Nearly one year down….

Dear Friends, Family and other notable companions on this journey through Life,

It is not raining very much in Phnom Penh during this rainy season, but the other provinces are reporting gully-washers. Before I left on part of my annual leave, there had been some heavy storms, mainly in ht afternoon. I like the rainy season and it gives me a great excuse to either sit inside and read, or duck into an open front bar for a delicious icy-cold Anchor draft beer. One bar in particular has adopted this strategy of having ice cold mugs available for every draft. It is the Revolution bar on Street 51 near Norodom Sihaunouk Blvd. Alex is the owner and is of British ancestry. He is married to a Khmei girl and they have just celebrated the birth of their first child. Alex was fortunate to have gotten married before the ban on foreigners marrying Cambodian nationals. I would tell you more about this rather Draconian measure, but I ( and most of the Cambodians I know) really do not know much more than that it was a proclamation and no one seems ot know much else.

Today I received an invitation to attend the Queen’s Birthday bash on 19 June 2008. Required dress is “lounge suit”. I had visions of the leisure suits of the 70’s and after asking my British mates, it seems that this is just a regular suit. Several of the volunteers do not own suits, but they at least have a dress shirt and a tie. I, of course , will attend resplendent in one of my new suits that I had had made earlier this year. In my elegant finery, I will be able to find out why I and my other loud volunteer companion have not heard any more of our invitations to join the British embassy choir. If you recall I think I had predicted an omission of follow up after sobriety set in last December. Whatever, I still think they need my booming voice, off-key renditions of Rudolf the Red-nose, and serious appreciation of the copious amounts of free booze that the Brits lavish on guests at their functions. Maybe I am misreading the generosity of the Brits in deference to the well-developed drinking abilities of the VSO volunteers.

On a similar note, I have also received an invitation to attend the Fourth of July hootenanny at he American Embassy on July 6th, a Sunday. It looks like a family affair with the “7th fleet navy band entertaining the mob, Circus/acrobat performances, Kids’ activities – face-painting, balloon animals, bubbles and playground, Dunking booth, eating contests, food vendors and more!” Admission is (or was – up to May 31st) $3. After June 1st the price of entertainment went up to $5. So far I have not decided exactly what I want to do with my Sunday afternoon from 3 to 7:00 PM, but I am tempted to go and see what the other Americans look like.

Another word on the Queen’s birthday. I am very pleased with the thought of the queens, Cambodian and British, having birthdays otherwise I would be restricted to only 10 to 15 days of holiday a year. This way I can hoist one or two in honor of the fair queens and solemnly chant “Long Live the Queen” and may she have more birthdays every year. Actually the British Queen does have at least two. So, there you go, sports fans, we asked and they delivered.

Work is moving along very well. I don’t think I am doing very much in terms of actual work output, but I am still asked to write speeches for the “suits” and correct and draft reports on conferences and workshops. I am being given more and more allowance to “edit” these reports to include references to areas I believe are important and that somehow get overlooked. In the early days I would include some references to gender iniquities and would be informed that while these were important our focus was on children with disabilities, (read deaf, blind and crippled). I concurred and rewrote when informed but I am noticing much more of my stuff getting through now. Whereas before only some phrases like “So far, so good” tickled their linguistic funny bones, now they are commenting on women’s roles in provincial and central government positions., minority education receiving more attention, and “reaching the unreached”. It also helps that UNICEF, UNESCO, and the World Bank are getting a little more pushy in these matters as well.

I have written a proposal and it was accepted to have myself and another fellow from the Special Education Office and another volunteer and his counterpart from the Disability Action Council go on monitoring and evaluation trip to six of the 24 provinces. These will be short trips, probably a week or a week and a half per pair of provinces, but it will give me a chance to see actual schools and ask questions about inclusive education. The only serious problems with this proposed traveling is getting periods of time where four of us have convenient calendars (or “diaries” as the Brits say) to spend together. If worse comes to worse I will just go with my counterpart or maybe the guy from DAC.

In July, my colleagues are going back to Vietnam, this time to Da nang, to give a report on children with Disabilities or Inclusive Education. I am responsible for developing the Power Point presentation for this although VSO could not fund my attendance. Budget cuts are becoming more the norm than the exception. Even if I cannot go, I am flattered to have a big role in the presentation.

Recently I was introduced to a meeting of Quakers when I visited the U.K. I was thoroughly intrigued by these incredible people and was reminded of my early Druid roots by my Aunt Rosemary, who is a reincarnated Druid Priestess herself. The tolerance of Quakers for almost any belief is fantastic. I read a letter from a “friend” who had basically stopped believing in God but still found the spirituality of the Quakers strengthening and supportive. I don’t mean to antagonize my Christian or Muslim brothers and sisters out there, but this is a revolutionary style of religion. When I think of all of the slaughter and harm and hatred of religious factions over the centuries, I have to believe that the institution and belief systems of these people holds some merit. I intend to investigate this more thoroughly. It is amazing to me that while I have heard of the Quakers since I was a child this was the first time I had actually met any of them. The services I attended were services of silence. No one talks unless they have something to say, and too much talking is discouraged. After the service the Friends meet and have a social hour. More to come.

That is it for now, my faithful and supportive gang. I find it hard to believe that I am in my twelfth month of service. I have learned a lot and hope that I have provided some support to the efforts of these proud and tough peoples. Phnom Penh continues to enjoy a developing prosperity while at the same time, inflation and world affairs continue to march on. I check my home page on yahoo.com for news of the Sox (incredible) and the Cubs (simply unbelievable). I see that Chicago has finally emerged from the winter of discontent it had.