Final group photo of 2013 Cambodia SSTers with the Graber Millers

Just minutes ago, 10 Cambodia SSTers left for Goshen after a final group meal and a full group photo. Eight SSTers stayed behind for an overnight at a guesthouse and then some free-range traveling in Thailand, beginning tomorrow morning.

Cambodia SSTers all returned to Phnom Penh Friday, joining Nate and Brett, whose service assignments were here in the capital, and also Kate, who had returned early with her Ratanakiri family for a wedding in nearby Takeo. All arrived in good shape and positive spirits, ready to return to their city families but already missing their hosts in the countryside.

Since Friday afternoon the group has been together much of the time for its closing reorientation/dis-orientation and final retreat. Saturday morning all 18 SSTers sat for final oral exams, with two Khmer teachers and sometimes their student peers asking them questions, in Khmer. Each student presented for about eight to 10 minutes, telling in Khmer what they had been doing over the last six weeks, what they ate, and what their families were like.

Some of the other group gatherings were at the Graber Miller apartment Saturday afternoon, where we told service stories and began doing our 18 project presentations. Students all spent concentrated time working on a specific project related to Cambodian culture. Some of these were poetic, some involved singing traditional songs or composing music, some were more traditionally “academic” and involved book research as well as observation, some involved birding or the environment, some examined family or gender dynamics in their villages, another involved deaf culture. All were well done and evidenced good attention to a specific issue.

Sunday morning students all said farewell to their Phnom Penh host families, then headed to the Graber Miller apartment and then to the Frangipani Hotel. Group presentations took place all day at the Frangipani, followed by individual interviews. Keith and Ann did final interviews with each of the 18 students, talking about the impact of their experiences, responding to their journals, and discussing vocation.

This evening the group celebrated with a final meal at Yumi, and then Ann and Keith accompanied 10 of the SSTers to the airport and said farewell to the eight who will be traveling in Thailand. Two Cambodian host families — Brett’s and Sara K’s — met us at the airport to say one final goodbye.

The 10 SSTers heading directly back to Goshen will arrive on campus between 3 and 4 p.m. Tuesday afternoon. The Graber Millers will leave Phnom Penh Wednesday evening and arrive in Goshen Thursday afternoon (after gaining back 12 hours, just as the students do: the actual trip is about 28 hours).

So, SST comes to a close for the Spring 2013 Cambodia SST group. Blessings to all of the SSTers as they move forward into the next phase of life. Please welcome them home graciously, and hear their rather remarkable stories. Thanks for following our journey.

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Brett with his family, including Panya (Nana’s longtime boyfriend), Mao, Ma (Nam Chenda), sister Nana, sister Leak, and Socheat (Mao’s fiance). Brother David, 17, and Leak’s boyfriend Tong are not pictured.

Nate and Brett’s service assignment kept them right at home in Phnom Penh, living with their host families from the “Study” portion of SST and working with a “Get-Out-the-Vote” campaign. Cambodia’s national elections are slated for July 28. Prime Minister Hun Sen, 61, said he believes the ruling Cambodian Peoples Party will again secure two-thirds of the parliamentary seats in the forthcoming election. Mr. Sen, who has been in power for 28 years (since shortly after he left the Khmer Rouge, where he had been a leader, to return with the conquering Vietnamese in 1979), has vowed to remain in power until he is 90.

This spring the political situation in Cambodia is rather volatile. Sam Rainsy, 63-year-old leader of the opposition party the Cambodian National Rescue Party, fled the country in late 2009 before a Cambodian court sentenced him to 11 years in jail in abstentia for two counts: removing border poles and publishing a false map of the border with Vietnam. Some countries, including the U.S., have said the conviction of Rainsy was politically motivated. But because he is a “convicted criminal,” he is not about to run for parliament. A month ago the ruling Cambodian Peoples Party announced that some its older members of parliament would be forced to resign by the party, replaced by sons of Prime Minister Hun Sen (perhaps three of his sons) plus sons of the CPP’s other leading members of parliament.

