An Authentic Experience

One of the amazing blessings I have experienced in my many travels abroad has been to almost always know someone in the country I am visiting. While I would like to consider myself to be a fairly adventurous and independent person, I tend to deliberately go places where I will know at least someone along the way. Part of that is for safety reasons, but mostly it’s because I find that experiencing a foreign land through the eyes of a resident greatly enhances the authenticity of my exposure to that culture. Rather than limit my activities to clichéd “tourist” areas, I can witness and participate in the true-to-life daily routines of native people.

My wonderful friends that I am staying with in Cambodia have not been living here terribly long. Having arrived in Phnom Penh at the end of August, Dennis and Sharon are still settling into their new life in Asia in a lot of ways. However, their enthusiastic spirits and genuine desire to make a life in Cambodia have made then wonderful guides nonetheless. They have been incredibly gracious hosts already, opening their home to me and letting me “break in” their guest bedroom and all its amenities. I’m really enjoying having a room to myself and just spending time relaxing without the pressures that my hectic schedule in India was putting on me.

That being said, while a lot of my time in Cambodia has been spent catching up on some leisurely reading and much-needed sleep, I have gotten to participate in a few really unique opportunities through Dennis and Sharon’s work in Phnom Penh. A few days after I arrived, I accompanied them and a vanload of Khmae students to a nearby village to participate in a Health Fair for the children in the area. Due to the obvious language barrier, there was not a lot that I could do to help at the Fair. However, I did get to witness some really encouraging work that is going on in the community, and see the application of some of what I am learning in school about social work in the rural setting.

Basically, the Health Fair consisted of 4 educational stations that the 200-plus children visited throughout the afternoon. Based on specific health concerns that these children face, each booth had a unique message it tried to convey. One booth focused on dental health and taught the children how to make toothbrushes out of bamboo or palm. Another taught the kids about nutrition by explaining the importance of eating different types of foods, and how only eating rice is not sufficient to meet nutritional needs. The third booth addressed common illnesses like the flu, diarrhea, worms and malaria. They taught the kids the importance of hydration in the face of diarrhea, how to avoid the spread of worms, and how to protect themselves from mosquitoes.

The fourth booth demonstrated proper hand-cleaning techniques and emphasized the difference soap makes in getting dirt off of the children’s’ hands. At the end of the booths, the children were offered a dish called Baw Baw Saw, which combined different vegetables, proteins and grains to make a simple, yet nutritionally-dense one-pot meal. Finally, the afternoon concluded with an entertaining skit about sleeping under a mosquito net to prevent the spread of illnesses.

I was really impressed with how this Health Fair was conducted. I know much more needs to be done to really drive these important points home in the minds of the kids, and that one visit will not lead to the necessary changes in their health and hygiene practices. However, with repetition, I definitely see this as an effective tool for helping the children lead healthier, happier lives.