Village Party and Reflections

Long, bumpy Tuk-Tuk rides.
Installing water filters.
Impromptu party with an entire village.
Just a normal day for us in Cambodia! It was amazing, fun, life-changing, and probably the highlight of the trip so far.

A couple student reflections are below and I will do a separate post or two with some of the many photos taken today.

-LJP







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Best day of my life... I don't even have words to express it. Making those kids smile, playing with them and hearing them laugh brings me so much joy and happiness. You could feel the love from them and the people of the village. It was a great experience, seeing them so happy made me happy. We gave them hope and we helped them a lot. This didn't just help them, it helped us too. We grew, and learn so many things. I'm thankful of having this experience, I'm thankful for them to be part of my life and for them to allow us to go to their village. They made me so happy and they made me feel loved. Perfect day! Beautiful! Awesome! Great! I would love to see their smile one more time again...

-JPH



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Today we went to a small village about 30 minutes outside of Kampong Speu to install the water filters that we had made. Working together as a team, we installed the water filters in the morning. Later, the mayor of the village invited us to eat lunch that his wife had prepared. There were so many smiling faces there. We enjoyed traditional cuisine, cultural music, and bonding time with the locals. With music obviously comes dancing, so everyone danced! We danced with the kids and the adults and I couldn’t stop smiling. Two girls, about 11 years old, invited me to dance when they sang. We started playing games with the kids and really interacting and having the most amazing time. The love in their hearts is so apparent and infectious; you almost forget you aren’t even speaking the same language. It’s hard for me to put into words my experience. Kids everywhere just having a blast, piggyback rides, games that resembled Simon Says, hair braiding, water bottle tossing, singing, and lots of love. Happiness just radiated from every being today. It truly taught me that love and happiness starts in the heart and can only be shared.

-Jess