The Extraordinary Chambers of the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) continues to attempt to try leading cadres from the Khmer Rouge period, though the trial has been besought with life-threatening illnesses — co-defendant Ieng Sary died three weeks ago — threats of strikes, and other issues. On trial yet are 86-year-old Nuon Chea and Khieu Samphan, both charged with war and genocide crimes.

Land-grabbing and related forcible evictions are in the news almost daily, with the government and large corporations being sold land out from under poor families in the city and the countryside. Major chunks of forest preserves are being decimated by supposedly illegal logging: one major preserve lost 70 percent of its tree coverage over the last five years, it was reported yesterday. It’s an interesting political time to be in Cambodia.

Nate and Brett are working with an NGO that seeks to get people in the city and out in the provinces to vote in the July election. Much of their work has centered on grant-writing. (Their main qualification, according to Brett, is that they can speak English.) The grants they have written — to a German foundation, the U.S. Embassy, and other organizations — have resulted in about $100,000 in income for the non-partisan campaign. They also have helped edit letters and other materials being sent to English-speaking audiences, and have had a chance to meet with some of the country’s leading politicians.

Brett and Nate’s work has been somewhat erratic, with some very busy days of four or five hours of work and other days when there is little to do, as is typical of other service assignments. Usually they work at internet shops or coffee shops, but occasionally they attend meetings, take notes, or visit the U.S. Embassy.

Brett also took the opportunity — with special permission from SST leaders, his parents in the U.S., and the SST office back home — to take a four-day trip to Thailand with his host sister, Neang Nana, our local SST assistant, as well as one of Nana’s sisters. Nana’s family owns a small market shop in Phnom Penh, and Brett went to help carry the loads of purses and shoes they purchased in Bangkok for selling at their shop here in Cambodia. In spite of nearly 24 hours of bus travel both ways, Brett enjoyed the experience of crossing the border into Thailand.

Brett sleeps on a floor mat with his 17-year-old brother David, and helps out from time to time at the family’s market shop. On occasion both Nate and Brett have attended Edutainment — the Saturday and Sunday afternoon English-teaching group that Nana and Panya run — though that has not usually been a part of their service/accompaniment.

Nate’s family lives in the center of town, fairly equidistant from a number of key locations. To get into his family home, Nate has to walk through a rather scary, dark hallway, then up the stairs into the house. Nate shares a room with his 20-year-old brother Deth (pronounced Det).

Students are in their last week of the “Service” portion of SST, so Nate and Brett’s peers will return to Phnom Penh from the provinces this Friday. Kate already is in nearby Takeo, with her Tampoun family from Ratanakiri Province, so she will return to Phnom Penh already on Wednesday rather than take the 12-hour drive up and 12-hour drive back to and from Ban Lung. The weekend will be filled with project reports, individual interviews, journal reading, two nights with Phnom Penh host families, group meals, and final farewells.

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This week the Graber Millers visited Carina and Maryn in Sbov, a Khmer Muslim village a few minutes from Kep on the southern coast. Given the beauty of the area, the Graber Millers stayed a couple of extra days in the coastal town of Kep for a mini family vacation.

Carina and Maryn also enjoy the natural landscapes of Kep. Hills that are part of Kep National Park rise up from the Gulf of Thailand and provide challenging walking trails suitable for birding, animal-watching, and vista-viewing. Nearly every day Maryn and Carina ride to a nearby guesthouse, park their bikes, and then hike along the trails before relaxing at the beach for a short time.

Back in Sbov, which is just off the highway, Carina and Maryn teach English at the local Islamic school. Maryn’s brother-in-law, whom they refer to as Bong Rien (Older Brother Teacher), teaches Islamic history and beliefs later in the evening, and Maryn and Carina teach English for an hour each evening to beginning learners, including one brave 28-year-old who comes to classes faithfully with the school-age children.

