Water Filters, Tuk Tuks, Hacky Sacks, and Reflections

Today was day 1 of water filter building with the Sao Sary Foundation in Kampong Speu provence. After breakfast (soup!) we headed out to the countryside in Tuk-Tuks, the Cambodian version of an auto rickshaw. We spent the day making water filters out of cement. The students worked hard and had an awesome time doing it. Despite a lot of heavy lifting and mixing in sticky hot weather, laughter and comradery was plentiful, reminding me why I love my job and the students at Wasatch Academy.

Below are a few students' thoughts.

-LJP

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Community service is a great experience. I'm so thankful to be here and help people that need it. The thing that makes me happy the most is seeing a smile on their faces when they see you, the way they wave at you and the eyes of hope, excitement and gratitude that they have for you. They need this service, they need people that give them hope and makes them happy. We are changing their lives, we are giving them a reason to keep going and not give up. This is the best example of "things get better." They might have thought there were not any ways to get out of this misery, but there is. I'm so happy to be here, I'm so happy to give them a reason to smile and to live. I want to make sure that they and everyone lives happily and peacefully.

-JPH


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Each time I see the intricate temples, each time I smell the curries, soups and fruits, and each time I see the beautiful faces of the people of Cambodia I think about how lucky I am to be here. I’ve experienced things I’ve never dreamed of. It feels like I’m in one of those foreign films I like to watch with my dad. I played Jianzi (Chinese hacky sack) with locals, I was blessed by a man in a Buddhist temple (supposedly the temple where Buddha’s eyebrow was), and paid respect to Pol Pot’s thousands of victims. All the colors of the people trying to make a better life for themselves really has helped me to reflect on what kind of adult I want to be. Particularly today: we are day 1 in building bio-sand filters that will be providing clean water to locals for up to 40 years. At lunch I found myself thinking “what happens next?” Do I just build this one filter and that’s it? Keeping this in mind, the group and I talked about how when you put something good into the world it resonates for several years. I know that I want an experience like this to resonate for decades. This has really inspired me to write on my personal blogging account about the people here and use my photography to really spread a message. I want the message of service to vibrate around my local and international community in order to help areas such as Kampong Speu who really need it. This country has given me so much wisdom, spirit, and passion within the past couple of days, the least that I can do is give back in the best way that I know I can.

-Ellie

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As I walked across the street outside of our hotel after taking pictures with Jess, Colleen, and Eleanor, more students started to show our 6:30 meeting time for dinner. We watched as a group of about 10 Japanese, college-aged boys played a game called "Jianzi." It is very similar to Hacky Sack. Tim quickly joined the group and started to play along. Soon enough, it was a mixed game of talented Japanese boys and a squad of struggling Americans attempting to work together to play a hectic game. The toy that we kicked was constantly flying away from our circle and the considerate motorbike drivers were trying their best to avoid our ungainliness. A boy of the name Karou was not shy and tested out his minimal English skills on us. He was hilarious and so fun! After we were late for our dinner from playing so much, Karou said on behalf of his group "Dinner Time! Bye!" We started to walk to our restaurant and then we saw the boys again on our way there! Karou said "Where are you going?" I replied "White Elephant" (the name of our restaurant). He looked at his friend, laughed, and exclaimed "Us too!" We used simple English and had an interesting conversation with Karou and his friend. Once we got to the restaurant, we headed to the back of the restaurant and did our ritual that we do before all meals called "Chow Circle." We all hold hands, say appreciations that we have for each other, recite quotes, say announcements, etc. However, this Chow Circle was extra special! Why? Because Karou joined us! Someone asked his name again and he replied "I am Kaoru. Karou is here!" After laughing a lot with him, we sat down at out separate tables to eat. Once his table was done eating, he came and dropped off a ripped piece of paper between Wink and I. It had his Instagram username and his Facebook and at the bottom he had written "Karou is here!" I am so thankful to have met this welcoming, happy group of kids. My day of service had already been incredible and this was like icing on the cake!

-Stella