On eating birds, watching birds, and conserving birds

Dear Friends and Family,

Happy thanksgiving!! This weekend I joined a group of expats (some working for MCC) as they celebrated the American Thanksgiving Holiday. Better late than never, I suppose. It was quite a big deal having this even hosted in Prey Veng Town at the home of some MCC service workers. Several families came in from the city, and much of the food had to be brought in from the city as well. Yes, there was turkey, and potatoes, stuffing, green beans, sweet-potato, corn, pumpkin pie, and apple crisp! It was amazing! To make the weekend even better, I got to spend the night with Lisa, another MCC worker. We watched the first few episodes of Firefly together while I indulged in a most delicious mug of hot chocolate. But enough about food. I realize it is probably not nearly as exciting for you as it is for me. I ALSO got to go bird-watching this weekend: once by myself, and the second time with Lisa. Apparently my enthusiasm for birding was catching because last weekend she asked if I would introduce her to the world of birds next time I visited. But once again I have entered upon a subject very few of my readers find great interest in.

I am actually thinking of starting a birding blog. One of my professors from university suggested it to me as a good way to help out ecotourism in Cambodia. He said a lot of traveling birders look for blogs people write about what they see in other countries. The way ecotourism works is this: locals live in an area of great ecological and biodiversity significance. The fact that the only breeding site for this particular critter is in their backyard, or that they sit on one of the few remaining types of this forest, or that the lake they fish in is teeming with hundreds of endemic species, or that the bird eggs they eat belong to an endangered species is of little significance in their everyday lives. Or maybe they do have an idea and are making a living selling it illegally. Populations grow; greed grows; the take becomes unsustainable.  People interested in the conservation come and convince locals that these things are worth more alive and intact than dead or destroyed. Tourists come and pay to see these things, benefiting the local economy by hiring local guides, etc. BUT, how can tourists come if they don’t know about it? Hence the birding blog.

 My apologies, I promised to stop talking about birding.

Work has been going well. I’ve been helping out a lot recently with some reports and grant proposals. It is nice to feel like I am useful for SOMETHING at least!  We are all geared up to start working on some plant trials on the demonstration farm, but are a bit stuck now wondering where we can get our hands on some good seeds. Unfortunately there is no Canadian Tire Gardening section to be found anywhere in Cambodia. And the vegetables we are trying to grow are not the most widely grown in Cambodia (hence the experimental trail), which adds to the challenge of finding a reliable source of seeds. As soon as I get back from vacation, we plan to test some potatoes and garlic from the market to see if they can be successfully grown here.

Speaking of vacation, I have been proud of myself for being so regular in providing blog posts… I realized that if I did not set myself a firm guideline it could too easily slip by the way-side. In light of this, dear faithful followers, please be aware that next week I will be on vacation for the next couple of weeks and will therefore not be writing a blog post next week. I don’t want anyone worrying that I have fallen of the face of the earth or something. On the other hand, if birding on the coast is as good as I’ve been lead to believe it is, maybe I will be stuck out there forever!

I can't decide which I love more, the sea or birds. Getting to see them both at the same time beats all. I am really looking forward to this chance to get out and see some more of this beautiful country. Nature is at risk all over the world, and Cambodia is no exception. The more I learn about the natural wonders here, the more I want to get involved in some kind of conservation work. God says we are to be stewards of this planet, and it is about time we took that responsibility seriously.  But more about that another day. Now is the time to get out and soak it all in!! To let the warm rays of the sun tan my skin, feel the while sand between my toes, awake to the songs of new birds, and stand in awe watching the sun set over the ocean in glorious splendor.  

Until next time,

Rebecca

Rice paddy in the distance with several Egrets feeding.

On the way back to Mesang one day, I realized I was heading into the darkest storm clouds!Amazingly I never felt more than a sprinkle of rain before the clouds dispersed.

On preaching, procrastinating, and a little piece of paradise

Dear friends and family,

Now for the dazzling conclusion to the story of my adventures to the Peaceful in Christ church! Jenna and I successfully found the place after ½ hr on dirt roads, following some rather vague directions : turn right at the arch, after the road does 2 jigs there will be a small road to the left. If you pass a school on this road you’ve gone too far. We had a marvelous time at the church. I was ever so glad to have someone with me there the first time though. There were probably upwards of 50 people at this church, but 90% of them were kids that attend English lessons in the building during the week, and who have started to attend Sunday school there without their parents.  Soon after the rather informal service started, the person facilitating came up to Jenna and I and asked us if there was anything we would like to share with the congregation. At first we managed to get away with just introducing ourselves. However, after the pastor had spoken (a friendly man in his 50’s that had a great way about speaking with children), we were asked again to speak about why we had come to Cambodia to share a word of encouragement from the scriptures. This time there was no escaping it! I actually got up to speak first, and the English teacher translated for me. If God can give me the courage to come to Cambodia, he can give me the courage to talk in front of a room full of children! Jenna and I had a great chat after the service with some of the leaders of the church. They asked us to please tell our churches at home to pray for them as they continue to share the gospel and are looking for additional funding to complete their church building. On the way home from church, Jenna and I had another surprise when we got a flat tire! Well, it was more than flat, it was completely busted! Thankfully, I had noticed that we had passed a small road-side hut selling gas not 40m back. We turned around and sure enough, they were able to replace my tire. We made it home the rest of the way safe and sound!

