Allow yourself to drift backwards in time. Rewind just long enough so you can see yourself on December 25th, as a youngster, hovering above yearly Christmas loot with a focus that should ignite the wrapping paper. You can remember it, can't you? Tearing through the piled masses of "nerdy" clothes, pencils and books to get to the requisite merchandise you'd lusted over the past year. Oh, how the relatives lavished us with so much, too much.

It wasn't long before the emotion and effort spent in selection, wrapping, and delivery were steamrolled into oblivion by our up-turned noses, as we were inevitably dissatisfied with what was forgotten; the entire concept of the ritual eclipsed by our ingratitude.

Sounds familiar, right? Maybe this isn't everyone's experience, but we, my brother and I, were experts in acting out this masochistic manifesto each year. If you see our photo album, you can better understand the pissed-off glares branded into the face of father, mother and children...Ah, holidays in the States! :)

Due to your generous donations, holiday-giving-day came today for 100 children aged 6-10 in the Phnam Kraom primary school. Only our presents to them were not state-of-the-art toys, but the items you or I might have resented a few Christmases ago.

Fifty boys and fifty girls each received a baggie complete with: 1 white shirt, 1 blue skirt/pair pants, 3 writing books, 1 pencil, 1 pen and 1 sharpener. The boisterous crew lined up outside their classrooms, on a Sunday mind you, 1 hour before we even arrived; the notion of new uniforms, books and writing implements stirring a joy I have seldom seen in children before.

WOW! If only I could have channeled their chattering and squeals of excitement through to you. Everyone should see and feel this once during their lives.

Despite those incredible, delightful moments of smiles, wais ( bowing) and laughing, I couldn't help but feel twinges of guilt. These are implements of education. All of the school's 744 students should have these things already! While our criticized educational system can update their classrooms with projectors and desktop computers, these children are expected to learn without electricity, paper or pens.

For the entire 3 hour delivery process, incredibly, we listened to nothing but gratitude from Principal, Administrator and students; Clearly, these children ( and Cambodians as a whole) are disinterested in the hardship and disadvantages they've suffered. No negative energy will cloud their goals for the future. It is a lifestyle and attitude that has changed who I am, and how I view the world. I hope it can change yours too!

Water Pump update: The first two we commissioned have been completed! Great news. The second two both had location changes due to the difficulty of drilling and our time constraints. Both have been moved to areas of need. One familiy even uprooted their entire vegetable garden to make room for a pump! The second pumps will be finished on August 2nd. We will visit, take pictures and say good bye to our friends in Phnam Kraom at that time.

Check fotki for pics of our 3rd visit to Phnam Kraom.
www.fotki.com/visceraltext

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX
This would not be possible without the kindness of all of you!!