Last Glance Back

Okay, so before delving into the everyday existence of being a mother of four little ones, I wanted to take one last glance backward at the heavenly experience I had in Asia. (Again, so sorry that this is so much later in coming than I'd originally anticipated).

Most of you could probably care less about most of what I describe in my travel over there. I think I'm doing this more for me to remember on the more monotonous days that I have actually been places and seen things besides my piles of laundry and the time-out chair.

Don't get me wrong--I am currently in a very happy space and am extremely grateful that I can be home raising my children. It's just I also happen to be a mother who also has an intense case of Wanderlust, and adores the idea of a grand adventure. Perhaps there are some of you who can relate?

In any case, I hope that some of this proves valuable/entertaining. At the very least, I hope it inspires some of you to dream of seeing parts of the world you may have never thought possible. So, the temples at Angkor Wat were amazing and completely surpassed my expectations. The largest religious structure in the world, Angkor Wat was incredibly impressive and none of these pictures of that monument, or any others will give a enough of a perspective of the sheer size or artistic majesty of the thing. It was amazing . . . even if I was dripping with sweat the entire time.

Here Pearly-Q and I are standing by one of the outer walls to the main temple, the entire perimeter of which contains friezes of the entire Ramayana, the famous Hindu epic. There's a better close up of just a small section below.

These are typical carvings found throughout Angkor Wat. They are called Apsara, or Celestial dancers:

Inside the main temple complex:

A typical Cambodian wedding outside of Angkor:

Angkor Thom:

Pearly-Q has some competition:

This little girl fell asleep in the doorway of these ruins, and in the sweltering heat. She killed me b/c she reminded SO much of the Sass!

This kiddo was enterprising and made his own hat out of leaves.

Harvesting rice:

Fishing purely Cambodia style. These use these special cylindrical baskets to trap fish in the muddy rice fields. I felt like I was in the middle of a scene from National Geographic.

Two typical grandmas in the care of their large family.

These are some pictures from a floating village of about 3000 people that all live out on Tonle Sap Lake. It is a fascinating way of life. All their homes, schools, churches, and even the local gym are located out on the lake. They use the same water for the bathroom, drinking, and fishing.

These little "boats" are a typical sight in the floating village. Notice the boy on the left--he's an amputee--something you see a lot of in Cambodia due to the overwhelming number of land mines left throughout the country since the Vietnam war.

One of the things I enjoy most about travelling now that I'm a parent is how I now notice other mothers and what it is like for them to be raising children in their own particular corners of the world. It's strange for me to think about how little I noticed of it before, but scenes like these astound me now. I can't imagine trying to raise little ones from the hull of a boat, or trying to breastfeed while bailing my boat. Whoa.

Here are some scenes from a huge field of lotuses that we came upon at sunset. Breathtaking.

Here you can see the little hut and family that live in the middle of all these lotuses:

Isn't she just the most darling little mother? She had a great connection with her two little daughters.




These are a fun thing unique to Southeast Asia: a natural pedicure. These fish like to eat dead skin. So, stick your feet in the water with them, and a 1/2 hour later--voila! Hope you're not too grossed out by my feet.

Our last day in Cambodia we got to attend church. The people there were amazing. Here's the daughter of the local congregational leader there: Chetana. Her name means "One with great purpose." I'd have to concur. She's one of the most beautiful and bright women I've ever met. Her English was impeccable!

The young women there at church:

On to China! Here a view of the unbelievable skyline of Hong Kong!

Enjoying the craziness with our new wigs:

It was SO good to be surrounded by Chinese again. I was surprised to hear so much Mandarin. I was expecting mostly Cantonese, so when I could actually understand and speak with everyone it was such an unexpected treat. Apparently people from the mainland have been emigrating to Hong Kong by the droves. No wonder.

Fish anyone?

We visited cultural center on Hainan that is similar to the PCC, but for local Chinese ethnic groups in the area. Pearly-Q enters into a surprise marriage with a local girl. Leave it to my husband to be a willing participant. None of the Chinese men would volunteer, so Pearly-Q got the privilege of doing it with language barrier and all. I could not stop laughing.

Check out these womens' feet as a result of their weaving. They've flattened out on the bottom:
Notice the traditional tatoos all over her face:

Vietnam! This beautiful woman is surprisingly an amputee. I barely noticed due to how capable she was in her work:

Scenes from the local market. . . Duck anyone?

Gorgeous produce. They eat everything so fresh.

As we found out, you can get anything custom made in Hoi An.
Halong Bay:



Sigh . . .

Love from Cambodia

So sorry I have been this remiss in posting anything about our trip . . . I've been playing serious Mommy catch-up. But, thanks to a little nudging from a friend, I sat down last night and wrote out a monster email to friends & family members who were involved in the most special part of our trip: a visit/mini-humanitarian project with an orphanage in Cambodia.

