Hope School and the Christmas Concert

The School Semester is coming to a close. Last night we had the School Christmas Concert. The infants school performed 'The story of Christmas' and the junior and high school performed 'The Grinch who stole Christmas'. Nathan was in the play, Naomi helped with hair and makeup, Graham ran the light desk and I took the still photos.

It has been a great term here at Hope School. And as usual, we will be losing some students who are returning to their home countries either permanently or on furlough, we will also gain a number more in the new semester early January.

It may be difficult for outsiders to consider what we do here in Cambodia as Missionary work. But we are left without a doubt as to how necessary a role we have here in Witnessing Christ. The predominant portion of our parents are Missionaries be it in relation to orphanages, training facilities, church planters, community development projects, woman/children at risk programs, advocacy agriculture or clean water projects. Often a parent will thank us for being here to educate their children, for without an affordable fee school many of them would not be able to stay in country, as expensive private schools, Khmer language schools and home schooling are impractical or unaffordable.

We have opportunities to work alongside other missionaries through school via service projects for which we and our students volunteer and also in our church missionary ventures (such as the Steun Mean Chey Dump).

Working with the students is particularly special for Graham and I as we manage the extra curricular program and run many activity clubs such as swimming, photography, film making, gardening, portrait drawing and sports etc. My film making club is particularly a joy as the group of students I have are so keen.

Please pray for our work here in Cambodia, it is simple but rewarding. We do know many families would like us to extend our contract, but at this stage have told the school we will leave in June. It is a very very hard decision to make. We miss Australia, our families, friends, the mountains and the sea, but we also have an opportunity to bless others and be blessed by them in a way that is just so different to life in Australia.

Have a great Christmas,

Fiona

American Film Shoot.

Cambodia provides opportunities to participate in otherwise inaccessible learning experiences. An American production company (The Bandito Brothers) was recently in Cambodia completing an 8 month shoot on a feature film called "I am that Man". A film revolving ( I think) around the bond between a Navy Seal and the son of another Navy Seal who died in action. There were three days of shooting in Cambodia to cover a subplot scene about a terrorist. The call came out via the Expat Advisory Service for child extras for one day of shooting in Phnom Penh. Nathan went for a screen test. ( Naomi was too old). Nathan was accepted and we all headed for the film shoot. He had a great time, though found the waiting quite boring. They did however pay him for his time... which was a bonus.

Being an amateur film maker I had negotiated at the screen test for myself and two of my older film club students to assist with the weekend Phnom Penh Shoot. The day was incredible and led to the students and I being asked to travel with the crew to Kampot to undertake another two days of shooting. This allowed me the opportunity to learn on set about camera gear, dolly work, cranes, grips, special effects, directing, producing... and the list goes on.

The directors and producers were very friendly and while waiting for various setups explained various concepts to us, allowed us behind the camera and answered our myriad of questions.

I also had the opportunity to share my testimony with the two (Christian) students which they were inspired by and asked ongoing questions about.

Year 8 Me-Sang Village Service Project Trip.

Recently I took the year 8 pastoral group (including Naomi) to a small village for two night to visit a missionary family of one of the students. We harvested rice with sickles, threshed it with our feet, ran a children's program, visited a fish farm and observed the extraction of palm sugar.

We slept in Khmer houses; raised wooden huts on thin mats, with holes cut in the wall for windows. The bathroom was separate and consisted of a non flush squat toilet and a container of water to scoop over us to wash ourselves. There was no running water or electricity, though car batteries are used to provide light for a short time at night.

Naomi had a fabulous time and did not complain about the poor living conditions in any way. It was such a blessing to be able to see the work of the missionary family in this area and to spend time with Naomi and her peers in such a remote location.

It is times like this that really make me want to stay in Cambodia and support missionaries with the skills God has developed in us prior to our visit and while here.

Cambodia the Land of opportunity.

It continues to amaze me how diverse the opportunities are for us here in this country. Within the last month we have had the privelege of travelling throughout the south of the country, taking the year 8 students to serve a poor village and to participate in a $10 million feature film shoot.

