So the end of our second week here... The health initiative I have been putting in place (training the resident BFT staff and rural villagers to identify basic causes/diseases/symptoms/prevention and treatments) using picture flash cards has been going really well. The local BFT staff member delivered his first solo session to the villagers on Wednesday... Really lovely to see local people taking the initiative in looking after their health.
Spent Wed afternoon at the local children's hospital in Siem Reap with a little girl who is having a heart op (fingers crossed) next week.. She's waited 13 years for a VSD repair (hole in the heart). The hospital was remarkably clean and the wait was no longer than in a NHS one... In fact, some of it was quicker. Just the challenge ahead of ensuring post op she gets the domicillary care she need.
The sounds and smells of Siem Reap are becoming more familiar now... Getting used to avoiding the incessant Tuk Tuk/ massage, madam.... however, the 20 hour funeral chanting which takes place after someone dies and is broadcast around the area using the loudest sound systems available, remains the biggest hurdle to a good nights sleep...
On the way to BFT in the morning, we walk through a beautiful park and the scent of orange blossom is intoxicating... Numbs the senses to the soon to be followed stench of raw sewage near the river.
There are enormous bats which inhabit the trees in the park... Bat droppings descend from above so a hat is required clothing!
Hugh put on an amazing magic show at the BFT centre for the children yesterday.. So proud of him as the kids were literally entranced!
This week end we are chilling out.. Well, chilling accompanied by the funeral chanting going on in the background... But the gin fizzes here are amazing and a good way to let the sounds and smells just waft over you.
Battery running out so will sign out.
Friday, March 29, 2013
Monday, March 25, 2013
We've now been here for a week now... Slowly getting used to the Cambodian heat (it is HOT here, sorry to say this to all of you who are under a blanket of snow!) & the Cambodian pace of life.
The last week has been spent observing how best to utilise the time we are here... We visited a very remote village near the Thai-Cambodia border last Friday and saw them turn on their irrigation system for the first time.. Very appropriate as it was World Water Day! The village has been setting in place systems to be self supporting ... It is MILES & MILES from anywhere. But despite that, they have built a school on the site so education of the village children can take place ... Health/hygiene standards in the village? Hmmmmm....
We have also visited other rural villages nearer to Siem Reap where supposedly there is better access to the local health care centre.... But do people utilise the services? Questionable how many do this and if they do whether they receive what is required... The Bottle of Pills is seen as a cure all here ... Doesn't matter what is in the pills or for whom or for what they were intended, so kiddies take heart pills prescribed for adults, steroids are randomly given out from one relative to another... Traditional remedies are mixed with modern treatments... One is left thinking the human body really is incredible that such misuse of medicine doesn't result in instant or near death!!
From the healthcare perspective, it has given me time to assess how best to utilise the short time I am here and my goal is to develop a sustainable basic health education programme for the villages. With the help of another nurse who is volunteering at BFT & one of the BFT staff members we are devising a core set of health education programmes on things as simple as hand washing, safe use of water and basic hygiene skills. I am very lucky to have a skilled artist with me ( my hubbie) who is making up a set of health education flash cards which we hope to use to get the villagers to identify a health problem and what would be the best way to treat it .. The goal is they identify the problem and the solution and we fill in the gaps.
Last Friday, we went to one of the very remote villages near the Thai - Cambodia border (ex Khmer Rouge stronghold). We witnessed them turning on their crop irrigation programme.. Very appropriate as it was World Water Day. Despite being in the middle of nowhere, the village has a school.. Spent a very happy hour (albeit in the midday sun so somewhat taxing on the body's cooling system) playing What's The Time Mr Wolf with the children... Their squeals of laughter when I said " dinner time" and they all ran off in different directions was joy to the ears... Standards of hygiene in the village ? Interesting to say the least, but we sat down later with the mums and some of the kids and had a hand washing lesson... Once more greeted with peels of laughter.. Cleaning under the nails was an utterly new concept to them! In fact, hand hygiene of any kind was new to them!
.
