im writing this as i watch the clouds rolling over the hills and the thunder starting to make some noise. my room is overlooking the mango trees and the river. we spent the morning swimming in the river. incredibly refreshing...for us...as well as the snake that swam past.
levi and neshi are happy to have found some friends to play with. the owners of Mango Trees have come down for the last few days of summer holidays....he is french and she is cambodian. they have four children. all adopted. and all with a few variations of learning or behaviour challenges.. its been so good for the older kids to have somone to play with though.
steve has taken Levi for a ride on the motorbike into kep. the wind is really picking up now and it feels like a storm is brewing so it could be an interesting trip for them. neshica and Time are downstairs playing with the new kids. last i saw them there was a lot of paper and scissor action going on. ocea is lying here next to me singing away with her blanket and dummy.
our time here at Mango Trees has been pretty incredible really. such a great place to just hang out while Time heals from her chicken pox. at the moment she cant really walk properly from the blisters on her feet...and even gettting her undies on hurts.
this place is a real oasis from the realities that lie around us. everytime i venture into the town of kampot im struck by the hardship of so so many people of all ages. the hardest interaction ive had so far happened two days ago. (the rain is absolutely BUCKETING now and the winds is incredibly strong!) i took the big kids into Kampot so we could have a look around. i decided that i was going to have a massage at one of the three 'seeing hands' massage places that is run by blind cambodians. all places were empty so i picked one that had a cafe next door so the kids could have a drink while i had my half hour treatment.
the guy who did the massage was very obviously blind. the insides of his eyes were covered in a white coating that was quite freaky to look at. made him look like an alien. (im being really honest here). within minutes of starting he asked me what sort of jobs blind people have in australia. i found it hard to answer...so he asked me if blind people work in offices in australia. and i said yes they do. if they have the right training. he then went on to tell me how he dreams of working in an office. he wants to start a management business. he wants to provide training and jobs for blind people so they dont have to work in the massage business. "the only job for blind people in cambodia is massage". despite his very basic english it was so easy to understand how desperate this young man is to make a different life for himself. he told me that if he works in an office he could make maybe $200-300 a month. that would mean he could have a wife and children. i asked him how much he makes now. he gets $1 for every hour he works. so in a tiny town with three massage places...that doesnt equate to very much. in fact..the day i was there i was client number three. late in the afternoon. there were three blind massage guys...so they all earned a dollar each for that day. he said most days they have five people come in. so he makes just over a dollar a day. his boss gets the other $4 for the hour. as our conversation continued i just felt worse and worse. so overwhelmed with the injustice of it all. here is a young man (27) who is desperate to study so he can have a proper job and help others in a similar situation. instead he is stuck in a shit job.
Nhem was 17 years old in 1999. just about to become an adult when he got the measles. the measles made him blind. and being in cambodia means that its hard to connect up with people who could help out. it would cost him $2000 to study. an impossible amount for a guy who is lucky if he earns $2 a day.
he asked me if i knew anyone that would be able to give him information about being sponsored. by this stage my comfort zone was millions of miles away and i really just wanted to get off the table and run back to australia where i can live in my insulated bubble. i told him that i would check with my sister in law who works with the blind mission. (cant think of the name right now). i didnt want to get his hopes up in anyway but told him i will let him know if i hear of someone who could help. i paid for the full hour, gave a feel good (for myself) tip and got out of there feeling very lightheaded.
the thought of living in cambodia and being bombarded with these stories is really overwhelming. the needs are all around me. heartbreaking stories. no one asking for riches...just the very basic stuff in life. im really keen to be part of a solution...yet i feel so inadequate. the needs are endless. and as a mum my every day gets swallowed up in the domestic needs before i have a chance to look beyond our four walls.
i have so many thoughts about how to live a life of meaning. one option is to live in australia. live as simply as we can. and earn as much money as we possibly can. and then send as much as we can over here and sponsor people like Nheem so they can have a chance of a better life. but i know that i know that i know that living a simple life is practically impossible. our good intentions would get swallowed up with the 'necessities' of life.
another option is communal living. where everyone shares their resources. instead of the silly concept of every home having every single gadget... things are shared to keep the expense down and the interactions up. and with everyone sharing the desire to live simply the momentum might be strong enough to keep the passion alive.