Maryn’s family has a deep connection to Goshen’s Study-Service program in Cambodia since her host parents are the parents-in-law of Sen Marya, our local assistant in 2010 and 2013. Marya and her husband, Oumuet, made the arrangements for the women to stay in Sbov after plans for working with another NGO in nearby Kampot fell through in the days just before students left for service. Maryn lives with Oumuet’s Ma and Pa as well as one sister (Bong Srey) and a slightly younger brother, who is just finishing high school. Oumuet’s other siblings are now scattered around Cambodia.

Maryn’s family raises ducks and cows and one turkey, and they live in a concrete home with a tile floor. Maryn has her own room and gets a good diet of greens, fish, rice, and other Khmer delicacies.

Carina lives across and down the road, right on the highway, in a wooden structure. In front of their house the family runs a little shop serving neighbors and others who pass by. Carina’s family also has two cows and rice fields behind the home. Inside the house were four large bags of rice (ong-gor) that they anticipate will last the entire year, plus another large, round basket container of rice (s’rou) for next year’s planting.

Carina shares a bedroom with her two sisters, Navy (18) and Vary (21). Out the bedroom window she has a beautiful view of rice fields and cow pastures spreading for kilometers. Other neighbors and friends wander in and out of the property regularly. When Ann, Keith and Mia visited her home, Carina’s sister Vary wanted to have her photo taken with Mia, since it was so unusual to see an American girl who was born in China. Mia took most of the photos here, except for the one of her and Vary.

Both Carina and Maryn seem content in their beautiful environment. They and all of the SSTers will be back in Phnom Penh a week from today for a few days of retreating and dis-orientation.

On Saturday Ann and Keith will visit Brett and Nate here in Phnom Penh, where they have been doing their service. Watch for one more service post about them after the weekend.

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Jake with his friend Viet

Jake and Sara K live in two quite rural villages outside of Siem Reap, about a half hour from each other and at least a 45-minute bike ride from the city. Both have made their villages home, making connections with family and friends and finding meaningful work/accompaniment.

Sara lives in Krabei Riel and commutes into Siem Reap, usually by bike, for her work at IDE, a world leader in practical, market-based solutions to rural poverty. Mike Roberts — husband of Sreyhem Roberts, who was our SST family assistant in 2007 and 2010 — is the overall director of IDE Cambodia, and helped us place Sara in Krabei Riel.

Sara has a number of colleagues and associates at IDE’s offices on the outskirts of Siem Reap, including friend Ravi and translator Punith, who assists with some translation during interviews, even though Sara’s Khmer is quite good. Sara’s work involves interviewing IDE’s present and future women Farm Business Advisors, so Sara meets regularly with the FBA’s in her community and is writing up a report to be used for information-sharing and fund-raising for IDE’s rural programs.

Sara lives with her uncle (Poo) Puap, her main contact in the village; Puap’s spouse, whom Sara refers to (as is Cambodia custom) as Bong Srey (older sister), her ma and pa, a the five-year-old daughter and 10-month-old son of Poo Puap and Bong Srey. The day we visited a number of Sara’s family members were away from home, though we met some members of the family as well as neighbors. Photos in this blog entry were mostly taken by Mia Graber Miller, but a few of the photos were taken off of Sara’s facebook page.

After leaving Sara’s home we traveled by tuk-tuk to Ompul, which is about 18 kilometers away from Siem Reap. The route between Sara’s and Jake’s was the roughest road Keith, Mia, and Jake had ever been on in Cambodia, with regular 18-to-24-inch-deep cavities routinely scattered on the dusty path. But the views were magnificent, especially in the late afternoon when the golden sun turned the rice fields a gorgeous, lush green.

Jake’s primary contact in his village of Ompul is Ratana, who works for the fair-trade organization Rajana as a potter. Both Ten Thousand Villages and Found in Goshen purchase fair-trade goods from Rajana. Rajana’s pottery shop was founded by former Mennonite Central Committee worker and GC graduate Tom Unzicker. Ratana and his spouse, whom Jake knows as Bong Srey, have a 3-year-old son and 5-month-old daughter. Jake lives with Ratana’s family as well as Bong Srey’s parents and two younger brothers (23 and 19). Brother Vichet also works as a craftsman for an NGO, hammering recycled bullets and bombshells into jewelry.