We spent the weekend visiting a town called Battanbang in the east of Cambodia (I think??) ... I take
my hat off to all the gap year kids who travel by bus as they explore the world... The bus trip there is NOT one I would want to repeat more than once... We had a bus driver who had his hand on the horn more than on the steering wheel... A supposedly 3 hour journey took closer to 6 hours! You then arrive at your destination to be bombarded with Tuk Tuk drivers who want to take you every which way... Mercifully we realised in the nick of time that the guesthouse we had pre booked was opposite the bus station. But we are grateful to a local Tuk Tuk driver, Mr Nicky, who became our personal driver for what was left of the day we arrived and became our personal tour guide. We visited two amazing sites... Both OMG places... The first was one of the Killing Caves where the Khmer Rouge carried out some of their truly APPALLING atrocities.... This was a very hard place to be... From the top of the hill where the cave is situated, you look out over the Killing Fields... You start to realise how little we in the West really knew what happened during Pol Pot's era... I urge anyone reading this to learn all they can about that time and the years after... Only that way can one just begin to understand what these people have endured for year after year after year... 45% of the population are
under 25! You very rarely see an old person in Cambodia, and when you do, you can only wonder what they endured or which side they were on that they have survived.
The other OMG moment was seeing thousands upon thousands of bats fly out of a cave in same hill... They fly out at dusk, every night of the year and then fly back again at dawn... One is left with wondering whether in some way they are a representation of those who were killed in the nearby fields.
So, this week will see the first delivery of our sustainable health education project... Fingers crossed X
If anyone comes to Cambodia on holiday or a gap visit, please go to the rural villages. The people are LOVELY, their plight is heart breaking, but you will rarely receive a more heartfelt welcome.
The last week has been spent observing how best to utilise the time we are here... We visited a very remote village near the Thai-Cambodia border last Friday and saw them turn on their irrigation system for the first time.. Very appropriate as it was World Water Day! The village has been setting in place systems to be self supporting ... It is MILES & MILES from anywhere. But despite that, they have built a school on the site so education of the village children can take place ... Health/hygiene standards in the village? Hmmmmm....
We have also visited other rural villages nearer to Siem Reap where supposedly there is better access to the local health care centre.... But do people utilise the services? Questionable how many do this and if they do whether they receive what is required... The Bottle of Pills is seen as a cure all here ... Doesn't matter what is in the pills or for whom or for what they were intended, so kiddies take heart pills prescribed for adults, steroids are randomly given out from one relative to another... Traditional remedies are mixed with modern treatments... One is left thinking the human body really is incredible that such misuse of medicine doesn't result in instant or near death!!
From the healthcare perspective, it has given me time to assess how best to utilise the short time I am here and my goal is to develop a sustainable basic health education programme for the villages. With the help of another nurse who is volunteering at BFT & one of the BFT staff members we are devising a core set of health education programmes on things as simple as hand washing, safe use of water and basic hygiene skills. I am very lucky to have a skilled artist with me ( my hubbie) who is making up a set of health education flash cards which we hope to use to get the villagers to identify a health problem and what would be the best way to treat it .. The goal is they identify the problem and the solution and we fill in the gaps.
Last Friday, we went to one of the very remote villages near the Thai - Cambodia border (ex Khmer Rouge stronghold). We witnessed them turning on their crop irrigation programme.. Very appropriate as it was World Water Day. Despite being in the middle of nowhere, the village has a school.. Spent a very happy hour (albeit in the midday sun so somewhat taxing on the body's cooling system) playing What's The Time Mr Wolf with the children... Their squeals of laughter when I said " dinner time" and they all ran off in different directions was joy to the ears... Standards of hygiene in the village ? Interesting to say the least, but we sat down later with the mums and some of the kids and had a hand washing lesson... Once more greeted with peels of laughter.. Cleaning under the nails was an utterly new concept to them! In fact, hand hygiene of any kind was new to them!
.
We spent the weekend visiting a town called Battanbang in the east of Cambodia (I think??) ... I take
my hat off to all the gap year kids who travel by bus as they explore the world... The bus trip there is NOT one I would want to repeat more than once... We had a bus driver who had his hand on the horn more than on the steering wheel... A supposedly 3 hour journey took closer to 6 hours! You then arrive at your destination to be bombarded with Tuk Tuk drivers who want to take you every which way... Mercifully we realised in the nick of time that the guesthouse we had pre booked was opposite the bus station. But we are grateful to a local Tuk Tuk driver, Mr Nicky, who became our personal driver for what was left of the day we arrived and became our personal tour guide. We visited two amazing sites... Both OMG places... The first was one of the Killing Caves where the Khmer Rouge carried out some of their truly APPALLING atrocities.... This was a very hard place to be... From the top of the hill where the cave is situated, you look out over the Killing Fields... You start to realise how little we in the West really knew what happened during Pol Pot's era... I urge anyone reading this to learn all they can about that time and the years after... Only that way can one just begin to understand what these people have endured for year after year after year... 45% of the population are
under 25! You very rarely see an old person in Cambodia, and when you do, you can only wonder what they endured or which side they were on that they have survived.
