Good-bye to Romdeng

Our last day at the school, we arrived to find barefoot children playing and dancing on the fresh cement floor that we had poured the day before.

At that point, all that was left was painting. We sanded the cement walls to remove loose particles of sand and then painted them the same yellow as the rest of the school.

Henry at work

The school's principal wanted a plaque to commemorate our work. Luckily Darren is a tattoo artist, so he used his painting skills to freehand the name of the project and the initials of all four schools onto a wood plank. The owner of Global Heritage, Irene Wong, arrived in time to help with the finishing touches.

Darren and Irene complete the sign,
while Dee's dog supervises

Photo by Henry Sim

We celebrated the completion of the project with lots of photos, and fresh coconut water from a coconut tree at the school. 

And just like that, our time at Romdeng Primary School was over. I'm going to miss my new friends.

Hmmm I recognize those glasses ...

They borrowed my phone for a selfie.

The kids head home.

Here's a video slideshow of the whole construction project, from Global Heritage Tours.

The Age of Angkor

On Sunday when the skilled workers had the day off, we visited three sites from the Angkor Empire. This was the Empire that preceded modern-day Cambodia, from the 9th to the 15th century. After the capital was moved to Phnom Penh, these sites remained abandoned for four centuries and were overtaken by jungle before being rediscovered by French explorers. These awe-inspiring structures are now once again able to be viewed by visitors from around the globe.

Our first stop was the walled city of Angkor Thom, the capital of the Angkor Empire. We crossed a moat via a causeway lined with giant stone carved figures, gods on the left side and demons on the right. I felt like I was on a movie set for an ancient saga. The gods and demons were characters from a famous Hindu epic, the churning of the ocean of milk.

Carved gods "churning the sea of milk" along the causeway leading to Angkor Thom

We entered through one of four enormous stone gates beneath a tower containing four enormous stone faces. "Enormous stone" describes nearly everything in Angkor Thom. Just as with the ancient pyramids, the labor required to bring the stones to the site and erect these structures was awe-inspiring. Our tour guide explained that the stones were pulled in by elephants and water buffalo, then lifted up using earthen ramps.

Gate to Angkor Thom. At the top are giant faces looking four directions.

The only elephant we saw at Angkor Thom was hauling tourists, not massive stones.
Cambodia does still have herds of wild elephants, but not in the districts we visited.

The Buddhist faces on the gate tower right next to the Hindu gods and demons on the causeway illustrate the close relationship between Hinduism and Buddhism in Cambodia. Both religions are integral to Cambodia's history and current culture, and both came here from India. Every temple we visited had been converted from Hindu to Buddhist or Buddhist to Hindu, or both, at least once over the course of its history, as different kings came to power. Cambodians continue to honor both of these traditions.

At the center of the city is Bayon Temple, built as a Buddhist shrine in the year 1200.  It has 54 towers, each of which features four stone faces like the ones on the entrance gate--216 faces in all!

Bayon Temple

Nose to nose

Next we visited the temple of Ta Prohm. This temple is fascinating not just because Lara Croft: Tomb Raider was filmed there, but because many of the enormous trees that invaded the structure were left in place during the recovery and restoration. It is a place important not only to Buddhists and Hindus, tourists and Hollywood, but also to the jungle.

Finally, we visited Cambodia's most famous temple, Angkor Wat. This massive, magnificent complex is the largest religious monument in the world. I can't even begin to describe the beauty and enormity of this place. At the center are five iconic stone towers, the tallest in the center, with four others surrounding it. We climbed to the top on steep, narrow, stone steps, and then the jungle spread out before us for miles. (Our tour guide mentioned several times that no building in Siem Reap is permitted to be taller than Angkor Wat, so this really is the highest point in the province.)

Really, I can't describe this experience. You'll have to go and see it for yourself.

Part of our crew--dwarfed by the size of this ancient swimming pool

The central tower

Statue of Buddha, draped with robe

A view down from the peak

Watching a storm approach from the top of the temple

Days at the school

For two weeks, we went to the school nearly every day to work on the classroom. The building design and the materials were very simple: brick walls about a meter high, plastered with cement, and topped with a wooden lattice to let in light and air. The floor was also made of cement.

We spent most of our time hauling buckets of rocks, sand, water, and cement from the staging area to the classroom, since there was not even a wheelbarrow to help with this task. The only power tool I ever noticed was a circular saw. Cement was mixed with a shovel, on the packed dirt of the school courtyard. There were never enough buckets or hammers or other tools for all the volunteers, so we worked in shifts. That suited us fine since the work was hard and the weather was very hot. While one group of volunteers dug holes for the foundation or laid bricks, the others could spend time resting or playing with the children.

