My last week in Cambodia - July 9, 2007

I will never forget my last week in Cambodia.

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The week began with me bringing a tourist to Koh Pdao village as part of the Community Development Tour. I was quite excited as this was our first chance to see the hard work from the past months in action. One of the selling features of the Tour is the opportunity to participate in a CRDT project activity in the village. For this particular trip, we took Carmen, the tourist, to a nearby village to help prepare a vegetable garden at a primary school.

When arrived at the tiny two room school, we peeked into the windows to see rows of young children in blue and white uniforms chanting their lessons out loud. We waved to them, but they were quite shy - they just stared up at us with wide eyes. I'm pretty sure they had never seen a foreigner before. The teacher joined us and we went out toward the back where a plot of land had been squared off by a bamboo fence. This is where CRDT planned to build the garden, to be filled with pumpkins, beans, squash and other nutritious vegetables that would help feed the children.

With hoes and shovels, we began digging the beds and soon, we were drenched with sweat and dirt. The teacher barked out a loud command and the children began pouring out of the classrooms. Some of the older ones picked up the hoes and began digging furiously. It was amazing to see how strong they were and how hard they worked - they put both me and Carmen to shame! The younger children crouched down along the beds to begin weeding out the grass, roots and other debris. I knelt down beside them to help. They all stared at me with astonishment and giggled and whispered to each other.

After we finished the weeding and the beds were neatly set, Checco, the CRDT project officer, gathered the children together to talk about the importance of gardens. As he explained later, many of these children will not go beyond primary school so CRDT wants to educate and train them on these important life skills so when they grow up, they can feed their families. The teacher than asked them to give us a round of applause for helping them on the garden. To have 30 adorable children beaming up at us and clapping wildly -- needless to say, we were both thoroughly touched. They then filed back into their classroom. As we walked out of the school yard, we peeked once more into the windows and waved goodbye. This time the children waved back enthusiastically, and then, without being prompted, again began clapping wildly. My heart melted!

***

On my last night at CRDT, the staff threw a dinner party in my honour. They had been desparately trying to keep it a secret, but I knew they were having a traditional Cambodian dress made for me (if you've ever been invited to a Cambodian wedding, you will know what I mean!). Earlier in the week, one of the women had taken me to a dress shop to help her pick out a dress for a "friend." She was a terrible liar and I knew that something was up!

The women prepared the meal themselves, and invited the staff to return from the field offices for the occasion. I was touched to see that many did show up, with the exception of those who were stationed in Mondulkiri, 12 hours away. Channy, the executive director, stood up to make a toast, and Sokunthy, the financial officer, read a letter in which she thanked me for the work that I had done. They then presented me with the dress. I already knew about the dress, but what I didn't expect was the effort and care the CRDT staff took to make the evening special for me.

As I stood up to thank them for the wonderful evening, I had to choke back tears a few times as a I realized just how much they had come to mean to me. In two short months, they welcomed me with open arms and made me feel like a part of their family - and were always eager to re-introduce me to my Cambodian heritage. When I left the CRDT office for the final time that evening, everybody gathered in the courtyard to wave goodbye. As I drove off, I knew that I was so fortunate to work for such a great organization and to become friends with some amazing people in the process.