Too many cooks in the kitchen

I had been warned last fall about how hot Cambodia is in April and May.  I thought I could imagine it, but I had no idea.  Some of the past few days have been so miserably hot, that when the electricity goes out and the fans stop working, I don’t even have the energy to be upset over it.  Even the children who never seem to slow down have become more irritable and lethargic. 

The next few weeks will have a lot going on.  A building stands on campus that used to serve as a dorm for the older boys.  With recent renovations of the other dorm, the boys have cleared out and the building will be transformed into the Wat Opot Creative Learning Center, a place for educational play and a home for all of the donated toys from friends and family at home, and that Melinda brought back from Kansas.  The new playroom will have a beautiful tiled floor courtesy of Dan and Gabrielle Isaak, recent visitors from New Zealand.  The new playroom will have a play kitchen with plastic food, dolls, puzzles and coloring, toy cars and other games, and the computers that were donated last fall, among lots of other things. We hope to go all out and get some dress up clothes as well for all of the little girls.  Check out Melinda’s blog on the Creative Learning Center to see pictures of everyone helping to clean it, I was sick so I wasn’t able to help, sorry guys!

Once the new room is finished, many other things will be switched around including the health center.  The clinic will be moved into a different building and be open for the children and sick members of the community.

I have also begun to work on a new project focusing on malnutrition in children in the surrounding villages.  Wayne came back from the US with a new goal to tackle the problem that kills thousands of Cambodian children each year.  The first step is to address the problem within a mile radius.  We will begin by touring the villages and performing health exams on the children to get an idea of the problem, and go from there.  I am really looking forward to helping get this new project off the ground.  

So while there are many things in development to stay busy, today I found myself wandering around looking for a purpose, and feeling sorry for myself for being in such heat and humidity.  I walked by the kitchen and thought Id go in and help get lunch ready for the kids.  

The Wat Opot kitchen building.

Inside where the food is prepared.

Lan Krome helps to stir the soup.

The lovely Pheup who works in the kitchen and lives on campus with her 3 children: Touris, Lan Krome, and Kunty.

Pheup assigned me to scoop rice into the bowls, which would then be handed off to be topped with vegetables and fish, a job she assumed I could handle.  I began serving rice into the many many bowls, when Pheup stopped me.  Too much, she told me.  I took a little bit out of the ones I had done and filled the next few up with less rice.  Pheup looked at me with disbelief and said, not enough.  Ok, at first I did too much, now not enough.  Come on Kate, this is your only job today, don’t mess it up!!  I tried a third time to put in the right amount of rice, but again I was doing it wrong.  Pheup yelled something in Khmer to her daughter, Kunty, and pointed at me.  Kunty paused for a minute, looked at me with disappointing eyes and said, “Ok, Kat, Bye bye!” as politely as possible.  I had been dismissed. 

As it turns out, the most difficult thing for me to do in Cambodia is not to leave my family and friends for months, not to get around on limited language, and not to grow attached to children only to leave them.  The most difficult thing is to serve the proper amount of rice.

Kunty and Srey Da, her friend from the village.

Me and Kunty, when I'm not disappointing her!

Some of the boys eating lunch inside the kitchen.

 Grumpy Virak eating his rice... then he took a nap and wasn't so grumpy anymore!

Wey and Chai

Ratana ususally takes a couple of bites then runs around throwing rice at everyone and feeding her vegetables to the dogs.

Pheup and I have so much fun together without either of us ever speaking a sentence that the other understood.  It's amazing to have such a great relationship without words.  It goes to show how much you can say without talking

I suppose I’ll stay out of the kitchen for awhile, and continue wandering around in the heat looking for ways to “help.”