Mozzeenet

Had a fantastic weekend.

On Saturday, we arranged to go to see Cheoung Ek or the Killing Fields. It was an eerie place. The road was a bumpy one on the way.

We were there for only a couple of hours and then were going to head back to PP. Hean, my moto driver, suggested we go to an island on the Mekong, about 30 minutes from PP.

The ride there was great. They took us through a rural road with lots of wooden houses and greenery, peaceful next to the river.

We arrived at a point where we caught a flat river ferry across the river to the Island, called Koh Dai.

The island was great - lots of wooden houses on stilts and famliies napping underneath the house where it is cooler.

We stopped at a house where some women were doing traditional silk weaving by hand. It was amazing and I can understand why silk is expensive. Sonja bought some bright blue silk - I hadn’t planned to but she convinced me and I bought a big piece of red silk for $10 US. I’m really glad now because it will be something to remember the day by. We are going to find a tailor to make us some clothes from the silk.

We then went down to a beach by the Mekong and went for a swim. We hired a small, wooden pontoon with a grass roof built in the water. It was so relaxing and went swimming in our clothes (a cultural thing). We bought some local food there and ate. It was fantastic!

It was such a spontaneous day but one that I’ll remember for a long while!

Ruth e xx
Miss Phnomer in Cambodia

Started learning Khmer this week - one of Sonia’s friends is teaching us twice a week. He’s a good teacher - we started learning the Khmer alphabet - it’s like sanscrit.

I’ve been doing some technology and training assessments this week across the various departments. So far, I’ve done networking, Services and Radio. I’ve learnt a lot - there’s a huge range of hardware here from very old computers to very recent, depending on what has been donated. The women are keen to learn but have had limited access to resources and knowledge.

It’s exciting talking to them. I am getting my head around what is needed. I’ll be starting with Basic Computer Maintenance and Skills training in May. A big concern for the organisation is viruses which have wiped out whole hard drives recently. It appears they get the viruses from floppy disks and email. So looking at putting some procedures in place for virus protection, getting anti-virus software and educating the staff about how viruses occur.

Yesterday, we all went to a funeral ceremony for the mother of one of the staff. It’s more like a celebration with food - everyone sits at tables and there is a monk praying at the front. The relatives of the deceased wear a white sash across their chest. The house was about 30 minutes out of PP - a different world altogether, more rural and very green. There were lots of wooden houses built on stilts over the water.

Ruth e xx
Miss Phnomer in Cambodia