T-Minus 15 Days

This extra month is flying by too fast. I've been pretty busy. I went to Angkor Wat, finally!! It was so beautiful and a really fun trip. I went with 4 of my Khmer friends and they knew all the best spots.

Like I mentioned in my last post, I talked with CVF, the organization I live with, and have been "staff" now for a few weeks. It's a lot of fun. I really enjoy helping out and I am the first foreigner to do it. They seem to really appreciate my input. Helping make things more professional. Now for airport pick ups and city tours we have CVF t-shirts that the staff wears. Also, every 2 weeks when new volunteers come in certain staff members are assigned to visit certain placements to make sure volunteers are going okay.

I entered that video from the last post into a video competition and we won the month of November, meaning $100! I am using it on something here, I just haven't decided on what yet. Winning November means we are up for the year contest, and could win $500. If you would like to vote for the video, it would be greatly appreciated! You can vote once a week with as many e-mails as you have. Here's the link:
 http://www.volunteerhq.org/volunteer-video-competition/61325


I've got 15 days left and have so much to do!! 28 new volunteers arrive starting today so from now till next Wednesday I will be so busy! Airport pick ups, orientation, city tour, welcome dinner, taking volunteers to Pursat...a lot goes into this stuff!
 After that some CVF staff and I are taking a trip up north to Mundulkiri to do an eco tour. Elephants, waterfalls, nature! Woohoo!
And thennnnn after that I need to make a day trip back to the village to give them some left over kids stuff I have that I brought from US (thanks Granny). 
And somewhere in there my friends want to go to Sihanoukville (the beach town) for my birthday. Not sure how I can make it happen. 
Oh! And for Christmas we are doing Secret Santa!

That's all I can think of for now...Thanks to all who have kept up with me on this awesome journey. It is insane how life throws curve balls and teaches you so much. 10 months ago I had no idea I would be here. Just in the car on the way home from Atlanta the idea came to me and then 2 months later I was boarding a plane. So much has changed in my my mind since then. The person I want to be here on out and the things I want to do! It's been an experience that I will keep forever.

I already have plans to make it back here for my summer break and continue interning with CVF. The guys here have become as good as brothers to me. How could I come home and not come back. The next 6 months will be the true test to see if I can discipline myself to focus on school, save money, and not go back to my old habits. I think my desire to be back here again will be strong enough. 

Anyway, like I said, thanks so much to all of you for keeping up and helping me to get here.

Much love!!!!
-Daniel
 

WOW!

Okay I am the worst blogger ever. It's been like 3 weeks. So, our care packages project is finished! Check out the video. It'll make you smile! =))

My placement at my NGO has only about 2 weeks left. But I have managed to get my flight changed free of charge and will be in Cambodia working till the end of the year. I'm ecstatic! I have begun working at the hospital some mornings with an Australian organization ICC. The same org I built my second house with. We wash the patients hair, cook and feed them lunch, help the nurses. It's good stuff. I'm also talking to CVF (the organization I live with) about interning with them my last month! Helping place volunteers at their placements and airport pick up. Volunteer coordination sounds like a really awesome career to me, so it would be cool to get behind the scenes.

Oh! And one of the boys I live with Chheng, goes to English class every night and I just started tagging along with him and now the teacher wants me to keep coming back and help assist teaching. Sooo now my evenings are filled 5-6/7pm!

Anyway, I'm really trying to make the most of my time here and I think I'm succeeding! Thanks for reading friends! =)

Daniel

This Bus Ride...

It's 10PM and I'm on the bus from the Thailand border back to Phnom Penh. ETA--3AM. I'm so tall and the woman in front of me is inconsiderate so I'm sitting sideways with my feet in the walkway hahaha.
I've been in Thailand for the past 13 days. It originally a 4 day trip. But I met someone and kind of fell into a fairy tale. I saw so much of Bangkok and then spent 4 days on Koh Samed island. It was a dream. I fell fast and I'm sad to leave but I know I'll be back and until then I have all the memories!!
Anyway, back to the amazing, lovely, dusty, dirty Phnom Penh. It's funny how all 4 of those words actually describe the city at the same time.
I have to go to an all day conference on corruption for work tomorrow starting at 8AM...so I need to sleep on this bus. Ill get some pictures up soon from Thailand.

