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