The Schools, The Teachers, The Children, a Special Painting and an Engagement – all in June 2019
Please enjoy today’s report – June 2019. Browse easily through hundreds of reports and thousands of photos taken over the past eleven years.
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There have been a lot of good things happening. All the Schools, including our brand new School, My Health School, are doing well; we’ve got the same teachers we had the last time I wrote to everyone and now in June it is time to hand over their six month salary supplement as always. Today there are eight YouTube videos and eighteen photos.
‘All of the above’ is reflected in today’s report – PLUS we’ve started to properly look at expansion needs at our Prey t’Baing – Antibes School.
PLUS we have an ‘Engagement’ which is well worth talking about.
WE START TODAY with three videos and four photos from our School in Prey t’Baing School which we now call Antibes School (name explained within one of the videos).
We are paying our three Antibes teachers – Thona Un, Suvat Tun and Chanthoun Boli – we start to seriously consider the need for expansion at this School.
You are now watching a sequence of photos and videos of Soklep and Neat (Soklep’s fiancé) starting just above with photos of Soklep being made up. {Soklep and Soklek are Chanthou’s identical twin girls.}
I had the job of keeping Soklep company until the ceremony – meaning that I had every opportunity to at least try to capture Soklep’s Engagement Day.
I very much like the way it seems she blossomed into a beautiful flower during those few hours. I’ll let those Soklep photos speak for themselves.
WHY ARE THESE CLOTHES AND TRADITIONS SO VERY IMPORTANT IN 2019?
I’ll talk briefly about the incredible significance of not only what they are wearing but also touch on the ceremony – this needs some essential HISTORY:
In a nutshell – the walls of Angkor Wat have THOUSANDS of bas relief apsaras – heavenly dancers – each one looking like Soklep.
The Khmer Empire in the year 1400 included most of modern Vietnam , all of Thailand, all of Malaysia and of course all of Cambodia.
The Capital City of The Khmer Empire was Angkor Thom – the chief temple and monastery was Angkor Wat.
In 1400 the population of London was 40,000 – the population of Angkor Thom in 1400 was one million.
Angkor Wat and everything it means is regarded as the SOUL of Cambodia and the Khmer people.
Between 1974 and 1979 The Khmer Rouge systematically killed almost every teacher, Doctor, Nurse, Leader, Writer, Artist, Actor, singer, Dancer and Musician and towards the end, anyone who wore glasses because ‘they can read’. …
…. 40 years later Cambodia is still suffering from the almost complete selective mass murder of Educated people.
To give a comparison, Immediately after World War 2 in 1945, Schools and Universities reopened right around the world. In late 1979 a then medical student friend of mine tried to return to University. There were no teachers, no Doctors – just an empty building.
What you see in these few ancient traditions and clothes during today’s Ceremony is the soul of the people. It exists here in all its spendour…. a remnant … but a vitally important remnant.
The photos and videos, I hope, mostly speak for themselves. One more video in this sequence below.
(Beginning with with the group photo above alongside the photos of The MyHealth Head Teacher and me holding a painting!) -Truly – every day is extra special – today has an extra MAGICAL quality. I know that Amanda and her friends from the Kindergarten of Our Lady of the Sacred Rosary in Brisbane will cry a little today because I certainly am – but happy tears:
It was a very sad day in Brisbane when their precious Kindergarten, after twenty years, was forced to close.
The Kindergarten had just been given a painting as a centerpiece for their Kindergarten.
After the closure I was proudly given the painting to carry to its new home in Cambodia.
It is opportune on many levels. Today our Chuor Ph’av Kindergarten moves from its old home at the other end of the Campus to a room in our new School – My Health School. We put the painting up today. The Kindergarten teacher you can see in the video – her name is Sreyleak. Srey Leak is very good.
The video above was taken this week at our Guesthouse in Chuor Ph’av village (two kilometres from the Chuor Ph’av Campus of three Schools. In the video you hear that we pay all our teachers twice a year to supplement the Salary from The Cambodian Government.
Below this payment video – we see So Nita with her class
We’ll finish today with a video explaining precisely what happens when a School roof needs fixing – one of our teachers climbs onto the roof and fixes it! – in this case our teacher Srey Samun…. Head Teacher Sok Ken and Teacher So Nita are looking on.
….and we close with our proud and good students and teachers on Rubbish Collection in Chuor Ph’av … My Health School in the distance.
Love from all our children, all our teachers and all our families – and me, John.
