Pigskin/family/friends!

I was flipping through some pictures to use on my next entry, and stumbled across these, I forgot how much I love them and how much I love football and admire and respect my dear friend Phouva! I had the pleasure of meeting this outstanding gentleman at our National Wild land Fire Academy in Sacramento. Olivia was his crew boss and briefly introduced me to this amazing man from Laos. Phouva came up to my hotshot buggie on the Zaca fire earlier this year, we briefly discussed his dream of returning to his village and assisting with rebuilding his school and other projects. I was humbled and honored at the thought of working with this compassionate leader, who wants to use his Natural Resources degree to stop deforestation in his country.
Phouva gave me a call yesterday at the museum as I was in a meeting with Hourt, his voice and character reminded me how much I look forward to working with him and helping in some small way. He sent me these pictures before I left of his wonderful family! Man I love the passion of football/family and friends!

Kok Chark Pagoda.

12/12/2007

Went back to the Togh’s school in the morning, we talked about buying school supplies as I had promised $200 from Project Enlighten! We talked about his teachers and training they needed, I expressed our interest in wanting to support the teachers with continued training and development. I also shared our desire for Togh to spread the word among staff and students for our upcoming scholarship. Togh was very excited when I described our expectations. He stated almost instantly who he thought would be perfect. I won’t give anything away yet, but I look forward to Olivia, Matt, Riva, Gwen and Brian showing up and sharing in this process.
I went with Togh to visit his fellow monks at the Kok Chark Pagoda; this was a 5-minute walk from Togh’s current school, very nice and peaceful walk to get to the Pagoda. I met with several of the monks who teach English to 20 poor children. On the Pagoda’s grounds you will find at least 30 families who were so poor they had no were to live, this Pagoda helped them build simple shelter on the Pagodas land in which this impoverished families call home. So I spoke with Sithon and Daro about what they envision for the future. There problem was simple really, the current classroom is on low ground, thus it floods in the rainy season. They have watched the number of children increase due to the fact they have more poor families building on their land. Their dream is to build a 3-room classroom on the other side of the Pagoda where the ground is high and won’t flood in the rainy season. I shared with them the idea of recycling what we could from Togh’s old school, with was made mostly of wood. They had not thought of that, but liked the idea of not wasting anything, I tell you a recycling plant and ethos would go far in Siem Reap!
I told Sithon and Daro I would visit later in the week, and wanted them to draw up some simple plans for the school on paper and give some idea on project costs. The first number was $200 based on 3-classrooms, I asked do you want a library? Would you like an office? How about a concrete floor? We adjusted our number now to $500. I shared with them that we would not build the entire school, that they would have to assist with the labor. It is very important to Project Enlighten that we share in the construction of the building and in turn the Pagoda will share in the vested ownership of this task!
I shared with them my pleasure in seeing their compassion towards to poor families and wanting to improve their current classroom. I shared with them that I was committed to seeing Togh’s school been built, plus various team members are coming over and want to share their ideas with them as well. I look forward to the possibility of working with the Kok Chark Pagoda.

The MAN that is TOGH!

12/11/2007 Continued-

Just a continuation on the day, Sao and I went back to Togh’s school to assist in some questions he had about the builders, we walked over to the proposed plot of land he had gained a lease on. His eyes grew big and his smile wider as he stated, “My dream is becoming for real” he said, I could only gaze in wonderment at what this 24 year old visionary had accomplished in just two years. I asked him, “Where will you be in 10 years”?
Togh answered “I want to build a place where older citizens can come and we will care for them with respect and dignity, I want to share and teach Buddhism to them, I want them to be happy, many older citizens are not happy, I want them to be happy.” I ask you my fellow Blog readers, how do you not stand behind this school and this incredible young humanitarian and support his dream, he is 24 years old and moving forward with perpetual optimism! We stood together and shared this picture, I was never more proud of our work!

Cow Bank and Sheryl Crow!

12/11/07

I arose today with the sound of children playing, not a bad way to wake up at all! From my fantastic room which Ronnie has so graciously provided, I can look off the balcony and watch the boys and girls play football (soccer) and perform their morning calisthenics. Yarann lives below with his wonderful family. One of the morning’s great pleasures is when Yarann’s daughter Thavy who must be 7 or 8 comes up before school to clean my room. I always try to give her a hand and she always skips over to my laptop and wants to look at pictures and listen to music. This morning we looked at pictures of my job as a wild land firefighter. Thavy loved the video clips of the helicopters flying and picking up water, she really enjoyed looking at the huge mountains and big trees, a bit different than the landscape here in Cambodia!
So I wade through my music library trying to find something that grabs her..Classical..no, world music… a little better…Sheryl Crow..oh my goodness that girl is a dancing machine, big smiles..”I like I like”!! So we listened to Sheryl and looked at fire pictures. We were having so much fun we lost track of time, Thavy pointed to my watch, she wanted me to show her what time it was…oh my Buddha, she was supposed to be at school at 0700…um it is 0745, here eyes got big and she frantically started to clean my room, not knowing were to start, I motioned for here to go to school, we high fived and she ran out the door with a huge smile. Yes she was late for class, but she got to hear some Sheryl Crow and see some geography of the ole US of A.

