Southeast Asia - cambodia - second week

Day 13 1.14.18 Sunday Rest and walk day

Thots of a day off......Moto scooters - moto scooters-and more moto scooters..the primary mode of transportation for the labor class which clashes with the high end huge SUVs operated by the wealthy. The big construction sites nearby are all Chinese companies and staffed by Chinese men. People are not use to being waved to or approached by someone saying hello - in the press of people, people seem isolated, maybe because of population pressures- more than half of all Cambodians live in Phnom Penh for income and predominantly come from the province of countryside people with small lands which only provide subsistence. We cannot believe that the traffic pressure and aggressive driving have to be in opposition to the expected passive-demurring character of Cambodians and creating an aggression between people. The disparity in culture and possessions of the wealthy (believed to be on the gov’t kickback) again exaggerate this calm equalitarian life belief.  

Oh yes-our room and building!  We have a young guard who sleeps at the front door on a cot 24 hrs/day. We live in a 3 story building on a calm street of 3 story buildings. Near our building are small stores and coffee places, a full service athletic club and autobody shops, etc. The front of the house is for sewing classes and scooter parking behind a strong steel grating door and huge locks. Next the dining/meeting area, and kitchen. The second floor is volunteer rooms, and the third floor is comprised of a washing machine on the back balcony, some volunteer rooms, an office in the main room and a balcony overlooking the street. Volunteers rooms have at least a double bed and may have or share a small bath the size of a shower stall at home, and especially important, have air con - so called here. In the bathrooms there is a shower head and when you close the door to the bath you have a shower stall (toilet lid closed and toilet paper protected) with cold water only. The floors and walls are all echoing, sterile various colored ceramic tiles of varying sizes. Morning “instant Nescafé coffee”, toast of thin bread, and jam for breakfast, sometimes augmented by an egg cooked last eve and thus cold...but NO rice!

garbage.... This evening a garbage truck went by collecting bagged garbage that people have put outside their houses. We know that recycle collectors pulling carts through the city scavenger through this garbage for anything salable. They might have a scale with them and will weigh the material and pay the homeowner a small amount. In turn the “collector” sells the material. I saw such a collector pick a plastic container off a mound of unbagged garbage yesterday. We saw many of these carts at the slum yesterday so know these people, and perhaps even kids, do this work. We saw some of these collectors selling their findings. This multi-layer process in no way takes care of all the garbage produced here. In addition to the amount of garbage produced, the common attitude is to indiscriminately discard any hand trash to the ground. The common method of obtaining a juice drink from a shop is for the juice/drink to be put in a tall plastic cup with lid and straw then all put in a small plastic bag that has a hole in the bottom and loop handles (like our small disposable produce bags) so the cup can be cradled upright and hung on a motorbike handle or carried easily without spilling. Far too often this all is dropped to the ground when emptied. We went for a walk around the neighborhood- saw a game played on packed sand in an area 12 ft x 24 ft (the name of which we could not figure out- maybe warm climate, sandlot curling), found a person making dress shoes from scratch, bought 2 large cups for more coffee rather than a tea cup at a time, watched a “mobile” knife sharpener do his work and chatted with many people on the street. It appears Sunday is not a special day for worship or for workers to take off. 

I painfully shaved my head in the sink with cold water-actually came out good. Later, we TukTuk’d to an upscale grocery store of American quality, space and prices for some home-like basics to augment our meals and got a Blizzard on the way back. There was a call from the orphanage inviting us to a musical happening by Japanese kids...we tuktuk’d over in disastrous traffic to experience a Japanese “popop” dance group timed to canned music. We enjoyed the response of the kids and they all got autographs..and when I got my autographs on my arm, a new fad was started. We TukTuk’d back to RnR and write. Tired...$32 for food and $10 for TukTuk rides.

Day 14 1.15.18 Monday back to the grind with 1st aid supplies

On our trip yesterday we found our young security guard at the orphanage for the program we attended and learned he grew up there. Taught him to throw a spiral football pass yesterday! We will leave at 7:30 AM today for the feeding program. Arranged the first aid training time and materials introduction. We will get an order for sanitary supplies for the orphanage.  I’ve kicked more soccer balls and thrown more footballs in 10 days than all my days in college - sore. With all the traffic and no systematic traffic organization, we have seen only one fender bender-amazed. At the restaurant for kids we dropped off $75 worth of 1st aid supplies for their dispensary and which we plan to use in training later in the week. Then we bagged donated vegetables for kids to take home and to deliver to another feeding location. A young boy was eating an egg in the shell in which there was a baby chick - a usual food item here. While we were helping here yesterday the older kids were chopping chicken parts into 2x2 pieces, bones and all. After they are cooked, the small pieces of meat are eaten from the bone and the bone is cast away. In the process of watching I got splattered with chicken blood; time for the laundry. Soon we were in a TukTuk back in traffic to see another feeding location and deliver the veggies, way x town. We visited a slum village that floods in the monsoon but is still inhabited. Kids were on their own as parents were away working, etc. Then back in the TukTuk and across town to retrieve 1st aid supplies for the orphanage, which was 5 minutes from where we visited the  second feed center...2.5 hrs in the TukTuk this am. At the orphanage Marnie got hopscotch going and I taught a 1/2 hour multiplication lesson after we organized the 1st aid supplies we bought/donated. Hot and tired...then another TukTuk. Back to our ac to cool down and shower. We learned how to talk on a telephone while on a moving moto. Not for the feint of heart! TukTuks are pulled by a single cylinder engine 125 cc scooter. Because of the small cylinder pulling heavy loads, the engine will overheat and blow if not cooled. To cool the cylinder, water is dripped over the cylinder from a water can on the side of the moto using a syphon in a small plastic tube from the can, and subsequently wets the ground - an inventive cure for the problem of the small inefficient vehicle. They can buy fuel from vendors along the road who stock gasoline in glass Pepsi bottles, etc. Empty spray cans are repressurized with fuels for use in small kitchen stoves.

