alternative mothering| wholesome choices: 100 days...and one hundred nights.

tomorrow we are invited to a '100 days ceremony'. white shirt and black pants...and the envelope from the invite with some money in it.

it will be held at a house just down the road from us. well...along the new little muddy road that connects us to the main highway.

its actually in the house that our preschool will be in.

99 days ago a man in our village died. he died because the doctors in the hospital werent satisfied with the bribes given...so they left him without proper care in hospital while they went home for the kings birthday weekend. he died from diabetes. it wouldnt have taken much to have him alive today.

hes left a young wife and a young daughter. im not sure how they are doing. cambodians dont talk about feelings. even when asked its hard to get an answer.

the young widow is called srei-nee. her sister is called Noon.

this week Noon has been receiving training to become our first pre-school teacher. one of our rooms has been transformed into a little classroom during the day. and then bedroom for the instructor at night. weve had quite few people come past and peek their heads in to see whats going on. its pretty exciting really.

our little village called prey-tnaut is going to have a preschool! this means that the little kids aged between 3-5 will be able to come along five mornings a week... and receive some basic teaching....as well as a bowl full of rice porridge with fish and greens. as well as regular medical check ups.

i met with the village chief a week ago to make sure that he was okay with the plan. he listened very patiently. not showing any expression. then explained that when he was a little boy...he didnt have anyone to look after him. he was an orphan. that he had to walk a very long way to get to a school. he is so grateful that the children in his village dont have to do that. what a difference it will make for such poor people to have a place to send their kids to.

we asked Noon if she wanted to be the teacher since she is the only girl we know in our village who has finished year 12. she came to us three weeks ago and asked for a job so that she can go to university on the weekends. its a pretty amazing opportunity for Noon to be able to step into this job so quickly...and she is very sweet and gentle with children which is pretty much our main priority.

whats exciting about this preschool is that we are able to fund it through the little project that neshica and her friend violette set up called 'three jars full'. two ten year old girls wanting to provide empty cambodian preschools with educational toys. well...now we will be able to have a preschool here...which means that we can let people back home know whats going on a lot easier...and also provide more training for the other teachers in our region through our home and local preschool.

another exciting thing to come from this is that i can now create yet another job. a young woman in our village had a baby boy a bit over a month ago and she is having a very hard time. her husband (who she found out after getting married to him....has another wife and child) has gone back to wife number one (at least for now) and she doesnt have enough money to provide food. im going to ask her this weekend if she wants to have the job of making the rice porridge every morning. it would be a really easy job for her. something she could bring her baby with her for. walking distance from her home. and it would mean a small income plus free food. im always on the look out for new jobs so im pretty excited about this latest one.

tomorrows ceremony wont be that different to the funeral itself. the whole village will be there. lots of food. massive loud speakers blaring. and i will sit there with my kids being stared at. feeling so out of place...but yet..very much at home.