I hope you had a Happy Easter and are enjoying spring (which is the same as fall, summer and winter here in Singapore ☺)! We wanted to write you and tell you what we have been up to these last couple of months! This is probably my longest letter ever ☺ but we have had such amazing experiences in the past couple of months that I really want to share them with you…so, if your up to it sometime…print it out and give it a read!
If you would like to check out our pictures for this letter, please do! Go to kodakgallery.com
Username: eelgersma@yahoo.com
Password: travel
New Albums include: Himalayas (Ladakh), Hong Kong, and Cambodia
We have been doing well here in Singapore. We feel that we are definitely getting settled into a routine here. Our busy school schedules are becoming familiar to us now and we continue to enjoy the weather here. We still miss Tokyo, but I think that is natural for your first year in a new country. With every month that goes by, Singapore seems like home. Jason and I have recently made the transition to a vegan diet…, which is a big change in our lives, but we feel great about it and it has been fun exploring the many organic stores that Singapore has to offer as well as trying out very good new recipes. We finish school on June 1 and have tentatively planned to go to Tokyo from June 5-10 and then fly back to our home in Wisconsin for about 6 weeks. (Until Aug 1) My youngest brother, Andy, is getting married in July, so we are looking forward to being a part of that event!
For me, school is really crazy right now, as I plan for the first every Kindergarten-Grade 5 art show. All of the art teachers display a piece of work from every student. There are thousands of students…so it is a big project to say the least!
Jason has gained notoriety at our school for a very interesting project he has been doing with his students. The students were studying Asian human rights and were asked to bring awareness to others in two forms: one form was through YouTube (and create an awareness video)and the other was a student-derived project at school. The project has been immensely successful and can be viewed at: http://www.youtube.com/group/SASMAP
Within a few days people were viewing student’s uploaded videos across the globe. Many of them have received hundreds even thousands of hits; one even was used in presentation to the United Nations Human Trafficking conference last Friday in New York!!
In February, Jason went back to Northern India with a group of students. This time, to the Himalayas and more specifically the province called Ladakh. Our school hosts these “interim” trips for High School Students each year. The students get to choose from over 50 countries and the trips fill up on a first come first serve basis. This is the same for HS faculty…new teachers get last choice, but Jason had 12 choices remaining when he signed up, but ended up getting his top choice out of all 50!
He brought 20 students to Ladakh with the primary focus being trekking and seeing the Buddhist festivals that were going on in the area. The experience of being in the Himalayas and bonding with students were really the highlight. However, the bitter cold and amazing “pit toilet” facilities gave lasting memories. Let’s just say going to the bathroom at night REALLY needed to be an emergency! One such EMERGENCY came when Jason was on the bus all day and a slight intestinal bug was making him, for lack of better words, sick… be sure to ask Jason what happened. Days consisted of waking at freezing temps (plus no heat in the room at night; while it was minus 20 outside), going to breakfast in a quaint little gathering room where coffee, cocoa and tea awaited. It was all vegetarian fare, which was fine by him. The group would take 3-5 hr hikes or travel by bus to festivals, walk on the frozen Indus River and have snow (ice) fights. A very rewarding trip. The most rewarding part for Jason was the people of Ladakh as they are not like any other Indians. These people come from more of the central Asian continent (Tibet, Kazakhstan, etc) and their warm smiles and weathered faces tell of a happy but humble life. Please check out some of the pictures of these wonderful people.
While Jason was in Ladakh, I ventured to Hong Kong for Chinese New Year. I visited friends that I worked with in Japan, Justin and Belinda, who now work in Hong Kong. I actually never went there while living in China, so figured I would give it a go. It was a great city, I really liked the atmosphere. We went into Shenzhen, China for a day to go shopping at the HUGE market there…, which was fun. Unfortunately, because of Chinese New Year, like 80% of the stores were closed but that was a GOOD thing for me as I still managed to do some damage!
Our next big adventure came the last week of March, when we flew to Cambodia for a house-building mission. With great thanks to all of you who helped out the cause, our team of 21 people was able to raise enough to buy the building materials for 10 houses!! Thank you so much everyone!!! You have no idea what a lifelong difference you have made in the lives of those families!!
As most people know, the Cambodian people were exterminated in masses by the Khmer Rouge and their leader Pol Pot, but what most people don’t realize is they were welcomed in by the Khmer (Cambodian) people. As the Khmer Rouge took power they promised to end American bombings, (which had decimated Cambodia), and give freedom through communism.