Jake has made a number of friends in the village (see photos here), some of whom celebrated his March birthday with him a couple of weeks ago. Occasionally he visits Ratana at Rajana’s pottery shop in Siem Reap, and he also assists Ratana with teaching English classes — at 5 p.m. at the church Ratana attends and at 6:15 at a neighbor’s house.

Jake and Sara came into Siem Reap Tuesday evening to spend the night with Audrey and Joel and the Graber Miller’s at the Frangipani Villa Hotel. They enjoyed an evening dinner together, and then the Graber Millers read all four of their journals and discussed their service assignments with each of them. Keith has visited Kampong Phluck, Audrey and Joel’s village, on Tuesday, and then Keith and Mia both went to see Jake and Sara’s villages on Wednesday.

This weekend students have a couple of get-togethers planned. Jessie, Maryn, Carina, Lauren, Jacob, and Jake are visiting Nate and Brett here in Phnom Penh — Lauren and Jacob stopped by the Graber Miller apartment this morning — and Henry and Renae are hosting Sara K, Joel, and Audrey in their home village in Kampong Cham. The Ratanakiri Five are preparing for a guided jungle trek. Ann and Keith leave Sunday for Kep, where they will visit Carina and Maryn. Please be sure to see today’s post about Audrey and Joel’s placements in Kampong Phluck, too.

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Audrey and Joel are in Kampong Phluck (spelled and pronounced in a variety of ways), the remote, stilted village along the Tonle Sap Lake. The entire SST group visited the village when we were in Siem Reap back in early February (see the entry on Kampong Phluck there for more overview photos). Joel and Audrey live just down from the village’s wat in homes on 20-foot stilts located just across the dusty street from each other. Since this is nearing the end of the dry season (the rainy season begins in May), most of Kampong Phluck’s stilts are exposed at this time, and only a thin river runs through the village to the Tonle Sap.

The two Kampong Phluckers are teaching first-graders — a real challenge — at 10 a.m. each morning and then fifth-graders at 4 p.m. each day, six days a week. Often their classrooms are interrupted by well-meaning Western and Asian tourists who visit the village, purchase “essential” notebooks for the children, and then take them to the classroom and hand them out to the students, who play their role well and accept them graciously. Immediately after class the students sell the notebooks back to the women who market the overpriced notebooks so they can be cycled through the next round of unsuspecting tourists. It’s a system that works, and helps provide a bit of money to people in the village.

When tourists come to town — and there are exotic tours from Siem Reap to Kampong Phluck daily — they are always surprised to see Westerners living and teaching in the village alongside their Cambodian hosts.

Joel — who has lost a bit of weight since his arrival in January — lives in a home with his host parents, four siblings, his siblings’ spouses, and a number of nieces and nephews. Serei, a former monk who is now a Community Tourism Leader, is married to one of Joel’s sisters, so Joel sees a lot of Serei and his two young children. Joel’s family also has a generator that charges car batteries so villagers can get a bit of electricity to turn on a light at night or watch TV.

Between classes, Joel and Audrey generally sit on Joel’s high front porch, reading books and napping, though sometimes they enjoy walks down to the edge of the Tonle Sap Lake or bike rides to the nearest small town.

Audrey’s family includes her mother Yewn, father Nii, Sister Niet (19), sister Noot (17), brother Pii-Sey (14), and Niet’s baby Bonhadt (1). Her dad, Nii, and sister Noot often go fishing together and are gone for a few days at a time. The family also cares for a multi-pond fish farm behind their house, sometimes rising at 1 a.m. to catch fish for the next morning’s market. Audrey shares a bed space with her sister Noot, but Joel has his own floor mat. Ask Audrey to tell you about her 2 a.m. wake-up call she had when 20 people were gathered in her home, encircling a moto driver who had fallen into one of the ponds with his moto and the night’s catch, breaking his leg badly.

As is true for their SST peers, Joel and Audrey are thriving in Kampong Phluck, teaching well, and learning lots in the process.