When we were originally planning on visiting Angkor Wat in Cambodia, we quickly realized that we would need an English-speaking guide and started doing our research on locating one. After looking for a while, we found one that came recommended. His name is Ratanak Eath (for any of you out there who are interested in using his fabulous services).

In online correspondence Ratanak had previously asked us whether or not we'd be interested in visiting an orphanage while we were there to see Angkor Wat. Of course we answered emphatically "yes" and then recommended him to some friends (J&J)who would be going to Cambodia just a week before us, and who would also likely be very interested in something like that. When J&J returned from their trip they immediately called us to update us on the conditions there at the orphanage, and to organize/gather items and funds to assist the children there. Immediately this project took on a life of its own, and within just a handful of days we were ready to fly to Cambodia packed to the hilt.

To give you an idea of everything that took place, feel free to read the letter I sent out to the parties involved:

Dear Friends and Family,

Since returning home from Asia this week, Pearly-Q and I wanted to write all of you who contributed to the wonderful experience we had in Cambodia. As all of you know, J&J visited Siem Reap, Cambodia last month and visited the PACDOC orphanage there. Upon seeing all the dire need amongst those children, they returned with a helpful report about what was needed in addition to what we’d already planned on taking with us when we would visit just a week later. This gave us just days to collect all these items before we left for Cambodia.

Thanks to J&J and to all the generous individuals here that also heard about the needs of these orphans, we were able to collect used toys & clothes, new underwear, toothbrushes, educational supplies/kits, and money for school uniforms in order to enable the children to attend the public schools there locally. With all these items tightly packed for the trip, we headed off for Cambodia on February 22nd.

Upon our first full day there in the country, our guide, Ratanak (the same one who helped J&J) took us to the orphanage to assess the needs. At first we were confused because it did not look like the same building that our friends had showed us in the photographs. Ratanak explained to us, however, that the two orphanages are in different neighborhoods but share resources and are run by the same man, Toun Boran. (Please see their new website for more information about him and the work they are doing there: http://www.pacdoc.org/ I think there are even some pictures of Pearly-Q and me on there).

Ratanak and Toun Boran

We loved our welcome here, as the children lined up in orderly rows to greet us, girls on one side and boys on the other. Their beautiful smiles were contagious as they kept shouting out “hello, hello!”, making us that much more eager to share the items we had brought. Before meeting with the children, however, the orphanage director took great care to give us a tour of this fairly large facility. Besides the typical sleeping quarters and kitchen, the grounds held a sort of gathering area/schoolhouse which contained all sorts of posters/pictures with English words. (Because of Angkor Wat and the increased tourist industry there, being able to speak English is an important skill for any Cambodian to get a decent job.) Toun Boran also showed us that they had built another small area with a computer keyboard to teach the children basic computer skills, as well as foot-propelled sewing machines where they could learn how to sew. (Boran had previously been a tailor by trade). In addition to these useful skills, the children have learned how to weave hammocks, something virtually every Cambodian sleeps in at night. They also had a large garden at the back, along with some chickens, ducks and two pigs. To be honest, the entire operation was extremely impressive since it was easy to see that this man was truly seeking to assist these children in becoming more self-reliant.

After discussing with Toun Boran more of the needs of the orphanage (i.e. uniforms, food, etc.) all the children piled into their schoolhouse, and watched us expectantly as we pulled some of the toys, toothbrushes, school supplies, and underwear for each of the children, taking care to reserve part of the items for the children in the second orphanage that we would visit later that day. We especially enjoyed this as we pulled out all the toys our four kids had previously cleared out of their own playroom with the intent of sharing it with these very children. Items I had before seen played with and then abandoned by my own kiddos were now embraced with such gleeful excitement, I felt like Santa Claus. The sound was deafening, and I couldn’t believe the joy the just even one matchbox car could bring. Who knew?

After saying goodbye to the beautiful children there, we moved on the second orphanage where the children that J&J had previously seen, live. I could NOT BELIEVE how hot their little shack was! Cambodia at this time of year is in the mid-90’s with almost 100% humidity. Add to that a tin roof that attracts the sun, without a smidgen of greenery around it to cool things down, and you get the picture. These poor little kids were literally dripping with sweat.

We quickly pulled out photographs that the J&J had taken on their previous visit and had developed for the kids to have pictures of themselves. As the children gathered there to receive them, however, we quickly realized things were a bit different than we’d expected. Some of the children in the photographs were either in the first orphanage, or not there at all, and most of the children who gathered in there actually were not actually part of the orphanage. Located in a destitute area, the orphanage also assists many other children from the neighborhood, many of whom would not have the opportunity to eat otherwise. This made things tricky, as we had only held onto enough items for the 18 orphans that J&J had previously met with. Because we knew by this point that toys were particularly such a hot commodity and there was now a real limited supply, we had to ask the teachers to separate out the neighborhood children from the actual orphans so that we could distribute things out without things getting out of hand.

