Christmas Night

Yesterday ended up being a 'work until you find a reason to be interrupted' day. I found my first excuse when our cook/ cleaner arrived early. Rather than start work immediately on December 26, I suggested we grab a coffee and waste an hour instead. While we were still out, some other Cambodian friends called and asked if they could drop by our place. More tea, coffee, snacks and conversation followed. It was worth it to hear this Christmas Day story:

I went to bed late on Sunday night but was woken up at 4am by one of the neighbours knocking on the door. Usually there are three of us who share the one room (..and one bed!). Three people rent the room next door. But on Christmas night, our neighbours had extra guests and their room was completely full. (Maybe eight people?!) So one of the guys who usually sleeps next door woke me up to ask if he could sleep in our bed for the rest of the night. We made some space for him...

Ahh... Cambodian hospitality! Mary and Joseph couldn't find a place to stay on Christmas night but our staff know how to make room for a neighbour at 4am on a winter's night!

Butterflies and Christmas

If you have watched Glee Season 2 (and in the privacy of reading this blog, I will not force you to admit to this fact), you may remember a quote from the character Rachel Berry when introducing the Halo/ Walking On Sunshine mash-up. Rachel says, "...because if there's two things that America needs right now, that is sunshine and optimism! [Pause.] And angels."

Yeah, so... here's my thesis for today: maybe we all need a little sunshine and rainbows; balloons and butterflies?!

Yesterday six of our team went to visit the Drug Detention Center to celebrate Christmas. For the first hour in the morning, we had a football skills program. There were four small groups, 15 in each group, practicing running, dribbling, passing and heading skills. We had a short break, then divided into four groups again for Christmas songs, making Christmas cards, playing games and an explanation about Christmas. I led the singing; a song in English and a song in Khmer! Heng's discussion was focused on this 'new' festival (Christmas isn't a traditional Cambodian holiday). He talked about a new birth and the new possibilities of hope, joy, peace and forgiveness that come through Jesus' death and resurrection. In thinking about a symbol for this newness of life, Heng suggested a butterfly. So we made butterfly cards for Christmas! In the afternoon, we had a football tournament with four teams in the competition. I sat on the sidelines and chatted with people. Just after 3:30pm, we went back to the office and the male and females went back to their two locked rooms. It was a happy Christmas celebration!

grin

These smiles say it all! New uniforms (& shoes). New textbooks, school supplies and backpacks. It's already a couple of months into the school year but I hope these guys make it through the next year of primary school. Study hard!

Moving House

Last week we moved into a new office and new house. Over the weekend two new housemates moved in and a three-month, short-term volunteer left. (Life as an expat = Hello. Goodbye. Hey. Good to meet you. Bye. Keep in touch. Hi there. Farewell.)

My life has been crammed with To Do lists: call the internet company (again!), fix the door, phone the landlord, book the truck, clean, move the towel rail to the upstairs bathroom, buy a new garbage bin, organise the office shelves, copy keys... You get the drill. All that necessary, tedious stuff. Our staff have been great both with the heavy lifting as well as doing all the handyman stuff that isn't in my skill set. Even so, I'm looking forward to being able to write again about some local people, places and events once we're settled in. More soon!

Human Rights Day

December 10: Human Rights Day. Not yet Christmas..

We found out about this family through a networking meeting of Poipet NGOs about a week ago. Dad's lost a leg from a landmine injury but he rides a bicycle 1-1.5 hours each way to get to work. He pulls carts across the Cambodian-Thai border, earning $3-$5 a day. Mum takes care of the young children. Their house comprises of two very basic shelters. There are no walls. You can see the sky through the roof. There's not much protection at all from the rains or this season's winter winds. Most days this family eats plain rice... but the kids catch fish, frogs and other small animals when they can.

Their one request to the NGO network was for support to keep their kids in school. (That is how highly they value education!) We visited last week and gave them money to buy uniforms for the four school-aged children. They couldn't stop saying, 'Thank you!'

Next week we'll go back to give them textbooks and other school supplies. We'll give some money for construction materials as well as some additional labour to help renovate their one-room sleeping space. It's something.

With two weeks to go until Christmas, it's easy to frame this as a nice example of giving in the Holiday Season. Except that it isn't. Let's not deceive ourselves here: we're not giving gold, frankincense or myrrh. The kids aren't getting new toys, stockings stuffed with chocolates or a summer holiday at the beach. They have a right to go to school. They have a right to a warm, dry place to sleep. We're not giving them the moon.

