Pu Tang Cha and Sea Forest 01/12/09

Weather: Windy, windy, windy but lots of sunshine too which makes it easier to deal with!
Khmer word of the day: chor t’lai (discount!)

Wow, I cannot believe it is December already the time is going so quickly!
So today we went on a visit to our furthest school at Pu Tang Cha which is a Pulong village about 40km from Sen Monorom. It doesn’t get visited very often and after you leave the main road you can see why. The roads to the village are seriously hardcore biking and I am actually surprised I made it with only one small incident when the bike fell into a ditch and I physically couldn’t lift it out.
The school is seriously run down and lacking in basic materials. It does, however, have a play ground where the children park the water buffalo they have to look after whilst they’re in school! The kids there are great though, sat patiently waiting to be taught by a teacher who is teaching three grades in one classroom. Their behaviour is impeccable.
The School Director there is also really keen to get the community involved in improving the school and has arranged a meeting for me to meeting the village chiefs to discuss how I can support them, which should be really interesting.
On the way back we decided to stop by our friend Jack’s elephant project which was really beautiful. Unfortunately we had just missed him or we would’ve gone on a bit of a trek to see the elephants in the wild. Still, I am here for another 11 months still so plenty of time!
In the afternoon we headed up to our closest school, Lauka. The main teacher there, Lavi, is amazing. She really takes everything on board and is really keen to improve the school and as a teacher. So we had a positive meeting and next week I am meeting with the school director there to discuss community involvement, which is currently none, so lots of work to do there!
On the way back from this visit we went to the Sea Forest, which is literally a blanket of jungle with little hills in it so it looks like waves. It is very beautiful and from here you can see the Vietnamese border. Really puts into perspective how much this region must have suffered during the US’s blanket bombing of the Cambodian/Vietnamese border.
So I have uploaded some pictures of the beautiful kids at Pu Tang Cha School and of the Sea Forest. Also put one up of ‘the wall of fame’ where I stick all the cards I receive from home...see if you’re on there and if not then send me something!!
C x