whilst in Cambodia! Geoff's busy with some consultancy work for an International NGO in Samrong, correcting and writing up 'success stories' for donors and interviewing villagers and staff.Its come at just the right time, as he's feeling a bit jaded teaching without the support of colleagues and with few resources, and its actually well paid!
Its holiday season here so we're making the most of a 5 day break by visiting Laura soon, to give her a hand with Enrico, who like all babies is lovely but demanding! Geoff's away just now, to get our visas renewed and follow up some possibilities of voluntary work supporting teachers with an NGO in Siem Reap ,for a few weeks in January 2011, whilst I enjoy being a Granny in Singapore!We'll also make the most of our last non existent frantic run up to Christmas. So, take care and keep us in touch with all the goings on at home, even the Phil Woolas story!
With love to you all
Geoff and Carol

Water,water everywhere.....Asia, a place of contrasts.

Hi Everyone
I've just come home on my bike in the rain from a trip to the flooded lake and an early evening beer. It's still raining hard most days with lots of thunder and lightening and many houses and our compound are knee deep in smelly, stagnant water. Some days are cloudy, dull,almost sunless, and cooler.When it rains, the town feels deserted. The roads are empty, meetings start late and roads are so flooded that staff are unable to get to the villages on their motos.Nothing compared to Pakistan, but the hospital is flooded and had 97 patients yesterday with only beds for 70.
This is the season for respiratory infections and dengue fever.Against a backdrop of malnutrition, children readily succumb to pneumonia and diarrhoea.All of my teaching at CHHRA tries to raise staff awareness of the danger signs, which if they see in the villages, they should be encouraging families to go to the health centre quickly, rather than visiting the traditional healer or buying drugs, usually fake , from a market stall. So, even though the end is in sight, there's still plenty to do! I'm supporting our most experienced health promoter to run a workshop looking at best practice for working in schools and the health insurance promoters are planning village training to motivate the volunteers we use to promote the sale of health insurance. These are the best times here - there's always laughter, and I'll try to find some games and songs to incorporate into the sessions. Mary, an Irish Education volunteer, older than me, is sharing her resources with me next week.It will be great if even a little of what I've done here is sustained when I leave.
All such a contrast with Singapore - not a biting insect or bad smell in sight as we sat having dinner on Laura and Alberto's balcony, overlooking a pool and beautiful planting, just over a week ago. And only 2hrs away from Cambodia! It was great to feel really clean but as ever I felt the country bumpkin in my bright colours, compared to the sleek greys/blacks of the stylish Singaporeans.Its going to be a culture shock coming home.The best bits of life here - living simply, no pristine home, entertaining without a fuss, I hope we'll keep up! Geoff went on from Singapore to Pnom Penh to get our visas renewed, so I've missed my house keeper and have had to deal with a mouse in the kitchen who has had a good chew at our wooden kitchen utensils and lots of lizard poo.Better than a rat though, which we had at the top of the stairs before we went away!

I've saved the best bit of life here until last, the birth of our 1st grandchild Enrico Renato Martinelli on Sept. 24th.He is lovely and has quite a bit of the Coles in him with a cherry nose and chubby cheeks! Laura's a great Mum and Alberto a doting Dad.He's a lucky boy and will want for nothing, such a contrast to so many beautiful babies here.The Granny bit still feels a bit surreal but Geoff has taken to his new role with gusto. Thanks for all your kind and heart warming congragulations, which I've forwarded to Laura to read eventually, when not breast feeding! Hope all is well with you all and that the Autumn colours are good.Keep in touch.
With love, Carol and Geoff xx

Challenging times in Samrong.

Hi Everyone
Its a hot, green but cloudy Sunday here and I've just got back from a bike ride around the lake, bird watching. Now that its raining hard every day there aren't so many, but I've seen a white bellied stork for the 1st time, a kingfisher and the usual purple headed swamp hens. The pink lotus flowers are in full bloom, the lush vegetation covers a lot of litter and there are lots of dragon flies, so it looks very pretty. I've started to meet a couple of kids, a boy and a girl, who look about 8 but will be older, as most of the kids here have stunted growth, who scour the laleside for cans and plastic water bottles. They are dirty, shabbily dressed and barefoot but full of smiles and talk a little. They have their place in society, contributing to their family's income, child exploitation I would have said in our early days here, but I'm not so sure now. Children sell from market stalls, help in the rice field, wash clothes and take care of younger siblings, all with seemingly very little supervision.They ride full size bikes, often with a toddler on the back. I've never seen children begging in Samrong, unlike in the bigger towns. The schools will be starting again soon. Most go to school for at least part of the day but 50% drop out at the end of primary school, more girls than boys as those living in rural areas need to travel into town to secondary school. The boys can stay for free with the monks at the Pagoda, some become monks for the period of their schooling, but there is nowhere free for girls to stay, unless they have relatives to help out.