This week was interesting at work. It started out normal enough. I was helping to update ODOV’s website. Then on Wednesday afternoon, the director of ODOV came to me and said “Would you help apply for this grant?” I replied: “sure!”. Naturally, I had several questions.  How much is the award? 100 000$ unrestricted funding. That is a lot of money here. What type of organization are they looking for? One that benefits children in the areas of education, health, or sanitation. So far so good.  What is the catch? It is due on Monday, but since Friday is one of Cambodia’s 17 public holidays, it should be finished Thursday. Great. So, just because English is my first language, I am now superwoman?!?? I tried my best, but Thursday afternoon it was still not quite done. Luckily for us, Cambodia sits +7 hrs from GMT, so though the application is due at 1PM Monday in London, we still had until Monday evening to work on it. There are some challenges living in a developing country where communication, internet access, and advanced notice about grants is concerned. To be fair, I procrastinate often enough at home, but I like to do it on my own terms!

Seeing, as I previously mentioned, that it is a long weekend, I thought I would do something special. So, here I am, writing to you from Prey Veng town where I am spending the weekend with Lisa, an MCC service worker. I am having a fabulous time so far! I enjoyed homemade cinnamon bread and milk for breakfast (which was divine), had a movie night in an air-conditioned room, slept in till 7, had a SHOWER, and best of all, had much great conversation with a fabulous woman! Best best of all, I spent nearly 5 hours bird-watching this weekend. I biked out to a little place called Monkey Island, that is really only an island a few months of the year. The water has receded enough that I was able to bike out along this narrow strip of land to get there. Along the way I saw at least 6 new species of birds that I was able to identify. Many more taunted me from the dense brush that lined the path. I’ll have to get out there again sometime to see what else I can find! On Monkey Island, I saw –you guessed it- monkeys!! There are also many birds that nest in the trees on this island, but I didn’t have much of a chance to see them as I got caught up in conversation with some of the people visiting the island (it is a sacred piece of land locals believe a spirit resides on and come to visit for that reason). They were fascinated by my bird-guide book, and started flipping through it and telling me the Khmer names of birds they recognized! It was also amazing to see monkeys for the first time in Cambodia! They were really fun to watch. A couple of the boys on the island spent ages trying to knock fruit out of the tree to eat, only to have a monkey steal it and run away!

In Mesang, I have yet to find a place like that where I can really be alone and bird watch in peace with no one staring at me. And since most of the province is rice as far as the eye can see, the variety of birds I spot in a day isn’t very great. This little clump of trees hosts more variety than I have seen yet, and it is even better because there are so few people. One of the only times I actually saw a person on that small trail to monkey island, I was in the process of jumping up and down after seeing a small raptor. I didn’t notice the fellow until he was 2 m away. There is now one more person in the world convinced I am crazy. It was nice to get out and enjoy a bit of nature, however small. I could not have picked a better way to spend a Sunday morning in Cambodia. I try to get out to church services when I can, but seeing as I cannot understand most of what is said, it is not the same as church at home. It is hard being away from my church family, and I pray that I will be able to find a Christian Community to call home while I am here. Sometimes, a walk alone with God in the beauty of his creation draws me much closer.

“One thing I ask, and this is what I seek. That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple.” Psalm 27:4
 
Rebecca

The path to Monkey Island where I did most of my birdwatching this past weekend.

A monkey sitting in a spirit house on the island.

 

