Day Six -- Thursday, July 7

Daniel supervises my bicycle "repair".

As we were walking to The Coffee Shop for breakfast this morning, we came across Daniel, a four-year-old Khmer boy who lives on the RDI property. He was walking his bicycle. The front tire was rolling, but the back tire was locked and he was skidding the bike along. I saw that the chain was off the gears, so I motioned for him to come over. I turned the bike upside down and put the chain back on the gear. Unfortunately, it was too loose and kept coming off again. I had no tools, so I pantomimed that I was sorry, but I couldn't fix it. As we walked away, he began yelling at us in Khmei. I told Shelley that he was probably complaining that I broke it. On our way back we saw his mother with the bike upside down and Daniel standing near as she worked on it. She speaks a little English, so I told her that I was sorry and that I had tried to fix it but couldn't. She said, "He say..." and then searched for the words. I helped her, "He said I broke it, didn't he?" She laughed heartily and said, "Yes!". I guess I've got some making up to do with Daniel...

Thursday is a day off of school in Cambodia, so there were no children at the schools we went to. This was a disappointment since some of the best parts of the day are playing with the kids. The work does go faster without them around, however. At the first school, Lori was able to talk to one of the teachers about the rainwater tank. They had been using it regularly until the treadle pump broke awhile back and they were glad that RDI contacted them to come out and retrofit it. We were very happy to help someone who was actually using and taking care of their tank. There is always a lot of trash on the grounds at the schools. Littering is very commonplace everywhere, as they don't value clean grounds for some reason. So, we always try to set an example by picking up the trash around the grounds and we pray for the school, the teachers and the children as we go along doing it. Today, the teacher took my picture with his camera phone while I was picking up trash. He told Lori in Khmei, "My wife will never believe that a white person was picking up trash!"

The second school was very near a wat. We had some free time, so we went over to take a look. We ended up spending quite a long time talking to one of the monks, named Chantha. He was 24 years old and had been studying English and he was able to converse with us quite well. We asked how he had decided to become a Buddhist monk. He said that his family was very poor, and that essentially it was his best chance to get an education. He is able to study all the time and is learning English and the Balay language (like Sanskrit) in addition to other things. His decision had nothing at all to do with spiritual matters. He asked why we were there and we told him about the work that RDI does. We also told him that the reason we volunteer is that we are followers of Jesus and that we share His love in acts of service to the Cambodian people. He found that interesting and made a point to let us know that in Cambodia, "all peoples are free to choose their religion, but we ask that they also respect Buddhism".

Chantha the monk and the kids who came to see "the foreigners".

Duc umbeau!

As we were coming back we stopped at the local "watering hole" (a roadside stand), for some liquid refreshment. Chad, Luke and I had the "duc umbeau", which is freshly squeezed sugar cane juice over ice. Very tasty!

As she did yesterday, Shelley went out separately with a medical team. Her story begins here: "Went to a village that has no believers - the poorest people I've met. It was so interesting watching Tiara teach about prevention and treatment of water-borne disease (yeah, that's diarrhea). This is the 4th week they have taught nutrition and health lessons and the relationships are growing. We gave prenatal vitamins to pregnant and nursing women (thank you for the donation, Deborah!) There was a pregnant young woman with a 19-month-old baby who needs, but can't afford, surgery. Her husband died two weeks ago. I was able to help with securing transportation and funding so she can get the care she needs. Shared with her and 5-6 friends/family that it is Jesus in our hearts that causes us to love and care for her."

Time to wrap it up for today. We have dinner and then praise and prayer time -- in English!