Welcome volunteers

PHOTO: HABITAT FOR HUMANITY INTERNATIONAL

Habitat for Humanity Cambodia and home partner families welcome volunteers for the Khmer Harvest Build. “I want to build my own house with volunteers from overseas. I have no experience but I am willing to learn. The thought of having a house that belongs to me makes me happy,” said Kim Keomheng, a 42-year-old cake seller.

At the build site in Oudong, Kandal province, thousands of soil blocks are waiting in neat stacks. Some 350 international volunteers from New Zealand, the United States, Korea, Germany and Hong Kong will build alongside 22 families. The volunteers will also make bricks and work on a nearby farm which will provide a source of livelihood for some families.

Independence Day Cambodian style

No additional team members arrived today. More coming in on the 11th.

But much festivities as November 9 marks a national celebration for the country. And it lasts from the 9th through the next two days. Three in all. His Majesty King Norodom Sihamoni presided in the morning at the Independence Monument in a celebration to mark the 58th anniversary of national independence from France. Parades and fireworks. And a holiday from work and jobs for many Cambodians.

Photo at right by Habitat
team member Gary Tan

Hello Phnom Penh

Bernard Tan and Gary Tan of Singapore, win the prize for first arrival in the city. Next to arrive, Nancy DeVries and then James Vargo. And so we are beginning to gather and make acquaintances of our team.

The city is like many of the Asian ones, busy with a traffic mix of cars and motorbikes and tuk tuks. You must have to focus to safely ride your bike as all vehicles drive along within 12 inches of the each other. Helmets for the bikes are required, but not always worn, and the regulation is loosely applied.

First night here,  Nov 9th, and a few days ahead of the official Habitat work. Bernard and Gary plus Nancy and Nancy's cousin, Ellie, visiting from Chiang Mai, Thailand, joined for dinner at a local Khmer/Thai restaurant.

Touch down in Cambodia

Hello from Siem Reap, home of the most fabulous architecture from 10th century through the 13th and now a UNESCO world heritage site. In all, a considerable number of temples, seven of which we visited  in three days. Build to honor kings and queens and pay respect to Buddha.

The best know of these is Angkor Wat. There is some restoration going on now and for protection, green tarps are now shrouding large parts of the best photographic persepective. There is a better sunset photo  posted last summer. You can find it in the first post of this blog.

Photo above is the "Smiling Buddha", at Angkor Thom in the temple, Bayon. The image also appears on one of the units of Cambodian currency.

Next stop is Phnom Penh and the the Habitat Build. I'm flying there Wednesday and really looking forward to meeting the other volunteers on our team and getting to know them. From the bios, they all sound like great folks!

Goodbye Vietnam

It has been a most interesting 6 days in the northern part of Vietnam. Hanoi for 2 days, Sapa and the ethnic minority villages 2 days, and finally, 2 days cruising on Halong Bay in a chinese junk.

Such a variety. There are many tourists in the area, European, Asian and a sprinkling of Americans. Everyone is welcomed and I felt very comfortable being here. My last evening (Sat) was spent at dinner with an American Maryknoll priest from the Bronx.!!

Here are a few more photos in the villages:

TWO HMONG MINORITY WOMEN AT WORK.
TYPICAL IN THE RURAL AREAS AND SMALL VILLAGES
WOMEN DO IT ALL, INCLUDING THRASHING
THE RICE AS WELL AS THEIR DOMESTIC CHORES

DAO MINORITY VILLAGE WOMAN WITH NANCY

Children have to walk long distances in the countryside to attend school. Classrooms look like any other: with desks, blackboard and books. But here, their books stay overnight in the schooldesks because the children's homes are very basic and families are still learning to respect books.

THIS SCHOOL WITH ITS STORYBOOK EXTERIOR WALLS
WAS BUILT WITH FUNDS FROM OXFAM..

CHILDREN BRING LUNCHPAIL
WITH RICE AND THE SCHOOL
TEACHER ADDS SOUP TO
MAKE NUTRITIOUS LUNCH

THIS CLASSROOM HAS ABOUT
15 STUDENTS WITH 1 TEACHER

Enroute to Cambodia

On the way to Cambodia, I planned some days in the north of Vietnam. Flying into Hanoi, then to the mountains for a couple days and finally, no surprise for me, two days on Halong Bay in a Chinese Junk.

I'm in Sapa after taking the night train from Hanoi. It was a sleepler compartment, shared between 4 people. Lucky me, my ticket assignment was for a lower berth. Toilet was down the hall. My companions were a German software guy from near Munich, a Dutch tax lawyer from Amsterdam and his girlfriend, a banker in human resources living in Rostoff, Poland. Dutch guy and Polish gal have a distance relationship. It was nice that the 4 of us all could speak English together and we had interesting conversation before settling down to sleep for the duration of the 9-hour trip.

LOVELY YOUNG HMONG GIRL
SELLS NATIVE CRAFTS TO TREKKERS

Today, my guide and I trekked down to the Hmong minority tribe village. The guide is a young man, pretty good English and very bright. I have him again tomorrow. He was born in a mountain minority village, where most of the children have only a dim future in store. But he had a benefactor from Canada who "adopted" him, sending money and paying for his university education. He has done well, and his success proves the benefit of this kind of aid. He is making his Canadian folks proud.

Leaving on a jet plane.......

It seemed last night that I wouldn't get to the airport this morning. The north-east was slammed with an early nor-easter. And in Oakland where I live, we had about 10 inches of wet, heavy snow. Of course, this brought done branches and even trees all over the region and I couldn't drive up the steep hill to my home last evening. Left my car in the parking lot of the nearby high school. No trees there to fall on toop of my car.
Leaving extra early this morning....a good thing as highways were intermittent blockages of accidents and downed trees on the roadways.....and I arrived at JFK about 3 hours early for my departure.
Routing for my flight, about 23 hours in all, includes a 4-hour layover in Seoul, Korea and then on to Hanoi arriving late eveing on Monday.
Happy wishes to all for Halloween. Bye for now.