On legends great and small, returning to third grade, and winning the food war

Dear Friends and family,

Well, it would seem for once life is more eventful on the home continent than it is here. My thoughts go out to everyone affected by that terrible storm in the US. In Cambodia, the weather continues charming, with the occasional rain to cool things off. Now that I think of it, we had a spectacular thunderstorm Wednesday evening. As a result, the roads were so exceptionally terrible that they decided to fix them. In place of valleys of mud, there are now mountains of mud, and all of the mostly predictable paths through the potholes have been erased. It just so happened that I was visiting the house of a missionary couple in a nearby village on the night of the thunderstorm. Their house overlooks a sea of rice paddies, and from this vantage point we had a marvelous view of lightening streaking across the sky while the sun set behind us. In addition to enjoying the view from their porch, I very much enjoyed getting to know John and Debbie. They have been working in Mesang district for many years; John was here 25 years ago before he was married and has since come back. They were with MCC way back when, and are now working with Eastern Mennonite Missions. Debbie is a nurse, and John does all kinds of stuff (agriculture work in the past, now he has set up a program to teach children biblical values, and he does a lot of administrative and organizational capacity building). They are something of legends here. Everybody in Mesang knows them, and every Cambodian Christian I have met asks me if I know John and Debbie. And now I do! John also gave me directions to a church in yet another village that was started by a Cambodian english school teacher. He said a lot of students go to that church. I am planning to venture out there on Sunday with Jenna, an EMM volunteer who is in Mesang district for a couple of weeks. Pray that we don’t get too lost! Please also pray that this will be a good opportunity for me to connect to a local church and develop relationship with Christians here. Though the service will be in Khmer, I am sure the students will want to speak to me in English afterwards! [I ended up posting this blog on Monday a couple of days after writing it. To save you all from a week of terrible suspense, I will add that I did in fact make it there and back safely, but not without some adventures on the way! Stayed tuned for next week’s post when I will describe in detail my trip to the Peaceful in Christ church!]

Other than my visit with John and Debbie, this week has been pretty uneventful. I had such a relaxing Saturday that I fell asleep in the hammock while reading The Lord of the Rings. I have reached the final pages of the final book. [Spoiler alert]: when the ring was finally destroyed and Frodo and Sam experienced the bliss of rest for the first time in weeks, so I too gratefully shut my eyes after sitting on the edge of my seat for so long as I followed them on their perilous journey. Each time I read I put down the book with greater reluctance; I relish each moment I spend within those masterfully written pages, but at the same time I don’t want to story to end! With self-sacrificing actions and heroic adventures on my mind, I was flipping through my Bible and came across the passage in Ephesians where the armour of God is described (read Eph 6:10-18 if you need a refresher). Let us not forget that our very lives are a part of God’s epic story of salvation. Do not live indifferently, as if your life has no purpose. For in each kind and loving action, in each step of faith, in each prayer, there is found power of the greatest kind; the very same power that raised Christ from the dead. How is that for a call to action?

 There hasn’t been a whole lot to do at work, but I managed to find a Khmer typing program on my computer… you remember the kind with the fingers that light up to give you hints and it counts how many words per minute you can type. I have so far managed to pass the first 2 lessons, working on the third. I feel like I am in grade 3 again, and it is so much fun! It is challenging because since the Khmer alphabet has so many letters each key is two different letters instead of lower and upper caps. It will be a long while yet before I pass lesson 16!

During language lessons this week, we were talking about stories as a topic for conversation. She said she wanted to try to write a story and I could help with spelling and grammar, etc. When I asked if she had ideas for a story (assuming she meant to make up one of her own), she proceeded to recount a traditional tale full of giants, 12 princesses, dangerous forests, and the like. I asked if she had ever written a story of her own in school, and she said no. How sad is that? On one hand I was thrilled that traditional tales are known by the young generation of Cambodians, but on the other hand, after horrible years of war and terror that all but squashed culture and creativity, how do we expect the arts to return to Cambodia if students are not even given the freedom of writing stories in school?

I was also struck by loss of another kind this week. The office kitten, Joy, died. I was a bit worried when I came into the office Tuesday and there was a nearly identical new cat in the office, and then someone told me the other cat had died. I’m not sure what happened to her. To be honest, she wasn’t the brightest cat. I wouldn’t be at all surprized if she fell in the pond or something. I’ll miss her stubby tail, her lopsided canter, and the way she would sprawl on my lap and purr in bliss. I was thankful to have another cat in my arms when I got the news. Now I have to think of a new name for this cat…

To end on a more positive note, my host brother (who is 1 ½) has finally started to eat rice, much to the joy of his mother. Each time she succeeds in getting him to eat a spoonful, she announces it to whoever happens to be within earshot. Ironically enough, he started eating rice along with prohok- a paste made from fermented fish that tastes ghastly as it sounds. But he seems to like it! He also likes the sour fried cabbage leaves we had the other day and ate quite a bit of real food at that meal too (and by real food I mean rice instead of his usual fare of breast milk and cakes). Things are never dull with that kid around! Yesterday he started chasing me around with the lice comb... my second greatest nightmare. 10 points if you can guess what my greatest nightmare is (no cheating Janet!). To give you a hint, I skipped reading an ENTIRE chapter of the Lord of the Rings.

Until next time,

Rebecca

Here's to you Joy. This is the only photo I ever took of her, just because I happened to be photographing the garden at the time. I figured I had lots of time to get cute close ups of my new best friend. Here she is, not quite inconspicuously stalking something in the garden :)