What happened next was brilliantly presented in the book and later the Hollywood movie, The Killing Fields. An (under)estimated number of 2 million people (30% of the population) lost their lives through starvation, torture and execution. From 1975 (the year we were born) until 1979 the Khmer Rouge brazenly killed anyone whom they perceived to be educated or went “against” the new party. The Khmer Rouge was an extreme form of communism banning religion, schools, banks, hospitals and FAMILIES! Pol Pot’s aggressive nature brought him to attack Vietnam, which quickly returned the favor and invaded Cambodia.
After the Vietnamese invaded and liberated the Cambodian people from the Khmer Rouge, Pol Pot and his men continue to terrorize the country through a base in the jungle. Pol Pot was even ALLOWED to keep a seat in the United Nations until 1988. He was only removed after he killed 6 archrivals families (mothers, grandfathers, grandchildren) by laying them on the ground and killing them with a tractor trailer. Pol Pot boldly invited the news agencies, like CNN, who then showed the world this footage. The UN finally removed Pol Pot from the UN’s general assembly.
Tragically, ten million landmines were left in the ground, one for every person in Cambodia. The United Nations installed the largest peacekeeping mission in the world in Cambodia in 1991 to ensure free and fair elections after the withdrawal of the Vietnamese troops. Cambodia was turned upside down during the Khmer Rouge years and the country has the daunting task of healing physically, mentally and economically. One of Jason’s students project is Fatal Frisbee on YouTube…check it out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whEq6_Rt4ak
We flew into Phnom Penn, which is where we were based out of during the building portion of our trip. We hadn’t been there even an hour, when the 21 of us where loaded up to visit Tuol Sleng. In 1975,Tuol Svay Prey High School was taken over by Pol Pot's security force and turned into a prison known as Security Prison 21 (S-21 is also a documentary). Tuol Sleng was used as an interrogation, torture and execution facility during Pol Pot’s regime. It is estimated that 22,000 were killed only a handful of survivors. (Victims ranged from babies to elderly) Most people there were killed with shovels, hammers, pick axes…and so forth to avoid “wasting” precious bullets. Now a museum, this facility still has all of the beds laid out in each room with handcuffs on each post of the bed…there was still blood spattered on the ceilings of all the rooms. The museum was filled with photos of all the victims from Tuol Sleng as the regime took photos of everyone that they executed…there were rooms and rooms of photos. Most of the Khmer Rouge was made up of “kids”…..14-15 year old boys and girls who were indoctrinated not knowing what they would be getting into. These kids must have acted in a group mentality. Pol Pot had most of his own regime executed.
The next day was equally horrific as we took a trip to the Killing Fields. The Killing Fields of Choeung Ek are 15 km from Phnom Penh. This is where people were marched from Tuol Sleng to be executed in mass and thrown into mass graves. The remains of 8985 people, many of whom were bound and blindfolded, were exhumed in 1980 from these mass graves. (There are still up to 100 other known killing fields around Cambodia that have yet to be excavated.) When you walk around these Killing Fields…it is quite disturbing as there are still bones all over the ground…just beneath the surface of the ground but visible to the eye. The first time Jason and I noticed one, we said to our guide (who had lost his entire family to the Khmer Rouge)… “Is this a bone?” And he got down on his hands and knees and said very mater-of-factly: “ Oh, yes, that is a leg bone”. Other than the tower of thousands of skulls that you find at the entrance to the killing fields, the most disturbing thing to witness is the “Killing Tree.” This is a tree that the soldiers used to bludgeon babies and toddlers to death as seen below…it is hard to envision that kind of evil happening only a short time ago. Those babies would be the same age as Jason and I.
After feeling pretty depressed from the killing fields, our leader, Joe wanted to show us something that was being done to help the people of Cambodia. He took us to a place called Sok Sabay (this means “hello” in Khmer, but literally translates to “how happy are you?”). This is a home and school for children that have been tortured, raped or abused. These children range from infant to 18. The leader of this NGO, a French Canadian, currently has 60 children (mainly girls) that she is teaching life skills to and trying to help to build their confidence back up. There were two psychologists on sight to work with the children, and the bedrooms and school facilities were filled completely with donations. The little girls showed us with enormous excitement the one poster they had in their bedroom, and the sketches they had been working on while the boys played outside with the Sok Sabay dog. This woman seemed so full of goodness and loved these children so much…it wonderful to know there are people out there doing such good deeds.
