Halfway Point

Today marks the halfway point of our trip, and we visited another historic site, Wat Phnom. This Buddhist temple has served as an important religious and cultural site for centuries. It's a beautiful setting with an elephant and monkeys to complete the scene.








I found these interesting among the many historic elements. The temple itself is currently being renovated and makeshift shrines are found around the temple. The visitor instructions state that non citizens are not allowed to light candles or incense in the temple.








We did another craft activity with the kids today, coloring wooden rulers. They really enjoy art and take great care in making something just right. While it is a pretty simple thing, the kids like having us pay attention to their efforts and showing us their creativity. The kids also enjoy the opportunity to practice English with our team. We also played some games and learned more about the home where they live.








Prek Eng 2 moved to its current location about 18 months ago. It is located in the unincorporated area of a neighboring province Kandal. It's a lot like a suburb of Phnom Penh but it is largely undeveloped village. It's about a 20-25 minutes Southeast of the capital. The provincial government is slowly widening the road out to Prek Eng. I was surprised to learn that the kids' house has municipal water. But since there is no water pressure they have to pump it up to a small water tower in order to have a shower. There is also a well and cistern for other water needs.

S21 - Toul Sleng

Today we visited Toul Sleng Prison, identified as prison S21 by the Khmer Rouge. Thousands of political prisoners and government officials were sent here to be tortured and killed. Out of over 20,000 victims, 7 survived.








Barbed wire was placed over the face of the buildings so that prisoners could not commit suicide to avoid torture. The wooden beam in the courtyard was used to tie prisoners up and dunk them upside down into cauldrons of water. 14 sets of remains were discovered when the camp was overtaken. Those victims have been interred in the courtyard. Thousands more were sent off to the killing fields to be buried in mass graves. 5-10 prisoners a night were randomly selected for execution to enforce a sense of fear.













The prison contains large detention rooms, individual torture chambers and isolation cells too small for me to lay down in. The intimacy of this process is distinctly different from the gas chambers and cattle cars of the Holocaust. All of this took place in a local high school, which also lends a certain eeriness to the history. All the prisoners were cataloged upon arrival so there are displays of all the victims at the museum. When I took a picture of one of these displays, my camera recognized the 22 faces pictured. When I uploaded the picture, iphoto asked me to name those 22 faces. Odd that technology can recognize humanity where people have failed.













As an activity at Prek Eng 2, we brought visors for the kids to decorate. It was great for us because the kids wrote their names on them, which helps us remember each of them. And Danet, pictured here, put my name on hers, too. They had a lot of fun personalizing their names, and the artistic ability really showed. The kids of Central Vineyard made a banner with their hand prints and names to give to the PE2 kids. The PE2 kids really enjoyed that and thought it an especially nice gift. We are trying to foster that connection between the two communities and are working on projects to help all the folks at Central Vineyard know the kids of Prek Eng 2.

Church with Asia's Hope

Today we did church with the children of Asia's Hope. The kids from each of the homes performed a worship routine with dancing and music. It was neat to experience their church and be a part of it. Teddy from our team shared a brief message that was translated into Khmer by one of the house dads. The worship was all in Khmer, and even though I didn't understand any of it, it was beautiful to witness their worship.








We took a drive by the river front looking for lunch. I spotted this ferris wheel and thought it really stuck out in Phnom Penh. We ended up getting lunch at another Friends restaurant in downtown.








We had a wild dance party with all the Asia's Hope kids tonight. The kids enjoyed boiled corn, fresh fruit and Coke. I had a really great time even though I don't really dance. The kids made it all worthwhile and showed us their favorite dance moves. All the house moms and dads got out and danced, too.

Day at the park

Our team went out to different places for breakfast today. Sarabeth and I walked about 15 blocks in search of crepes. Sarabeth found a cafe called Nature and Sea to try out. We found it located up three narrow flights of stars as a roof top cafe. The food was so-so, but Sarabeth enjoyed her crepes with Khmer iced tea.








The kids of Prek Eng 2 walk to and from school each day along a dusty side street. There are several gated homes in this "suburb", which have larger compounds.









We took the kids to a local water park today. This is pretty close to where they live and going is a real treat. We had a blast playing with all the kids. There is a even a three story water slide that the older kids and some team members enjoyed. There was also a small slide that all the kids could enjoy. We played whatever water games the kids thought of. It was a great experience to play in the water and have so much fun with them.










Our kids were treated to soft drinks, prawn chips, suckers and stir fried veggies. A much more suitable pool side snack than the case of Angkor beer we saw some teens sharing.

Day Four

The typical morning scene in Phnom Penh includes thousands of motos getting folks to work and people setting up their stall for the day's business. Stalls range in size from 3x6 to 20x20. We started our day with a western style breakfast of omelet and french bread with coffee. The motos are everywhere. It's almost as if the government wants there to be more motos.








Lunch was at a really neat place called Friends that helps train children who have lived on the streets of Phnom Penh to work in the restaurant industry. The program provides training and housing to 1,800 homeless and vulnerable children (www.mithsamlanh.org) Students are trained by teachers and chefs to prepare meals, run a kitchen, serve food and bus tables. The program also provides training in pedicures and manicures, all with the aim of providing a means of self support for these students. The food was great and the ladies on our team received manicures and pedicures.








In the evening we went to the Mekong River to experience the nightlife and have dinner on the river. We ate at a balcony table overlooking the river and walked along the river front taking in the sights. There were boys playing soccer and badminton, folks taking aerobics classes and lots of shops and restaurants. We had a really great meal and I ordered Cambodia fried rice that turned out to be a great dish.

We will be spending most of the day with the kids of Prek Eng 2 on Saturday and Sunday, so today was a day off to do some shopping, explore the city and rest up a bit.

Dancing in the Rain

While the weather is hot and muggy (high of 95) there are consistent thunderstorms in the afternoon that help cool if off. Of course that means additional humidity so we're all still sweating way too much.

We had pho noodles for breakfast again at a new place around the corner from the hotel, $1.75 per person for a bowl of noodle soup and coffee. We had pizza for lunch at Le Duo, an Italian restaurant that had an indoor pool. It was really good wood fired pizza.

Still falling in love with these kids. They really love each other as brothers and sisters and have been praying for our team. Sisters Dane and Danet are two of my favorites. They are beautiful and full of life.