Day 15 1.16.18 Tuesday meeting of the Global Service clan

GSC no show.tomorrow...Success. After 1.5 hours of throwing footballs and kicking soccer ball my  good knee is “bad”. There are volunteers at the feeding center from Italy, France, China, Taiwan, Australia, and America tasking between preparing-distributing food, holding little kids, playing ball (we took 8 balls there today), drawing/coloring/reading and cleaning floors/tables. We start 1st aid trading with staff and teens on Wednesday am. 30# Bags of rice are being sent home again today. Marnie started another round of hop scotch- which lasted as long as she demonstrated and coached - then reduced interest. Thereafter she cleaned and chopped garlic, I can smell it tonite. Now on to the orphanage. For a second time we had a cooked vegetable called wax gourd stuffed with meat along with an excellent meat/rice lunch. After greeting kids as they went off to high school, we worked with JrHi English and math. Rick had students practice multiplication drills and gave Wisconsin pins as completion rewards and tutored others through their math assignments. At 4 we TukTuk’d to our residence and collapsed. We see a lot of construction. Locally-manned construction appears piecemeal and unlikely to get done, but the big projects move fast from Chinese construction companies with Credit Chinese labor and engineers  -most construction is for housing-apartments and condos with first floor commercial shops. Great meal of a variety of seafood in flavored rice. 

Day 16 1.17 Wednesday we start teaching the vol staff... 

At the feeding program we started the introduction of 1st aid materials and lessons on cuts, burns, fire, bites, and scraps, bloody nose.etc. Stole the writing board from VCDO and wrote out a course outline in the TukTuk on our commute. 45 minute class very animated and concentrated.  We think they learned - cut-scrapes, burns 123, fire on clothes- stop/drop/roll, eye washing, nose bleeds. Drew injuries on the kids with washable marker. Need dog bites and others. Had an emergency right after class - little girl cut her head and a student helped treat her and took her home. Pumping up balls for the orphanage by our security person. The GSC staff and vols talked with the Manager of the feeding center and we joined when able. Time for coffee with GSC at a coffee bar and discussion of activities and then on to orphanage. TukTuk to the orphanage and had lunch. We met the money manager/raiser for the center - budget is $130k and they have only raised $90k. GSC  people came later and we had a meeting with the “Boss” and Sothy, the program manager, about needs and programs for the orphanage. At 2:20 I went to help math class. I am  concerned about the tone of the teacher-gruff and not very positive/motivating. I’ll try to get the message across. Left at 4 for ride to VCDO.  hot,hot,hot! Sat outside on the street with our guard and waved at passersby, especially the ladies. We live in a neighborhood of narrow 3 story houses with covered areas in front where cars and motos are usually parked or used for commercial enterprise. It must be middle class because the cars are smaller-like Corolla and not Lexus suvs or 4 door, huge pickups we see all over the city. Oops there goes a new big black Lexus, but there aren’t many. Just met a doctor and a UN worker who live in the area. Generally, people do not appear happy on the streets unless we wave and signal them - we do most often get a positive response.

Before I forget...when still in shock from the 30 hr flight we  witnessed a Hmong drumming at the death/funeral of the wife (or mother) of the hotel owner of the Golden Gate Hotel. Just now I realized that I had evaluated a Hmong gentleman who became psychotic over a few weeks and began hearing the Hmong funeral drummers. As a result of the episode he killed his wife and daughter by accident. Having been bothered by the thinking about and hearing the drums upset him totally and he was unaware 5 days later that he had killed them. He was found not criminally responsible and committed to the  Mendota forensic unit, where he remained for 18 years until found not mentally ill and dangerous, and released. I knew I knew something about the drumming and it took 10 days to put it together. We got Dianna, a retired nurse in our group, to look at the boy who we’re concerned about the lesions on his face..actually they have cleared fairly well.. they were a contagious malady that he has overcome and passed on to other kids by now..we shall watch- she thinks it is a viral infection. Some of our kids are HIV+ or AIDS kids, but they can not be id’d. See lunch time above..

Day 17 1.18 Thursday Teaching all Day..1st aid & tooth brushing

Anxiety producing day. Read for 1 hr this am- 5 newspapers. On TukTuk and seeing police sleeping and workers sweeping everywhere. Traffic is crazy again today. We were sent to another feeding center instead of teaching-frustration and all the prep anxiety for naught! Screwed up.. no teaching, off to another feed center and it was filthy. So Marnie, along with kids to whom I gave pins for their work, our young driver, and I swept and raked the crap from the concrete pad and the playground while the child care workers sat looking at their phones. Then we were told we needed to leave,  after  only a little socialization with the kids and a few games of rock-paper-scissors, to a place in the slums we had been before. Then to the orphanage early for lunch, tho not until forced. Will teach 1st aid at 1:30 followed by hand washing and teeth brushing. The cook was cooking pork in a wok over a charcoal fire for the kids suppers. 1st time I urinated during the day in spite of drinking inordinate amounts  of liquid - some days never cuz of heat, humidity causing constant sweat. Toilet is flushed with a small bucket of tap water, no handle or pipes. Our coordinator for volunteers grew up as a farm kid- rice farming— plus water buffalo, hog etc. He told about hanging onto a buffalo’s tail to make it run through a paddy so he could body surf-good guy!