I'm home today to Kymer romantic pop ballards blaring out from out landlords son's phone shop. They start at 6am ! I've spent the day reading - Zoe Heller's 'The Believers' is unput downable,and later I'll make a Kymer pork, coconut and pineapple curry for Geoff's homecoming. Its so easy to make delicious food here. Yesterday I bought fresh lemon grass, pineapple, cocunut, tumeric as a root, aubergines, shallots and local herbs at our local market for about $4. Geoff's been in S Reap and P Penh for 2 wks as tour guide with Barbara , a friend from his quiz team in Oldham.It will be good to have him back, though I haven't been alone all that time as I was in PPenh with Vatnak talking to the new group of volunteers again about how to get the best out of working with a volunteer assistant. It's always good to meet new folk. Helps me to appreciate how much I've learned and changed! One of the group was Kath, a midwife/manager from Holmfirth, a friend of Chris, my friend in Huddersfield!

It feels as if we are now on the homeward straights. I've completed most of my activities for the organisation -now helping staff to write decent CV's/ letters of job application. Also supporting the project manager at lots of long, sometimes boring meetings, with our donors,
to plan activities and budgets for our new programmes. Its really hard for Cambodians, as everything has to be written in English and senior staff even, find it difficult to think creatively and plan for the longer term.I'm new to spread sheets and log frames but theres lots of help around and as VSO says its all about sharing skills!I didn't think that I would be spending so much time looking at a computer screen, but the world of development is no different from the western world of work. As well as donors who want to know and rightly so, as to how every dollar is to be spent, the Ministry of Health and the Provincial Public Health Department here are very controlling, so reports, assessments and performance indicators abound. Its a pity that for all this, things at the grassroots , particuarly in hospitals and health centres improve extremely slowly. There just isn't the where with all to see things through and sustain a higher standard.

Hope this doesn't sound too gloomy, but all this has been highlighted to us this month in Samrong by the ending of food provision for the patients. The kitchen is locked as the budget has mysteriously come to an end and poor patients who have no relatives to cook for them and the TB patients are starving. As volunteers we've made a lot of noise but haven't got anywhere. Everyone seems to say that it is not their responsibility - the hierarchy and major political party is very powerful. People need to keep their jobs to feed their families and life for them and their families can become even harder if they try to rock the boat. As foreigners we have only the tiniest insight into the pressures and constraints for ordinary Cambodians.

On a much happier note, Laura and Alberto's baby is due next week and we're all very excited.Laura looks great, just wants this little person to arrive. She had a 'shower' at school on her last day last week. Her friends each bought her a children's book so we'll have lots to read to the baby during our stay. We plan to visit 1st October for a week. We'll leave here Christmas 2010 for Singapore, back in the UK end of March 2011. We're waiting for news of Nicks' plans. His relationship with Liz has finally ended, very sad as we'd all become fond of Liz, but somehow inevitable. Hope he'll come out for a holiday with us.

Please continue to keep in touch. Its still great to hear from everyone.
With love from us both
Carol xx