Travelling the Countryside.

In the last month Graham and I have found ourselves and family travelling in the south of Cambodia looking for places to hold school camps next year. It is not easy to find affordable locations that will take a group of 30 people. Some of the most spectacular scenery is in the south of Cambodia. The sea and mountains are much more of interest than the flat sprawl of Phnom Penh. Cambodia is not large, but travel is very slow, often with dirt or muddy narrow potholed roads, random police check points, toll points and herds of cattle to be negotiated. We all enjoyed the photographic opportunities this trip presented.

Year 8 Me-Sang Village Trip.

Cambodia provides such an opportunity to meet the needs of others. Recently I took the year 8 pastoral group (including Naomi) to a small village for two night to visit a missionary family of one of the students. We harvested rice with sickles, threshed it with our feet and ran a children's program, amongst other things.

More detail and images about this event can be read in its own separate posting.

American Film Shoot.

Cambodia also provides opportunities to participate in otherwise inaccessible learning experiences. An American production company was recently in Cambodia completing a feature film called "I am that Man" with a scene set in Asia. Nathan has the opportunity to be a child extra in one scene, while I had the opportunity to assist the production crew while they were here.

More detail and images about this event can be read in its own separate posting.

Sorry it has been a while between blogs, I must admit access to a PC, the Internet and Electricity all at the same time means that so many priorities compete for online time.... but most of all I get forgetful. I am much more of an sms gal..sigh.

Please pray for our family as we consider God's future for us, and for the needs of the Cambodian people to experience God in their lives spiritually, emotionally and physically.

Fiona

Drawing upon Experience

As you can see, I have continued drawing as a hobby here. This little boy lives in a small village on the outskirts of Phnom Penh, the same village as Baby Chantee in my previous post. His family collect recyclables to sell so they can buy food.

Our church ministers in this village, a large part of the work is medical aid. We have also put water filters into the village so they can have fresh water, and Hope school is involved in keeping them in clean working order.

The boy carried around a towel, using it much like children use a 'blanky' to comfort them. I had not seen children doing this in Cambodia before. He wore mismatch oversized clothes and mismatching sandles.

Please pray for the ministry in this village, it is very poor and the people are largely unskilled and survive in the most meager of wooden shelters, on the most simplest of foods with very poor hygiene, but this, and their skill sets and hopes are slowly improving!

Fiona

Baby Chjantee

Meet Baby Chjantee, she is now almost 5 months old. She was born in a small impoverished village that our church works with. The poorest of the poor live in this village. She has a hair lip and double cleft pallet. ( did I say that right?) She was a small baby and her mother was unable to breastfeed her. At 5 days old she was in hospital and in a coma for two days, not expected to survive. Babies like Chjantee would normally die. Her mother is a Christian and attends the Elim Khmer church. After meeting with our pastor and her Khmer community it was decided that Chjantee had special needs that could not be met in her village. Her mother placed her in the arms of Pastor John and his wife Anne. She is now being raised by our church. She has a long road ahead of her in terms of surgery.

Her short life to date has already brought people to the Lord. For example, her mother passed on her story to a Khmer man dying of Cancer, she gave him Pastor John's phone number. John found a hospice place for him and with his Khmer Church team led him to the Lord before he died.

John and Anne are looking after Chjantee (with a Khmer nanny). At times she is looked after by another key family from church. Her mother gets to see her each week when she comes to church, or when the team minister in her village each fortnight.

On Sunday her dedication service was held. Hence the photo which is of John holding her.

Please pray for Chjantee, she is fortunate to be alive, and a symbol of Hope. Please also pray for the myriad of babies like her, born in poor villages, who simply die within a few days/weeks because their needs cannot be met, and for the mother's in whose arms they die.

Fiona

KHLIMB the Penh

Graham has been interested in introducing our students to a range of opportunities not readily available in this country. One of these is rock climbing. There is a new European organisation in town also looking to promote rock climbing. They set up an event called Khlimb the Penh last weekend. ( Khlimb not Climb, because the people here are known as Khmer / Khmai.) Setting up a rock climbing wall on a building site.

