Me Casa

Hi All



Have finally reduced the size of my house photos so i have out them on shutterfly here (share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0QaNnDNm3aMXEQ) I had to reduce the quality but i am sure you can get the gist (there is now a lot more furniture). Brian the american moved out on Friday and Thierry the Belgian moved in. Last week we had the hello, farewell and new years party at the office where we consumed about 3.5L of whiskey and a case of beer '(including me having to challenge a 6ft 2 american to a 'shotgun' (stabbing the tinnie with a knife and sculling it - i lost. They also play very competitive badminton and my boss told me to go to play with the girls by the river side for 2007 and in 2008 i can play with them (joking of course...i think :)



Had a bit of a fever last week so had it checked out in Phomn Penh and its nothing although i did get into a fight with the medical clinic but that was an insurance thing. Oh i also have my UN id now tee hee. i also am supposed to carry around a radio and have a callsign. I wont put what it is here but its something like echo-tango 6, very skirmish-esque.

First Overnight Field Trip

So last week (Thursday and Friday) i went on my first overnight field trip. Piseth (one of the program officers) picked me up at 7am at my house and we proceeded on a 2.5hr drive to Kampot Province. We were going to monitor the distribution of food at government tuberculosis clinics. Patients receive 60kg of rice, 1.5kg of fortified oil and 1kg of iodised salt twice during their treatments (TB treatment lasts for 6 months).

We arrived at our first site which had about 100 beneficiaries waiting to collect their food (the food had already been delivered and in storage). We arrived and hung around a bit while they finished registering who had come to collect their food and who was absent. We then went into the food storage and manually counted a few tonnes of rice, oil and salt. The distribution went well and the government clinic managed it and we pretty much obvserved after that making sure everyone got their correct ration.

We then drove on for a couple of more hours to the town of Kampot where we dropped in on a vocational training centre. This place was receiving support from tonnes of donors (Germans, Japanese, Asian Development Bank) and was really impressive. They had auto repair, tailoring, weaving and animal husbandry (model farms and aquaculture ponds). The students are from very poor families and stay at the school so WFP provides some food to keep them there. We got given a free ''krama'' which is a traditional scarf to protect you from the sun. Sweet.

We then booked into the hotel and i took the mack daddy suite (a/c, hot water, tv, love heart bathroom matts) for $15. Well it was either me or Piseth who took the mack daddy suite (it was one of two rooms left) and the national staff use their travel allowance as a bit of income support.

We then went for a drive around Kampot and visited a Durian farm (well i was curious!Durian is the fruit that smells like a dead body!) and went across a suspension bridge which crossed the river which was really beautiful and clean. Driving back we saw the outside of the private zoo with two giant gawdy paper mache tigers out front. I wanted to go in but Piseth dissuaded me. We had dinner at a seafood restraunt and ate massive banana sized (if you can remember what they are) prawns, two crabs, tonnes of baby octopus and plenty of beer for ten bucks!

The next day we left at about 7 and went down to the seaside town of Kep, of which i saw the inside of the TB clinic. Here the staff had locked away half the food and lost the key which was a little dodge so half the people who were waiting had to go home and wait till the next distribution which we were not very happy about. I made sure the people knew it was the hospitals fault, not ours.

The next clinic was very remote on an extremely bad road. Here there were lots of orphans and vulnerable children undergoing TB treatment and you could see the hardship these kids faced and how grateful they were for the food.

The final clinic we went to was even more remote and the food storage was disgusting (mice, insects, open bags!). The hospital director and i were casually chatting and he said 'I am 32, in Pol Pot's regime things were very bad. I killed some people''. Well i didnt know what to say after that. Talking about it with Thierry the Belgian he said one of his staff had told him he had killed people when he was 8. I dont think we can judge, people did what they had to do to survive and i am sure we would have done the same thing in that madness.

Anyway... I thought it was interesting.


Cheers

Welcome to the Speu

Hi Ya'll
So i am now officially in the speu! Kampong Speu is basically a highway town about 50km from Phomn Penh but it takes like 1.5 hours because of the traffic. Its the Mt Colah of Cambodia its fair to say. Its basically spread along Highway 4 which goes down to the coast Lots of dust ! . My house is about ten minutes from the WFP office which is reasonably sized and comfortable.

