Mozzeenet

Well I’m now a lady of leisure. I finished at WMC on Friday and promptly slept for about 15 hours give or take some time to eat breakfast on Saturday morning and go back to bed!

It was a screaming mad rush at the end but I finished most things I wanted to and handed over the projects to the staff.

The new website went live on Thursday - very exciting. The address is:

http://www.forum.org.kh/~wmc/

if you want to take a look.

I had to abandon the Khmer version because we couldn’t get the characters to show properly in Dreamweaver or in Internet Explorer. I didn’t have time to investigate it properly. I had downloaded some software to create embedded object type last weekend but was still having problems with it so I had to make a quick decision on Thursday to leave that off. The NGO which hosts WMC’s website and provides them with email, OpenForum, advised me about it so the WMC staff will be able to liaise with them to get the Khmer version up and running.

The database went well too. Again I had to leave some final developments to the staff at WMC, most of the data conversion. Kanha, who I handed it over to, is very bright and confident with computers so I think she will be able to sort it out. The DB includes English and Khmer versions of the WMC video production lists with functions to add, edit and view productions and print the lists as well as tape notes for the video covers and a simple search, a function to export the lists to Excel and Word and add values for some of the fields like Subject, Production type (eg documentary, reportage etc), Year and Department.

I was working on these things right up to Friday afternoon and finally stopped at 4pm, satisfied that my job was done.

Lots of people came to see me and say good-bye and I went to some departments to take some photos on Friday. I received so many little presents from different staff - lots of kromahs, some ornaments, a wallet and some of the staff brought some “chay chian” or fried bananas for a bit of farewell party in the afternoon.

Then, at the end of the day, Sarayeth made a presentation to me of a silver, ornamental container, for keeping flower petals or nice-smelling oil I think. It is traditional Khmer, quite ornate. Everyone gathered in my office. I felt really special.

I left with a great, satisfied feeling about the friends I had made, my projects and the overall experience. Sarayeth and another one of the directors, Khemera from TV, took me out to Ponlok, a Khmer restaurant overlookng the river for dinner. The food was great and the restaurant was in typical, tacky glitzy style, a mixture of Khmer and foreign patrons.

Now it is a month of bumming around in between travelling. This weekend we’re going on a motorbike trip up to a province north of PP, Kompong Thom for 2 nights, leaving on Friday. Hean will drive me and another moto driver will take Sonia. We’re going to try to find somewhere to hang up our hammocks to sleep at night. Sonia knows a work colleague from World Vision there.

I spent lots of the weekend vertical, sleeping or napping, lovely. Went to a house-warming on Saturday night and to visit a friend’s new apartment (and her) yesterday.

Have a few chores to do this week like getting my ticket reissued at Thai Air and sorting out my luggage. I might need to air-freight some stuff back so need to see how many kgs I have. Ana gave us her bathroom scales before she left (on Friday) so we can weigh our luggage. Always important! She had 32kg to book in on Friday, the limit is around 20kg - it is unpredictable whether the airline will be strict or not on the day.

well signing off here - have to buy cat food!

Ruth e xx
Miss Phnomer in Cambodia

Another week and only 1 more left at WMC. It was predictably hectic but I finished the database which was a relief. Cutting it very fine to hand it over properly but one of the new staff is excellent with computers so I think he will have the confidence to continue the process after I leave.

We chose photos for the website from the different departments and I got them scanned on Friday. The Khmer version is proving to be a bit more tricky - have to install some software to get it right. Simply typing it in with Khmer fonts wasn’t working properly.

Sarayeth is going to the provinces on Tuesday so I also have to hand things over to her tomorrow. I spent time this weekend doing a report on my activities, recommendations and documentation to meet with her about tomorrow.

We had our monthly staff meeting last week, the last one I will attend and I was able to say a few words to thank WMC for my time there (mind you, that was after 3 hours of talking about a staff policy, very boring when you can only understand snippets - someone translated but only the basic gist of it, not the debate and disucssion which would be a lot more interesting). One of the staff also stood up and thanked me and wished me the best for the future. I have worked with her closely over the time.

I also had my debrief at CECI this week. They’re our in-country managers here (Canadian NGO) - they haven’t been involved much really in our assignments. Hour asked me some questions then we went for lunch at Amok, a really nice Khmer restaurant.

Not too much socialising this week. Ana came back from Bangladesh on Friday so we met up with her. She was very well - had a great time in Bangladesh and Nepal, meeting up with her brother and other Youth Ambassadors. It was good to see her. She only has 1 more week before she goes back to Australia.

Last night, Sonia and I went to see a play, ‘Wyrd Sisters’, an adaptation from a Terry Pratchett book. There were about 5 YAs who we know in it so that was fun. It was a comedy, taking off the classic stage plays such as Macbeth and Hamlet - 3 witches, a weak king, the Lady Macbeth character, a ghost, Jester, Prince brought up by commoners etc. It was quite funny - all the more because we knew people in it. I can’t say the acting was fantastic but it was just for a laugh anyway and to raise money for Cambodian Performing Arts.

Today, I went for lunch to Java, mainly just to have one of their chocolate milkshakes - the best ever, made from ice-cream. Ana and her friend, Julia, happened to come in at the same time. Julia just arrived from Spain today on her way home to Australia after 6 months travelling. It was nice to have lunch with them.

I then walked over the road. I wanted to look at Wat Botum but must have missed the street. Oh well, I then got a moto up to NCDP (National Centre for Disabled People) which sells handicrafts made by people with a disability. I bought some temple rubbings and a silver bracelet to replace the one Dad bought me in Siem Reap and was lost (or perhaps taken) in Sihanoukville last time I went.

That’s all for now…

Ruth e xx
Miss Phnomer in Cambodia