So we went along to check out the event, as did numerous students, and me, I took along my Camera. Most of the Khmer who attended had not seen rock climbing, let alone attempted it, so it was an interesting and good day for all!

Fiona

When it rains it pours

It is the wet season, which we quite enjoy. Being a hot country the rain is refreshing, even fun at times. But then yes, there are those storms that pelt for a few hours so heavy that the drains cannot keep up with the torrent. On days like this the streets flood, as do people's houses and shops. (Two of the shops on the right are raised, but the mechanic, with the bottles out the front, is flooded as is his house in behind.)

The photo shows our street about 40 m "down" the road from us. Our section of road and also our frontage is high enough not to flood - thankfully. Cambodians who can afford to build their houses up, or put concrete barriers across their frontage so the street does not drain into their house.

Mind you, when it rains like this, our school yard floods similarly. Our classroom doors have raised concrete steps to stop the water coming in. We all just move to higher ground and life goes on.

At least our street is now concrete, this time last year it was dirt.

Please continue to pray for our time here, it is such an awesome privilege to serve God in another culture, but at times can be very draining as well.. (excuse the pun on the word draining - lol)

God Bless

Fiona Brown

Creative Fun for a Challenging Purpose

Next week Hope School will be hosting FLAG WEEK. What is Flag Week, well it's a bit like Community School meets Summer Camp. By that I mean we will be having guest speakers at various times of the day to challenge the students about their faith.

I have made a banner for the event. It is printed on vinyl and is 2.4m long and 0.8m high. I constructed it life size in adobe photoshop and used vector paths to ensure good quality. (For the technically minded... yes my laptop did struggle severly, I had to close down unused processes and play lots of games of spider solitaire while I waited for it to render time and again.)

God is Good!

I love the opportunity to use my creative gifts for Hope School.

Please pray that this is a week of challenge for the students, a challenge to own their own faith and stand firm in it.

Fiona

Hope School Film wins two Ignite Awards

Following on from my previous posts......

Hope School recently entered the Sydney Anglican Media Ignite Amateur Short Film Festival in Sydney Australia with our film SORIDA – A Film of Hope. The film tells the testimony of the family of Sorida Sbong, one of the office administrators. The Festival award presentation was held last Saturday night.

Our film took out the Schools Category Award and the People’s Choice Award.

Thank you to all of those who voted for our film!

For our efforts we have won a data projector and some cash to put towards our own video camera. These should come across from Australia in the near future, as should our awards that you can see above.

The winning films can be seen on www.ignitefilmfest.com.

Thank you to everyone who participated in this event.

Fiona Brown

Congrats to our School Film Club - you can vote!

In a couple of blogs I have mentioned our Hope School Film Club and our short film- "Sorida - a Film of Hope". It is the testimony of Sorida - one of the administrators at school, and of her family. We entered it into the 2009 Ignite Film Festival hosted by Anglican Media in Sydney.

We received an email over the weekend that our film had made it into the top 20 entered films. This means that it has been chosen for the IGNTIE 2009 release DVD.

What's more our film can be seen online at www.ignitefilmfest.com. and you can vote for it to receive the people's choice award.

Should the film make it to the next round - that is the top 12 - it will be shown on the festival night... should the film make it to the top eight, it will win an award!

We hope you enjoy our film and consider voting for it in the people's choice category!

God Bless

Fiona

The Summer Holidays

While friends and family in Australia have been enjoying winter, we have enjoyed the Northern Hemisphere Summer Holidays. This is a 6-7 weak break, similar to the School Christmas Holidays in Australia.
What did this mean for us? ... apart from even more limited internet access than usual.

Rest at home, at first.
We were so tired by the end of the term we just blobbed for days. I got a wry neck so I had to blob just that bit more.