There are 3 other 'Barangs' in Kampong Speu and for some bizarre reason they are all Belgians. One works for ICRC and the other two work for an NGO project here. Anyway i went to meet them last night and Thierry (who i have met before- and is moving into the house with me) came and picked me up and we rode over. Problem was that the guy's bike that i was using is like 6 foot so i couldnt even get up on the bike without some considerable trouble. Well my neighbours found it funny at least!

I went on my first food distribution yesterday (thats what it happening at this time of year). Basically the villagers had built a road and we arrived to ensure the food was distributed properly (33 tonnes of it!) Was interesting but i had no idea what was going on but i think that will change over time :)

My house is very nice (kitchen and bathrooms somewhat basic). There is not much action in town, a few local restraunts and the market. There are also a few Karaoke bars which go until about 11 at night which is fun especially when you can hear everything through the wooden walls of your house. That and the giant pig my neighbour has that freaks out every morning at about 5 am. Office hours here are 7:30 to 12 and 1:30 to 5 so i am actually worker longer than with AusAID (what a surprise!)

I am trying to upload some photos of my house but not with a lot of luck. i will try and do it in PPN when i up this w/e for christmas (there is some volunteer christmas thing on which is good). Christmas is also a UN holiday YAAY. I am off to a province called Takeo for an overnight monitoring visit to some distributions of food to tuberculosis patients.

Seeya!

Bonding?

Hi All

So i attended the assistant head of sub office meeting in Phomn Penh and met all the other heads and assistant heads (all the assistant heads are australian volunteers), as well as my new boss Mony and the guy i am replacing (and taking his house), Brian. Everyone very nice, although the job looks like it is quite challenging.

So the Deputy Country Director (the Japanese lady who interviewed me) had a quick chat and said that there were a few people that wanted her to go with another candidate that was older but she thought i had a good background and supported my application so i will have to make sure i dont screw up :)

But the really interesting part is that i went to the wedding of one of the driver's daughters that night. Apparently the Khmers commandeer a lane of the road outside their house (or the whole road!) and set up a massive tent and have the party in there. It was pretty awesome lots of dancing (which involved heaps of people dancing around the wedding cake, round and round and round...). I also met some of the team and it looks like i have joined the alcoholic office! As soon as i met them they didnt believe that my coke had any alchohol in it so they topped it up. They seem like a really friendly group and i am very excited to work with them.

So monday morning 6am i am being driven to Kampong Speu. Brian (the guy i am replacing ) is on leave this week so i am down there by myself but i have the keys to the house. Photos will follow :)

Orientation

Well All

Had my VIDA orientation yesterday which was great. Went and bought my shiny new motorbike helmet...and no I don't have a bike but 'motos'are the main taxi here. Oh before i forget i went to the National Museum which was quite nice where i think i got hit on by a Buddhist monk. Well he kept asking me if i had a gf and touching my shoulder and finished with a nice 'i need some money to pay my teacher''

Today met all the WFP people which was great and turns out there are other Aussies volunteering both in the central office. Everyone seems really nice and i am very excited. I had the obligatory security briefing. Turned up ten minutes late and got some very cold glances. The guy giving the briefing didnt say anything to me and shoved the attendance sheet at me. But he had the coolest accent (Irish and Caribbean) so even him trying to be scary about security sounded quite unconvincing.

I am spending the week here and travel to my real home (Kampong Speu) on Monday morning.

Oh below is photos of the WFP country office and the warehouse.

Bye :)

Touchdown!

Hi All

Well i made it to Phnom Penh no worries! The most interesting thing to happen on the flight was that the guy next to me from Sydney to Bangkok was wearing exactly the same shirt as me. So i quickly took off my jacket condemning him to a whole flight of wearing his jacket lest we look like some couple that dressed the same or members of the same volleyball team or something.

All my luggage came through (including snorkelling gear) which was a bonus and i was met at the airport. I have a few days off (Monday is a public holiday) so i will chill. On Tuesday i have VIDA orientation and Wednesday WFP orientation.

SHould get a mobile sometime next week.

Ciao :)