I got these messages a few days ago from my friends in Australia who took a little "missionary" trip. Puts the Watchtower charity to shame! (Oh, well, Armageddon is coming, Jehover will sort it out!)
Randy Watters
Today it's raining, so Margaret and I are catching up on our postcards.
We left Cambodia and headed to central Vietnam a few days ago.
A word (or more!) about what we found in northern Cambodia:
We visited many villages from where the children at "our" school come from, and were even more stunned by the poverty. People living in bark 'lean-tos' or at most in the villages a hut made from four bamboo corner posts with thatched roofs and bamboo matting walls. In one such village the villagers had saved enough to dig a well. It cost US$175. This is the sole source of water for the village. Fortunately a well dug 35 meteres will provide clear water. At the well, all the villagers wash. Boys strip naked while the girls and women wear sarongs. They use a handpump to get water in a basin which they pour over themselves, even lathering their hair. They are presently saving for a second well!
At this village we shared with one family where the mother makes basketware from the palm tress which are growing everywhere. She will spend a couple of days to make a basket to sell for the equivalent of around 20 cents. Margaret bought some from her and the villagers treated us like honoured guests. (Not at all like we're used to!) They brought two old plastic chairs for us to sit on in the shade and offered us refreshments. We were glad it was fresh, for they collected two coconuts that had fallen to the ground, lopped off the tops and we drank fresh coconut juice (which if you're in SE Asia is a great drink to quench your thirst - and cheap!)
The teacher at Kvean Primary School lives in such a village and is royally paid US$20 per month. He subsists by taking extra work wherever he can.
Margaret and I took a few classes during the week (with an interpreter!). Martin did geography of Australia and Margaret tried concern for the environment; there is a massive pollution problem developing. At the end of the week, Martin tested some children in maths and found they are at a good level. I only wish the Aussie kids could see it, they might want to try harder!
Over the past year, we have been arranging for school uniforms to be made. Other schools have uniforms. They are supported by overseas NGOs, but not Kvean school, so this is where we help. A school uniform is beyond the reach of these people, so now the kids feel like other children in the region! At first we were having the uniforms made in the nearby town market but now we have them made at a sewing school in Seam Reap. This sewing school has been set up to take girls from the villages for a period of 6 months and teach them sewing which they then take back as a skill to their villages. By getting the uniforms made at the sewing school, we are helping both schools, so it's a "win win" situation.
The health situation is dire. There is an underlying chronic tuberculosis situation in the cmmunity and last year dengue fever was at plague proportions. Because of the underlying tuberculosis, the populations, children especially, had little resistance. Malaria too is a major problem.
In Seam Reap there is a Swiss paediatrician by the name of Dr Beat Tichner who has been working amongst the childrn for many years. He had left in the Pol Pot era but was invited back by King Sihanouk who has been most supportive of his work. With the ad of Swiss fundrasing he's estabished a modern children's hospital and without it, many many children would have persihed last year. Dr Tichner tells of the discouragement he receives from those who are empowered to help. The WHO denied there was a tuberculosis problem for there were no statistics to support it. But there were no statistics because there was no testing equipment! Now he has it and has the evidence. He tells of a vist from Princess Anne as head of the Save the Childen Fund and here reported words to him were: "Isn't all this equipment too sophisticated for these people? You just need to teach them better hygeine."!!!! As Dr Tichner indignantly said, " So the cure is to get them to wash their hands!" Just because people are poor, doesn't mean they should not have the benefit of modern medicine.
Before leaving Cambodia we opened our own bank account there and spent time looking for land. We have an idea for the future progress of brighter students at the school. We would like to build some flats to accommodate the staff at the nearby hospital and from the burgeoning hotel. We believe the flats should be sutable for the community but a little above standard. From the rent we will provide for extra tuition for gifted students and maintain the school and schol community. We shall see what develops but it looks like another trip to Cambodia!!!!
Now we're in HoiAn, central Vietnam, which is a completely dfferent world from Cambodia - wealthy by comparison - yet we always thought it was poor! HoiAn is a medieval town listed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO and has middle-ages Chinese and Japanese architecture without modern buildings.
We've been cycling through the outlying paddy fields, villages both large and small; yesterday we did 30 kms! Everywhere people are so friendly and as we ride through each village, people come out of their houses to wave and call out "Hello". It's beautiful countryside but again pollution is incredible by our standards. Cheers, Martin and Margaret and message #2
Hi all,
Yes, we made it quite smoothly, but was so tired on Sunday evening when we arrived in Siem Reap.
How pleased we were to see the children at the Kvean Primary School! Some we could remember from last January and could see how they've grown!
We had been worried how we would get the mountain of bags to them. We'd ben relieved to get an email from the GM of Singapore Airlines in Australia that they would double our weight allowance for the journey. This meant 80kg!!!!! We still didn't know how weight when we got to Sydney Airport but when it was weighed we were 3kg under!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh, the relief! We've brought just a change of clothes with us, the rest of our cases and bags was full of the items some friends have given as well as what we bought. The kids were so thrilled to see it all opened before them in the classroom. Now we feel happy.....and lighter!
We've been taking many photos of the kids to show you. More later in postcard#2.
My friend Phath who lives in Siem Reap say "Chum reap lia" (goodbye)