A Spring Clean.
We did a mini spring clean of the house. Mini because we don't own years of possessions, but it was still worth sorting and passing things on. And then there were the mountains of paper that accumulate as you teach. And then there was the dusting, oh the dusting! in this country every is covered with a layer of dust... if you let it sit for more than a week.

School Work - Film Edit.
During the year the film club I ran worked on a short film for the 2009 Ignite film Festival run by Anglican Media in Sydney. So I spent countless hours and days editing the film, recording voices, tweaking sound files, colour balancing shoots, applying transitions... wheew! you name it. But I am proud to say we completed the film and submitted the film in time. So keep your eyes out for the ignite festival.. September 5.... You can vote for the peoples choice award on-line! Our film is called Sorida - a film of Hope, it tells the testimony of one of the Cambodian staff at school.

NAC Visit.
A team from Nowra Anglican College arrived in early July, Here was DejaVu, the Tabitha Cambodia housebuilding trip that originally brought us to Cambodia now being experienced by a new team of people. What a fantastic opportunity to catch up with Jo Barnes, Jenny Urquhart, Andrew Leslie, Simon Godden amongst other faces of staff, parents and students. We really enjoyed catching up and sharing our experience, including through devotional times with them.

A Holiday.
You know how sometimes you haven't seen someone for a while, but when you do, it's like you have never been apart. They are such a natural part of your life. Well after a year of not seeing my two sisters, Catherine and Heather, we were reunited in Siem Reap together. They flew into Cambodia on July 19.. (that's 364 days after we had left Australia.) I spent an awesome four days with them sightseeing Siem Reap before we headed to Phnom Penh and they got to also catch up with Graham, Naomi and Nathan. Then it was more sight seeing, the killing fields, the palace, the markets. Finally, as they were flying home from Ho Chi Minh City, we caught a boat to vietnam and slowly worked our way to the capital. We enjoyed two days at a beach on Phu Quoc Island. Nathan in particular just loved playing in the sand and moulding it. After almost two weeks together my sisters flew home, a hard parting, but with the knowledge that we had built an incredible memory together that we would always cherish.

We have now been back at school for a week, we are enjoying new classes, new faces, and the same old power cuts and internet drop outs..lol

What a blessed place Hope School is, what a fantastic opportunity to preach Christ and support missionary families!

more soon,
God Bless,
Fiona

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.

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

Family Photo

You might well be wondering what we all look like now as almost a year has past since we have seen most of you. Hence I will indulge you with a family pic from this years school photos. 

Cheers

Fiona

Khmer Funeral Culture

I am not an expert on Khmer and its Buddist / ancestor worship beliefs, but we are exposed to it often, at times more than others. Take yesterday morning and this morning at 4:45 am for example. A funeral is being held in the house directly across the road. This means that at this early hour all the local Khmer come out and stand on cats tails until they squeel to a decibel level that can ruin your hearing. (Okay they call it Khmer traditional music with tinny instruments.) They also whine and chant. Funerals may last a couple of days through to seven days, with repeat events a few months and a year afterwards.

Traditionally in the villages, in the early hours, men would cry out loudly so the village knew the family were in mourning, people would gather at the home and musicians would play music. Days of ceremony would ensue with extended appeasement of the dead spirit so they would not be haunted but rather be blessed in the future.

Here in Phnom Penh, the houses are only metres from each other, the streets are narrow, ... and they have discovered loud speakers. So the whole neighbourhood is drawn into the process - ealry in the morning and late into the night.  At times the streets are completely blocked, this is normal for a funeral. On some occasions, like this, a small gap is left for bikes to get through.

The Khmer have little concept of personal and private space, so our front verge (Which in most houses like ours would be caged in) has become a public bike park. I had to move a space clear through them this morning to get out of the house. ( They don't mind you doing that, throughout the city people are always moving other people's vehicles to get past, they even leave their handbreaks off in cars so they can be pushed if they are in the way - Phnom Penh is flat, so they are not going to roll anywhere).

Please pray for protection for our family at this time. There is a lot of communication with evil spirits and other missionary friends of ours have reported seeing demonic figures during the night at times of celebration and appeasement of dead ancestors.