Another large NGO offered to take some of the kids into an orphanage recently. Dad told them to "take a hike". (Well.. they said nope.) They have the right to be together as a family. They've asked for nothing more than some encouragement to keep surviving today and give their kids a better future. I hope we can do that.

PS Soccer

In the midst of travel, racing, having guests and generally being busy, I'm reminded that we have a record 38 teams playing football every weekend too! At the beginning of the year, I set a goal for our project to grow big and deep.

On Sunday, November 20, we started our Youth Football League with short, friendly matches for all four divisions (U17s, U15s, U13s and Girls). It was a big gig! I want football to grow big in Poipet because I believe that young people have the right to go to school and the right to play. I want to give them something to look forward to in their week. I want them to train and to compete, to win and lose, to learn and to make mistakes. I want them to put on their uniform and to know that whatever other labels society puts on them, for a few hours on a Sunday afternoon, they can say with confidence, "I am a footballer."

Over the last two weekends we've had official opening ceremonies and started to keep track of the game results. I also want to see the football program grow deep. I look forward to a growing depth in the players, with some trying out for regional and national teams. I'm encouraged by the commitment of the volunteer coaches and referees. They are positive role models who develop close relationships with the players over the season. I pray that there will be growth and development in the character of the players through this football program.

I guess this post is a reminder for me as much as anything else: PS Soccer.

Race Weekend in Siem Reap

Two races in Siem Reap last weekend: one DNF and one DQ! ... but it was a cool couple of days. Here's why:

On Saturday I entered my first bike race. 100km. I guess this fits with my tendency to plunge right into a big race and hope for the best. Naomi and I set our alarms for 4:15am to meet other cyclists in town and ride 10km to the start as a warm-up. It was barely light at 5:45am when our four-lap race around the Angkor Wat temple complex began.

The first lap was mad fun! My heart was pumping with the excitement of the race but I also had a vague race plan to try to avoid 'bonking' (yeah.. kinda funny word that one...) Anyway, I was finished the first lap in 48 minutes and felt good. Half way through lap two I hit a pothole and blew a tube. I was carrying a spare but didn't have a pump. A policeman gave me a ride on his motorbike a few kilometres along the race route (with shouts of 'good race tactics!' by some cheeky sod as he cycled past). The police officer then turned onto a dirt road, continued for a couple of km's and dropped me in the middle of a sleepy village with nothing like 'support crew' in sight! A boy of about 10 years walked me along the street to find a bike repair guy. I handed over the 75 cent service charge and then the boy wanted his cut. Instead, I asked the kid if he wanted a ride of my bike? Yup. So I helped him get steady on the seat and jogged beside him as curious neighbours looked on! We said goodbye and I gave him the chocolate bar I'd stashed in my jersey for 'race nutrition'. At the start of lap three I was trying to motivate myself to keep up a decent pace. Respect the race. Finish the race. Unfortunately, I hadn't completed the third lap when I got another puncture. Two flats. Game over. I rode the final kilometers at a snail pace and quit after 75kms, having been lapped by at least a quarter of the field.

Call it race experience? Yeah. Say I was disappointed? Yeah. Call it motivation for training for another race? Heck yeah!

On Sunday morning over five thousand runners converged at the Temples to run 21km/ 10km or 3km. I was planning to cheer. A couple of days before the race, however, I received a text: 'I booked you in the 10km'. At first I thought it was a joke. On Saturday, after a visit to the registration point and a dozen calls & texts, I had a race bib and a timing chip in my hand. But I realised that 'I got you a number' doesn't mean quite the same thing as 'I have officially registered your name at full price through the appropriate channels'!!

I started half way though the pack and ran a very conservative first few kilometers. It was a bit of a surprise to get to the turn-around point at 5km and realise I was the fifth female. I soon passed the two women just ahead of me, maintained a consistent pace and found some kick for the final few hundred meters for a comfortable third. Then I got disqualified! No worries... I didn't have time to stick around for the prize ceremony anyway because I had a to rush home to give a speech in Poipet for the youth soccer league at midday!

I'm really learning to 'reframe failure'.. and I would never have expected that a DNF and a DQ could be so much fun ; )