Photo: Preparing dinner for 52 kids and several staff - some kind of pork cooked in oil over the open fire. Home at 5 and starved as ate little lunch - I am overeating since my recovery. We had a very good teaching time with a marked volunteer (wash off marker) for each issue 1. Nose bleed, 2. Scrapes, cuts and stitches, 3.burn and blisters (don’t break)-1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4. Burning clothes-“stop, drop, roll and don’t take off clothes, 5 Bites and rabies, 6. Hand washing, and 7. Tooth brushing. The 30 kids stuck with us and our translators very well for 1.5 hours. Success! To VCDO and dinner interspersed with much resting..exhausting day! Laundry for the week. Taste of pizza tonite when kids and the lady who donated the oven cooked with her supplies-I shredded cheddar cheese.

Day 18 1.19 Friday one more 1st aid class at feeding

Marnie is up for an hour of morning exercises...Rick reads 4 paper summaries. Laundry is done. We have seen no public drunkness in the city. They are not use to making eye contact, smiling or waving on the street- one  would think people are unhappy. Probably few accidents cuz patience and courteousness- tho the confusion in traffic to us is unmanageable and distressing. Traffic here is like water filling all the  space and flowing around any stationary objects. The picture is of kids arranged to get supplies to take home - donor’s proof. We got to the feeding center and did our song and dance about 1st aid treatment- very successful with high school age workers. Then we packaged food for kids to take home and passed out pins. There is little grass in the city except in medians. Cars form a caste system that is superior to TukTuks, Motos, and bikes. The  huge vehicles, mostly less than 5 years old, drive and  park where they like-pissy ignoring snooty people, in closed windows with ac blocking all other traffic, wherever they wish appearing as tho they are privileged. Rather than wait for an opening to proceed, vehicles creep forward to force an opening/space and interfere with an orderly flow of traffic- then everyone is stopping and staring. TukTuk to nearby market for a walk down a closed market street and then on to the orphanage. Attended English class as tutor while Marnie prepared for buying trip for hygiene supplies, etc. I tutored math til exhausted and then wrote GSC evaluation. TukTuk’d to CDVO for a shave and trip packing. No sun, a few sprinkles about noon, and heavy smog all day. Sat outside in the evening and waved to passersby-astounded passersby! After dinner, which is degrading, we talked at length with Chammy about our perceptions of the programs. $50+ for orphanage hygiene supplies.

Day 19 1.20 Saturday off to Siem Reap.. 300 kilometers

6 am pickup and on to the countryside and small towns. OBSERVATIONS FOR THE TRIP...3 coffees and pineapple. Crickets, scorpions, tarantellas on a toothpick, baby quail eggs, silk worms, cockroach-like water bugs, chicken & quail eggs, eggs with chicks inside, and traditional foods available at a open air restaurant-market. Lots of cattle for meat are tethered out at the  small farms. I inadvertently pointed to the short hair of young monks waiting for alms and violated their space.  $5.50 for soup, 4 coffee and pineapple. Along the river north so most houses are built on stilts with living areas  upstairs to prevent flood problems. Driving on 4 and 2 lane roads as fast as possible and passing as much as possible, horn honking. There are every form of TukTuk - people/taxi-like, charcoal and many different haulers, goods from the city, pigs to market, construction material, chicken cages, fruits/vegetable carts, furniture to market and food carts. Most Ag areas have rice hay stacks for their brahma cattle, not water buffalo yet. We saw small Kabota mechanical rice  harvesting combines on tracks. Most fields are brown and harvested, but where there is sufficient water a second crop has been planted and is getting started, beautiful green. The terrain is unusually flat compared to what we expected. Plastic bags all over the place but less trashy in the country than in the city of pp. The best buildings are all Buddhist holy places with much building completed as elaborate archway entrance- housing is not nearly as substantial and well decorated/clean- and many small surrounding burial stupas. Schools have hundreds of  Motos and/or bicycles parked in front. There have been many very large factory buildings all along the highway - sewing, charcoal, brick making, rice processing, steel & aluminum processing, etc that support many families. Traveling in the country-side is more comfort and speed limits are about 55 mph. As we go further west the housing/court yard is more substantial and clean, water buffaloes are present, more bicycles, and there are tractors/motorized power units with long steering arms for multiple implements on farms and in rice fields. All of sudden we entered a very upscale urban center of tourism of Siem Reap, arriving about 12:30. We checked in at the Tanei Hotel and left immediately after lunch for the State run silk making demonstration and production area. First the mulberry, the only thing a silk worm eats. The leaves are taken to the larvae because if out in the bushes/trees the birds would eat them. We traced the worm  thru their life span and their sacrifice in death for healthy 2 layer cocoons (larvae in the pic). Then the cocoons are heated and treads come out to 400 meters  per cocoon, the outer layer being inferior and the inner thread superior. After it is spooled, it is bleached white, stained by color and sent to the looms for weaving cloth. Lots of people are trained and then sent to work in centers near their home. The state program  offers incentive pay, medical care, child care and other benefits.  ——- after the tour and ice cream we moved on to the National Museum of Angkor. We did an audio tour of the history of the Khmer, the religious orientation of Hindu and Buddhism told in stone carvings of thousands of  Buddha and structural features of Angkor Wat. Back in Siem Reap and exhausted Marnie and I went to the hotel for dinner and started editing.