another option is to go back and reclaim my birthright to a spacious comfort zone.
levi and neshi are happy to have found some friends to play with. the owners of Mango Trees have come down for the last few days of summer holidays....he is french and she is cambodian. they have four children. all adopted. and all with a few variations of learning or behaviour challenges.. its been so good for the older kids to have somone to play with though.
steve has taken Levi for a ride on the motorbike into kep. the wind is really picking up now and it feels like a storm is brewing so it could be an interesting trip for them. neshica and Time are downstairs playing with the new kids. last i saw them there was a lot of paper and scissor action going on. ocea is lying here next to me singing away with her blanket and dummy.
our time here at Mango Trees has been pretty incredible really. such a great place to just hang out while Time heals from her chicken pox. at the moment she cant really walk properly from the blisters on her feet...and even gettting her undies on hurts.
this place is a real oasis from the realities that lie around us. everytime i venture into the town of kampot im struck by the hardship of so so many people of all ages. the hardest interaction ive had so far happened two days ago. (the rain is absolutely BUCKETING now and the winds is incredibly strong!) i took the big kids into Kampot so we could have a look around. i decided that i was going to have a massage at one of the three 'seeing hands' massage places that is run by blind cambodians. all places were empty so i picked one that had a cafe next door so the kids could have a drink while i had my half hour treatment.
the guy who did the massage was very obviously blind. the insides of his eyes were covered in a white coating that was quite freaky to look at. made him look like an alien. (im being really honest here). within minutes of starting he asked me what sort of jobs blind people have in australia. i found it hard to answer...so he asked me if blind people work in offices in australia. and i said yes they do. if they have the right training. he then went on to tell me how he dreams of working in an office. he wants to start a management business. he wants to provide training and jobs for blind people so they dont have to work in the massage business. "the only job for blind people in cambodia is massage". despite his very basic english it was so easy to understand how desperate this young man is to make a different life for himself. he told me that if he works in an office he could make maybe $200-300 a month. that would mean he could have a wife and children. i asked him how much he makes now. he gets $1 for every hour he works. so in a tiny town with three massage places...that doesnt equate to very much. in fact..the day i was there i was client number three. late in the afternoon. there were three blind massage guys...so they all earned a dollar each for that day. he said most days they have five people come in. so he makes just over a dollar a day. his boss gets the other $4 for the hour. as our conversation continued i just felt worse and worse. so overwhelmed with the injustice of it all. here is a young man (27) who is desperate to study so he can have a proper job and help others in a similar situation. instead he is stuck in a shit job.
Nhem was 17 years old in 1999. just about to become an adult when he got the measles. the measles made him blind. and being in cambodia means that its hard to connect up with people who could help out. it would cost him $2000 to study. an impossible amount for a guy who is lucky if he earns $2 a day.
he asked me if i knew anyone that would be able to give him information about being sponsored. by this stage my comfort zone was millions of miles away and i really just wanted to get off the table and run back to australia where i can live in my insulated bubble. i told him that i would check with my sister in law who works with the blind mission. (cant think of the name right now). i didnt want to get his hopes up in anyway but told him i will let him know if i hear of someone who could help. i paid for the full hour, gave a feel good (for myself) tip and got out of there feeling very lightheaded.
the thought of living in cambodia and being bombarded with these stories is really overwhelming. the needs are all around me. heartbreaking stories. no one asking for riches...just the very basic stuff in life. im really keen to be part of a solution...yet i feel so inadequate. the needs are endless. and as a mum my every day gets swallowed up in the domestic needs before i have a chance to look beyond our four walls.
i have so many thoughts about how to live a life of meaning. one option is to live in australia. live as simply as we can. and earn as much money as we possibly can. and then send as much as we can over here and sponsor people like Nheem so they can have a chance of a better life. but i know that i know that i know that living a simple life is practically impossible. our good intentions would get swallowed up with the 'necessities' of life.
another option is communal living. where everyone shares their resources. instead of the silly concept of every home having every single gadget... things are shared to keep the expense down and the interactions up. and with everyone sharing the desire to live simply the momentum might be strong enough to keep the passion alive.
another option is to go back and reclaim my birthright to a spacious comfort zone.
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