Rainy Days and Mondays

Hi Everyone
Geoff first - Since we last wrote our blog I have spent 3 weeks in UK mainly in Newcastle. My mother was in good form and we took full advantage of the weather to get out and about. It is almost a year since she broke her ankle and she was looking forward to celebrating her anniversary by treating to a meal all those friends who were so helpful when she needed them. I took her to see her 2 sisters and I also caught up with my brother Peter and his family while I was there.
I flew to UK via Paris and stayed with my friend Gaby whom I have known for 44 years, or so we counted. It was great to see him looking well, talking about his trip to Greece in August and his retirement next year. I persuaded him and Regine to eat out in a Cambodian restaurant on the Saturday night. They are adventurous foodies but never exspected the Khmer family to surround the table and suggest what best to eat. So they had Amok for the first time with a dash of Cambodian friendliness.
I also had a very brief stopover in Singapore with Laura and Alberto. She is looking very well in pregnancy and they are currently in England for a wedding and to visit family. She intends to buy lots of baby things there with the help of cousin Helen. They are now established in their new flat in Singapore, things seem to get done quickly there. We are looking forward to the new baby and will be on our way to Singapore as soon as possible after the birth.
I spent time with Nick both before and after Newcastle. We ate out in Manchester and Saddleworth as well as getting to York Races to lose money on slow horses. He is moving in with girl-friend Liz at the moment so big changes are imminent in his life.
Back to Phnom Penh where Carol was speaking at the VSO Health Conference. We discovered a new French restaurant with a jazz club upstairs and celebrated several events there with friends including our Ruby wedding. Phnom Penh really grows on you and I enjoy it more each time I go.
We have been back in Samraong for 2 weeks now in the old routine of teaching for me and CHHRA for Carol. I have some new students in my private class which adds to the interest and Carol is really busy but she will tell you about that. Meanwhile we enjoy the rain (and it rains every day at the moment) and the cooler temperature it brings with it. Like the Khmer we collect rainwater and use it for cooking and drinking. Talking of cooking we had a treat last night. We watched a DVD and when it finished at 9.00 we wandered into the kitchen to make a meal. Our landlady came to the door with bowls of curry and noodles ready to eat. Quite why we don't know!
Carol now - Sorry we haven't been in touch for ages. No good excuse apart from some late work finishes and the occasional weekend away! Perhaps we're getting into the relaxed Khmer way, although Geoff has never been much different - books, music, the internet and chatting to his many Khmer friends in Khmer, with a bit of teaching to keep the brain cells intact!
Work continues to go pretty well, with only the occasional blip. I am surprised by how little phases me now, even the way animals are treated, the awful plastic all over the place and the unrelenting heat. We bought fish in the market this morning - they look something like red snapper - fresh and bright eyed, in a muddy,smelly and dirty place with a girl squatting on the floor ready to gut them with a hack saw. With Rick Stein's help,and plenty of rinses, I hope to turn them into spiced fish parcels, Cambodian style, for friends coming round tomorrow.
Surprisingly,we've hardly been ill at all, unusual for volunteers - 5 have dengue fever at the minute - it must be our daily pastis! Although I did come a cropper yesterday - fell off my bike in mud as we left a lunch time cafe and nursing a sore arm today.
I've had some great field trips with Vatanak as ever a star, getting us through the forest on narrow, sandy tracks on the moto, wading across flooded tracks and falling off a couple of times but not hurting ourselves ,as we were going slowly and there was only sand and scrub to fall on to. One trip to a school was so remote we were met by a teacher who guided us and the two health promoters we were supporting, through the vegetation to a bright, clean, leafy school compound, with Khmer pop music blaring out in welcome at 7.30 am. Things start early here!There were about 100 primary school pupils, an elderly school director who'd been there since the end of the K Rouge, his 3 young male teachers, the village chief and a dozen or so other community leaders who greeted us all with formal speeches and a tour of the school.I returned the greetings and said something about where I was from and why I was working in Cambodia .I felt like the Queen! Our staff then got on with their hand washing demonstration. We picked out those kids with dirty hands and got them washing, they then talked about how we can prevent diarrhoea by washing our hands, and as usual we ended with songs. I'm invariably asked to sing an English song, ' If you're happy and you know it clap your hands' goes down well, and of course everyone joins in several times. Then it was a biscuit snack for all the children, which CHHRA provided, and then lunch in the village chief's compound - rice, a green veg/meat Khmer soup, followed by water melons which are in season now, bright red juicy flesh, the best we have ever eaten.
The health and insurance promoter staff, as they understand the common diseases here better and become more confident, are asking me to support them in tricky situations.I recently went with Buntheon to a large village, not far from Samraong, where he was struggling to find anyone with any motivation to change their health behaviour. Not a latrine to be seen, animals and their manure everywhere, rubbish galore. He'd arranged for us to visit a kindergarten, a wooden house on stilts, festooned with paper flags and children's drawings. We had a group of about 40 young women, their young children, and a few older women whom I assumed to be grandmothers. I was the first Western person to have visited the village. Again, I gave my usual talk, but this time with no positive response. Why would any one want a latrine - smelly and dirty, too near the house, no privacy, village 7k from a water source, too expensive! I almost thought, well whose right here! Of the group, 2 of the older women admitted to having at least washed their hands once, a glimmer of hope! We retreated for lunch, a tin of sardines, rice, cucumber and onion with chilli found in a little shop and licked our wounds. Never one to give up and always with a smile, Vatanak suggested we take a walk around the village. We found one of the handwashers, invited ourselves into her compound, found that she was a home gardener, supported by another Aid organisation in Samrong, and the 2 lads set to work to build up a relationship. Buntheon now tells me that she's interested in a latrine, so from small apples as the say.... It was a fascinating and memorable experience. I'll meet with him next week to plan a health activity in the same village, to look again for motivated people.
All a far cry from the beautiful homes of friends and family, thinking of which, we can't wait to enjoy, when Laura and Alberto's baby arrives in late September. As for how much longer we'll be here,we're planning some baby care time in Singapore early in the New Year, and I'm working on Geoff to plan a trip to NZealand.We'd like to see China but don't think we could cope with the Feb. temperatures!
Hope all's well with you all. Sorry we've been hopeless of late with replies to your personal emails. Don't let this put you off keeping in touch!
With love from us both
Carol xx

Learning a New Language.........