This weekend students have a couple of get-togethers planned. Jessie, Maryn, Carina, Lauren, Jacob, and Jake are visiting Nate and Brett here in Phnom Penh — Lauren and Jacob stopped by the Graber Miller apartment this morning — and Henry and Renae are hosting Sara K, Joel, and Audrey in their home village. The Ratanakiri Five are preparing for a guided jungle trek. Ann and Keith leave Sunday for Kep, where they will visit Carina and Maryn. Please be sure to see today’s post about Sara K and Jake’s placements in Siem Reap Province also.

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Henry and Renae on their front doorstep.

Renae and Henry are living in Svay Klang in Kampong Cham Province, about a 5 1/2 hour van ride away from Phnom Penh. Their home is situated right on the Mekong River, though the riverbed directly in front of their home is dry at this time of the year (the hot and dry season), and community members grow crops on the land while they have a chance.

Svay Klang is a largely Muslim community in a Cambodian Province that is 50 percent Muslim, descendants of the Cham people who once occupied much of what is now Vietnam. Our local assistant, Sen Marya, also is a Cham Muslim (or Khmer Muslim, as is sometimes said now) and knows Henry and Renae’s parents, so she helped arrange for this service assignment.

Renae and Henry both are living with Sa Hapsa (Ma) and No Min (Pa), the village chief in Svay Klang. Two of their brothers have left home and settled elsewhere, but brother Min Satroni usually is home for the nights and brother Min Visal stops by occasionally.

In Svay Klang, as in most provincial settings, houses are left open throughout the day and neighbors and neighborhood children wander in and out fairly freely. Poo (Uncle) Dam Saa is a regular visitor, and was at the house off and on throughout the time Keith was there. When Renae and Henry showed Keith around their small village, young neighbor Ameeyut and his sister Meselmaya accompanied us on our walk through the village, stayed with us at the coffee shop, and remained attached to us as we went to the school.

From among the SSTers Ann and Keith have visited thus far, Renae and Henry seem to have the busiest schedule. They teach English about four hours each day, at least six days a week. Henry teaches a rather raucous fifth-grade class from 10 to 11 a.m. and 4 to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and Renae teaches a sixth-grade class during those same hours six days a week. Keith enjoyed watching Renae and Henry work at corralling the public school students, and was impressed with what natural teachers they were.

The Svay Klangers also teach high school students Monday through Friday at another privately funded local school, though their schedule at that school is a bit more irregular. In general, they teach an intermediate class from 1 to 2 most days, a pre-intermediate class from 5 to 6, and sometimes an intermediate class from 6 to 7 p.m. On some days, Renae has begun wearing a head covering for teaching the high schoolers out of respect for her many Muslim students.

Svay Klang is largely a tobacco-growing community, so Henry and Renae sometimes get in on stripping stems out of tobacco leaves and assisting with other tobacco-related tasks. They enjoy an iced coffee almost every afternoon at the local coffee shop 100 metres from their home. Their mother, Sa Hapsa, is an excellent cook, so Keith got to enjoy an extraordinarily good spiced tofu dish and a kimchi-like chicken dish when he spent the night at Renae and Henry’s home.

Keith was up at 4:30 a.m. to take a dump shower before returning to Phnom Penh. The village’s call to prayer sounded at 5 a.m., the first of the five calls to prayer broadcast throughout the day. On the trip back to Phnom Penh, Keith’s 12-passenger van (with 22 people in it, which is pretty typical for Cambodian traveling) crossed the Mekong on a ferry.  

Keith was home about 20 hours before the whole Graber Miller clan headed up to Siem Reap to visit Audrey and Joel in Kampong Phluck, and Sara K and Jake, who live in small villages outside of Siem Reap. Those visits will happen over the next couple of days, so watch for a blog by the end of the week. Jake celebrated his birthday at the end of last week, and Corey’s birthday is coming up Tuesday.