The other OMG moment was seeing thousands upon thousands of bats fly out of a cave in same hill... They fly out at dusk, every night of the year and then fly back again at dawn... One is left with wondering whether in some way they are a representation of those who were killed in the nearby fields.
So, this week will see the first delivery of our sustainable health education project... Fingers crossed X
If anyone comes to Cambodia on holiday or a gap visit, please go to the rural villages. The people are LOVELY, their plight is heart breaking, but you will rarely receive a more heartfelt welcome.
Wednesday, March 20, 2013
Day 4: this place is a land of stark contrasts... In the city, Siem Reap, you see neon lights, people driving Lexus 4x4, money being spent like water in the restaurants in Pub Street ( one of the main eating areas), but step a few km away from the hubbub that is Siem Reap city, there is poverty... Real poverty! On the journey to one of the villages we have been going to with BFT, you pass the traffic jam of tourists in Tuk Tuks going to see the temples at Angkor Wat....money! We drive past the tourists, down red dust tracks, and see conditions these Tuk Tuk tourists will never see..the pain of the contrast would be easier to bear if you knew the money the tourists pay to visit the temples was going to the Cambodians in some way but it isn't ... It goes to the Vietnam government. To try and write about the politics of this country would either land me in jail or see me standing as an MP... We know So little about what happens here... Ignorance truly is bliss because reality is shocking!
I better step off my political soap box...
So how have we spent our days so far? We have been gently introduced to what BFT is trying to do to improve the health, welfare and education of these village people. To date, we have observed.... We go to the villages where the children are waiting for our arrival... There is a large green mat in a shaded area under the trees on which the children stand and greet us with smiles that would break the hardest of hearts...we sit down and a bag of toys is placed on the mat... The children scramble to get a toy.. A piece of Lego... We play with them, sing songs with them, cuddle them... Laugh with them.. Listen to their pigeon English and try to say a few words in Khmer. Most of them have skin issues, and rarely do they stop scratching... But thanks to the dedicated hard work of BFT staff & volunteers, their nutritional health, their basic hygiene standards are improving.. One of the nurses I am with comments how much change she has seen in the children's health in the past year. So there is hope... What is the biggest impression these visits have made on me? education = hope. Without it, these children will never have a chance of life in the remotest sense of how we in the West know life and take it so much for granted.
After a few hours, we leave and head back to town... The children's eyes stay with you all the way home... Bright, chocolate brown eyes that cannot belie their plight..
We walk back to our guesthouse (about a mile from the BFT centre)... The litter on the banks of the river that cuts through the town is obscene... Plastic after plastic after plastic bottle or wrapping covers the banks and blocks the flow of the river in places.. Sewer pipes open into the river..
We have to take time to absorb what we have seen in the villages before we can head back to the neon noise of the city... The contrast becomes starker each day.
I'm tasked with writing an HIV awareness education session by one of the BFT staff... It's a huge problem here ... For those of you reading this who did the DTN course with me, I hear the voice of our lecturer from Africa and his excellent HIV sessions.
Nothing happens with any degree of speed here... But that's to be expected... The brain needs time to absorb what the eyes see...
Cambodia can be linked to many words beginning with C: contrast, charismatic ( the people are lovely), corrupt (I won't go back on my political soap box again), children, courage....
Am I glad we came? I cannot begin to say how much.
I better step off my political soap box...
