Day 2: Samart School

Yours truly with some locals

I slept well in the dorm: I had ear plugs, a mosquito net and a fan so I was quite comfortable. Hector the gecko, who lives under one of the beds, talked to himself all night repeating his own name, but he had settled down by morning.

There is no running water here: showers are taken Khmer-style, with a bucket of water taken from a trough and thrown over the head. The water in the trough is used for personal hygiene, laundry, dishes and cooking, so it's important not to double-dip or put one's hands into it. Khmers usually shower clothed, and during my first morning I found myself doing the same just to cool down. This is the hottest month of the year; the rainy season starts just after the Khmer New Year in mid-April. It is said that it rains only three times before the New Year; there have already been two rainfalls so I am hoping it will rain when I am here to alleviate some of the heat. There has been some spectacular lightning and thunder, accompanied by a power cut - a common occurrence here - but no precipitation yet.

In the morning I spent a couple of hours with the other volunteers tidying up the litter in the classrooms and around the schoolyard. It became too hot by midday to do much physically; life is very slow here because there is no other choice. Lunch was a simple but delicious meal of rice with meat, pineapple and cucumber, cooked by Mami and Papi's daughter.

A chicken comes to lunch

Tomorrow I plan to make a mural in the library with the numbers zero to ten and their words in English. There are some beautiful paintings here created by volunteers: an ocean complete with all manner of sea creatures, an enormous world map on the outside of the library, and a large elephant accompanied by the Elephant Song (The elephant goes like this, like that; he's VERY big and VERY fat; he has no fingers; he has no toes; but oh my! What a nose!)

After dinner we went to visit the volunteers at the other school. Liam, a long-term volunteer at the other school, drove us there; three people squashed on the back of a motorbike hurtling along the dirt tracks in the rural darkness is a pretty special experience (Cambodian joke: How many people can you fit in a car? Answer: One more.) We shared a few Angkor beers and watched a spectacular lightning storm; sheet lightning illuminated the sky every three seconds; there was no thunder and the stars were still out above us. It wasn't a late night as Mami and Papi wanted us back by 11pm so they could lock up: fair enough as we are all staying in their bedroom!

You can read more information about Samart School here, and if you would like to donate you can be sure that the funds are going to an excellent cause: http://eco-cambodia.wix.com/samart-school