I didn't work on this wall, but mine didn't look much prettier.
Luckily, this will all be covered by cement plaster.

Carlos has been working hard!

Yenny, Mani, and Kevin take a break.

The school had virtually no playground equipment--only a single ball in a school of 193 pupils. But the children's favorite game required only a string. Two children would hold the string parallel to the ground, as if in a limbo contest. The object was exactly the opposite of the limbo, however; lines of children tried to jump over the string as it was raised progressively higher. When it became too high to jump over, the children would switch to cartwheels. There seemed to be no penalty for touching the string, as long as the contestant's feet went over the string and came down on the other side. We saw this game played many times a day.

A girl cartwheels over a string held by two classmates.

We had brought small gifts for the children, which were received with great excitement. Kids swarmed around me when I handed out Jolly Ranchers. The Canadian group had brought stickers, which the children stuck proudly on their clothes or foreheads. For people who have so little, even the smallest gifts were an excitement.

The Jolly Ranchers were a hit.

The children never ceased to be fascinated with us, and I never got tired of their smiling faces. One day we taught them to play the hokey pokey. Another day they had fun taking selfies with my phone. Every day they gave high-fives and hugs. I'm glad to be able to leave them with a new classroom, as a thank you for their gracious welcome.

The reason we're here

A lake, a snake, a baby

While the skilled workers were still constructing the classroom roof, the volunteers went on an excursion to a floating village on Tonie Sap lake. Tonie Sap is the largest freshwater lake in Southeast Asia. Clusters of houseboats have formed permanent settlements there, complete with floating schools and restaurants.

Photo by Sarah Rhodes of SiemReap.net (https://www.siemreap.net/visit/attractions/sightseeing/floating-villages/)

Houseboat with moorings made
from branches tied together

We paid a fare to board a tour boat and set out down the lake to the village. Rows of small houseboats lined the edges of the lake. As in Romdeng Village, the people who live on Tonie Sap spend most of their time outdoors, on the deck of their houseboats. Just like in Romdeng, we could see people doing all the activities of daily life--sleeping in hammocks, sweeping the floor, tending to their potted gardens. But here the experience felt very invasive. In Romdeng, we were just walking down the road and couldn't help but observe the people who lived there, just as they observed us and smiled and waved. But here, boat after boat of tourists had paid money to come gawk at impoverished people who were just trying to live their lives, and who would not see a cent of the money we had paid. It just felt wrong.

A nicer houseboat, with a container garden on the deck

At one point our tour boat paused for a while in the middle of the lake, and a rowboat approached. A mother was on board with her daughter, who looked to be about eight years old, and a baby perhaps ten months old. But the most notable passenger was an enormous snake wrapped around the girl’s shoulders. She called out, “Hold snake? Take picture? One dollar!” We took the snake onto the boat and passed it from person to person, grateful that its mouth was taped shut, while the girl collected our money.

Photo by James Sprenger

Meanwhile, a member of our party was taking pictures of the rowboat with the woman and baby. She stood the baby up on his feet and bounced him up and down with a big smile. “Hold baby? Picture? One dollar!” I was astonished to hear that offer, as was the other tourist, who quickly declined. But at the same time it makes perfect sense. If tourists are going to come to Cambodia to take pictures of the local people, then the local people should be able to profit from being the object of their gaze. I still wouldn't pay to hold or photograph someone else's baby, but I admire the woman's resourcefulness.

I paid the dollar.

Romdeng Village

While skilled workers constructed the roof of the classroom, we volunteers had a chance to get to know the village. There is no town center, only narrow red dirt roads lined with trees, houses, and rice fields. We walked along them in pairs and threes in the morning, observing all the activities of daily life. People here spend much of the day outdoors, where an occasional breeze dispels the oppressive heat.

A typical Khmer house in Romdeng Village

The houses are simple wooden structures on stilts, with roofs of corrugated metal or tile. The raised houses prevent flooding during heavy rain.  At other times, the sheltered area below the house is the main living area—shaded from the hot sun and open to the wind. There’s no privacy to speak of for people who live largely outside. We saw people cooking over grills, washing clothes in basins, resting in hammocks, eating at wooden tables, and socializing with family and neighbors. The children stopped playing to stare at us as we passed by, or wave and call hello.



Dogs lolled on every doorstep, and chickens wandered through every yard. One woman was kind enough to catch a puppy for me to pet, from the litter playing about her feet. Skinny white cows were staked in many yards to graze. Some families had a patch of vegetables, and many had fruit trees.