Good night friends!!
Daniel

BAM!

Super excited! It's been a quiet couple of weeks in Phnom Penh. In the office Monday through Friday working, brainstorming, napping during the daily afternoon thunderstorms (aka afternoon flood).

All this time with no posts was not wasted, though!! A new volunteer Keisha is here at my placement and we have been working great together. She is a former news reporter from California and has excellent video editing skills. JUST WHAT WE NEEDED!

We used all of Vishnu and I's pictures and interviews from the village and put together an amazing video. The video raises awareness about land eviction in Cambodia and also zooms in on our village and how to help. We finally got a PayPal account set up and doing everything the organized, right way! Haha.

Lots of effort and editing went into this video. Please, check it out!
Care Packages for Cambodians!

Also, check out the donation website! We have a PayPal account set up and everything =)
YouCaring Page

So, really this time, I'm planning to go to Bangkok the middle of this month over the holiday here. And this Sunday I am going to some temples outside of the city. Some even older than Angkor Wat! It's crazy I've been here over 2 months and I've only been to Kompong Thom where the village is, and 3 nights in Vietnam. I need to get out of the city more, I'm running out of time! =( It's depressing thinking about it.

Anyway, I hope you guys watch the video and somewhat understand a little better what is going on here! Thanks again for keeping up with my trip =)

ICC Trip

The start of my weekend was great. I went to dinner with some Khmer friends (I barely spend time with the other volunteers anymore now that Vishnu is gone). But Saturday started the worst pain in my throat ever. I did my research and self diagnosed myself with strep throat. Quick bike ride to the pharmacy and purchased a strip of 10 Amoxicillin pills for 75 cents (and no prescription). Crazy! By Tuesday morning I could eat something besides noodles again without pain. And now it's Wednesday and I'm feelin' good.

Sopheavy from ICC invited me (with literally 2 hours notice) to tag along with ICC's quarterly medical/build team trip. There are about 17 people here in their crew. Doctors, nurses, few handy men, and lots of helping hands. I love it. I'm super lucky to tag along with these people.

We are in the same province where my village is and 1/3 of us are building a house (house number 2 for me!) and the rest are running medical clinics in nearby villages.

I'll be here till Friday and then heading back to Phnom Penh with one of the project coordinators, Troy (in his ICC taxi, free for me!). It's all about connections in this country. Well, anywhere. And I'm definitely making them. Maybe a job like his is in my future, after school, if I play my cards right =)

PS I didn't go to Thailand. Just too rushed. And good thing because I got sick.

Okay, sitting down for dinner at ICC's orphanage and school Light of Hope. You should look them up. ICC is working wonders here.

Peace!

Oh! For those of you who have donated money for a family in my village, I promise I will start organizing a delivery trip beginning next week. Thanks again!!

Great Trip, Terrible Ending..

I got the Blogger mobile app. Maybe I can try to post more frequently and shorter. We went back to the village for a couple days. Vishnu leaves Friday so she said her goodbyes and our friend Sopheavy from International Children's Care came with us and brought a LOT of supplies. It was great. We delivered rice and medicine and cooking supplies and dried fruit (many have a serious low blood sugar problem). It was a great trip.

The day we got there, our close friends in the village told us about a man who was coming home from work on the plantation the night before and collapsed while on his motobike and laid there the whole night till he was found the next day (the day we arrived). We coordinated to get him to the hospital in Kompong Thmor where we have been taking other not so serious patients. He spent one night there and this morning we went to go check on him on our way back to Phnom Penh. He was worse. I now know to never take anybody there that needs more than just a prescription for a minor problem. They did nothing. So we are in the van now, with the man and his two children on the way to the hospital in Phnom Penh.