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Living with Tampoun families in Ratanakiri Province — 12 hours by bus from Phnom Penh — is going swimmingly, in both figurative and literal ways. The five students placed there — Madeleine, Kate, Corey, Sarah T, and Seth — are having positive experiences living with their indigenous families and teaching English, and they also usually have a bit of time each afternoon to swim at the Volcanic Crater Lake that is part of the Yeak Lom Tampoun community.

Five Tampoun communities are part of the Yeak Lom Tampoun tribal group, and one student lives in each village. As you can see above, Madeleine has nicely mapped out the placement of each village, with the capital city of Ban Lung just beyond the map’s view. Kate lives in Lopo Village, Sarah is in Sil Village, Madeleine lives in Phnom Village, Corey lives in Lom Village (a new village), and Seth lives in Chri Village. We had students living in each of these villages in 2010, too, though Lom Village was only in its germinal stage.

Sarah and Kate live side by side in villages that are only a minute’s walk between them, and others are just a bit further away. Kate and Sarah teach English each evening, usually between 5:15 and 7 p.m., with two different classes — beginners and more advanced students. Madeleine, Seth, and Corey all teach English in their own villages, often alongside a sibling or someone else who has been teaching an established English class in their settings. The group also is working with their local Tampoun hosts on writing/editing a guided tour for tourists who come through the area, helping them understand something about the lives and challenges of indigenous people in this context.

Nearly all of the students sleep with one of their siblings on a flat floor mat on the hardwood floor — Kate with English student Srey Mom (her house includes usual siblings plus English students who stay there), Sarah with her 12-year-old sister, Seth with his same-age brother, and Madeleine with one of her siblings (Cochaa). Corey usually sleeps alone now in the open “living room” area of his house, which also doubles as the English classroom.

Kate’s brother Khieng, who knows about eight languages, is a community leader and co-English teacher in the community center between Lopo and Sil villages. He also cooks many of their meals since his parents usually live at the family’s “farm” a bit further into the countryside. Kate has a wonderful story about cutting bamboo out of the forest in the early evening, then cooking a meal with Khieng at a local restaurant for students working for Prime Minister Hun Sen. The students were helping the government and local landholders get appropriate titles for their land. On that evening, Kate ended up riding through the forest on the back of a moto with a 15-foot section of bamboo over her shoulder and a machete in her hands. She had the opportunity to eat live and dead ants as well as ant larvae at the family farm.

Seth’s dining experiences have included eating a cow killed by a snake — including cooked cow intestines and stomach as well as a bit of raw cow meat. He usually teaches English for neighborhood kids in his house. His home and all of the neighborhood villages boast the odor of cashews, which grow everywhere in the Yeak Lom areas.

Madeleine has a large family that includes (as pictured) her Ma (Tiven), Pa (Sam), Brother Mii (8), Brother Nisok (9), Brother Kieng (11), Sister Cochaa (13 and her bed partner), brother Cie (15 and rarely home); pregnant sister Daa (19); and brother Baromey (20), who will be marrying his longtime sweetheart and backyard neighbor Bophaa (17) this coming weekend. All five of the Tampoun SSTers are invited to the weddding and looking forward to the Tampoun rituals and Khmer reception. Madeleine’s mother, sisters, and sister-in-law also create traditional Tampoun weavings, which are increasingly rare as the indigenous people modernize.

Many of the young people in Lom Village, where Corey lives, are Christian, though almost none of the adults are part of the Christian Church. In the other villages animism is dominant (seeing the spirits in all animate and inanimate objects), and at least some of the students have been able to observe animist rituals.

Three of the five students have regular squat toilets, but Madeleine and Corey use the bathroom in the great outdoors, finding a place among the weeds and then having the results of their bowel movements eaten by the sling-back Vietnamese pigs that roam the villages. Madeleine and Corey also bathe at the very public well areas in the center of their villages, but have come to enjoy this communal time. Madeleine makes a point of being home at the time her mother and sisters take their dump showers so they can enjoy this time communally.

Usually the students are able to go to the lake for part of the afternoon before or after their English teaching. They also have taken a field trip to one of the many local waterfalls, and their Tampoun hosts are keeping them engaged with other sight-seeing in the area.