The next morning, we had much more of a reason to get up early and build for the day. We had learned that most of these villages contained many orphans and widows because the AIDS in Cambodia is now 47%. We also had learned that as part of
Pol Pot’s regime, the people of Cambodia were made to feel worthless and this mentality has inhibited many of the survivors to “better themselves” and their living conditions. In addition, since all of the educated people were executed not long ago….many of those that are left have trouble with saving money or finding a trade.
We were greeted, as our bus pulled up to the village (an hour and a half outside of Phnom Penh), by many people of all ages. They were waving, smiling and bowing as we arrived. I have to say; I don’t think we have ever felt heat like we did in March in Cambodia! We were literally ringing out our shirts as we worked! Singapore’s 80 degrees seemed cool to us when we came back home! We worked very hard the entire day…stopping only for a few minutes for lunch. The children were running around and playing and the grandfathers and mothers enjoyed watching us foreigners (who were far less capable then them at building) try to pound nails through aluminum siding. We were not allowed to use any power tools only hand tools…totaling a hammer, a box of nails and a handsaw. The reason for this being that they don’t want the impression that we can just march in there and buzz up a few houses without breaking a sweat while these people have to work very hard for every single thing they do. They didn’t want to leave the impression that things were always “easy” for us. And, it was empowering for the people to see that we were sweating for THEM and that if they did it themselves they could probably do a better job. They needed to feel that way….and though they were instructed not to help us (this was something they had worked hard to earn and we were there to build it for them)…many of the fathers couldn’t help themselves but give us helpful tips or jump in when a nail was too hard to pound in.
In my previous letter, I mentioned that Tabitha (the organization we were working for) does not give out any “hand-outs”. They help the people to learn about saving money, develop skills and build up a trade for themselves as well as improve their living conditions. Tabitha will show up to a village in need and ask the people how much they can earn in one month. If they say 10 cents, she (Janne, the founder) asks them to hand over that 10 cents to her and she will give them 10 percent on top of it every month. She returns every month and physically hands over the money to them and asks them if they would like it back or like to continue saving. They then have to make the decision if they will continue saving money. She will ask them to think of what they want most. Many will say a dish to eat out of or a towel. Then she helps them to achieve that goal and move on to a bigger goal. The families have to earn a certain amount of money before they are eligible for a house which has an actual cost of 1,000$ in building materials.
We built a total of 10 houses in that village in a period of two days. We learned that this would be the first time that these families would ever get to sleep under the same roof. (Their previous accommodations were right next to the new houses we built, and they consisted of tiny thatched huts). Previously, many of the children would have to sleep outside and were very scared. On nights when it rained (which is most nights), no one would sleep and they would just huddle together under their leaky thatched roofs….like we would see on an episode of “Survivor”. ..except this is no game, it is everyday life. The houses were built on stilts so in order to prevent animals from coming in, as well as from flooding and it provides extra “living quarters” below for Hammocks to be hung and cooking to be done under the shelter of a roof. The houses were made of aluminum siding and had wood floors, which made them rain resistant.
After we finished the houses, we had a ceremony with the people of the village and presented each house to the families that would inherit them. Many of these families were odd combinations like; an old woman, a middle aged man and a few toddlers. We didn’t understand why at first, but then it was explained to us that there are practically no nuclear families left in Cambodia since Pol Pot tried to destroy family units as a method of breaking down the infrastructure. Also, many of the families have lost members to AIDS. So, these families were made up of extended family members that love and take care of each other. During the ceremony, the team gave each family a gigantic quilt (bigger than king size)….which would be their first ever bedding. Jason and I also brought our trusty Polaroid camera and presented each family with a family photo which was the first time many of them had seen a picture of themselves….they were fascinated with them.
After the extremely rewarding experience of building, we went to meet the founder of Tabitha. Janne Ritskes, who is Canadian, was an amazing and powerful person who, during her two-hour talk with us brought all 21 of us to tears more than once. She moved to Cambodia in 1992 after becoming disillusioned with the current NGO’s in place for Cambodia. She founded Tabitha in 1994 and since then has helped 35,000 families move from below the poverty level to middle class status. Janne told us many heart-wrenching but very pertinent stories of her life thus far in Cambodia. From 1992-1998 she slept in her bathtub because there was constant gunfire around her. She would go out to help the hundreds of families she had on her docket at the time and notice that they all had a rather large hole in the floor of their hut, with a bottle of what seemed to be mango juice. One day she commented to a family “I don’t understand why people put such large bathrooms in such small huts”….but the family’s explained to her that the hole was for them to sleep each night. They would put in the largest adults at the bottom, then the children and then the middle size adults on top in a vertical “sandwich” and then pull the rug over the top of them. They were terrified of the Khmer Rouge coming back again. The bottle of juice was poison to kill their entire family in case the Khmer Rouge was to come back. They remarked that they would not let them take their loved ones again.