We called Sokun (who is the head of the ICC clinic near the shitty hospital) to let him know we were taking the man to Phnom Penh where ICC has a lot of medical staff at the hospital. He said okay thanks for letting him know and asked to talk to put Sopheavy on the phone.
They talked forever...in Khmer...so I had no idea what about. She got off the phone and said he was not happy with her and that he told her not to tell me about it. But she did anyway. Local authorities went to his clinic in Kompong Thmor when they found out ICC was now working with the village and told him they needed to stop.

Every small NGO we have contacted to help us said no. "They are too politically involved. We can't be associated with it." It goes back to the villagers being politically divided as a community. The government won't allow NGO's to help the anti party and the NGOs will not go in and just help one party. Make sense?

So it's a mess. And a shitty day. There's a man dying in front of me and the closest chance I had of getting real help from an organization is gone...blahhhh.

But, my visa expires Friday and I just remembered yesterday. Oops. So, I'm taking Vishnu to the airport Friday evening and catching the sleeper bus to Siem Reap and then directly to Bangkok from there. It's called a visa run. Haha. I'll probably just spend a couple nights and then come back, but I can't be this close to Thailand and never go.

I unlocked my iPhone and put my Cambodian SIM card in it. So I don't have my US number anymore. But, I do have Internet everywhere now. Woohoo!

I'll try to keep updating regularly.

And sorry for such a negative post, but this is what's going on. It's easy to take pictures with beautiful smiling kids and play games and be happy. And I'm sure for the reader it's much more enjoyable to read about that. I wish these situations I find myself in weren't happening. Like REALLY. I'd much rather be at the orphanage in Phnom Penh, but this is the real...

The Past Two Weeks...

After spending exactly 2 weeks in the countryside, getting back to bustling city was quite nice. It was really a successful trip. The house is complete and we managed to get 6 people to the hospital in the closest city for their various problems. And on top of all that, I developed relationships with people that I will cherish forever and experienced a part of Cambodia that most people will never see. We stayed the whole 2 weeks on a farm about 15 minutes from the village. Our boss at CIACC owns the farm and her sister and husband live there and look after it. Bucket showers with well water...no electricity...wood platform for a bed (mine was outside, yay for being the boy. Vishnu got to sleep inside)...rooster for an alarm clock at damn 5AM every morning...and rice at every meal of the day. At about day 4 I was ready to die. But, then I got over it. Haha. This country is full of the kindest people I've ever had the pleasure of meeting, and the countryside is no exception.
It took a couple days to purchase all the supplies we needed for the house before we could start building. Slow and frustrating start, to say the least. We hired men from the village to build the house. We did this because it meant a source of income for them and it also builds a sense of community. Mr. Yan and his wife came home knowing that their neighbors built the house for them. This is so important. Cambodian politics are a BIG issue and the village is divided with villagers supporting different parties. If they can't look past that and come together to help each other, their village will never develop.
Every morning started with coffee and rice and then we hopped on our borrowed motobike and headed to the village (with a quick stop for fried bananas..for the workers, of course ;). The whole house was built by the hands of 3 workers and some help from me as well. It's amazing. They have no machinery. Just hand saws, axes, and hammers. The fact that I'm almost 6'2" did come in handy several times, though. :)
Okay switching subjects. Almost all of the villagers have health problems. Malnourishment and dirty living conditions cause this. And more so the water. So, we decided that we would offer to take a few villagers at a time to the closest hospital (an hour and a half away). Our first visit with 3 women went well. They all had blood tests done and got the medications they needed and advice from the doctors. The following day we decided to just go on a drive through the village and take some pictures and video. It is quite large and spread out. We made a stop at a house with a well and were greeted by the woman who lived there. When the villagers that don't know us, see us, they immediately think money...food..help. She insisted we follow her to another house (no translator with us anymore). We went and walked into a home maybe half the size of my bedroom, which is the home to a husband and wife and their 7 kids. 2 of the 7 kids were 8 day old twins. One twin had 11 fingers and a liquid-filled ball attached to one hand. The mother is extremely malnourished with no breast milk and the condition of their home is no place for a new born. We immediately arranged for her to come to the hospital with us the following morning. It was quite nerve racking and intense. The mother could take a bus to the city but we then had to put her on a motobike with 2 babies to get to the hospital. I couldn't even watch as we drove to the hospital. The hospital told us that the babies were too small to be operated on and she had to go to the children's hospital in Siem Reap (3 hours away). So, we had to separate. I took one twin back with me to the village and Vishnu took the mother and the twin with the problems to Siem Reap.
So, fast forward because this too long....the baby had his operation and is now back home a week later. I purchased $25 worth of formula at the market for them. Between other mothers giving their breast milk to the mom and the formula, the babies should be set for a while.