The students joined the Graber Millers for swimming on Tuesday afternoon at their hotel, and also spent the night at the Tree Top Ecolodge in the capital city of Ban Lung. Keith visited each of the villages, in succession, on Monday afternoon, picking up each of the students as he went and heading on to the next village.

It’s clear the group is thriving in the Tampoun villages, and we are grateful for their hosts. We hope their teaching contributes to their Tampoun students’ learning and look forward to the SSTers working with the Tampoun young people to develop a more tourist-friendly guided tour of the area.

Nate and Brett stopped by the Graber Miller apartment this morning to check in. Keith leaves for Kampong Cham tomorrow to see Renae and Henry in their Muslim village, and then the whole Graber Miller clan leaves for Siem Reap on Sunday or Monday to see the four students placed within an hour of there — Jake, Sara K, Audrey, and Joel. More updates to follow between these trips.

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This is the third of three posts we’re putting up this evening, so please be sure to read about Jessie’s experience in Tang Khiev and Lauren and Jacob M’s service in Ba Phnom.

The Graber Millers have enjoyed a more relaxed pace of life in Phnom Penh over the last two weeks. They’ve been out for two service visits thus far, and are planning a major trip to Ratanakiri Sunday, where they will see Kate, Madeleine, Sarah T, Corey, and Seth.

This week they’ve also had many opportunities to chat with SST Director Tom Meyers, who is visiting from back on campus. Tom, Ann, Keith, Mia, and Simon have had lunch or dinner meetings with Sen Marya, our local assistant, and her husband Oumuet; with Neang Sisaphanta (Nana), our family assistant and Brett’s host sister, and her longtime companion Panya, who is also Sara K’s Phnom Penh brother; and with Sreyhem Roberts, who was instrumental in helping get the Cambodia SST unit started and who hosted the family party this year once again.

Last Sunday Keith and Ann took Sokhorn, their friend and household assistant, along with her two daughters, to dinner at the Baitong Restaurant and then to a photo studio. In 2007 Sokhorn worked full time for the Graber Millers, and in 2010 and 2013 she has assisted/is assisting the Graber Millers with cooking, cleaning, and laundry one day a week. In 2010 the Graber Millers did a similar family photo in traditional clothing, so they treated Sokhorn and her daughters to a similar experience.

The photo studio spent about an hour and a half applying make-up and selecting clothing for Sokhorn and 17-year-old Nyka and 11-year-old Vycheka. Nyka and Vycheka and their 15-year-old brother Makara — who was not able to make it last Sunday — live in an orphanage outside of Phnom Penh. Nyka dressed in the clothing of an apsara dancer since she is trained in traditional dance (she has performed in Cambodia and outside of the country as well). Marya also accompanied us to the photo studio.

This morning we picked up the resulting professional photographs, so we’re posting them here. We’re proud of Sokhorn, Nyka, and Vycheka, and grateful that they shared the day with us. We look forward to the trip to Ratanakiri this weekend.

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This is the second of three posts we are putting up tonight — the first on Jacob M and Lauren in Ba Phnom, this one on Jessie’s accompaniment assignment, and a third on the Graber Millers’ lives in Phnom Penh.

On Wednesday visiting SST Director Tom Meyers as well as Keith and Ann went to visit Jessie in Tang Khiev, adjacent to Preah Reachatrab (Oudong) Mountain in Kandal Province. The trip to Jessie’s village is about a two-hour tuk-tuk ride from the southern part of the city, where the Graber Millers live.

Tang Khiev is a relocation site established in 2009 for families evicted from the Dey Krahorm community after 7NG, a construction and real estate company, purchased the land out from under the community. Residents of Dey Krahorm received no compensation for the land, and were forcibly evicted after several months of resistance. One day police and bulldozers showed up when many community members were away at school and work and bulldozed and burned their homes, then loaded people onto the back of dump trucks and hauled them 54 kilometers away to barren land — with no food, no structures, no construction materials, and no food.