Hi Everyone - Geoff first:

Learning a new language when you are in your sixties is, as I have discovered, not an easy thing. Not reading or writing in the new language adds to the difficulty. Reading is a comparatively painless way of acquiring new language and familiarising oneself with structure and idiom. As I learn Khmer I am totally dependent on conversation to practise what I know and to learn more. So last week I crossed the road and asked our local seamstress (what a lovely word) if I could sit with her for an hour and speak Khmer.

I took some cold drinks over and she pulled out a chair for me and I spent an hour chatting as she continued working at her sewing machine. She told me that she was seven when the Khmer Rouge came to power in 1975 and the first thing that happened was that her family were driven from Samraong to work in the rice fields as the new regime began to empty all the towns. Her story was interrupted several times as customers came and went and they too were happy to talk to me as they left work for her or collected their clothes or like me came just to chat.She said to come back whenever I want and the next time she gave me her old school English text book as a gift. In return I took Sarah, one of the new VSOs, to meet her as she had some alterations to trousers she needed doing. Our seamstress has no children of her own but there are always babies, children and young people there giving the shop a family atmosphere.

Compare this to my other learning situation which takes place on Sundays on our roof.Carol's boss, Hing, comes round with any problems in English he wishes me to explain and I present him with a list of things I need to practise.Here I get a chance to look at grammatical structure and improve my accent. In this way I think I am improving slowly. I can say a lot of things in Khmer and at last I am beginning to understand more of what is said to me.

One of the reasons I like to go to Phnom Penh is that I get to speak more Khmer than in Samraong where people are not so comfortable with strangers. We are off to the capital this Thursday for a long week-end. A couple of friends from Oxford are coming to the end of their VSO placement, so we'll enjoy a swimming pool, cocktails and food together.

Carol now : Suzanna and I are presenting ideas for joint volunteer working following her trip to Samraong at the VSO Health Sector Workshop, so we'll spend some time planning this too. We've had almost 4 wks back in our little place, living simply, so it will be good to have a break. I've been working hard - long days from 7.30am to 7pm a couple of evenings, which reminded me of RMCH days! It seemed to take for ever to complete our full project proposal but its now done, 10.000 euros are secure and we are recruiting for 2 more health promoters. CHHRA has also completed an evaluation of its health promotion activities and I'm trying to help the management team to think critically so that we learn for the next project. 3 yrs on 77% families surveyed are still boiling water and 47% now have latrines, no mean achievement!

We've also had a team of German assessors from Delhi to evaluate our community based health insurance scheme and I'm now trying to support the organization to move things forward. People pay for health care in Cambodia unless they are desperately poor and have a 'poor card' which is provided by Government but funded by international agencies. Our scheme supports the not quite so poor, who for a premium of 8ooo reals, $2 per family member, per year, get health centre and hospital treatment paid for, transport for delivery at the HC, transport to and from the hospital, funeral and house fire expenses. User fees are then paid to HC's and Samraong hospital which gives them income and gives us a little bit of clout to try and raise standards there. Sounds good in theory but there are no real alternatives to send poor people to!This is all administered by village insurance volunteers who tend to be poor , illiterate villagers, who are paid a small incentive by the scheme for each newly insured or renewal member they recruit, and who are supervised by CHHRA's insurance promoters. Our scheme should be sustainable in the very long term, but our major difficulty at the moment is that we are not likely to meet our target of 5ooo insured by the end of the year, and we need this to secure new donor funding. There's no free lunch, even in the developing world! The villages where the scheme operates are some of the poorest in the province. Many leave to cross the border to work illegally in Thailand and those who remain are subsistence rice farmers who rely on the sale of rice for disposable income. 80% families exist on less than $1 per day. So, it feels a tall order for our team to come up with a marketing stategy to sell more health insurance, but it is well recognised here that illhealth is the biggest driver into long term poverty as families sell their assets, like a cow, pig or moto to pay for major health care costs like a road traffic accident or surgery.Its hard to work out where the problem is - have we too many young, healthy male adults who because they have been well throughout the period of their last premium , can't see the point of re insuring. At least the insurance promoters know me well enough now to come and ask for help and we've planned some training around motivating the volunteers.

