Speak

Saturday, December 24, 2005

Actually I've been back for a week already, since last Saturday, but I kinda kept putting off blogging, with fatigue and jetlag (Singapore and Cambodia has quite a significant time difference ok!) as reasons (or excuses, hehh). But anyways, it was a great trip, a whole new learning experience - about God, about medical missions, about doctors, about village kids, about myself.

10 Dec, Saturday
This trip started off with a bang, literally. I almost missed my flight! Eating a hurried breakfast at Mac's with my friends only to discover the rest of the group had already checked in... And when I checked the digital screen, the the flight for Phnom Penh (capital of Cambodia) flashed an urgent "Last Call" repeatedly. Panic flooded my veins. It was the first time I had ever felt so scared. I imagined being left behind, going home to my mom's shocked face which will immediately turn to anger... And so I ran. I never ran so hard! And I never jumped so many people's queue before! Thank God really, that people at the check in queue were kind enough to let me pass first when I explained to them my dire situation. And I ran more, with my handcarry sling bag bouncing against my butt, airticket and passport in hand, frantically searching for the departure gate. It must be quite a sight because people actually stopped to stare! :S But I didn't care. I was fuelled by pure panic, and when I finally found the gate, I was painfully out of breath and embarrassingly disheveled, but gratefully relieved. And the best thing was I couldn't find ANY of my fellow trippers. Because they're all late. And I'm early. Oh happiness. They all came 5 minutes later. Rahhhhh. What a nice way to start the trip, by having a near cardiac arrest.

Anyways, so safely we boarded and arrived in Phnom Penh. One incident was that everybody got through smoothly past the Cambodian customs. But as I walking through, the custom officer started talking to me in Khmer, their local language. Which of course, I didn't understand. So I just politely smiled. I find this totally so not funny, but my fellow trippers were laughing their heads off at me when I told them. I can't help it if I'm born with this hue what!

After, we travelled 3 hours south-east to the province of Prey Veng, to Hope Village, the orphanage where we are staying. Along the way we passed by markets, where we saw kids without limbs begging for money, desperate hawkers swarming around our vehicle trying to sell us their fares (inclusive of fried spiders and crickets, roasted baby chicks, among other horrors, or delights, depending on which perspective you take on). You know we wanted to help, to give money to the kids, but once we did that, it's like inviting the whole clan, the entire community of streetkids to our vehicle, which is not really very advisable. The only thing we could really offer them is a prayer to God for them I guess.

12 Dec, Monday
One of the reasons why I opted to come to Cambodia instead of Thailand is because I wanted to experience for myself what medical missions is all about. And when God gave me the role of a medical assistant for this trip, I couldn't ask for more! :D From Hope Village we travelled 2 hours out on a bumpy dirt road, past vast expanses of rich green padi fields (they're breathtakingly beautiful!), cows, pigs, chickens, buffalos, and finally reached a wooden hut on stilts. This was our makeshift "clinic", and the villagers were already waiting for us to begin.

My job was to read the doctor's prescription, collect the various medication and dispense it to the patient. Sounds easy? Not when there are like a few dozen worth of medicine with all their complicated names to remember - paracetamol, ferrous fumarate, amoxycillin, maxolon, famatodine, just to name a few. I had a translator with me, so while I collected the medicine she gave instructions on consumption. In Khmer of course. Actually I find it quite an easy language to pick up. With virtually everyone around you talking in Khmer, it's hard not to learn something. So on my first day, I attempted to explain the daily intake of medicine to the villagers, in Khmer. And I'm not bad! :D They actually understood. :D

So this basically sums up the day. I was stuck the whole day in the hut giving out medicine, and we worked till sundown, till we couldn't see anymore. People there in the village didn't have electricity; they survive by candlelight. Made me realise how much I take the lightbulb for granted, among so many other things...

Thus ended my first day in the field. Tired but happily exhausted. (:

to be continued.

writing at 11:32 PM