Our bus tickets are booked and were getting packed up to move on to Phnom Penh tomorrow morning. A 6 or so hour trip on a big coach- $5 each and it has air-con and a toilet. Having a quiet day, chilling and reflecting on our time here. It has been an amazing experience-a lot of laughter, a lot of tears. We have both agreed that when things at home seem tough that we will look back on our blogs to remind us of how lucky we really are.
We sit and wonder how many of the beautiful ppl we have met thru our journey here will be here next year , its a sad reality.
We went fishing yesterday, Kev me Shaun and Louis - oh it was a MAN Trek to get to the fishing spot-halfway there I wished i never went but was to scared to go back alone. It was worth the trek tho- what a beautiful place- many locals fishing with improvised drop lines (line wrapped around an empty water bottle)
I sat on the rocks watching the boys fishing-soaking up the tranquility , I saw a smalll group of local children coming across the rocks below me, the youngest maybe 5 the eldest about 14.
The one that caught my eye was aboy maybe 12 years old- he was so thin every bone in his body protruded, malnutrition or Aids or both-it is anyones guess, all he was wearing was a pair of oversized underpants-this was enough to cause the tears to start welling-I noticed he was carrying a small freezer bag with something which looked like a bright yellow thick liquid, at first i thought oh thank god he has something to eat or drink in that bag - Pureed Fruit ?? NO------- glue :( In the 2 minutes it took for the kids to pass by us abd dissappear behind the rocks I counted 12 times that the little boy had sniffed the bag of glue- he looked a wreck. 10 minutes later they passed back thru, by that time he could only take 2 steps then stopped to sniff... He stood on a rock below me, about 2 meters away, directly in front of me - I watched him sniff again- he turned and looked into my eyes- he saw the tears- he smiled a beautiful smile turned away sniffed again ........................ There is no law here against sniffing glue- its quite legal, it is not seen as an issue- it is not hidden- its open-its public- its not seen as a danger - its CHEAP. They start as young as 5, Glue- a 30 second escape from reality ? What is happening to these angels ? what is their world like ? We can only guess- I will say tho that the poor little boy in the underpants has so many scars across his back.....................The children here do not need to tell you anything- you see their lives and stories in their eyes.....I only hope if we return next year we will see all of the children who have touched our hearts and lives again- we wont forget their faces and we will look for them wen we return....
Watch over a little child to-night
Watch over a little child to-night,
Blest Savior from above,
And keep them till the morning light
Within Thine arms of love
. Amen
The visit to the School Friday was the BEST !!! Thedesks are soo good- lol wondering how long it will take for the graffitti !!! The school will be open in a week or so !!!! Sean , Kev, Red and myself were checking out the room wen we saw a little head peeking thru the door- we told him to come in- he was there for afternoon class at the Khmer school- well within 10 minutes the room was buzzing with kids !!! They were almost hynotized by the books !! It was a beautiful sight- we just let them go and enjoy the room and the books- their Khmer teacher arrived- he is a lovely man- he wasnt going to make them go to class- the kids were learning so much on their own with the books. We sat outside one of the Khmer classroms talking about how much the kids are going to love atending Painting Smiles School when I spotted about 8 books being secretly couriered across to a Khmer classromm by a little one-what can u do but smile.........Even Red was enthralled by the books !!! We both saw sadness in his eyes tho.... as I told you in an earlier blog, Red cannot afford much schooling for his girls- and definately not English schooling.. I wish we could do more for these people.............We thought once we saw the desks in the classroom that our mission would be complete here- how wrong we were. We leave here wishing we could have done some much more- questioning - wondering- wishing......
And as we say our goodbyes to Sihanoukville we remember our Otres beach friends-particularly Tam-bless you angel girl. The can kids on Occhuteal beach - be safe angels may you always be protected-our lovely young woman who has suffered so much at the hands of western men-please be here next year, please dont be sick-be safe in your work-please remember what we told you and we pray its not too late....To Red and your beautifull family- thankyou for you beaut iful Khmer hospitality- you are a great man Red- as much as you battle in life to keep your family alive all you want to do is give give give- we love you Red and your beautiful family- be safe always- never lose the "boy child" inside....Never....To our Mud-slide girl- bless you gorgeous- you always put the smile back ..... Staff at Seahorse-what a lovely Khmer family-we wish you luck always, the best ever happy hour in Sihanoukville.....Our Khmer gentleman @ Moonshak 2- will miss our conversations- will miss our learning and hope that you will remember what you may have learnt from us- we are sure you will- miss your barbeques, im going to TRY and make coleslaw just like yours wen im home .... wanna buy a can of Singha for $1 ??? :) It was an honor to have met you and your family our lovely Khmer Gent. If I continued this blog would go on forever.
Cheers to you Sihanoukville, and thankyou.Thankyou for the smiles and the laughter, the sadness and the tears, Just thankyou.................................................. With much love..... Kev n Jo.
Over and out.......
