Brown Family "C" Change

It's been Canberra to Cambewarra,
Now its Cambewarra to ... Cambodia


Welcome to the Brown Family Blog where we aim to keep you updated on our life, work and prayer needs while serving in the small mission school of Hope International, in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
email: brownsincambodia@gmail.com

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Swimming Carnival

We enjoyed our school swimming carnival yesterday. June 10, a hot yet comfortable 32 degree day. It took just over 2 hours to get all the races through and then there was some free time. My role was photographer, which was relaxing and fun, and my bottle of iced water lasted just long enough to see the morning through.

As I looked back through the images I was pleasantly surprised to find that I had managed to snap a good shot of Naomi, so I thought I would post it here. Naomi is a very good swimmer, however there are no girls in her year group that are sporty in any way (there are only three other girls in her year), so she tends to be lax in exercise. Some encouragement from people other than her parents would be good (hint hint).

Nathan swam well too. One event he entered was where you could choose your best stroke. Nathan launched off into backstroke, and for the first half a lap, held his own against the free stylers beside him, then he got tired and swam crooked here and there for the rest of the length.

Graham entered the teachers race, he is an awesome long distance swimmer, not a sprinter, he was beaten by but a moment by the school principal.

School holidays start next week, and with Cambodia being so hot, living part time in the pool seems like the most affordable and appropriate escape for us.... that is until the NAC housebuilding team arrive, soon followed by my sisters (Catherine and Heather) who will join us and experience for a short time at least, the smells, heat, dust, noise and traffic that we call home.


Friday, June 5, 2009

Spare time, Skills and the School Magazine etc

Well, what does one do in their spare time in Cambodia.... The school magazine. Well actually Hope School did give me substantial time to work on this years magazine. Which, of course is like asking a pig to go and play in mud. Needless to say I also played to my hearts content in my own time. As I speak I am applying the finishing touches. I always suprise myself with some of the things that the students and I are able to create these days with software like Photoshop. Like the front cover below, now that was fun to create.... Oh the ghecko thing... well if you have ever been to Cambodia you would know that you see them everywhere. From memory the most I spotted at any one moment was in a restaurant at Siem Reap, 22 of them!

It does remind me that I enjoy graphic arts challenges and here in Cambodia there are plenty of opportunities to serve others with these and other skills. For example a calender and coffee table book I am contributing photographs too. Now this will be a real joy, to see my work proffessionally produced, in the process of serving others... you can't get much more satisfying call than that as a wannabe photographer... (Well unless it was a call from Nat Geo etc, but that is altogether a different ball park lol.)

I am really enjoying the diversity of this country. It has very little to keep oneself occupied... and yet it has abundant opportunities to genuinely serve others without feeling used -(a hard balance to find at times, but Missionaries would not last long without burning out otherwise.) I think I have said it before, the unity that comes through this, is pretty priceless.

God Bless
Fiona