**STILL ACCEPTING LAST MINUTE DONATIONS FOR PHNAM KRAOM ( not KAOWL as I spelled before :) Phoenetic translations can be challenging!**
( L-R, Heang, Chris, Karolina, Village Chief, Troy and me)

As if the overwhelming and compassionate replies of our friends and family were not enough, we happened upon an Austrian couple, Christian and Karolina, at a food stand (one a primary school teacher and the other a social worker-both living in Innsbruck) who offered to follow us to the village of Phnam Kraom and assist with our project.

We were at our usual foodstand, eating our usual yellow noodle soup with beef ( a delicious concoction with spices, leek, onion for .75 cents) when we saw a young couple stop beside us, nervously discussing the safety of the food being prepared.

Three weeks into Cambodia, and another 2 1/2 months into Asia, we not only feel comfortable eating street food, but we LOVE eating street food. I was deathly afraid at the onset of our Asian adventure, imagining every stand was harboring ecoli. What a ridiculous misconception! I think street food is a very large part of the cultural experience here, as you will never see a Cambodian eating at a sit down restaurant. You will also get to experience the real Khmer cuisine, not the doctored versions served in restaurants for Westerners. The two biggest rules are: 1. eating only what is freshly prepared in front of you ( never sitting out) and 2. never drinking the water or using the ice as many times it is not handled well.

As we were the only Westerners eating at this stand, we let them know the food is not only "safe" but delicious! After a few bites of their Khmer fried rice, and noodle soup, they agreed, and we ended up in a conversation about our fledgling water pump "project".

After dinner, we had two more volunteers enlisted who pledged to assist in delivering the 600 lbs of rice, 600 packs of noodles, 90 bottles of soy sauce, and 30 bottles of fish sauce. They also wanted to visit the school in Phnam Kraom, as they brought a large box of pencils, pens and sharpeners to donate.

We set off with our trusted navigator/translator/friend Heang, and were able to stuff the noodles, sauces, bags and candy on the first run. When we arrived, we were pleased to see a group of villagers and 30 children waiting for us. Everyone was working together to unload, divide and distribute the food while Heang hurried back to the city for the six 50 kilo bags of rice ( about 660 lbs in total). If you can't picture it, this is a lot of food, and took only an hour to measure out and bag with all the help. Amazing :)

The two pumps we commissioned back on July 18th, were not yet finished. For one of the pumps, the depth of the drilling was at about 30m, but needs to be closer to 50m to reach the clean, fresh ground water. The other was closer to being finished, but took longer than expected because of the rocky ground to penetrate, with the final concrete being poured as we arrived. ( see pics on fotki) Two new pumps ( four total) were started, and will be finished for our last trip on August 30th.

After delivering the food and checking the status on the pumps, we walked towards the entrance of the city, to the local grade school. At first glance, there were no adults in sight, just a hundred kids riding bikes, sitting in the shade, throwing pebbles at each other in the courtyard. We wandered through the crowd of giggling, pointing children, and found a guy who looked almost like a child himself! He couldn't have been more than 19 or 20, and he was in charge of a 70-person classroom. We chatted with him ( with Heang as translator) and learned that the classes are crowded, his salary is $30 per month, and the children need to buy their own pencils/books and uniforms to attend. The school is not free. In addition to their supplies, the children need to bring 100-500 riel per day to pay for the teachers' salary, curriculum, and building upkeep. We decided to give $20 to this teacher, who was so polite and thankful to have foreign visitors.

We gave out our candy/pencils/pens to a very excited group, who were laughing, raising their hands and shouting. ( see pics)

Because school uniforms are relatively expensive ( $2-3 per uniform) we have decided to use a portion of the donations to clothe the students of Phnam Kraom. We have 6 days until our final trip back to the village, and will use this time to order uniforms for these children.

It is not to late to give :) And thank you again for all of your assistance! More pictures have been posted. Keep checking back for more.
Love you,
www.fotki.com/visceraltext

xoxoxoxoxox
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