I am finally writing my first blog in-country. It has been a quick transition into using slow wifi! I have my group of friends from the training sessions and I am not getting a chance to settle down into my role and visit my province accomodations for another few weeks. I am currently staying in a guest house that is in central Phnom, and living out of my bags until then. Two weeks of Khmer language training starting Sunday!
I think it is beginning to hit me as I speak to other people about where I am going and what it will all entail- country life....I thought I was the city boy who always ran away from the back roads of Ontario? Well, it seems that it is coming and I will be dealing with a slow pace which I am trying to prepare myself for! I have my guitar, harmoncia, a USB stick, a few novels and texts to stay busy after work... and my running shoes! There will only be less than five english speakers there..OMG. WTF
The focus of my work will be on fisheries and sustainable livelihoods for the local communites that access the Mekong for food and everything else. As that is only my preliminary assessment, I am sure the objectives will change again!
I am already a little sad that I am going to journey to a town where there are plans in the next few years to potentially submerge the entire area once a massive array of hydro-electric damns are built and new man made lakes are formed. I believe private companies from China, Thailand and Vietnam will be taking the energy for themselves. Then there is the future mining operations and explotations with few indigenous land rights. Not much I can say, other than I have been given a gift to enjoy a culture and people that will inextricably be altered.
In the mean time, as nothing is written in stone, I must determine what lasting impact I can make with the talent I have (not my dancing and singing!), to foster life and share in the story.
As far as the Khmer culture: they love loud, high pitched music and are very kind! I am trying to smile through the end of the rainy season with humidity and no hair gel!
