Chol Chnam Thmay: Khmer Lunar New Year Celebration

We were fortunate enough to find ourselves celebrating with the community on the final night of the Aid Expedition. It was Chol Chnam Thmay, which is Khmer Tet, or Lunar New Year. The women of the community spent the entire day preparing the feast and it was truly an amazing and joyful occasion. Something I was so glad to be a part of.

The food was outstanding.

Five children received awards and recognition for their art work in the Little Red Fairy art contest that Catalyst sponsors. They each received scholarship money to continue their schooling.

There was a fashion contest - three groups of people consisting of 3-4 women and one man. The winner was the group that was the most fashion forward group as decided by applause from the audience.

There can't be New Year celebration without a dragon dance.

I thought the chickens in this basket were for dinner, but thank goodness they were for the "Catch the Chicken" contest instead. Our kids got thumped by the Vietnamese kids in this contest. The chickens merely got tortured, instead of served up for dinner.

This little girl slayed me - she was so darned cute. She was into everything was was everywhere.

Calling it a night. An Chi getting on the bus and heading back to the hotel.

The hygiene kits were a hit!

The day our kids held their market, there were items available not only for the kids who attend the Vinh Quang school, but for their family members as well. I walked up and saw this mob of people standing around a table and upon closer look saw that they were picking out hygiene kits. A hygiene kits consists of 2 tooth brushes, 2 tubes of toothpaste, bar of soap, comb, brush, floss, hand towel, and various other toiletry items all fitting into a gallon-sized ziplock baggie. Many of our group members brought these kits, and An Chi's class made a collective contribution as well. I can say with great confidence, they were a HUGE hit! Thank you IWIA Daisy class members, you made their day.

In addition, An Chi's class wrote letters to their counterparts -- the first graders at the Vinh Quang school. They had bios of the kids and wrote personal and heartfelt letters and included photos of themselves. They also included a self addressed envelope and hopefully will get a letter back!

The Dump

This image says it all for the people who live at the dump. Most are ethnically Khmer and are ostracized from society (I am not sure because they are Khmer or because they live at the dump -- probably both). They make their living as you might guess, by sifting through the trash and collecting recyclables. To say that the dump was a humbling experience would be a gross understatement. I stood for a long time looking in the direction this photo was taken before I was even aware that this woman was sitting here.

Someone's home.

And their rooster...

This was heartbreaking to see. A tiny three month old baby languishing in the heat. The day before, this baby was brought to our clinic by the grandmother (holding the infant). It turned out that he was born two months premature, so was in fact equivalent to a one month old. The grandmother was asking for formula, but given that they lived at the dump, they had no access to bottled water. It was an impossible situation. I am not sure in the end what was prescribed for this infant, but seeing the family's living conditions was really hard on everyone, especially the nurses and translators who had been helping this family the previous day.

This was where the baby, grandmother and family lived.

Another family.

Fish drying on the fence. There was a really dirty canal on the side of the fence where the dump families lives and a cleaner pond of water on the other side of the fence, and I hope these fish came from that side.

And jeans drying on the fence as well.

A lone reminder of Christmas.

Posting problems!

I have been having trouble accessing my blog account from our last hotel in Hoi An. Yesterday we arrived in Siem Reap, Cambodia and I had high hopes for a good wireless signal, but alas, our room seems to be one which gets no signal. I was so tired last night, I didn't want to sit in the lobby with a tour bus full of people to blog. Hopefully tonight we will have a new room... stay tuned.

It's even hotter here than in Vietnam. Yesterday's temp: 39 Celsius (102 Fahrenheit).

Today's agenda: riding an elephant, seeing some of the temples of Angkor Wat.

Around school

Typical house on the river in these parts.

Harvesting and drying rice. Rice was laid out to dry along the roads on long tarps. A few times per day someone would come out and rake and turn it. On this particular day they bagged it up and sent if off. I have no idea what the bags weighted but they were heavy and the guys managed to balance two bags on a motorbike.

A veterinarian's sign right in front of where the rice was being dried on the street. I like the collie on the left side of the sign -- he's wearing sunglasses.

The Vinh Quang School

This is the Vinh Quang school that the Catalyst Foundation supports in Rach Gia.

Hey, I did that logo (thanks to Paula and Jodianne for their help).

Arts and craft projects galore!

Students of Vinh Quang.

There was much tie dying as well.

Some kids pretending to be in class.

Our kids had a market where they "sold" goods to the kids from Vinh Quang. An Chi is manning her station at the market. From what I heard, she drove a hard bargain.

Tired Girl

This photo embodies how we all felt at the end of the day. An Chi was wiped out most days by dinner time. We planned on Skyping Mrs. McConnell's class daily, but since she was usually passed out and in a deep sleep by the time school started in Atlanta, it didn't happen. We finally managed to make contact Thursday and much excitement ensued.

The Building Team

The Building team was responsible for building a new house as well as installing a playground at the Vinh Quang School, which the Catalyst Foundation supports. Above, they are just breaking ground to prep and pour concrete for the base of the playground. It was so incredibly hot, I cannot imagine working out there with the pick axes, shovels, wheel barrows they used to clear the parched ground (it's dry season). On the first day, they were mixing and pouring concrete by hand until the finally got a small concrete mixer the next day. My hat was off to them.

Voila!

Medical Team

We left on the bus every morning at 6am, ate breakfast and then arrived at our medical site by 7:30 to begin working. The gates opened at 8am and there was always a long line of people waiting. I began most mornings with a ca phe sua and a French baguette, usually accompanied by pho or beef stew.

Some of the many patients, lined up when we arrived in the morning.

Crowd control was an issue. Without any barriers to keep people at bay in the open air market, we relied some rather inexpensive strapping rope to keep areas off limits. With so many people needing care, it did the trick for awhile each day, although we still had gate crashers and line jumpers. Most people saw our rope barrier as a challenge, or invitation, depending on how you look at it, to step over, under, walk through, play with, stretch, you name it.

This little guy was all smiles until he needed to get blood work. Although he was relatively robust and healthy, it took a few tries to get the sample. He wanted nothing to do with giving up his blood sample and his pitiful wails brought tears to my eyes. Once the traumatic event was over, he was all smiles again and got a mother lode of plastic dinosaurs for his trouble.

Happy family. This girl was incredible sweet with her baby sister. Judging by the fact that she had many of her permanent teeth, I was surprised that she could be older than An Chi since she was so slight.

Some of our team posing with Nhu, one of the lovely interpreters.

We drank A LOT of Gatorade. I'm sure I drank more this week than
in all of the last 10 years.

Love this bike! Someone told me that there are 8 million people in Vietnam and there are 7 million motorbikes. I really miss seeing all the bicycles on the streets. Much has changed in the 7 years I was last here.

Brenda and Catherine were in charge of painting fluoride varnish on teeth. And boy did those teeth need it! Judging by their reaction, most of the kids we saw have never had this. There was much spitting and rubbing off of the newly applied varnish. Win some, lose some.