As predicted, quite a few of the children were completely naked, and so we were happy to pass out what underwear we could. However, because of the lack of adequate nutrition in that country very few of the children actually fit even the small sizes of underwear or secondhand clothing we had bought with us. We realized we would need to purchase some for the little boys in the local market in Siem Reap. Passing out the toys was again crazy, but we were especially grateful for all the toothbrushes that had been sent as it allowed us to pass out something to all the neighborhood children (30+) gathering at the doorway.

At the end of this day, Pearly-Q and I carefully discussed what needed to happen with the funds that had been sent with us. We felt an important stewardship to make sure that the funds were wisely used. We prayed about how to do this most effectively. Some of the needs were different than we had previously expected. More of the orphans had uniforms than we had thought, although Toun Boran said that they would need uniforms for the next year. He also said that their most pressing need right now was actually rice. For 60+ orphans they were almost completely out of food. Beyond that, we also felt that we wanted to leave them with something that would make more of a long-term difference. We considered whether or not some livestock would be helpful by producing more food--especially protein-- for the children. From what Ratanak explained, ducks actually produce more eggs than chickens and are therefore quite beneficial. So, ducks made the list.

To make what is already a long story shorter, (I apologize if this is already boring you to death), we ended up purchasing the following items:
- Eleven 50-kilo bags of rice
- Roughly 40 school uniforms
- Mosquito nets
- Toothpaste
- Underwear for very small children
- And yes, 30 ducks. (You should have seen Pearly-Q trying to catch these himself. It was a riot!) Within 3 months, these should produce 200-300 eggs per month, and should also generate more ducks in the future.

Buying Rice in a local market with Ratanak

At the orphanage with uniforms and rice

My new friend Chantra. Doesn't she radiate goodness?

This little guy could not get enough of Pearly-Q. He was so darling.

Uniforms!

New underwear.

We cannot thank all of you enough for your kind generosity. Watching this process unfold within just a few days was miraculous on so many different levels. Not only did people pour out of the woodwork to help, but our funds were stretched in unexpected ways, such as the airlines surprisingly finding ways to save on our very overweight and extra luggage. (By the way, for those of you who provided all the extra toothbrushes, larger clothing and underwear—your items did not go to waste. We found a very small, yet poor village with adults who were thrilled to receive these things. With such small people, most of the grown men fit comfortably in the Size 12 underwear, and it looked like most of them had never had access to a toothbrush).


The people from this little vilaage were so gracious. After we'd passed out our gifts, they presented us with several handwrapped containers of palm sugar they had made themselves--one of their only sources of income.

Yay for Hanes.

This little lady laughed at me when I offered her a toothbrush. "What for?" she asked.

Between this, the food, the uniforms, and other items, we would have been at an absolute loss without Ratanak’s help. He went above and beyond the call of duty to assist us in securing all these things. I can’t imagine of what he thought of these strange American tourists who expected him to help us secure almost 40 uniforms within just two days. I truly hope that he is blessed for his goodness to us.

Most of all, we were most deeply touched by the hand children played in the giving. We literally had dollar bills straight from the piggy banks of children carried over with us to purchase items for these kids. Pearly-Q's 10-year-old niece, MeLisa single-handedly put together 20 educational kits complete with handsewn bags and items purchased from the money she had saved up from her lemonade stand from two whole summers. The most touching moment for me personally was explaining to these children that there were other children their age in America who cared for them, and had done this for them. I wanted them to understand this and to know that someday, when they had the means and the ability, they would also have the opportunity to give to someone else meaningfully. I wanted them to know that one day they could make a difference. Seeing their faces when we explained this was priceless.

Enjoying MeLisa's bag.

"Thank you, MeLisa."

To end this discourse, I thought I’d type up a copy of the letter that Ratanak and the orphanage director gave us upon dropping us off at the airport in Cambodia. (Keep in mind it’s copied verbatim):

Angkor, Siem Reap, Cambodia

Dear Pearly-Q & Curly, [Yes, I've changed names for the blog version]

We are so happy to meet you in Cambodia and would like to say thanks to you and your family and friends whom trying to help Cambodians especially orphans.

Cambodia is a country of warm smile after so many years suffering in war. We try to show our smile and happy with all of you in order to have a brighter future. We strongly believe that your stay with us unforgettable experience and safe to travel back home.

Thanks again for sharing your proterty, strength, and other efforts to encourage the young generation in positive future. We appreciate all your helps. We hope to meet you again one day in Cambodia.

Best regards,

Ratanak and Boran
Love from Cambodia