The Tuesday and Wednesday of my first week in Cambodia are dedicated to planning, teaching, more Siem Reap scouting nd getting in touch with some of you lot (and correcting my online spelling as Mrs Beth Woollam has suggested -you cow!-). On Wednesday I enjoy a much needed quiet morning at the Arun guest house with the female crew. If you want a laugh listen to the recording of my pitiful attempts to remember and pronounce the numbers 1-5 in Khmer after a lesson from Ming Pow and before I sip any coffee. Sorry I cannot edit audio files here so you have the full 2 minutes. I have now learnt to count to 9 in Khmer (mainly because 6 to 9 are the sum of 5 and the rest of the numbers I know). I then spend my usual teaching shift from one to eight pm (door to door) first teaching the teachers and then assisting with Pat’s (one of the teachers) class.
After the classs, I turn my Cambodian phone on to find a welcoming text from Kurash. I mentioned Kush in an earlier blog entry. Kush is a good friend of Phalla who has taught and helped progress the work of the Cambodian Child and Hope Association project unimaginably. Kush has returned from Battambong and invites me and Phalla to meet him at the Golden temple (the hostel I love and where Lucy and Dan have previously stayed). The hostel is close enough to the heart of Siem Reap but nicely tucked away in a small street away from too much commotion. But then Siem Reap is not a loud club laden spot. I have been told by many people already it’s quiet compared to other neighbouring destinations like Thailand.
Kush whose roots are Iranian, looks like a Buddha, with Mediterranean and Middle Eastern features. It’s really nice to see the affinity between the two men. Kush narrates the story of their encounter and how the CCHA collaboration followed on from that. Phalla was a venerable monk with a golden heart and willingness to help educate the children of his community. If I understand correctly he had already started the project when he met Kush but was still practicing to be a monk. Kush went to Phalla for meditation and as the two men got to know each other and talk it all kicked off. Since then he taught at Phalla’s school, liaised with Lucy on Safe Foundation matters, after Safe offered support to the CCHA. Phalla has given up being a monk for the time being as this imposed a lot of limitations on doing essential business needed to progress the work of CCHA and interacting with volunteers and supporters (e.g. no handling of money, no close interaction with women, no driving and transporting oneself amongst other but my knowledge is very limited on this). Progressing CCHA also requires much of his studying/practising time. There have been a series of wonderful coincidences that have brought Phalla, Kush, Safe and Dan together and here I am joining in. It is a pleasure to sit and talk with Kush animatedly. I love the soft speaking Khmer people but equally like the fire hearted people that Kush comes from. Phalla laughs out loud full heartedly when he hears us speak. This is a really nice evening. We talk about another project supporting disabled mine victims that Kush works with, our lives and of course Kush’s time with Dan and Lucy (and the yapping dog-Dan by the way the dog now lives in Battambong but a lovely white cat sits happily on Kush’s lap purring away).
And so at the Golden Temple of Siem Reap and in the presence of a gentle Khmer, a Persian meets a Greek…
