Day 3

It was early in the morning at around 7-ish when each girl woke up with a
cheery knock on the door from Ms Fisher. With dismayed faces, we all went
down from our rooms to eat at the Golden Gate Restaurant. There was a
buffet filled with all different kinds of food; from scrambled eggs to
noodles, and from toast to asian stir frys. Picking fussily, the girls ate
their food and headed up to pack for the day ahead.
We were going to the Krang Angkrang Pei Community.
The Krang Angkrang Pei Community had an approximate of 161 families
which was abput 870 members. The area only had
one school classroom which had around 67 students from grades 1, 2, and 4.
Each of us arrived at the foyer of the Golden Gate Hotel and we headed
down the stairs to board our 'took-tooks'. We were nearly at the Krang
Angkranng Pei Community when suddenly, our took tooks stopped. We were to
ride bikes from there. Each with an individual bike, we headed off on the
dusty roads to makeour way to the squatting community. As we were getting
there, we were stopped numerous times by the ongoing trucks and millions
of motorbike, as well as the 'únwary pedestrians' and a few muddy looking
cars. As soon as we got to the dusty community, we were greeted by four
members of the CVCD, including Vanna and Dara. Dara introduced us all to
the woman's house we were to be staying in. Vanna on the other hand,
shared his knowledge with us of what we were to be doing there and the
activities we were to enjoy. Vanna and Dara were to act as translators for
us all.

As we ventured into the slum community, we were split into two
groups; one, to cook banana rice cakes, and the other, to learn how to
weave a hammock. The banana rice cake cooker would earn her living by
selling banana rice cakes to people in Phnom Penh and even sometimes to
people in Krang Angkrang Pei. The Hammock weaver would also make her
living by selling things, but this time, with hammocks. It would take her
at least two weeks to weave one full hammock, and it would only be worth 5
to 6 US dollars.

Once we had perfected the skills of cooking and weaving
in our separate groups, we heade off for a community talk. We were
introduced to villagers and told of their lives here in the community. One
of them, the leader of the Krang Angkrang Pei Community and a woman who
woul make her living by selling small meatball things in Phnom Phen's
city. Afterwards, we were brought baggettes by the CVCD members were we
spread layers upon layers of different toppings on them; Nutella, Peanut
Butter and even Strawberry Jam. We sat under a small tin shed which was
supposed to be a meeting area for members of the community to talk about
issue affecting the community and what coul be done about them. As lunch
ended, we were shown the children of the community in the classroom which
was right next door to our lunch area.

We had a one hour khmer lesson, each of us, learning the different greetings
in khmer taught by one of the CVCD members. There, our two groups split up;
one in teaching the students about time, and the other, teaching the children to read.
After a one hour class, we swapped our roles as readers and teachers to the other group
where we once again taught the children english. Soon after the second
class had ended, we were given free time to play with the children. Once
our free time had ended, we headed back to the community house we were to
be staying in. There, we were introduced to the 'shower' which was a big
pool of water and a bucket, in which we were to pur over ourselves. The
toilet was not much better, just a small 'hole' in the ground. As we
finished, we all struggled to set mosquito nets up on thin mattresses on
the ground in the main room of the house. Soon after, we all fell into a
deep sleep, as we dreamt of the days to come.

Scarlett :)