After breakfast and emails at the Blue Pumpkin, Sao unhitched the Tuk tuk and we took the bike and headed west on Hwy 6 for maybe 15 km. We rode into Pouk district and made a phone call. We got to meet Sal, who is the Manager of the Cow Bank Project here in Cambodia. Sal does not speak any English, hence why I have hired Sao to drive and translate for me! My first impression of Sal was a no BS kind of guy, I was right. He showed us Ronnie’s beautiful farm (Called Nak farm by the locals) and we feed the fish as we settled into one another. He asked how cows I wanted to see, I told him I would like to visit all the cows and families, there was a long pause..He started to walk across a field and motioned for me to follow… I guess we were starting!

We meet with all the farmers that we easily found around Nak’s farm. Sao took my camera as he has now nominated himself as official photographer! It is hard to argue as it frees me up to talk with the farmers. I asked many questions to Sal and the farmers. Where they happy with their cows? Did they encounter any problems with the cows? What could be done better? things of that nature. All the answers were positive and smiles abound. Ronnie and Sal have set up a very successful program here, their hard work is paying massive dividends! Tell a friend and let’s help Ronnie and Sal support their local farmers with the gift of a lifetime!

Chet!

12/10/2007

Today came with much anticipation and excitement, even Sao was restless. “We go see Chet today? We go see Chet today Asad”? “Yes Sao we go” I said. I don’t think I need to explain to anyone who is reading these pages what Chet means to me. The mere utterance of his name brings a tidal wave of emotion to me, as Olivia and I have worked through the good and the bad with this child of the streets. I must be honest, I was slightly nervous and a bit apprehensive after a less than stellar last meeting the year before. There were a few issues last year with “I want this and I want that”. We had a long talk about steeping up and being a man, not waiting for things to happen, but making things happen. I told him this would only manifest itself with a strong work ethic and solid education, these were the key’s to self-sustainability. These were the keys to your successful future! I left unsure if these words sank in....

So as Sao and I drove to the new Landmine Museum about 6 km south of Banteay Srey Temple, I had 40 minutes to reflect and hope, reflect and pray...
I had brought along 2 laptops for the Education Center to be used by the children and teachers, Olivia and I were able to provide these refurbished computers with the amazing help from Charles and his volunteer staff and Interconnection (www.interconnection.org). Truly though a BIG THANK YOU must be extended to all those who made those cherished donations in November to help us make these contributions for education!

When we finally arrived at the New Museum I saw Chet talking with two tuk tuk drivers. I smiled from afar as I realized how much he had grown in just one year! I motioned to Sao not to say a word as I sneaked up behind Chet. Knowing he would not recognize me with my new hair cut (that’s another story). I came up behind him and he quickly turned around as sized me up, “Asad Asad Asad Asad you are back!!” We hugged and walked hand in hand away from everybody, he looked me in the eye and said, “Asad you were right, Education is the most important thing, I realize that now Asad, I’m sorry, you forgive?” I was fighting back the tears, but the tears won…

Oh my Buddha!

12/09/2007:

My morning started at 0600 with slow run through the back roads of Siem Reap, it is a wonderful time of the day as the city takes the first steps of the new day. I ran through my head what needed to be accomplished today. Deliver a laptop to the Director of the Voluntary School, Mr. Togh. In my correspondence with Togh I realized how valuable this tool was going to be to assist him and his team in organizing and developing for the future.
We met Togh with Bob and Claire from Australia whom Togh affectionately calls his mother and father. Sao and I showed up with his laptop donated by my dear friends Kipp and Miriam Morill from California. After a few minutes of small talk I could sense that Togh was very anxious to see his new laptop. I had it hidden under a chair, under the table. I couldn’t take the waiting anymore, I presented Togh the laptop to a soft yell of “oh my Buddha, oh my Buddha, oh my Buddha!” The site of Togh’s face that danced between smiles and tears was so humbling, as the realization that WE made a huge positive difference in this young school Director’s life! Thank you again Kipp and Miriam, this gift will reap a harvest of goodness!
Other accomplishments today was the discussion with Togh on the construction of the school and getting final signatures for the land, working with the builders to get several prices for construction of the new school. We discussed at length providing an opportunity to apply for a scholarship with Project Enlighten. This was a fantastic meeting as the hunger for continued knowledge was never more evident!
It was a fantastic day!!

Britney Spears in the streets of Angkor!

12/08/2007:

Much hard work was finally coming to forefront. Hard work by many on our TEAM was starting to show its fruit! It was an exciting time!

As the snow slowly kissed the top of Siskiyou Pass, my mind wandered to were I would land in 28 hours. Siem Reap and the Kingdom of Cambodia was my only wish. Much planning and anticipation has finally come to fruition. Before I answered a few emails in San Francisco airport I put on my new headphones and tuned out the world for a few minutes…………..
The last song to come out was my favorite band Marillion doing a live cover of Britney Spears “Toxic”. They smashed the original, I boarded my plane for Hong Kong, only to catch another to Bangkok and yet another to my second home in Siem Reap!

As I walked back to the center of town from my fantastic living arrangements (Thank you so much Ronnie!) I found myself humming the last song I had heard, yup it was Britney! I started laughing at my pathetic self, glad no one heard me!

Things are going fantastic, picked up a cell phone, bought some new clothes for the little son of my right hand man Sim Sao and planned some meetings with Togh the director of the wonderful The Voluntary Development Poverty Children’s School and to give him his much needed refurbished laptop! (thank you Kipp!)
Here are a few pictures..more later I promise..minus Britney!!

Peace and respect
Asad