The heat and exhaustion from work effort motivates me to put off small obligatory things like filling medicine, cleaning clothes, packing, shaving, reading, etc more so than at home. Riding in a closed vehicle with ac is nice but very isolating...can’t interact with people and since we are closed in they ignore us - like the privileged in the city.

Outline of GSC, its partner organizations and our program....

Global Service Corps, or GSC, has a long history of organizing international service programs with “one of the major reasons for the initiation of the organization to be to provide opportunities for adults to become more actively involved in addressing our many global issues”. Beginning in 1993 in Costa Rica and continuing in Kenya, Thailand, Guatemala, Tanzania and Cambodia, their programs have been many and have included but have not been limited to such projects as rainforest preservation and beach restoration, teaching sustainable agriculture and gardening, health education and public health (including HIV/AIDS prevention), teaching English, Buddhist immersion, and food security. Rick and Maxine Lathrop have taken the program most recently in the direction of Service-Learning Programs, working with Cambodia’s most vulnerable populations in development assistance. Volunteers, Interns, college students fulfilling service expectations and others participate in public health, leadership, orphan care and teaching English programs in Cambodia. This information is taken from our Participant Handbook and is not meant to be a complete description of GSC. Inaccuracies and misinterpretations may have occurred.

GSC has several  partner organizations including  Volunteer for Children and Development Organization (VCDO), the SFODA orphanage and the LRDE feeding programs.  We are working at the feeding program each morning and the orphanage each afternoon. See our journals for descriptions of our daily activities.

Southeast Asia...week 1

Day 1 1.1.18 Monday At Home

The last several days have been mixed...during the day we organize, plan, and pack, making arrangements for the whole trip, planning our work in the Cambodian Orphanage, the Street Kids feeding program, teaching English and thinking about life/English teaching in the Monastery. Each activity distracts from completing the other areas needing attention, leaving us feeling scattered while trying to prepare and engage in Christmas and New Years Cheer/activities. At nite is a different experience for me... I sleep to get rid of tiredness and then wake to ruminate about thinking we should not go because of age and condition/incapacity and thinking about what could happen to us (robbery or not liking what we are suppose to do), not being adequately prepared with ideas and materials, not wanting to be so far from home for such a long time, and anything else negative. Worried about how to safely carry and manage the money and credit cards. To remember and relieve the struggles is why I started writing the log this early. 

Day 2 1.2.18 Tuesday Paying Ahead

We had prepared to pay our Vietnam and Mongolian expenses today. However, we know how and how much to wire to Footprint in Vietnam. but we have not had regular contact and information from Evaneous, Chris Smith the manager of our tour with the Mongolian Secret History company, also referred to as Evaneous. At the GSC Orientation we must present a 15 minute program about teaching; our ideas are two fold- 1. Brainstorm the supplies needed in a first aid kit and where to get them 2. Quick response to maladies ...things one should do in the first 30 seconds of a health crisis... cuts, bite, burns, broken bone, unconscious, not breathing, hit, accident listing in 30 seconds by the group. Paid for the Vietnam tour this am with a wire from our bank. We got a note from our Mongolia tour person and will talk with him Wednesday eve. We worked out this am and I swam after business things pre noon. Marnie shopped and I read in the afternoon. We were given tickets for the UW v IU basketball game tonite - we are eating early to attend. We arranged the means of confirming our flight reservations and checking in thru our ticket booker. 

Day 3 1.3.18 Wednesday repacking and organizing materials

We have reorganized our period to teach in Cambodian training- present several ideas, 30 seconds to respond to a malady, first Aid kits of the orphanage, school attached to the feeding program like in Grahamstown ZA, basic math, and English and concepts of early education. Went to the gym and mall walk before 8am and done by 10. Going to shop for meds and other items to take with us. We have tee shirts, waist packs, calculators, flag pins, soccer balls, footballs, inflator/pump, games, chalk, washable markers, pencils, dodge balls, toothbrushes/paste and some meds packed. 

Day 4 1.4.18 Thursday  Muddle thru

Below zero again with 3 inches of snow. In am I am very apprehensive and scared about going on the trip and working in Cambodia. I feel unhealthy, too weak, not being able to keep my weight program going and unprepared. During the day and as we sort out all the issues to prepare and pay I feel  more positive. Did circuits and walked in the am and swam and visited a friend in the afternoon. Patty Rue, our house sitter, and her husband arrived so we could review the issues and have dinner together. Finally got the finances prepared and now for confirmation of payment for Vietnam Footprint tour during February.