I'm going to try to put into words this feeling I get like almost every day here. It happens at random times, in random situations, but my eyes kind of go outside my head and I look at what's happening and it's like..woah..I'm here, in Cambodia, in this moment. I don't know. This experience isn't an organized, planned volunteer experience. The work we (and when I say we I mean Vishnu and I...) do here and the size of the difference we make is up to us. There's no organization sending us somewhere or planning for us. We ride in local vans to save money and get looks like "uhhh did you miss the big air conditioned bus?" Haha. We call NGO's and set up meetings to share what we know. We spent 2 weeks in the middle of no where with no translator. We personally take responsibility for these people we are helping and will keep doing everything we can. I don't know...it's just a weird, cool, awesome feeling that I get.

Anyway, we are going back to the village tomorrow and are taking donated clothes from volunteers and some medicines and stuff. It's Vishnu's last week here and she wants to say good bye. There is no other volunteer working on Human Rights with us here, so I'm going to be alone. And yep, I'm nervous about it.

I have this "Sponsor A Family" idea where someone can choose to sponsor a family from the village and will get pictures of them and names, etc. and can send me the amount of money they choose each month for the last 3 months I'm here and I will use it to purchase things the family needs. Non-perishable food, clothes, hygiene products, etc. I'll give the family a picture of the person sponsoring them and will take pics every time I make a delivery to them for the sponsor to see.

If anyone is interested in sponsoring a family, let me know.

This post could go on for days, but I'm going to stop here.

Thanks to everyone for keeping up with my journey and keeping me in your thoughts. Much, much appreciated!!

Here are some pics. The first few pics are with my new adopted little brothers. I can pretend anyway. Or maybe they adopted me. Even in the depressing moments when things weren't going right or we found sick people, they were able to cheer me up real quick. 

BIG PLANS - HELP!

Today was my first day in the office this week (still can research from home). We had to prepare some things for what we thought was a day trip to the village tomorrow. Upon arrival this morning Sitha (President of CIACC - my boss) informs us that we will not be leaving the village until the house is finished. The language barrier can be quite an obstacle sometimes. She is actually from the area around the village and has extended family there that we will be staying with (up to one week). This is pretty exciting news. The house will be complete before we come home and we can take photos of the progress and get to know the villagers very well. Also, definitely will get a feel of what poor countryside Cambodian life is like. Only well water and electricity from a generator that only is on a few hours a day.

This post is actually to ask a favor. Vishnu has managed to raise about $1500 for this house project and another volunteer last week gave us $400 for our project. The problem is that after this house is built (costing $1500-$2000), there is so much more to be done. These people are drinking water from the ground that has chemicals from the nearby plantation causing problems in their legs, eyes, and all sorts of illnesses. They have no chickens to sell eggs, no farmland to grow crops. I know many of you are the reason that I am over here right now. And if I was working at the orphanage or school I would not be asking for even more from you. But, our project is working over time to change the lives of over 600 families and it becomes costly. After building this house for one family, and a well that will provide water for maybe 10 families, we want to build several more wells, maybe another house if possible, and buy chickens and ducks.

The great thing is that any amount helps. Chickens cost $3-5 a piece, and ducks too. The wells will cost anywhere from $150-$400 depending on the ground condition. $5, $10, $20...every little bit will add up.

