Day 4

Today was an incredible day--we did so much! Where to begin...

We had to be ready to leave this morning at 5 am to catch the Angkor Wat Temple sunrise. It was so worth it--absolutely breathtaking. The pictures don't even do justice. The temple was built during the first half of the 12th century. We spent about 3 hours exploring the temple then headed back for breakfast which is my favorite meal of the day here. We are spoiled!

On the way to the clinics, our tour guide was telling us about weddings in Cambodia. Some people will see a fortune teller before they get engaged. The man pays the woman's family for her hand in marriage and the parents use the money to arrange the wedding. The ceremony last two days and they can have around 600-1,000 guests!

The first clinic we stopped at was the Ba Kong Health Center. This place was right up my alley. The center has about 3 midwives and 4 nurses. The head nurse was a male. They had 8 births there last month. Home deliveries have nearly been eliminated. The clinic does prenatal care and about 70% of the women deliver there and 30% deliver in the city. They have no pain medication to offer the laboring women. When a woman is in labor she usually only has her mother and/or her sister with her. We gave the clinic a bunch of newborn clothes. We will be spending more time there later this week and I am really looking forward to it.

We then went to an orphanage where the children go to school for half of the day and the other half of the day is spent making art out of buffalo skin. The pieces of art are absolutely amazing. I bought one of the Bodhi Tree where Buddha found enlightenment. When you purchase a piece of art, the child who made it takes a picture with you and wraps it up. The children performed a puppet show for us as well as sang us several songs that brought me to tears. These children simply amaze me with their smiles despite their rough lives.

Then we had lunch and headed to the Ampil Health Center. Here we attended a meeting of women and children. These women are so eager to learn about everything from sanitation to learning to read and write. We spend a long time asking them questions about them and their children and trying to work together with them on their needs. I of course loved seeing all the babies and wanted to hold them all. Maybe I'll get to the next time we are there. They openly breastfeed which is awesome. They breastfeed until 2 years of age. The best part was passing out all of the donated clothes and soap. These women do not ask or beg for the items and are so grateful.

Next we visited the water wells that we paid to have build and met the families that are benefitting from them. First, we visited our mission group's water well and saw all of our names on it, which was super cool (even though my name was spelled wrong). Then we went to a well that one of my friends raised money to build in memory of her Father and Grandfather. We were greeting with big hugs by the woman who lives there with tears in her eyes. I was completely moved and in tears myself. We have felt so appreciated by these people.

We had a nice dinner at a place that just opened called the Yellow Submarine. Then we went to the night market which is so neat! Tons of shopping and street food (which we aren't eating). There's this thing called a fish massage, where you stick your feet in a tank of some kind of fish that eat all the dead skin off your feet. Gross, right?

I'm sure I'm leaving something out but it was such a busy day and I am going to sleep. Enjoy the pictures!

Xoxo