Homeward bound...

Last blog in Cambodia probably. Sorry for the break in communications - we all announce a cholera outbreak in a village we visited and then the line goes dead for a few days! As you have probably read on the other posts, it wasn't cholera, but we were able to go back to the village with a gift of bottled water, noodles and biscuits (you didn't know that the gift you sent would help a whole village survive a crisis did you, Vicki!) The School Director made a little speech on behalf of the village before we left, to thank us for our help. I haven't a clue what he said (although Chomno gave me the gist) but I could tell from the way he said it what he meant. I videoed him, so I'll show you. He's a lovely man, called Meunserret (or something like that) and not only is he in charge of the school, but he wants to train to lead a church as well. I jokingly suggested coming back out to train pastors and Chomno was very keen on the idea. So, let's see if I can turn it into a 'study leave' proposal that the C of S would wear...!

You've heard about the rest of our time at Poipet from the others. It was a genuine privilege for me to be invited to dedicate Wathana (Vuthy's baby son) during the Sunday morning service (yes, Derrick, Presbyterians do it too - anyway, it's the dry season...!). He was so grateful and so proud of his little boy.

It was hard to leave Poipet again - it's a dirty, scruffy little town which, as Davie said, you could only do something about by bulldozing it and starting again. But that's out of compassion for the people who scratch out their lives there among the dust, the piles of rotting garbage, the smells. But in amongst all of the refuse there is hope - little schools, training centres, farms, school gardens, churches - little seeds of faith and hope which are taking root because they are watered by the love and commitment of the CHO workers and the love and generosity of Tearfund UK and all of us who give. The gift we gave as a Church, together with the gift that Stuart brought from his church (and some money from Jim Dewar's church) meant that the rent has been paid for a whole year on the school for children from HIV families, on the church building and will also provide toilets and a badly-needed clean water supply for Bos Tom, the village where the villagers had been poisoned by bad water. Chomno was overjoyed when he realised how much could be done.

So, here we are in Siem Reap - Cambodia's tourist Mecca, full of Westerners who are clearly doing the South-East Asia trail and are stopping off at the Angkor Wat temple complex - officially one of the seven wonders of the world - en route. We spent the day there yesterday and had an excellent little guide called Pheng (pronounced Peng) who took us by back paths and quiet ways that other touroids didn't know about. It was great, although I can probably wait a while before seeing any more dancing apsaras (there are, after all, only so many dancing apsaras a man can look at in one day...).

Today is chill-out time - a lazy start and then shopping down at the market - we've come up with a cunning plan to make more money to send back to CHO, but we'll wait until the end of the month when you've all been paid before announcing that one! We're sure you'll like it!

This has been a superb trip - I feel as if I've gone just a little deeper this time and it has been great to witness the impact on the rest of the team of the poverty and also the hope in this part of the world. We're bound to be Cambodia bores for a while, so just tell us to shut up. But we think you might like to see our photos. No shoe boxes this time, but other stories that are just as moving.

Healthwise we are all ok - no-one's had anything too serious and I'm just left with a cough. I managed to use sun lotion twice, which is a record for me. But I'm using my scabby, sunburned, flaking head as an illustration of a Scottish snow-storm, so nothing's wasted!

It's 1.40 pm and our taxi takes us to the airport at 5.30 pm. So, off to the market for those last minute items.

"You buy, sir, you like scarf sir, how much you give me sir, you pay me five dollar sir, I give special discount, you like sir, you buy sir, I give morning discount sir, how much you buy sir..."

You get the idea!