I have a bank account set up with Wells Fargo that I used for transfers and donations for this trip. I have it set up where I can receive money using my e-mail address or phone number.
You can send me money online using (919) 931-1738 or the e-mail address dliquidforce@gmail.com

I appreciate everyone keeping up with my blog and if you feel the desire to help these people please, please do!! If you plan on sending money or have difficulty doing so, please shoot me an e-mail. I won't have access to internet once we arrive tomorrow, but should be back in Phnom Penh within a week. If it's an emergency I have my iPhone for internet, though. Also, my Grandma has transferred to this account and knows how it works. So, you can e-mail her as well. cvassey@nc.rr.com ...thanks Granny =)

Take care,
Daniel

Yesterday I gave blood for the first time ever! Vishnu and I both did because 2 people had to donate blood for Mr. Yan (man in hospital from the village) to have his surgery yesterday. It was quite an experience, for a couple reasons. One, I'm in a really poor country (no worries, needle was new and everything was clean). Second, after giving blood, we were moved to a room where we could have refreshments and make sure we were okay to leave. Once we got in the room we both sat down and I started feeling really light headed. I looked over and asked Vishnu if she was okay and she simply said "no" and 2 seconds later passed out, fell on the ground and started twitching. It was the weirdest experience because I'm sitting there with my head on the table, on the verge of passing out myself, as I watch her having what looks like a mild seizure and people crowded around her. In many countries you have to be a certain height, weight, etc to donate, but here they don't take those precautions (they still test for diseases and things don't worry). Vishnu is 4 feet 11 inches tall and 105 pounds. Clearly she should have given less blood than someone my size. Anyway, she woke up, I didn't pass out, and Mr. Yan had his surgery. =)

We met with SISHA again last week and they plan to take a few days next week and go to the village (and a couple of surrounding villages) with Khmer staff to earn the villager's trust and find more cases of missing girls/boys. They've told us we are welcome to ride with them if they have room. That would be awesome. I would love to see how a big NGO like SISHA works here.

We are for sure going to the village on Thursday, though. We are going with our boss at CIACC, Mam Sitha, to hire workers for the house and to purchase timber! Finally!!! We have the house plans drawn up and this project is starting to speed up.

Life here is going reallyyyyy well. The people (locals) here never stop amazing me. Some volunteers I'm not so sure how I feel about. But, I won't get into that =P

Alright. I hope everyone is having a great week!

Petition to the Prime Minister!

Alright, we finally put together our petition to get these villagers some farming land. The villagers themselves have already created a petition and sent it to the government. This is our biggest effort right now, next to building Mr. Yan (man in hospital) and his family a house. So, if you could all take less than 5 minutes to read and sign the petition, it would be greatly appreciated!! Also, please share the link with friends and family. We can really make a difference in these people's lives and provide them with the tools to be independent from food aid!

https://www.change.org/petitions/mr-hun-sen-prime-minister-of-the-royal-government-of-cambodia-provide-evicted-villagers-in-kompong-thom-province-with-land-to-farm#

THANK YOU!!!!

Vietnam Pictures!

Good Morning, Vietnam!