Several days have passed since we started writing and we're now in PP. Its a bit cooler here and the monsoon rains have been fierce each afternoon. Geoff leaves next week to see his Mum, so he may catch up with some of you too. I'll be fine in Samraong - Weetabix has returned to Cambodia, so all's well with the world!
Love to you all and please keep in touch,
Carol and Geoff xx

Asia's Ups and Downs

Hi Everyone

Good to say hello to you although you've probably stopped bothering to look at our blog as its such a long time since we last spoke! We're fine, just been busy with lots of work and holidays.
The hot season is still here with a vengeance, and although its begun to rain, its difficult to sleep, our bedding and clean clothes feel hot and we're damp and shiny faced all the time. It drains us of energy too. Not quite the same as Singapore where we are this week - air con, Italian food, the pictures, all a lovely treat. We collected the keys for Laura and Alberto's new condo yesterday, from a Chinese lawyer, and came away with 3 sets of keys for each room and an attache case full of documents! They've bought a 6th floor new apartment, airy and spaceous, with a big balcony for outdoor living. Laura is well, a bit scared about only having 4 mths off work after the baby is born, but hopefully we will be around to help in the NewYear for a while, VSO permitting!

Our Samraong community has grown with 2 new volunteers, Sarah and Anne, and an Australian/Sr Lankan couple with their 2 yr old son Joshua who has also joined us to work on Malteser's Maternal and Child Health programme. We spent a lot of time finding the 2 houses to look at, and advertising for VA's for them, not easy as there are not many peple with reasonable English and houses are often without kitchens, privacy etc. Both Anne and Sarah will work with the Public Health Dept. as Behaviour Change and Nutriton Advisors. As the 1st volunteers with this organisation, their placements will be tough. Emma has also sadly left early, after falling down the stairs at her house, fracturing her wrist and a bone in her heel. It was all very traumatic for her and us. VSO acted promptly though, and got her to Singapore for medical care as BNK was problematic because of the Red Shirt protests. As you will have gathered, Cambodia is not a place to be disabled. We miss her. She was a kind and reliable friend who had a fantastic memory and was very well organised. We're the 'oldest' volunteers now -we've been here 14 mths! The volunter community is so transient. On a bad day, I wonder what we can possibly achieve here as there are such massive cultural barriers, poverty and gross inequalities.

We were recently in Pnomh Penh - I ran a session with another volunteer for the 2nd time, on how to work with a volunteer assistant, for the newly arrived volunteers. They were well received, so hopefully that was useful. I enjoyed it too. There is a great camaradie here and it still feels good to meet so many can - do people with a great variety of experiences from all over the world. Work is still good but things move slowly. I'm part of the place now and the staff are more confident to practice their English, thanks to Geoff's efforts. My VA Vatanak is a joy to work with, enthusiastic, quick, smiley and always willing to have a go. He has a great rapport with village people. However, CHHRA has very little vision or forward planning. I've spent a lot of time supporting Hing and the Executive Director to write 2 proposals which would bring funds to the organisation. One would bring funds from a Dutch International Organisation, International Child Support, to support activity in several schools whereby children would learn the value of boiling water and cleaning their compounds with our health promoters supporting both their parents and teachers to change their behaviour. The other is for EU money, lots of it, with our donor as partner, to tackle dengue fever by teaching school children and their parents to distribute 'bugs' which eat the dengue parasite. This would ensure CHHRA's survival for the next 3 years.

We had a trip to Laos for Khmer New Year, Vientiane and Luang Prabang. A country poorer than Cambodia, nominally Communist, still a French influence, and very laid back. Not quite our experience, as they were celebrating New Year too, so it was noisy, busy, with lots of water being thrown around! All a bit disappointing. We should have researched things a bit more carefully, but it was great to see forested hills and Laotian silk is beautiful. Geoff didn't like not being able to communicate and was pleased to get back to Cambodia. We've also had 2 more sets of friends to visit, Barbara and Tom and Win, Brian, Lucy and Michael.

So, we've been tourists too and really enjoyed showing them around. It felt good to re-connect and feel reassured that things have not changed very much at home, although this was all before the Election of course.Back to reality next week for us! Hope all is well with you all. Whilst in Singapore, I'll try to catch up with emails. Meanwhile, keep in touch.

With lots of love
Carol and Geoff xx

So who are you saving?

Hi Everyone



Sorry its been a while since we were last in touch but we've actually been busy! So, we'll start with the best of news, and then Geoff will tell you something about our holiday. Laura and Alberto are expecting their 1st baby in September, so we will be grand parents in Asia! We are thrilled, as are all the family in the UK. And only a 1 1/2hr flight away. We'll see them in Singapore in May and look forward to making plans then, as to how we can best support them once the baby arives. All well so far.


