We had a very full day today and are going to sleep well tonight :) We woke and got ourselves ready. And around 7am Joseph looked out of the building and said that the entire school was in the yard. Today was a work day where the school students came to help at the Orphanage for the first half of the day. The amount of work that got done was amazing and all the kids seemed very happy to be working. It was very heavy, hard work with breaks to play soccer or rest in between. Below is a scene from the beginning of the day. If you look at the left hand side you will see two girls carrying a basket in between them. It is filled with either dirt or sand. I couldn't even count how many of those basketfuls got moved today. There were also many kids using either big cloths or rice bags to load the dirt into like on a tarp, then carrying the edges. All of us including Anna helped carry dirt, sand and rocks around the lot.
There was also a corner in the back that had been a dump ground for old bricks, broken cinderblocks and clay pieces. Joseph and Benjamin helped there quite a while. The little girls in this picture are carrying another of those baskets. These kids were strong and so hardworking! At one point I was carrying one of these baskets with Anna and it was a broken basket. For the broken baskets they tie a string or wire on the side to make the second handle. This hurts as you carry it with the load pressing down. One of the sweet girls here came up to me and insisted I trade so I wouldn't have the broken basket to hurt my hand. I was touched.
Just to give an idea of the amount of dirt, sand and rocks these kids moved; below one of at least 5 piles that we can remember. All of it got dispersed in about 3 hours. Generally the boys would hoe or shovel the dirt/sand/rocks into the basket and the girls generally carried. Throughout the day today, over the village loud speakers there was mourning chants, prayers and songs from the Buddhists. They played for most of the day. Ream said that they often do that.
There were a couple wheelbarrows that the boys enjoyed and worked hard at.
Kit and Ream were trying to level this back lot for building of new mission team structures. They are in the process. The sand went to near where the pool is being dug out as well as the rocks. The boys who were filling some buckets with rocks to be carried started filling the buckets very full to see who could carry them. Alfven won some points and got some very hearty laughs when he put overflowing buckets up on his shoulder to move.
Joseph and Grace worked for a bit as a team. We all sort of traded partners. I'm sure they were wishing that we had just gone to Disney for vacation this summer :)
This is Cambodia's beautiful alarm clock!
After the morning of work, we ate lunch with the kids. I really did feel bad because our dishes had beautiful carrots and green vegetables as well as some meat. But the kids seemed to enjoy our being there. We are starting to learn more names each day. Each one is so special with dreams and talents that the Lord has given and the Lord can use.
After lunch, Alfven and I met with Kit and Ream to talk about the End of Year Carnival. With our kids help we sorted a living room full of candy for the event. We chatted about ideas for booths and games. They are looking forward to a larger celebration this year. After working on the Carnival, Ream, Joseph, Benjamin, I, her Joseph & Sam and a girl named Wut went for a bike ride. It was so beautiful I can't describe it! The pictures won't do it justice but it will give a glimpse.
We saw tons of cows out in fields and rice growing. We saw a boy flying a kite made out of an old shaggy rice bag. We saw a pet monkey tied to a tree and nearly every house we rode by we would hear a very little "Hello! Hello! Hello!" and out of most would appear young children, sometimes fully clothed, so happy to see us, waving with huge smiles.
These are a couple of sweet fellows that were just sitting at a corner eating a fruit or something on the grass. I stopped at the corner to take a picture and they got giggling when I said hello. I asked if I could take their picture and they motioned yes. They popped up and stood just as they are. Behind me I could hear Ream's son Joseph say they dropped their snack on the ground. After the picture they just sat back down and started eating again.
This is one of the more picturesque houses that we rode by. All of them were very interesting and different. Two of them had herds of little piglets in the front yards.
If you can see, there is a lady in the background left side that is planting rice in this field. The woman closer in the red looked like a grandmother age who was out with her. Ream said the harvest for the rice will be in December. Most people grow rice to try and feed their family through the year.
After we returned from our bike ride we got ready and went to Ream's Mom and Dad's place for an authentic Cambodian holiday meal. We sat outside on mats and cooked over a special cooker with beef and vegetables. It was called Cow Up the Mountain. It was called that because the cooker is a dome shape and that's where the beef goes so it looks like a mountain when all the beef is on it and the vegetables are in the bottom ring. It was delicious! Now we are heading to bed! I'm guessing we all sleep very well again :)
No comments:
Post a Comment