I'm writing this on our 7 hour bus ride back to Phnom Penh. Although we were only in Vietnam for about 3 days, it felt like forever. I don't think I am not a big fan of the country. We didn't make it up north, so I won't say for sure. The people there are very strong. They have almost like this fighter mentality. They are much different from Cambodian people. Also, Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) is so touristy. Our first night we were in shock. There were so many lights, people, bars, restaurants, and shops.
The next day we toured the city. We saw the War Remnants Museum, Reunification Palace, Post Office, Notre Dame Cathedral, and Chinatown. All were very cool.
On our last full day we took a boat down the Saigon River to the city Vung Tau. It was the closest beach to Saigon (even though we never made it onto the beach). The city was beautiful. Mountains surrounded by the ocean. When the French were in Vietnam they completely controlled this city. There is French architecture everywhere. We had a guy give us a tour by motorbike. This was my favorite day of the whole trip. I'll post pictures. We went to the top of one of the mountains and saw the lighthouse. Then, we went to Villa Blanche. It's where the heads of the French army used to live in the city. Next we went to the Catholic church and a Buddhist temple. Both have ginormous statues around them. The pictures will really show you how awesome this city was. We had a return boat ticket for 4:30PM, but because I'm a fatty and wanted a sandwich for the ride, we missed the boat by literally 5 feet. I probably could have jumped from the dock, but I didn't risk it. Luckily, they gave us a refund and there were 2 guys from Hong Kong (Pong and Ricky) who also missed it. We all got a taxi together and made it back to Saigon. These guys were hilarious. After the 2 hour taxi ride we agreed to go home and shower and then meet back up for dinner and drinks.
So far I've made a new friend from Vietnam, friend from China, and 2 from Hong Kong. Not including the other volunteers. We've all exchanged numbers and Facebook and will keep in touch. I'd love to make it to Hong Kong at some point (Only a 2 hour flight from Phnom Penh).
Anyway, back to work. Tomorrow morning we have to go back to the hospital again; with a translator this time. We have to find out how Mr. Yang and his wife would like their house built. The doctors say he will be able to walk again. This is great news and means that we don't have to build the ramp.
Also, we have to call SISHA when we get back so we can share all the info with them from our interviews with the villagers about the missing kids.
Oh! Our meeting with Amnesty International last week went great. We don't really know what to expect now, though. We told them everything we knew about the situation with the man in prison and they said they would start looking into it and see what they can do. We will probably follow up next week..

Pictures next.

Daniel

Hello, Hello!

I've already been here a week?! What?! I have done so much, constantly staying busy, and not wasting any time.
Okay, where to begin...I'm working with CIACC (Cambodia Independent Anti-Corruption Committee). Our current project is working with the village right outside of Kampong Thom. This village has so many problems it is crazy. It can make you crazy trying to keep up.

The paralyzed husband from the village is still in the hospital here in Phnom Penh and his wife and 2 of his 4 kids are there with him. He is doing much better, though. Showing emotion other than pain; smiling, etc. I went there today and took his wife to the market to buy some food. The hospital does not provide food or water for patients. I mean they barely provide healthcare. So, it is up to organizations and families to feed patients.

About a year ago almost 20 kids (ages 13-20) left the village to go to the city to look for work. Remember they were moved off their land by the gov and the land they were moved to is not farming land. So, they have no way to make a living. The kids have still not returned and no one has heard anything. We are quite certain human trafficking is the issue. There was already a case solved from this village by another organization and it was trafficking. Vishnu and I met with the administrator of SISHA (anti human trafficking org) yesterday and he told us everything we need to talk to the villagers about to figure out what could have happened to these kids. We are headed there first thing in the morning to spend the day interviewing the families with missing children and to check out the land where we want to build the house for the paralyzed man and his family.

It's so crazy how the organizations really take Vishnu and I seriously. We called SISHA and he quickly agreed to meet us for lunch and discuss our village's situation. We also have a meeting scheduled Friday morning with Amnesty International. I don't know. I just feel like I'm really making things happen for this village and working an important job at the CIACC office and having meetings with presidents of big organizations...yeah, that's what I'm trying to say. Haha.

Okay so tomorrow we're headed to the village for interviews and to look at the land. Then Friday I have to go to the office to pick up the translated version of the villagers' petition to the government to get their land back (we are going to use it as a reference for our petition..that you all will sign online :). Then after that on Friday we have the meeting with Amnesty. And thennnnn Saturday morning Vishnu and I are headed to Vietnam for a few days. Her Cambodia visa runs out on Tuesday so she has to leave the country and come back in to get a new one anyway and I figure it will be more fun and less expensive to travel with someone there. Not to mention Vishnu is awesome. She is so crazy fun. We are taking the night bus back to Cambodia on Tuesday and have to be at CIACC Wednesday morning. Wednesday will be a long day. Ha.

I have some more pics to put up too. No more depressing, graphic ones I promise! I'll get to that...soon :)

Good night!!!
Daniel

Pictures From S21 - warning: may be distressing to some