Slowly community members have organized themselves and sought to build themselves bamboo and thatch homes — 154 homes in all, as of early March. In the initial days after their relocation, one community member sold her hair to purchase a blue tarp and stakes to give her family some shelter (think Les Miserables). Canadian Kevin Knight and his Cambodian spouse, Leakhena, live in the community, too, encouraging members of the community, assisting with building, and helping organize microfinancing and community governance. Mana4Life is Kevin and Leakhena’s NGO, and the organization which helped arrange for Jessie’s stay in Tang Khiev.

Jessie, who is doing a solo service stint, lives with her host mother, host sister, and several nieces, while other family members are scattered from Phnom Penh to Kampong Cham. Each morning Jessie teaches a one-hour English class, and she and a Cambodian friend her age are tutoring each other in Khmer and English. On some days she assists with basic computer training on computers donated by a Canadian organization. Jessie also spends time with her nieces and other neighborhood children. Tom, Ann, Keith, and Jessie all had lunch Wednesday on the floor where Jessie sleeps. The day after we left Tang Khiev, one of her neighbors and friends taught her how to make the baskets crafted in the community and the longer term community adjacent to it.

Jessie lives directly across from an adjacent property leased by a Chinese company that is digging an enormous pit to haul away the dirt for other construction projects. Large dump trucks haul dirt away from the site every few minutes. Once the land is decimated and useless for agriculture or any other purpose, the company will sell the land back to the government.

Jessie seems to be thoroughly enjoying her accompaniment. Something of an introvert, when she needs a break from people, she rides bike around Oudong Mountain and stops outside of the community to read and journal, though she is often joined by neighborhood children. This weekend she is visiting Maryn and Carina in Kep, joined by Henry and Renae from Kampong Cham. Jessie dropped by the Graber Miller apartment for an hour this morning on her way to Kep.

Today (March 8) is Nate’s birthday, and he is celebrating with Brett, Jake, and other SST friends in Siem Reap. Tom Meyers leaves Cambodia for China Saturday morning, and the Graber Millers leave early Sunday morning for Ratanakiri Province, where they will see Corey, Sarah T, Madeleine, Kate, and Seth. Be sure to read the blog on Lauren and Jacob M’s assignment in Ba Phnom.

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Jacob and Lauren with Maokun, the head monk at the Buddhist wat where Jacob is living.

In the next 24 hours we’ll post several new blogs, so please take a look at the additional ones on Jessie in Oudong and the Graber Millers in Phnom Penh.

Lauren and Jacob M are thriving in Ba Phnom, in Prey Veang Province east of Phnom Penh. Jacob is the first Cambodia SSTer ever to live at a Buddhist wat, making his home among the 15 to 20 monks who live on the temple grounds. Jacob has his own room apart from the monks’ quarters, but he has breakfast and lunch at the wat and uses the monks’ dump shower.

Lauren lives with her Mae and Papa and with 11-year-old sister Nyka and almost 2-year-old sister Gita. Her mother is an excellent cook, and serves both Lauren and Jacob on most evenings, and also made dinner for Keith when he visited Ba Phnom on Monday and Tuesday.

Lauren and Jacob teach English to young children from 9 to 11 a.m. each weekday morning — children who have never had any English training. On the weekends, they assist Sam Ang, our local contact, in teaching high schoolers who come to the wat for part of their education. The wat contributes significantly to the local community with educational and other programs.

When they have a chance to do so, Lauren and Jacob also are teaching guitar to young people in the community. They have two guitars with them and often draw a large crowd when they play at the wat. On the weekend before Keith arrived they were able to attend Sam Ang’s last daughter’s wedding. The daughter, Dyend (The End), is the fifth of Mr. Ang’s five children, and she married a Cambodian refugee who is now a U.S. citizen.

Lauren spends nearly all day at the wat with Jacob, relaxing and reading after teaching the morning class. In the afternoons and evenings they often have many visitors, including the 11-year-old monk at the wat and other local children and teens. They are looking forward to the remaining four weeks of accompaniment in Ba Phnom.

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