Day 5 1.5.18 Friday confirmed flight to Phnom Penh 

Marnie and I discussed our fearful feelings and apprehension. Payment for Vietnam was confirmed so most of the loose ends are closed...just packing. Confirm flights and do check in. Walked, worked out, and swam. Checking with airline and getting boarding passes. Washed the pilot in the aft and looked for things to take for acquaintances. Patty has moved in and we are in the process of reviewing the home closing for the weekend as she will go home after taking us to the bus.

Day 6 1.6.18 Saturday WE FLY...and fly

Up at 4am, -9 degrees and to the 5:45, driven by Patty Rue. Very poor sleep and anxious but we shall mellow out and make the most of the day..14+6 hours on a plane. Bus was on time and got us to terminal #5 where we checked in and thru TSA by 9am. So far no frustration and now we wait until 11:30 to load. 7.5 hrs-1/2 way thru the first ride we have been in the dark for sleeping and tv watching... we flew over Yellowknife to northern Alaska and across the Bering Straights into  Siberia - we watched the snow covered mountainous landscape and the ice flows from the back windows of the plane. Spent much time reading the “short history of the world”. We crossed the Bering straights, passed over western Russia,  down the Sea of Okhotsk, over North Korean and into Seoul on time  14 + hours. After less than 2 hrs layover we were flying over the Pacific and east of Taiwan, and on to Phnom Penh. We paid 24$$s for pushers and carriers. 29 hours since we left home, exhausted but quite happy as the entire trip went off without a hitch. Even got our 4 bags at the end without a problem and thru customs and immigration with no problems..think the assisted travel really helps.

Day 7    1.8.18 Monday Orientation starts 

We are staying at the Golden Gate Hotel for orientation. Up at 7 for walk around the block and 8 AM breakfast. It is amazing how much commerce is compacted into 4 linear  blocks. The electric wiring is amazing (worse than LaPaz). $1 equals 4000 real, 1000 R = $.25. We went to the National Museum in the late morning and I started to feel woozy- tired, jippy tummy, over heated, and weak-so I got a ride back to our room. After barfing, cooling down and having a movement I spent 3.5 hrs sleeping til a social hour and driving to dinner. I ate very little stable food, soup and chicken. I received a ride back to the hotel after dinner and got comfortable. We are feeling out of place but reading and writing.

Day 8 1.9.18 Tuesday For more orientation

Awake at 3am as too much sleep in aft and evening 2ndary to not feeling well - Poor internet so not much entertainment, but stayed up and prepared for the day and early morning walk then walked the block twice. Breakfast at 6:30 but only had 1 cup of coffee, but much good, solid food. We then had a language lesson for an hour. Next we went to Kings Palace and Wat Phnom. Then a nice lunch and lots of talk about forensic cases with 3 of the students. Only ate cashews and 2 glasses of lemon juice and soda.  Next we went to PCU university for lecture/presentation by Mr. Cham about the oppressive development of Cambodia and his leadership institute at the university - great inspirational presentation. We then went to see the workout and swim facilities at Hawarmith hotel with Rick and Maxine. We came back to mellow and they stayed to eat.

Day 9 1.10.18 Wednesday moving to work site day

Awake at 3 and thinking about our presentation today- ideas at 3am. We will work in two areas: education and first aid. Education includes early education  developmental material collected by Marnie (colors, numbers, calculators, pencils, alphabet, Uno card games, memory games) and I collected physical activities materials (5 soccer balls 10 footballs and dodgeballs, backpacks, shirts, waist packs, etc). The second education area is to attach a school option to the street children and feeding program  like Grahmstown, (township with 80% unemployment)- kids who weren’t ever in schools were placed by skill (15 yr old in 1st grade), all meals provided, weekend packs with family food goes home, family placement in housing and pay rent if losing house jeopardized the kids education. Second area- first aid and self care-1.  First aid materials for complete 1st aid kits at feeding center and the orphanage, and 2. Self care & 1st aid in 30 seconds..bitten, on fire, list, etc. made presentation and then others did the same. We had lunch at VCDO and then drove to the Killing Fields for a tour. Then we drove to a celebration we did not understand called “My Cambodia”. Then we drove back to VCDO in ungodly terrible traffic and it took 2 hours for the return trip which took 45 minutes out. Meeting for tomorrow with Chamroeun, manager of Center. I discovered I left my glasses in the other van, they did not warn us of a change in vehicles for the last part of our trip. 