Janne showed us through her Tabitha shop where 60 young women with AIDS are working on sewing machines when you first walk in. They work to make beautiful handicrafts for ex-pats with the proceeds going towards Tabitha. Janne herself adopted an HIV positive baby 8 years ago…but, as many of you know, babies born to HIV mothers often test positive as infants because they carry the antibodies of their mothers….but then can test negative 6 months later. Her daughter, Miriam, is now HIV negative. She also discussed with us the importance of a well to the villages she works with. A well costs 85$ for 5 families to share. The well is not only for drinking water, it is to water their plants, their farm animals and created a trade for themselves ..(growing vegetables for the market for instance). The lack of water is such a huge problem in Cambodia, that many people in the villages can’t even wash out their eyes when they get sand in them, so they end up going blind from infections. The farm animals in the village looked as if they were literally starving to death. The village that we went to had recently earned themselves a well, and were happily cooking and even poured a ceremonial ladle of water over each of our heads. (It felt great!)
We said goodbye to our newfound friends over a wonderful good-bye dinner. The next day all of us would fly to different areas…there were people in our group from Vancouver, and Singapore for the most part. Jason and I, along with two colleagues went on to Siem Reap, which is a quick plane ride or a long boat ride. We opted for the plane and another of our foursome took the boat. Siem Reap was a great city…lots of interesting shopping, restaurants and sightseeing. Our hotel was fantastic…and a fraction of the price we would pay in more developed countries. We lounged by the pool the first day trying to get rid of our aches and pains and psyching ourselves up for a 4:30am wake-up call to head to Angkor Wat in the morning. As in Phnom Penh, there were children begging everywhere, but we knew part of being a responsible traveler is not to give to these children, otherwise their parents continue to think that begging from foreigners is an “okay” way to get money, and they don’t send their children to school…it is much better to give to a credible organization.
We woke up the next morning for sunrise at Angkor Wat. Angkor Wat is the largest religious facility in the world. It is 27 Km of beautifully carved Hindu and Buddhist temples dating back to 780AD. Each temple was built a king during their reign…and each king tried to out-do the previous king by making a larger and more elaborate temple. Jason and I walked the grounds of Angkor Wat for an entire day….amazed by the huge stone faces and Banyan trees that have grown spookily out of the sides of the temples. Many of you know that this was where “Laura Croft, Tomb Raider” was filmed…but much to Jason’s dismay, she did not appear, scantily clad swinging from the branches and towers. We did, however, see a tarantula and some deer wondering around the grounds. Jason and I are really not “temple people” as we have had our fair share, but this was pretty magnificent…even in the scorching heat.
Next, we flew back to Phnom Penh for a couple more days of sight seeing. We hung out with our friend, Emily Cunniff, whom we worked in Nanjing, China with. Emily works at the International School of Phnom Penh and was able to show us around Phnom Penh in a way that we wouldn’t have seen just being a tourist. We went to the large market for some shopping, went on a sunset boat ride on the Tonlé Sap river…which intersects with the Mekong. Perhaps one of our most interesting adventures was watching from Emily’s balcony as children fill up Ziploc bags like water balloons and hurl them in the faces of oncoming motorcyclists. (Most people in Cambodia travel by Moto) This was actually horribly dangerous to watch…and the children only through them at young women. There were many near accidents as the streets were packed…but the business of driving seemed to go on as usual….
We loved the “feel” of Phnom Penh in general. The food was amazing….with a far better selection, presentation and atmosphere of restaurants than we experience in Singapore. It seemed like a very comfortable city to live in with quaint little shops and café’s all along the river. I can say that the constant begging would get to me after awhile as of course, you want to help everyone but know not to add to the begging crisis.
Back in Singapore we are now on the final countdown for summer with about 5 weeks left…yeah!!
If you want to visit a really cool website to see how you fare in the worlds riches…go to
www.globalrichlist.com You may be surprised at how blessed you are in terms of the rest of the world!
I am proud of all of you that made it this far….the end of the letter….another yeah!
If you have anything to donate: books, clothing, posters, art supplies…etc. Please consider sending them to either Tabitha or to Sok Sabay or if you are every looking for a charity to make a monetary donation to:
soksabay@online.com.kh ( or www.soksabay.com )
and http://www.tabitha-usa.org/
Thanks again for all who donated towards helping these 10 families! We hope that all of you are well and we miss you all!
Love, Erika and Jason