So how have we spent our days so far? We have been gently introduced to what BFT is trying to do to improve the health, welfare and education of these village people. To date, we have observed.... We go to the villages where the children are waiting for our arrival... There is a large green mat in a shaded area under the trees on which the children stand and greet us with smiles that would break the hardest of hearts...we sit down and a bag of toys is placed on the mat... The children scramble to get a toy.. A piece of Lego... We play with them, sing songs with them, cuddle them... Laugh with them.. Listen to their pigeon English and try to say a few words in Khmer. Most of them have skin issues, and rarely do they stop scratching... But thanks to the dedicated hard work of BFT staff & volunteers, their nutritional health, their basic hygiene standards are improving.. One of the nurses I am with comments how much change she has seen in the children's health in the past year. So there is hope... What is the biggest impression these visits have made on me? education = hope. Without it, these children will never have a chance of life in the remotest sense of how we in the West know life and take it so much for granted.
After a few hours, we leave and head back to town... The children's eyes stay with you all the way home... Bright, chocolate brown eyes that cannot belie their plight..
We walk back to our guesthouse (about a mile from the BFT centre)... The litter on the banks of the river that cuts through the town is obscene... Plastic after plastic after plastic bottle or wrapping covers the banks and blocks the flow of the river in places.. Sewer pipes open into the river..
We have to take time to absorb what we have seen in the villages before we can head back to the neon noise of the city... The contrast becomes starker each day.
I'm tasked with writing an HIV awareness education session by one of the BFT staff... It's a huge problem here ... For those of you reading this who did the DTN course with me, I hear the voice of our lecturer from Africa and his excellent HIV sessions.
Nothing happens with any degree of speed here... But that's to be expected... The brain needs time to absorb what the eyes see...
Cambodia can be linked to many words beginning with C: contrast, charismatic ( the people are lovely), corrupt (I won't go back on my political soap box again), children, courage....
Am I glad we came? I cannot begin to say how much.
Sunday, March 17, 2013
So, the sun has just gone over the yard arm which means it's time for a beer!
We arrived at out new home, Victory Guesthouse, Siem Reap, this morning after a fantastic flight ... Managed to wangle an upgrade to business class which was just superb.... We couldn't believe how much food they kept bringing out.... Don't believe a word they write on Trip Advisor about Vietnam airlines... They were lovely.
It is hot!!! Boy, is it hot... After leaving England yesterday when it was wet and 4 degrees, it is now 40 degrees! But so far, no rain!
We had a quick walk around the town after we arrived... Not so sure about fried snake and beetle as our first introduction to street food...
The guesthouse has a roof terrace with a divine hammock... Listening to all the different street sounds whilst lying up there this afternoon was bliss.
Tonight we're going to explore the night market and hopefully find more appealing food...
Then tomorrow morning the tuk tuk will pick us up and take us to BFT ...apprehensive ? Yes... Trying desperately to remember all the things I learnt on the DTN course? Yes.... Happy to be here? Definitely!!!!
We arrived at out new home, Victory Guesthouse, Siem Reap, this morning after a fantastic flight ... Managed to wangle an upgrade to business class which was just superb.... We couldn't believe how much food they kept bringing out.... Don't believe a word they write on Trip Advisor about Vietnam airlines... They were lovely.
It is hot!!! Boy, is it hot... After leaving England yesterday when it was wet and 4 degrees, it is now 40 degrees! But so far, no rain!
We had a quick walk around the town after we arrived... Not so sure about fried snake and beetle as our first introduction to street food...
The guesthouse has a roof terrace with a divine hammock... Listening to all the different street sounds whilst lying up there this afternoon was bliss.
Tonight we're going to explore the night market and hopefully find more appealing food...
Then tomorrow morning the tuk tuk will pick us up and take us to BFT ...apprehensive ? Yes... Trying desperately to remember all the things I learnt on the DTN course? Yes.... Happy to be here? Definitely!!!!
Saturday, March 16, 2013
So the big C day has finally arrived! To say I'm excited would be an understatement.... This volunteering trip is the realisation of a two year long dream, the seeds of which were sown after watching Comic Relief in 2011 & thinking "I want to help".
So here we are, Hugh (my husband) & I, at N Terminal Gatwick Airport on a very wet and grey Saturday morning waiting for our flight that will hopefully take us to Cambodia and Center-BFT.org....
The dream has become reality.... Never give up on dreams!
So here we are, Hugh (my husband) & I, at N Terminal Gatwick Airport on a very wet and grey Saturday morning waiting for our flight that will hopefully take us to Cambodia and Center-BFT.org....
The dream has become reality.... Never give up on dreams!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)