Day 10 1.11.18 Thursday First day of work

VCDO..Volunteers for Children and Development Organization, Manager Mr. Mao Chammy, wise young man. Up at 4:30 after poor sleep with 76 rating on CPAP, but was able to go back to sleep and ended at 7 with a 96. We had toast and coffee for breakfast and the tuk tuk came for us at 8:30 for a 45 minute ride to the street feeding program. After a short orientation, Marnie worked in the open kitchen distributing as much rice/chicken/broth as children of all ages wanted. At the site the children also were given showers, their hair was washed and they were given clean clothes as needed. The remainder of the time there they played marbles, soccer kicking, running etc. When morning school let out some children came for food in school uniforms (unlike the early street kids - we think). I spent time kicking the ball and providing contact comfort on my lap for 2 kids - a girl of 4 and a boy of 18 months- for 2 hours, til they burned out. At noon we returned to VCDO for lunch and rest (we initially thot we wouldn’t need it, but the heat and activity laid us low). I am not eating yet and trying to recover from jippy tummy– Diarrhea and vomiting. At 1:30 we went to the orphanage (Sacrifice Families and Orphans Development Association) for orientation provided by an English speaking 30 yr old lady who had lived in the orphanage from age 10 til she married. Great person. After touring the facility of 52 kids, 16 girls only, Marnie hung out with the girls while I kicked a small ball with a Down’s syndrome kid and a 3-4 yr old. After they burned out I attended and assisted in a math class - taught by an Univ accounting student to 10-12 kids. The kids are in schools in the morning and get more classes at the orphanage in the afternoon. Most kids older than 5 have some English speaking facility. A  14 year old girl without discretion has not been allowed to be away from the orphanage without supervision. Tomorrow I will begin to assess the first aid kit needs of each facility. The traffic is horrific, cars mixed with thousands of motor scooters driven by all ages from high school on up with as many as 4 passengers, interspersed with Tuk Tuks with few road lines, no one honoring lite signals winding to the nearest small opening allowing a small advance toward the goal, creating massive auto plugs for delays. Interestingly, we saw no accidents (probably due to slow motion) and we made it to our destination, however, slowly. Thousands upon thousands of scooters...main transportation for working people. 89/99 with 7 hrs Miniair score. The girl in the picture was my interpreter for Friday.

Day 11 1.12.18 Friday Full day at work.. First aid Supplies

We started out at 7:30 wondering if we could work the full 8 hours with no ac and rest... but we shall see. I have eaten two consecutive meals and feel  gastrointestinally alive. We got yogurt and jam from the nearby shop to go with our toast and terrible instant coffee. We talked with the top dog this am- Mr. Mao Chamroeun, last name first, so Chamron, volunteer facility manager. Talked with founder and manager of Les Restaurants Des Enfants (LRDE) about funding for health. Went to the feeding center and inventoried the first aid supplies- lots of medicine but limited 1st aid. Went in a TukTuk to see the baby center where hundreds of mothers come in daily or weekly to get formula for their babies and a clean-up shower. Some mothers try to sell the formula for drugs, so the center opens each can, writes name and date on the bottom, and requires return of empty cans to get the next supply of formula. That way babies are tracked and secured if necessary. Then we rode to a very poor area where small make-shift huts are suspended over the open river-sewer, and the houses flood with the monsoons- narrow walkways, no windows/doors, kids everywhere, debris left behind from flooding, old lady tending many kids, scooters riding the walkways, disruption! Back at the center we observed the shower procedure for street kids, had talks with children, and watched as a hundred kids took donated 25# bags of rice home to their families. Much of the center’s funding comes from Malta and Italy, but they still need money (1860$ for the entire year) for weekly medical team visits - trying to raise this $ on Facebook. At noon we Tuk tuk’d to the orphanage for lunch. We took 1st aid inventory and then I was  told to teach English class and then math class with no heads up - played counting games and age games very poorly. Next time we shall make multiplication tables for memory - they use them without learning them. Marnie inventoried the girl’s sanitary needs and skin problems among boys. Then she attended math class as well. Played kick ball. Back at the volunteer center we rested, read and had dinner (we have an excellent cook and the manager, Chammy). Walked the street a bit and slept thru the nite after eating 4 consecutive meals without jippy tommy or diarrhea -hooray. 

Day 12 1.13.18 Saturday first aid shopping & organization

Lunch and dinner - rice, rice and more rice with some sauces and chicken in broth (chopped in 2x2 pieces - bones/skin to be nibbled and spit out the bones). Fresh fruit which is peelable for dessert. Only bottled water or soda to sooth the stomach. This morning we had a late start and went to a health appliance and then a pharmacy store for 2 hours to build two 1st aid Kits - 1 each for the feeding center and the orphanage, as my inventory showed medicine but few supplies to treat mild and long term injuries. After haggling about $150 + 8 for the Tuk Tuk we had nearly all the supplies needed for the First Aid list we brought with us. We organized the supplies and will distribute them on Monday am/pm. Nap time and then posttime. Marnie did a load of laundry in the wonderful top-loading machine then hung it to dry. Went for a long walk and saw an outdoor vehicle body shop and a Chinese construction site from which we were told to leave, talked with a group of men in a coffee shop about age, work, and retirement, watched construction of the interior of a store, tried to talk with people on the street. Thot we would love to lay low today, but it was boring and we needed stimulation, more than 1st aid can bring.

Southeast Asia - cambodia - second week

Day 13 1.14.18 Sunday Rest and walk day

Kelzie’s School News 2017

 

KELZIE'S FANTASTIC YEAR

Some years you kick the can further down the road, and some years the can goes sideways from one gutter to the other. When last we spoke, I was talking about how 2016 was the year I became a counselor. I had applied for PhD programs and I was legitimately excited for that process and the opportunities that awaited. I honestly thought that the can was going to go pretty far down the road.

The late January through early May period of 2017 was the longest, most defeating experience of my life. And at the end of it, I had less trust in my peers, less respect for some of the behemoths in my field, less surety about who I should be when dealing with other people - and two finished masters degrees (with straight As, natch), glowing supervisor evaluations, and in my more cynical moments, thoughts that my aptitude for counseling seemed not to count for much toward where I want to go in the long-term. 