Geoff - Howard and Sue arrived in Siem Reap on the 9th of February and with Carol taking annual leave we were able to have a holiday together. We moved from resident mode to tourist mode and really enjoyed the experience.Our friends had decided to make the most of the temples in Angkor so they had a 3-day pass which allows you to get a real feel for the place.


We stayed at the Golden Banana which is a lovely boutique hotel to come back to after a day's templing. In the evening we took them to restaurants where they could try our Khmer cuisine and where the menus would test Sue's ingenuity. They later said that Angkor Wat had been the highlight of the trip. Perhaps it is best not to describe Angkor too much as some of you are, and some might be, visiting the temples. Come with no preconceived ideas and prepare to be amazed.


If Siem Reap was the site of the ancient civilisation, then Phnom Penh representst more recent history. Howard and Sue went out to the Killing Fields and also to Toul Sleng, the school which the Khmer Rouge converted into an infamous prison and torture site. Living in Cambodia you are constantly aware of the Pol Pot legacy. Tourists rarely see the despair and trauma behind the constant smiles of the Khmer people. Few families were left unscathed and Carol and I have listened to many agonising stories about the destruction of family bonds and the disappearance of family members. Toul Sleng and the Killing Fields are a stark reminder of the tragedy that befell this country.



On a much lighter note, we toured the capital on cyclos, the traditional method of transport here. The men who operate these cyclos are generally quite old, but they pedal along behind you while you sit back in a deckchair with overhead cover and enjoy the fun of Phnom Penh traffic. They are a dying breed, used less and less by Khmer people, but attracting a new tourist clientele.

We spent the final part of the holiday on the coast at Sihanoukville. This was our first visit to the main tourist destination on the Cambodian coast. We stayed in a centrally located small hotel not far from the sea. Two of the beaches there are very attractive but quite different. The one in front of the Sokha Hotel is reserved for residents and outsiders who pay. For 4 dollars a day you get luxury, Khmer style, white sand, no litter or hawkers, access to the pool, the beach, loungers, towels and a sunshade.The other beach, open to all, is lined with simpleKhmer bars and restaurants built of wood, white sand and local fishing boats. Rumour has it that this too has been bought by a rich high up person and will soon be privatised. Sadly, this seems to happens all to often here.

We stopped one evening at a cafe run by an elderly English ex-pat. We ordered 4 coffees much to the dismay of the owner who seemed less than happy to serve. Although we ordered simultaneously, the drinks were delivered sequentially as if we had asked him to perform the labours of Hercules. Four times, with a Mrs Overall shuffle, he made the journey from bar to table. Having delivered the final drink, a latte, which, to quote him, had been ordered by the awkward member of the group, he was too tired to make the return journey to the bar, so he stayed to chat. Hearing that Carol was a volunteer in Cambodia, he asked,"So who are you saving here then?" We couldn't help but like him, and laugh! People here have just the same variety of takes on aid to the developing world as at home.

Carol - Work continues to delight, inspire, bore and frustrate me in more or less equal measures! I've just had a great week with a visit from Suzanna , a VSO volunteer working with behaviour change in village communities and with health staff in Kratie, an attractive town on the Mekong. We had a field trip with a health promoter who had gathered a group of 5 older women to talk about how they might reduce the incidence of abdominal pain in their families by building latrines. They sat for 1 1/2 hrs on a hard,concrete floor. Suzanna, a former GP from Nottingham and about my age, and me, sat on the usual plastic chairs, and as we laughed and shared water melon at the end of the session, one of them said that we weren't so different from them after all, apart from the colour of our skins. Such a simple but powefull statement. This was in a poor village which had seen heavy fighting, as the Khmer Rouge guerrillas retreated in the 90's towards the Thai border and has forested areas yet to be cleared of landmines. I can only imagine what they must have experienced, but like the majority of women the world over, they just wanted a peaceful life and good health for their families. We also visited households who were motivated to improve their families health by beginning to boil water and clean up their compounds and others who seemed to have almost given up - children recovering from malaria, elderly grand parents who looked malnourished and said they were always tired and a chaotic compound full of litter and animals. This all provided great material for our staff training on Motivation - how do we motivate ourselves, and others who are hard to help? Just like being back in the NHS! Suzanna also gave some First Aid Training to staff - choking, drowning, burns and snakebite!

Today 2 new folks, Anne and her partner Stevie, arrived for their placement week. They are Glaswegians, her working with behaviour change and him a musician. I have the task of introducing her to the Public Health department, helping them to find a house, open a bank account etc in the hope that they will go away with a positive view of Samraong, ready to join our VSO team in late April.