The end of the school year.

Well it is coming to the end of the school year here at HOPE School Cambodia - 3 more weeks.  The above photo is of the whole school, students and staff. We have students from 22 different countries and staff from 8 different countries.

Hope is a wonderful, Godly school and it is a blessing to work here. There is a strong sense of community and purpose within the school and wider environment. We have made many good friends. We have learned to appreciate the simple things in life and accept the challenges of intermittent electricity, fluctuating internet, limited resources and flooded rooms. These shared experiences allow us to pull together in support of each other. It is the ïn your face" nature of life and faith here that has been the catalyst for personal and spiritual growth. 

I cannot imagine not have having come here and would encourage others to consider overseas mission. It is not so much ability but availability that God works with to bring ordinary everyday Christian people into a phase of growth and service.

Please pray for our school as we continue to look for teaching staff in the future, the cycle of people coming on contract and going home, along with the growth of the school requires that we are regularly in prayer for new staff.

Fiona

School Camp

Last Month our school held the annual school camps. Year 4,5,6 and 7 all went to the Khmer Village Homestay in Baray Province. Here was an opportunity to experience Khmer culture, eat Khmer food, stay in Khmer style accomodation and contribute to a community. The students enjoyed seeing silk weaving and noodle making, eating freshly made waffles, pony cart transport and driving ox carts. 

 

The older students also participated in community development projects such as paving around village wells and repairing houses.

A highlight for many was visiting the local school, playing games with the children and giving them the gift of a pen each. The excitement of owning a pen was so vivid on the childrens faces and made an impact upon our own students.

Naomi, Nathan and I were all on this camp, (Graham was on an adventure camp with an older group). I would have to say that the visit to Baray and the opportunity to be involved in the ministry there, has been one of the highlights of my time here in Cambodia. 

Please pray for Esther, who established the Khmer Lifestyle Ministy to support the local villages. She does an amazing work and through her homestay and Community Development projects sees God impact the community and visitors alike. 

Fiona

Sorida, A Film of Hope

One of the Extra Curricular Clubs that I have been running since September is a film club. We have scripted, resourced and filmed a short film called "Sorida, A Film of Hope". The club are up to the editing stage of the film. We hope to submit the film into the 2009 Syndey Anglican Media Ignite Film Festival.

Sorida is one of the Khmer office ladies. The film shares her testimony of how she became a Christian. The actors in the film are all Khmer, and all of the dialog is in Khmer, but will have English Subtitles and and English Narration in various parts.

This has been a very enjoyable and learning experience for all involved. The Khmer students and staff who participated as actors very much enjoyed the opportunity to be envolved. Everyone is very excited to see the finished product... but that is some way off yet, so keep tuned.

Fiona

Long Time No Blog

Hi all,

Yes it has been a long time between blogs. The term just gone was hot, hard and at times painful.I had ongoing headaches with some real corkers of migraines and some tears. Work had its own share of stresses for both Graham and I, electricity was unrealiable, Naomi hit teenage independence and Nathan had his fair share of illness. Life is very much "In your face"here, and there is no where to run to when the going gets hard. However the challenges were growth times and there were many many rewarding times. I will share a number of the rewarding experiences with you this week... should the electricity and Internet hold out?

Thank you everyone for your prayers and ongoing support. Despite my sporadic email/sms/blog nature, please be assured that I pray for you on a regular basis. Bringing friends and places before the Lord is a blessing that I hope to only experience all the more as our time here continues.

We look forward the term ahead. It is "last"term for us here, being on the English school system, so we feel like we are on the "home run" for this school year. Then we start the new school year here in August and Naomi starts year 8! We also look forward to the catching up with the visiting Nowra Anglican College team, and my two sisters subsequent to that. I am sure that everyone visiting will experience their own challenges here, no matter how short a time they visit for and will head back to Australia with much to reflect upon, pray about, and share with others.