The day after I turned down the one doctoral spot offered to me at a school that felt more like an anchor than wings, I signed up for a third graduate degree at IU just to fill the time. The licensure for counseling is like that of a medical doctor – beyond the academic degree that was one of my first masters, there are a few years of internship and the legal license – so without this third degree I am unemployable as a counselor under the law. But before I could stomach the idea of starting another degree in the same place, I had to get away for a while. In May my foot forced me back into the boot for the 6^th? 7^th? time since January 2016, but unlike Summer 2016 when I acquiesced and went on a road trip instead of heading overseas, I said screw it and got on a plane. I really needed to get away.

This summer was two months in Israel and Jordan, walking through history and bombs, all in a medical boot. Do you remember that scene in Shawshank Redemption when they find Andy’s “pick-axe” after he breaks out and it’s worn down to the nub? That’s what my boot looked like by August. I completed the “Yam El Yam” – translated to “Sea to Sea” – a 4-day, 75k hike from the Med. Sea to the Sea of Galilee. The best thing I can say about that hike is that it’s done and I never have to do it again. I walked the Valley of Tears, the site of the 1973 Yom Kippur War in the Golan Heights. I spent 4 days in Petra, refusing donkey rides from the Bedouins.

Jordan reminds me a lot of Thailand: a country that knows exactly why visitors go there, funnels those visitors to those exact spots, and extracts every bit of money possible for things associated with those spots. Still, Petra and Wadi Rum have to be seen to be believed, and Amman is the best laid-out, smoothest traffic, big capital city I’ve ever visited. Other than the nickel-and-diming, the biggest reason I wouldn’t go back is that Arab men living in a fully Arab culture, emboldened by sharia law, and I don’t exactly mesh well. Then again, American men living in fully American culture, emboldened by the Weinstein’s and Neon Cheeto’s of the world, and I don’t exactly mesh well either. It’s sad when I can feel like my rights are more eroded in my own country than in the part of the world where a woman can legally be owned.

And then Israel, oh Israel. Jews individually are nice people, but Israel as a country is an a$$hole. I realize that the Jewish religion lost millions of people in the mid-20^th century in ghettos and concentration camps, but in the 21^st century they have become the jailors, creating two country-sized ghettos, locking millions of people inside, and effectively waiting for them to die. Hitler would bemoan their inefficiency – but approve of their lack of empathy. I think that was my biggest take-away from Israel as a counselor: it is people gathered into a country unable to take the perspective of others and unable to feel empathy for Palestinians stuck in a horrible situation that the Jews helped create. A thought experiment: say someone leaves a home, but 20 years later they decide they want it back because they’ve had a hard time in their new home and remember their former home fondly and just…move into what is now your home in the middle of the night, bringing not only their immediate family but all of their distant relatives as well. How would you react? Would you welcome them with open arms, or would you fight back? And when you fight back and lose and they lock you in the windowless, airless pantry, how would you feel? You’d probably feel like the Palestinians – because that’s who you are in this thought experiment.

Israelis say you can’t trust Palestinians with a gun – but who gave them reason to attack and use it in the first place? Israelis call Palestinians “dirty uneducated monkeys” – but who cut off their running water and literally built a wall between them and schools? And where has this rhetoric been heard before? It mirrors what Hitler said to explain why Jews needed to be rounded up into his ghettos (and yes, what Americans said to withhold rights from freed slaves and their descendants). Sometimes those who learn – or even experience – history are still bound to repeat it.

I wanted to like Israel, I really did, but I can’t condone what they have done and continue to do. And before you @-me, travel there yourself and, unlike the vast majority of Westerners educated solely by the Israeli hype machine, actually visit Palestine, meet the people, and see the truth. At least in Palestine no one threatened or pointed a gun at me.

Peace in the Middle East will not be found at a conference table. A negotiated, polite peace is not possible between the jailors and those condemned to a life sentence. Ask the European Jews how they would have felt if they were told to just go home while the Nazi Party still existed – and were living in Jewish homes. A clear winner must be decided – for those living in the modern ghettos and for refugees living across the Jordan River since 1947/67/73/2005 – and that winner can only be decided in open combat when the Third (or Fourth or…) Intifada starts. Eventually the jailors and the prisoners will fight, and I imagine Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and Egypt – and for a real treat, Indonesia as well – join the prisoners.

Oh and fun fact: the reason that Jerusalem has not been and should not be the capital of Israel is because it’s against international law. After the Six Day War in 1967, Jerusalem was declared to be shared by Israel and Jordan (and then Palestine), and the eastern portion illegally annexed by Israel in 1980 is not internationally recognized as a part of the Jewish state. It legally cannot be the capital of Israel because Israel doesn’t own it. It’d be like the US declaring all of Niagara Falls the capital of the US despite Canada owning and residing in half of the city. Just another law broken by the Neon Cheeto, just another day playing at being president.

After I returned from the Middle East, I attended my first big academic conference (APA) and prepared for the coming semester. This year my funding comes from teaching a class required of undergraduates on academic probation, and my clinical internship was at a local mental hospital helping clients with severe clinical mental health issues. But otherwise nothing else really changed about my life: play bells in the same choirs, play hockey with the same people, work the same jobs, and take classes from the same professors. I turned in all of my PhD applications, and now here I wait, again, but this time wondering exactly how excited I should be. I’m working to open a small, private practice in the Spring and if Ph.D. doesn’t work out, I’ll pivot to that full-time once I graduate in the summer. Here’s to hoping 2018 gets the can a little bit farther down the road.

