Leaving my students was a great wrench, so many of them at a crossroads in their life, no certain continued supports and not even having a clear idea of what might work or help to sustain their future. I have been given a link to the development partnership in the village and plan to maintain contact through them as only some of the students have mobile phones and just two have email addresses.
On the other hand, the culture and philosophy of the life of the village as recounted to me by the students and drivers, and witnessed by me on my daily trips are remarkable. They centre on mutual cooperation, whether in planting and harvesting rice, building houses or local roads, celebrating together the great Cambodian holidays and huge three-day weddings and funerals. In class too, this spirit of cooperation is evident whether in the the support and encouragement they extend to one another or the genuine pleasure they take in the achievements of a fellow student.
This culture is reflected too in the very strong solidarity of the family unit where Multi-generations live together either sharing in a business in town, as in my guesthouse, 36 members of the Ly family live and work together from the great grandmother who survived the genocide to three year old Duitt playing in the lobby. In the country when a daughter marries the family builds together a house for the young couple so all along the road you see these family compounds with houses built together but clearly of different eras and styles.
We celebrated our last class together with pizza and word bingo and some mutual speeches and gifts
and finally a little singing and dancing, as you can see the Cambodian capacity for joy in spite of hardship
I will leave you with my appreciation to everyone who has taken the time to look through these musings and jottings and just ask you to think of Cambodia, its past sufferings and present challenges, and how we in the west can help.
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