Here is a youtube video clip of traffic in a typical PP intersection.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0Z1wYC7zxw

One of the amazing things that I saw in PP was a drivers training vehicle...

Regards, 

Leonard 

Hey all,

I cannot believe how fast this 3 weeks is flying by. I am beginning to fall in love with Cambodia (the people definitely, the food and plants, but not so much the heat and the smells...since, as you may be aware, no cities or provinces in Cambodia have adequate waste treatment or collection systems. This is probably something I wouldnt ever really get used to!)

We leave Phnom Penh tomorrow after worshiping at a Khmer church...which I''m looking forward to, except for the fact that I will have to say goodbye (which I haven't mastered in Khmer) to the RULE students and An-yong to the HIL Korean students. After a week in PP, I have almost gotten the rhythm of crossing streets that have no traffic signals or enforced laws of any sort. We have seen a LOT, and I'm just starting to process it all. I'm praying that God will guide us as we unpack some of this. (e.g. the genocide museum and sights today from the Khmer Rouge regime, the need for education and civil works projects like solid waste management, and the continued corruption and injustices even in the stable/peaceful constitutional monarchy right now.) So don't be surprised if we all come back needing to talk through some things...

We have one more week, which we will spend back in Siem Reap. I'm not sure what the schedule is, but I never really have known too far in advance and it has all been good so far!

Continue praying for my classmates and me...

Thanks!

Val Horstman 

Today we went to the killing fields and the toulsleng museum, which is the largest prison and torture center.  It was awful what was done here.  This country was a very developed country and it was reduced basically to the stone age, there is nothing here.  No sewage system, no garbage system, no infrastructure at all, no education.  It's terrible.  And even worse, America is responsible for a huge amount of death here.  We bombed this country with the effect of 5 Hiroshima's.  We killed millions before the Khmer Rouge even came to power and they were hailed for defeating us and then immediately evacuated all cities on the pretense that the US was going to bomb them.  There is so much history here that I knew nothing about.  And then we went to the Royal Palace, which contains more treasure than I have ever seen in my life and it was just beautiful.  So to see the two extremes in one day was a little draining.  I have a lot of journaling to catch up on to record everything.

-Elizabeth Smit

Yesterday, a few of the Calvin students decided to visit RULE (Royal University of Law and Economics) with our Cambodian friends.  It was amazing to get to see a university in a country so different from our own.  It turns out that our friends were ditching class to hang out with us, so we ended up actually visiting that class.  It was a bit awkward at first since we didn't know that we were going to be brought into a class and had no idea what to say to the other students.  Then they started asking us questions about Calvin and our majors and then we asked them some questions and it was really interesting.  After vising the class, we got to see Vandenn's office (he's one of the ELIC teachers that we've been hanging out with).  He says that the 9 ELIC profs that work at RULE are some of the only ones that get an office.  They also have a small English language library that he says is really helpful in getting to know students better and in a deeper way.  Overall, I thought the school was nice, but I could tell that the classes are really large.  I think that if any of the RULE students ever visited Calvin, they would be completely shocked by how new and nice all of our classrooms are.  I wish we could have spent more time than just an hour there and that all of the Calvin students could have been there, but I'm glad it worked out for some of us.   

We have a winner of the last contest - Bob Dornbos (Jason's Dad) indicated correctly that the item pictured was a screw type pump.  The advantage of using this type pump instead of a typical impeller type pump is that you get the same amount of volume pumped with one rotation of the motor regardless of the speed of the motor.  This system works well for solar applications.

Here is another contest question:

The group will be travelling by bus from PP back to Siem Reap on Sunday.   The trip will take about 6 hours. How many kilometers is this distance? 

Thank you for your continued prayers. 

Regards,

Leonard De Rooy 

Early morning in the kindergarten 

Some of the students braved the hot early sun and played volleyball 

We then went to the slums of PP 

All the houses were built on a lake of raw sewage - we all prayed that the board walk would hold. 

We watched a self-help group discuss micro financing.  The members all contribute 500 Riel (4000Riel=$1USD) and then they could borrow money from the group for projects.  The biggest problem of the group is that almost everyone in the group was illiterate. 

They proudly showed us their books.   Once they have established the books and have been self sustaining for a few months, the NGO would donate some additional funds. 

Later we went to another village to discuss gender issues.  The ladies and our students had a great discussion covering things from equal rights, birth control and how things were in Cambodia and the USA. 

That evening we went to a restaurant called "No Problem"   The food was good and I think we were the biggest group they have ever had.  The only problem was that they did not have a menu in english, so Prof DeRooy discussed options with the head waiter and they made us a great meal - No Problem!.....

Val had her first taste of squid and chicken necks.