Kelzie: 617/461-8354

800 North Smith Road - Apartment 2I

Bloomington, Indiana 47408

kelziebeebe.blogspot.com

kbeebe@post.harvard.edu

MARNIE and RICK

After our celebrations of Christmas, including R’s sister Nancy, and New Years, M and R went to a winter retreat in Carpinteria CA- an avocado center 12 miles south of Santa Barbara (and now partially evacuated due to the Thomas fire thereabove). We joined a workout facility, borrowed a bike and travelled - to SF to visit Nepali friends, to Bakersfield and the Kern River oil fields, and to grandparent Bb’s house in Hollywood. We joined the Women’s March in SB and enjoyed the famous pier there, toured touristy Danish-themed Solvang and attended the organizational meeting for Indivisible Carpinteria, meeting activist Sarah Gore (Maiani). The weather was in the 70s and rained every other day-unusual but welcomed for drought stricken CA. In spite of the draw of the area, we experienced (mostly weather-related) burn out and left after 1 month to visit K and Bloomington friends on the way home. Mid-April we returned to Bloomington to help K deliberate grad school and plan the coming year. On to Hilton Head, we visited long-time friends Linn & Al, who was receiving hospice care and, sadly, passed away shortly thereafter. Our thoughts are with Lin. On the way home we attended IU’s Little 5 weekend.

With the arrival of Spring we put the gardens in order and returned to B-town to watch K turn her tassle(s) at IU’s graduation (2 Masters degrees earned after 3 years of toil). Mid-May R took a tour of Cape Cod by bike, early June we attended a friend’s wedding in the historic St. Anne’s Episcopal Church in Annapolis and mid-June R rode to a rainy Zydeco music festival in New Orleans. In late June R and brother Paul rode to Canada to travel the Cassiar Highway (staying at Bell II lodging) and to the Yukon, returning via the Alaskan Highway, across the north plains. On the way out they passed thru  the Beebe-Elford home area of Ipswich and Roscoe, SD. Early Aug R/M & K met in Blue Mound, IL so M could join her high school gymnastic team at the premier of Paul Sheriff’s documentary “Hali”, the story of his sister, Hali, his family and the very successful development of the BM gymnastics team, which started Marnie on her athletic career. Getting together with the gym team and attending the hometown Fall Festival made for a wonderful reunion experience. Soon after, Rick rode the Poudre Pass to Walden CO, Lander WY for Sacajawea’s grave, and the hwy 14-14a passes over the Big Horns to Sheridan and home. In Sept Paul and R rode to Bear’s Ears in Utah (over Moki Dugway..look it up) then across CO to the Poudre on the way home. Late Sept we attended R’s 55^th HS class reunion-and in addition to the usual festivities we attended a Marshfield (WI) high school football game to recall what it was like 56 years ago at a Friday nite game. When R mentioned the last time he was at a HS game and played, the ticket lady sent us in free of charge.We loved the drama of the whole football/community event. It was great to see and reconnect with classmates and their mates again. 

In late Sept a Bb family friend from childhood, Jeannie Wooland Heideman, passed away 2ndary to cancer. We joined many friends and family to celebrate her life of giving, and we continue in thought for her husband, Ed.

Finally, in Oct R started a ride to FL, but age and cold weather blocked him in AL so he reversed to ride home. He had 4 major one-day rides this season – 1057 miles home from CC, 1050 from NO, 804 from WY and 707 from AL. The ’17 season was 21637 miles and a lifetime of 415500 miles since ’99. R was thinking it was time to stop riding… put his bike on the market… but after a day ride took it off the market … we shall see!

The critter problem was acute on Royal Oaks Drive this year and mostly rabbits ate half our perennials. M trapped and relocated to little avail. Again from afar, we have watched IU football, men’s soccer, and basketball through ups and downs and coaching changes. Men’s Soccer playing to the conference championship and NCAA final was especially encouraging (their only loss and only scored on 5 Xs all season). 

We have struggled hourly for nearly a year with the embarrassment and demise of america- enough said, but not enough. Our prayers are with those in Texas, Florida and especially Puerto Rico devastated by hurricanes and CA dues to fires. The Packer season created drama but disappointing outcomes and injuries-we are on IR as well.

Most of the fall was consumed with planning and obtaining proper docs and inoculations for the early 2018 month of volunteer work in Cambodia, 3 wks of travel in Vietnam, and 2 wk visit in Mongolia. Thanksgiving day was spent with friends as has been the tradition for years since Kelzie was in jrhi. The Christmas holiday was spent at home with the old folks coughing and sniffling and Kelzie on the couch recuperating from a busy fall semester. Sister Nancy was with us this year, as her work prevented her from traveling to her family in VT until the new year.

We have maintained our rehab sessions, daily gym workouts, and sessions with our trainers and feel better for having done so. Rick has had a very successful run on WW throughout the fall. We endeavored to end the year on a positive note, ringing in the New Year with friends and family and each going our separate way for new and exciting experiences in 2018.     Love to all

8906 Royal Oaks Drive

Verona, WI 53593

608/497-1123 hm

rmbeebe@gmail.com

beebelog.blogspot.com 

Happy New Year

Kelzie, Marnie & Rick

¯\_(ツ)_/¯