God Bless,

Fiona

Under Construction

There is fervant construction being undertaken everywhere in Cambodia. From flash exclusive 42 storey apartment complexes with their own shops and schools, to the humble townhouse style, like the one we live in. Townhouse builders move from job to job, their family coming with them. They often take up residence on the building site, put up a makeshift toilet and cook outside. As the building takes shape they move into the lower floor while they complete the construction. Their children play merrily in the grounds during the day. At times, if they do not have another building project lined up after their current one, builders will slow down their work, so they still have somewhere to live. Scaffolding is made of timber poles, and pulleys are used to draw buckets up and down the floors. As you can imagine there are lots of things to play with at a construction site, the sand pit being a favourite. Yes I can hear you alarm at the safety, or lack there of. The workers do not know any different, except that, should they have to move their family elsewhere, they would become even more impoversished than they are, and the children even less supervised. The probability of an injury at the worksite pales into comparison with their daily struggles, they are not stupid about it, just helpless.

Life in the slow lane

There are a myriad of unusual traffic sites on Phnom Penh roads. We sometimes joke about the weirdest thing we have seen on the back of a motor bike. However one of my favourite unusual sites is the oxen pulled ware carts that are sometimes seen coming along in front of the school. 

This is the second week back at school this semester. Life is constant, but like the Ox Cart, full of little treasures and not rushed.

Praise God for the lessons of slowing life down, living simply and fellowshipping in community. 

The Malones visit Jan 3-6 09

The Malone Family, who are in Thailand as Missionaries with Pioneers, are friends from our Canberra days. In fact I fondly remember the first time we met them in 1991. We entered their church as newbies and after the service they invited us to play tennis with them.

Recently Phil, Jenny and Matt visited from Thailand, while Tim, who had been visiting them from Australia for Christmas, also came across. They stayed with us for three days and we visited historical sites with them. The photo above shows us on a boat together on the Mekong river at Phnom Penh, where we went past a small Vietnamese Floating Village.

It is quite remarkable that on one side of the Mekong is this small village and on the other the bustling and large city of Phnom Penh with a skyline of large scale construction, flashy hotels, cafe's and the Royal Palace.

It was such a blessing to share these few days with the Malones. Almost surreal to see people we know and love in an environment that we have never shared together before. You can find a link to the Malones own Blogsite on the bottom right of our site. They are very much an inspiration to us when we contemplate their growth in Christ and his working out his purposes through them. Please pray for their ministry in the slum area south of Bangkok.

Fiona

Our New House

We have reached a milestone. We have vacated the house which we were subletting for the first part of our term here and moved into a town house.


This is a photo of the front of the house, ground floor. The bike and trailer delivered some of the furniture which we bought as the place came unfurnished. A dining table, 8 dining chairs, two beds and two matresses were piled onto the trailer and roped down.

Below is our kitchen, there is one tile cupboard to the right of the tile bench, and a sink with cold water. It is interesting setting up a new house, buying all your needs from scratch. A gas stove top, gas bottle, fridge, plates, cutlery, water filter, serving implements... you name it. Not something we had been particularly prepared for budget wise, but necessary all the same. We spent the Christmas break bargaining and finding second hand sales and are almost set up.

Our new place is about 15 minutes walk further away from our old house. It is however a bit quieter and we have a hot water system in our bathroom. Needless to say I have enjoyed having warm showers each day! Especially when washing my hair.

I am looking forward to having open street access so that we can engage more readily with the locals rather than locked behind a courtyard. The lady across from us, will probably become familiar with us very quickly, as she sells pineapples, mangoes and guava outside her gate. A pineapple comes ready cut in 4 portions and cost about 30 - 50cents. Yum! The local boys seem keen to play with Nathan, since this street is not busy, like the previous one, he should make friends quickly.

Our town house is one in a row of four, we live on the left end and another Hope teacher (Miss Chris) lives on the right end, since townhouses are only about 5 metres wide, then between our two places is a whole 10m. This move will bring us oppportunities share times with Chris and get to know the Khmer who live with her.

We do not yet have a wahing machine, please pray for direction / blessing in aquiring one.

God Bless,

Fiona