I was so tired. But, I had to get up. I thought to myself, "Why did I agree to do this technical exchange for so many days?!" I met Bunsak (the other photographer) and Do'lah (the driver) downstairs at 7a to head out to breakfast. We all got some pork and rice and iced coffees and headed on our merry way to a village 35km away form the provincial town of Kampong Cham, where my friends Sam and Katie (PCVs) live. After several concussions (I'm sure) and plenty of bruises on my left arm (yet to be seen)--the ride was bumpy, to say the least--we arrived at their village with the absolutely beautiful Mekong river flowing right in front of us. It was just breath taking. The first thought on my mind was "how did those two get so lucky?!" Sam met us at the river and Katie followed shortly thereafter. They took us to the market where took several shots of two women (one selling coconuts, the other selling chicken). The shots we got at the market were fantastic. The lighting was just absolutely perfect. After the market, we took some shots at the bank (we needed nine photos of women in different occupations), then headed to the health center (where Katie works) and took some shots of one of the midwives. After that, we went to the primary school next door. The students adorably all "Joom-reap-soo-ahd" (yes, I can make that a verb; it's a formal "hello", by the way) us and we got some striking shots of two students writing in their notebooks.
At this point, we headed towards a random house where Bunsak's cousin apparently lives. Of course, in typical Khmer fashion, we sit-played (sat down and chatted) for 20 min and drank from coconuts. After this, we went to Sam's house and got her neighbors to come over and take shots of them smiling at their children laughing and playing with toys (fantastic!). Okay, so, at this point, I believe it's important to note that it's two men going to random villages asking women if we can take their pictures and put them on cards for a game about birth control ("birth spacing" in Cambodia). Surprisingly, about 90% of the women we asked said yes. Again, it's important to note that we are extremely honest when asking their permission. We state everything, they take a couple of moments to think about it then say, "Yeah, okay. Sure." (or "Bahn..." or "Ja Jaa")
So, after Sam's, we went and had lunch at a near-by house and chatted about idioms, Afroman, and the Khmer Rouge. Yes. All of those topics came up in conversation over the span of about 45 min. The man who spoke about the Khmer Rouge told us that he was one of the soldiers that replaced some of the Vietnamese ones when they came in to oust the Khmer Rouge. He still has some scars for shrapnel (from a mine) that entered his thigh and his head. After lunch, we found a woman carrying a couple of cartons of eggs and did a photo shoot of her looking depressed (this game is going to be sets of cards of matching opposites) with a crying baby. It worked out pretty well, and she seemed to be pretty glad to help us out (also important to note: the women sign agreements and are compensated).
We couldn't find anymore people to take pictures of in Sam and Katie's village, so we headed out to drive around one of the national highways to take one more shot, which we found, and it turned out pretty well. When we finished up with that photo shoot (pause. I just need to let you know that today was crazy hot. I think I, now, have a permanent sweat stain [in the shape of a "v"] on my shirt....continue), we drove to Skun district to meet up with another PSI mobile video unit (MVU) that had an event in a very rural town that evening. Basically, what MVUs do is park in various villages, set up film projectors, a giant projector screen and a small tent. They show a drama with a strong health message (and various plots that involve cremations, police arrests and knives...) about the importance of birth spacing (again, the same as "birth control"). After the movie, the emcee asks for four volunteers to come up to the main banner and answer questions about the movie. When they're done, everyone claps, and they'r given some PSI swag. They then have to tear open the packaging and put on that swag as fast as possible to win various prizes (kroma, sarong, money [?]). After this, they put on some hilarious Chinese B movie that's dubbed in Khmer with Chinese subtitles. In order to put on this event, PSI contacts the commune chief who tells everyone to attend. There were about 200+ people at this event. My job was to help photograph the event, and I think I got some pretty good shots (again, photos to be posted mid-April). It was a LOT of fun, however, I was beat. The day started at 6:15a and there were no mid-day naps! It was a travesty, an absolute travesty! However, by the end of the day, I was absolutely elated at the opportunity I was given to come out here and help make some of the components of this health-education game and get to know the staff at PSI a lot better. I'm very excited for tomorrow!
Bunsak, Do'lah, and I got some late dinner (10:30p) and headed back to the hotel, where I am, now, typing this out.
Alright. I'm tired (I also wrote these first three days out of order, which just goes to show how tired I am). I wrote "Day 1" with Day 1 material. Then, I wrote "Day 2" with Day 3 material. Whoops. Ugh. I'm off to sleep. Tomorrow, I'm off to visit my friend Lindsay (another PCV) who lives about 100km (2 hours) from the provincial town. I'm very excited to see her and her site again. Note: at first when I mentioned that I could probably contact some PCVs in the province of Kampong Cham, the technical director said, "Oh! That's fantastic. How many people are out there?" I told her about 10, and that if they wanted to venture out into any other province, that I would know people there. She responded to that with "This is the power of Peace Corps." Whoo! Go Peace Corps!
Talk to you soon,
Talk to you soon,
Garrett
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