Post-Painting Update

Dear friends, Thank you for following this blog! It is really an encouragement for me to know that I can stay connected and share with you about what is happening here; and thank you to those who have prayed for me. My throat is still a little ticklish and sometimes it gets really dry (so it is difficult to breathe). This issue seems to be especially bad when I am in the Tuk Tuk and we are in congested traffic. So, I have become like many a Cambodian who dons a facemask; the kind like doctors wear during surgery. That seems to help somewhat (even though I feel kind of ridiculous wearing one). The air quality here is very poor and I have probably ingested enough particulate to be considered a smoker. Because of the memorial for King Sihanouk there is a 4 day national holiday here. It is anticipated that there will be huge crowds in Phnom Penh. I am thinking that this would be a good weekend to go to a smaller city and one where there are fewer motos, cars, and tuk tuks. Speaking of motos, which I haven't in a few days. I was just thinking that anything you could possibly imagine being too dangerous to try on a scooter (aka moto) I am sure that I have seen it done here and done well. For example, I have seen many motos with very young children standing on the rear portion of the seat like they were surfing the moto or standing on the front of the scooter with no helmet or adult holding them. I have seen many moto drivers texting, talking on their cell phones, or smoking. But that is just scratching the surface. There are many motos loaded up with cases of beer (3 cases wide, 2 cases deep, and 5 cases high). Either they are delivery drivers or someone with a serious drinking problem. I even saw two guys on a moto and the guy on the back was holding a thick and large window pane on his lap. You get any speed going and that guy is going to be a mansandwich on road and glass bread. One moto driver (riding alone) had a 10 foot steel tube balanced on his shoulder. Another moto driver (also riding alone) had a huge wooden pole in between his legs sticking straight up. So, he had to hold it with one hand and steer with the other. In the midst of all this are people walking on the edge of the street pulling large carts. Many collect recyclable cans; some sell fruit or toys; and since they don't have car horns they either play music or squeak a handheld horn that sounds like one of those plastic duck calls. There are even some people pulling carts who collect the garbage that is left out on the street. That is how garbage is handled here: you put it in a plastic bag and place it on the sidewalk. At night someone comes along and picks it up. (Sometimes the dogs tear it open.) I don't know for certain how waste management is conducted beyond that, but it appears to me that it is just dumped into areas where people live along the train tracks or even downtown along the river. (I have posted two pictures earlier showing these heaps of garbage next to people's homes.) Remember too, this is pretty nasty waste - as the sewer systems here are not equipped to handle toilet paper and so the used TP is added in with the other garbage. When I pass a cart hauling garbage the smell turns my stomach.

Today I finished painting the outside of the Daughters' Visitors Centre. It felt so good to finish and then to look up and see how nice it looks. There was actually a little crowd of Tuk Tuk drivers and neighboring business owners who were watching and it was so encouraging to hear a few of them say how nice it looks. Somehow I forgot to take a picture of it, but I will try to soon. I went to Firewall (intercessory prayer group for Cambodia) again today and then met Ruth for lunch. Ruth is the founder and CEO of Daughters. She is an amazing woman - singularly devoted to loving and following Christ, mother of 4 children (two still young), brilliant, and kind. I happened to catch her giving a gift to one of the Daughters staff to help with the staff's children. I also heard a story from Emma yesterday about how in their staff meeting yesterday Ruth had each person write onto a card their name, their title, and the work that they do. Then the cards were passed around (to one or two other staff) and the other staff would add to the card about what they observed that person to do and what they appreciated about that person. Emma said it was fun to write those additions to people's cards, but also so encouraging to get your own card back. I am going to shamelessly steal that idea. In the middle of lunch Ruth's two youngest children came to join us. I showed Ruth's 4 year old son (who I think is the coolest kid in all of Cambodia) my camera and he just went wild taking pictures - some of them really good pictures.

PS - two seconds after I hit save so that I could review this draft the power went out. Talk about fortunate timing!




A new dessert that Spice Garden is introducing
on Valentine's Day. We got to sample the prototype
and it is delicious! Perhaps the best thing I have
eaten this whole trip. I ate this first (all of it) and
then only had appetite left for about 1/2 my salad.

 

I only brought one pair of jeans on this trip and after painting for two days in these I think they are done and I will return home in a pair of Cambodian Jeans.

 

These two pictures were taken by Ruth's son (4 years old)