Strange contraption on the river

Can you guess what the guys are attempting to build here ?

Climbing

Yesterday we went out to Mr Neil's farm to see what fruit was ready. Thy suggested that the coconuts might be ready for picking. Ms Chenda reminded him that he told her before that he used to climb coconut trees to pick them when he was young. Would he show us how it's done ?








Unfortunately when he got to the top he stumbled across an ants nest and the subsequent descent was extremely fast. (These ants bite!)



Chenda and the farmer at a good giggle at Thy who was quite in bits after the event.

Planting Rice

Yesterday I went out to Mr Rekha's house to plant rice. It was a really good day although I wasn't very good at it. The team was Rekha, his wife, sisters and brother in law and Hanna, our volunteer at Chumkriel.

Kampot Province is facing a very serious problem this year as there has been an endemic disease affecting a very large proportion of the rice already planted. As I understand it there has been an insect infestation that has destroyed about 80% of the fields. Although the Government has intervened by providing an insecticide, in the majority of cases it is too late. It is really awful to see so many rice paddies around Kampot looking withered and yellow.

Rekha will only get rice from two of his eight paddies this year. The economic impact in the area is going to be significant and I believe the price of rice has increased.

Here are some pictures of us planting in the paddy.







A cow looked on critically.


Here is Rekha planting




And here's me (do you like my 101 Dalmations shorts ?)



After completing the first field in the morning we retire for a delicious lunch back at the house.

Karaoke

On Tuesday we had a night out for Chumkriel Language School teachers and volunteers - Stuart, Carmel, Eliza, Elaine and Kristen. We all went to Karaoke and although some were a little bit mic shy at first by the end everyone was singing their hearts out and dancing. My favourite Karaoke song is "Mouse loves rice" - I'll try to find a link to the audio sometime.




Love the structured cabling

Kampot Interact

Stuart and Carmel have been helping me create a web site for Kampot Interact, our local volunteer information site.

They did a terrific job and the site now looks very professional. Please have a look and let me know what you think:

http://www.kampotinteract.org

22nd August

Yesterday Rekha and I took four of the children from his older class on a study trip to Kep. The older children are particularly shy to speak English so our hope is that by taking them out of the classroom context and giving them a fun day out we can increase their confidence.

We picked them up at Chumkriel Commune and travelled the 20 km or so by tuk-tuk. Here's some pictures of our day out.

I've posted some more on the CLS school blog at http://clskampot.blogspot.com

Khmer Fonts

Today I've been learning a little about Khmer script and fonts. It looks very difficult to type on a keyboard. Here is how my name looks:

21st July 2007

This week I will have a try at planting rice on Mr Rekha's paddy field. It looks like really hard work. Yesterday Rekha and I did some home visits and got some good feedback from parents. Many families were out planting in their fields.