The people in the village live simply. They have no running water and very few possessions. Electricity, if available at all, comes from small portable generators. Cambodia has experienced great economic development in the three decades since the Khmer Rouge, but people living in rural villages are still extremely poor. The per capita income in the country is only a little over $1,000 per year--and incomes are much lower in rural areas.

People living next to the school supplement their income by selling drinks and sweets to the children and workers.  They keep the drinks cold in red coolers filled with big blocks of ice delivered daily. Candies and snacks are laid out on tables by the road.

"Cat--chhma. "

Others earn money through handicrafts. A family that makes brooms graciously agreed to let our whole crew come to their house to observe the work. We spent a pleasant afternoon enjoying their company and hospitality. The brooms are made from dried stalks of rice or branches that have to be found and collected in the woods. These are tied together by hand, with string wrapped around the stalks to form the handle. One broom sells for fifty cents. While some of the volunteers took turns trying to make brooms, I learned Khmer words from the children. They taught me the words for the animals and trees in their yard—cat, dog, cow, banana, and grapefruit. They also practiced the English they had learned in school: “What is your name? My name is Sasha. How old are you? I am ten.”




It was nice to get to know more about the children who attend the school, and their families. They are the reason we are here.

A woman makes a broom

Day 4: Getting to work

Today we started work at the village school, a 45-minute bus ride from our hotel. Even though it was Sunday and the children were not required to be there, they showed up to welcome us. They formed two rows for us to pass between while they clapped and sang, boys on one side and girls on the other, arranged youngest to oldest.

School children lined up to greet the volunteers

Ordinarily the children wear school uniforms, but today they wore all manner of clothes--Hello Kitty t-shirts, sports jerseys, pajama pants patterned with Paul Frank's monkeys, and dresses with plastic pearl necklaces. They watched us shyly from the distance as we were issued straw hats and gloves and got to work.

Children observe while the volunteers dig.

The school consists of a dirt courtyard surrounded by a small library and four classrooms, two of which are open to the air. The classrooms have no electricity, and water comes from a hand-pump near the entrance.

We are building a fifth open-air classroom. The work goes very slowly. Our first task was to dig five holes for the building's concrete pillars. There were far more volunteers than needed to accomplish this task, but we had only three hoes, and most of us were inexperienced at using the long, narrow blade. The exception was Mani, who grew up in Burundi. "I have been doing this since I was eight years old," she laughed.

Several skilled workers hired by Global Heritage Tours watched our inexpert efforts. Clearly they could build this classroom much more quickly without us. We are here less for our labor, than for our own education, and to a certain extent for our wealth. The money each of us paid for this trip provides the materials and workers needed for the project. And our work isn't without value. Eventually the skilled workers took over to finish the holes and set the concrete pillars in them, and we assisted by mixing concrete, hauling sand and rocks, and pumping water. This was work all of us could do.

Michelle wears a garland made by the girls.

Gradually the children became bolder and began to gather close to the work site. I greeted them with soursdey, and they giggled and replied with hello. I held out my hand in the universal gesture of "give me five," and the boldest girl, around eight years old, slapped my palm hard. Soon outstretched hands encircled me, waiting to give me five. This devolved quickly into a flurry of hand-slapping and laughter.


The girls in particular were eager to make friends with the women volunteers. They wove us strands of flowers and presented us with bouquets of leaves. The children speak very little English, and we know even less Khmer, but we found ways to communicate. One girl offered me a piece of bubble gum and we competed to see who could blow the biggest bubble. She popped mine whenever she could.

Our bubble contest

Like children everywhere, the girls wanted me to take their picture and then show them the image on my phone. Both boys and girls gathered around while I shared pictures and videos of my children and pets. They wanted to see the video of my pet hedgehog over and over.

My new friend poses for a picture.

Even more fascinating to them were James's videos of his children skiing. James lives in Calgary, where skiing is a part of life for anyone with enough money to buy a lift ticket. But for Cambodian children who have never seen snow, skiing must seem like a very exotic form of entertainment.

As the day dragged on in the oppressive heat, most of the children headed home for lunch. The skilled workers, too, left for several hours. We ate the meal provided by Global Heritage and tried to cool off in the shade. Curious dogs and a few chickens kept us company until the workers and some of the children returned.

These small dogs are everywhere--skittish but sooooooo cute!

The day's work finished up mid-afternoon. We celebrated the end of the first day with coconut water, sipped through a straw in the coconut itself. Back at the hotel, I felt enormously grateful for the air conditioning and running water--luxuries that the school children don't have.