To end, I've succumbed to the encouragement of the girls at CHHRA and bought some Khmer silk which I have had made into a long skirt and top by the seamstress across the road. It had its first outing yesterday, when the 3 volunteers went off all glammed up, and Geoff ,on a 5hr round trip in an old beaten up taxi with minimal ac. on the dustiest road yet, to one of Geoffs' students' wedding. There were 1000 guests over 2 days, we barely recognised Leap with the makeup, hair do and eye lashes from an Bollywood movie and of course there was the loudest live band and food and beer aplenty. We were made very welcome. This is such a country of contrasts!

Really good to hear that Spring has arrived at home - we're melting here in 35 -40c temperatures, as the hot season lives up to its name. Sorry that we've also fallen behind with personal replies to those of you who email. We will reply eventually, so please keep in touch!

With lots of love

Geoff and Carol xx

Drama in Samraong!

Hello Everyone

Samraong is such a noisy place that we are not easily distracted by loud noises so it was only when Carol was woken at 4 am by the crackling of wood and people shouting that we got out of bed and saw a fire on the other side of the road . A large wooden house had flames soaring up through the roof and the upper part of the structure was crashing down. A large crowd had gathered and our landlady was soon banging on our door asking us to switch off the electricity to the house as they thought it was an electrical fire. The family were very frightened and were visibly shaking. We headed up to the roof for a better view and saw that people were doing what they could to put the fire out but had only buckets and pans to work with. Most houses do not have running water.

About 15 mins later, just as we were beginning to think there was no fire service in the town, two water trucks arrived and sprayed water over the heads of the spectators onto the fire. We wondered whether the house in question belonged to Tee, an employee of Malteser and one of my students. We discovered later that it was the house next door and the water trucks arrived in time to prevent the fire from spreading. It was our landlord who rang the police station where the fire service is based and the response time was 20 minutes. We think that they had to go to the lake to get water before turning up.No crowd control, cordoned off areas, police prescence, or safety helmets but it worked, and all that there was left next morning was a smouldering heap and no one hurt. Health and safety has yet to be introduced to Cambodia - just poor people helping each other!


Another drama this morning -we awoke to see the preparations for a 100 day funeral right outside our house. A green, pink and yellow marquee, lots of plastic chairs and tables, and a huge sound system. Even the family came to warn us about the noise! From 4.30 am tomorrow there will be unbearably loud plinky plonk music with monks adding the vocals. And its the weekend! We are moving out to stay with our friend Emma, another VSOer who has almost become a second daughter, and lives just up the road so that we can at least wake up naturally. The huge cauldrons for the cooking have arrived in the compound.


We arrived back home this morning to find the funeral music blaring out but no guests. The compound was busy with women and their children preparing food, including a pigs head and indescribable bits of animal innards adorning the low tables as well as colourful vegetables. We'll head off on our bikes to Samraong shortly for our weekly shop and iced coffee at a little cafe.We no doubt will arrive back home to 100 + guests, the women wearing white silk tops. Tonight will be the 'wake' when there'll be more raucous, loud music and it will all carry on tomorrow.It seems the wealthier you are, the longer the ceremony. The music needs to be loud to drive the bad spirits away and hasten the deceased to the next life! The guests give money as they leave. The going rate in Samraong is $10 and if you invite enough folks you can make money out of the occasion. So it will be another dinner and DVD with Emma tonight!

Other news. I spent some time in UK in January. My mother has made a fine recovery physically, but her morale was low having been a prisoner in her own home owing to the snow and ice. As it cleared, we were able to get out and she resumed her social life. I was also able to meet many friends, staying in Manchester with Win and Brian, and I also caught up with Nick, and Laura and Alberto, whilst in transit in Singapore. Because it was so cold I had no regrets coming back to Cambodia.

I flew back to PP and was joined by Carol . As well as our routine medical check-up with our motherly Russian GP, although we're pretty healthy here, we enjoyed some lovely meals, haircut, pedicure and a different hotel, largely used by business people and NGO workers which was well away from the tourist area and gave a different feel to the city.

Carol now - Work is fine, the good news being that our donor has extended our funding to Dec 2010. So, we have some breathing space, although there's only me who seems to have any sense of urgency or the confidence to get out there and network in order to find a donor. I'm supporting the field staff to conduct a questionnaire and interviews with our recipients - families, village chiefs, health centre staff etc so that we can write up an evaluation of the project so far and come up with a way forward. Its all very slow going as the staff are not very confident in this area and our recipients are largely illiterate. Still, as ever, I've had some heart warming experiences, particularly in the field, when it just feels a real priviledge to be here, regardless of whether I'm doing anything useful!

