Today, we did a tour called “A day in the life of a Cambodian.” It was truly amazing and enlightening! We started our day by stopping by a food stall on the side of the road. Boy, were we in for a surprise. It was fried crickets, larva, ladybugs, and frogs. Kane tried the cricket and frog, Kat the frog and Kim the cricket(not bad), larva( I did not like at all) and frog(the frog took a little bit to eat since it was the whole frog, small frog, but still whole frog).
Our next stop was our transportation to the village. Kane and Kat were so excited to ride the water buffalo to the village.
Our visit to a Cambodian village consisted of helping a poor family that needed a new roof and wall for their kitchen. We helped the family by “sewing” palms together to help make a roof for their kitchen. The neighbor girls were intrigued by us and came over and helped also.
After we helped with “sewing the palms,” we helped plant 3 phillipine mango trees and 1 lychee tree for the family. Since this family was picked to be helped, they also got to pick 4 fruit trees to be planted(part of our tour fee goes to planting trees, water purification system, and building houses). The wonderful thing about the Philippine Mango tree is that it will provide fruit two times a year versus the Cambodian Mango Tree that only produces fruit one time per year. The mango trees will start producing fruit in 3 years and the lychee tree in 8 years(Kat wants to go visit it when she is 16 to see the fruit).
We walked through the village and bought galangal and lemongrass for our chicken curry that we helped make for lunch. The fresh spices were so delicious.
After lunch, we got a full tour of the village, as well as some history of Cambodia. It was devastating to hear how the Cambodian people suffered from the Civil War to Pol Pot. Pol Pot killed somewhere between 3-4 million Cambodians and forced evacuations of the cities during his reign in the late 1970s. He wanted to create a peasant farming society and had anyone with any intelligence executed. Our guide lost 15 family members. We met a lovely 78 year old widow who lost her husband and 4 kids during Pol Pot. She has lived alone and poor in a little bamboo house on stilts for the past 38 years. She grows fruits and plants around her house to survive. She sleeps on a table with a bamboo mat covered by a mosquito net at night under her house. That way if she ever needs something, she can call to a neighbor. She only has a bottle with alcohol in it that is her light each night. It just broke my heart to meet her and think about how hard her life is and has been for so many years.
We met so many warm, friendly Cambodians who live in the village. We were so happy to see that this village is being helped! There are so many that still need help.