My volunteer assistant, Vatnak, started to work with me for 2 1/2 days a week in Jan. and is a star. He's employed by VSO and acts as my interpreter and cultural guide. He's clever, warm, friendly and enthusiastic and wants to improve his English. He's also a great moto driver, even with me on the back! On a trip north he wanted me to meet the family of a 20yr. old girl who'd died following the birth of her 1st baby. It was perhaps the remotest village I've been to so far and we drove on sandy tracks through extensive areas of deforestation - slash and burn is common here and there is little awareness of environmental conservation. The baby had been born at home with the help of village women and a traditional birth attendant. She had slowly bled to death over the next 5 days. Traditional belief holds that bleeding cleanses the womb and is therefore a good thing. The road was flooded and impassable as it was the rainy season, the family were afraid to go to the health centre even if they could have made it as they didn't like the HC practice which only allows 1 relative into the delivery room, and they had no money for transport costs anyway. We just sat on a log in their village listening to their story, told largely by the girl's sister who looked severely malnourished. They were sad, dignified but accepting and pleased that we had visited them. Cambodia has one of the highest death rates in SE Asia - 470 /100,000 live births compared to our 9.
On that salutary note we'll close and look forward to Howard and Sue's visit next week - temples, sun and sand!
Hope you have all survived the Arctic conditions at home. Please keep in touch.

Love to you all
Geoff and Carol xx

A New Year - What Will it Bring?

Hi everyone and New Year greetings from our 1st posting of 2010

A quiet wkend here as Geoff left for UK yesterday to see his Mum. She has made an amazing recovery from her fall and is walking independently again, although housebound just now like so many because of the Arctic conditions gripping the UK. Hope you are all safe and warm, but guess the disruption caused is becoming a nuisance as the snow and freezing temps. seem to have been with you for ages! Hope it didn't spoil family gatherings and holiday plans.

It is supposedly our cool season when we don't need a fan at night and need to wear a cardy early in the morning. It has been very short lived. This morning I had a bike ride around our lake looking at birds and it felt very hot. Spotted lots of spot billed ducks and purple swamphens, with the help of a great tome on SE Asia's birds, a Christmas present from Geoff. I then had to manage the fruit and veg. market shop alone with my faltering Khymer but was rewarded with an iced coffee in a glass full of ice, sweet condensed milk at the bottom topped with rich, dark Cambodian coffee, which when we first arrived I couldn't stand but now love. That's Cambodia for you! I seem to be getting used to things.......slowly.

The coffee cafe on a very dusty corner by the litter strewn and grubby market in Samraong seemed a world away from Singapore with its Christmas 'snow' decorations, music and Waitrose/ Mand S mince pies and Christmas cake. Laura as usual had planned some lovely treats - a trip to the Esplanade to hear the Soweto Gospel choir, a traditional Italian meal at a new restaurant on Christmas Eve, presents, smoked salmon and croissants on Christmas morning, followed by turkey and even brussel sprouts with chestnuts for lunch ,prepared by Laura's friend Jen, at their new apartment looking out to sea, well actually the oil rigs, but they looked pretty with their glittering lights and the breeze was just great! We played games, not quite up to the standard of Nic's quizzes and Pictionary but the family will be pleased to know that I performed as hopelessly as ever! A visit to a wetland reserve where we saw a crocodile, and a kingfisher catch a fish, rounded off our trip.

We had New Year back in Cambodia. My organisation had a New Years Eve Party under the stars, again with a roasted ox and lots of beer and dancing. The day was spent preparing with all staff involved - I kept well away from the animal's slaughter in the office garden but couldn't escape the staff lunch, rice and various bits of the animal's entrails. Went off next day to Siem Reap and the Kool Hotel, which unfortunately wasn't as kool as we'd hoped in that the pool looked murky and hot water was in short supply! Still that's Cambodia. We had some great restaurant food and enjoyed the company of other VSO ers who were in town and, as usual stocked up on essentials like bread, cheese and Ricard.

At work, we've started the evaluation of the health promotion part of the project which will end April 2010. I am no longer looking for funds to pay the health promoter's salaries but will support the Project Manager to devise a new project based on the feedback we get from the evaluation. Understandably, no donor will give money just to pay wages. We need to find the gaps in our service, check that we are reaching the most needy of beneficiaries and come up with activities which continue to impact poor peoples health. So I'm learning new skills too and will be very much involved in the writing of the proposal. So, enough to keep me busy for a while.

Thanks to everyone for your Christmas cards and email greetngs. Keep in touch!
With lots of love from
Carol and Geoff, as he wings his way to Manchester. xx