Post Cambodia

Adrenaline keeps people going but only for a period of time. At least, it sustained me for the last 1 week. After catching 8hrs of good rest, the body is asking for more. Blah, the gloomy weather ain’t helping my already slow afternoon.

The moment we met @3am in Terminal 1, I knew that sleep would become the most needed component for the next few days. Indeed, I was proven right. Short journeys to and fro meals were precious minutes of power naps before going for another round of ICIP at the Dumpsite in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. As my eyes roamed from house to house, I was set in quiet pondering and my mind took me back to the days where I resided in the poorer areas of Singapore some 20years ago. It would be unfair for anyone to make a comparison of those days to what I saw. It’s a far cry from our SOL. I had to make sense of what I see. You and I could have been one of them.

From the entire trip, I have gathered much. Amongst which, I vividly recall this girl who received a fresh burn wound from a motorbike’s exhaust pipe. Vehicles such as motorbikes, bicycles and push carts would share the same paths as these little kids. A little careless mistake brought her painful tears and loud wailing for the next 20minutes. That carried on much longer when a fellow kid ran passed and brushed the still fresh wound. The next day when I met her again, the bandage was still there, clothes unchanged, hair tangled and same old dirty finger nails. Her hair looked coloured at the ends and I later found out it was contributed by the lack of nutrients. She quietly joined the packed and tried to carefully engage in the mass games. Bare footed with her arms folded and back against the sun, her eyes gleamed as I took a quick shot at her. Somehow, I felt her strong sense of survival. How far can she go without education? How long does she intend to stay there?

Taking a short break today is nothing much than just physical rest. Much thinking is taking place and I ask what can I do for the kids I see in schools. 3hrs are all I have got with them. 3hrs are possibly all they have with me. In that short time, there is a chance to leave a lifelong impact, provide handles that can alter a person’s thought patterns and even bring a smile to one who has not really smiled for a long time. In the words a teacher: “… that’s what makes your job so much more worthwhile and meaningful than to labour for mere money.”

I have needs, I have my wants too.
And I have finally come to terms that it takes more than just human rationalization to understand that all I need are already taken care of, thought through and prepared way in advanced. :) All I need to do is to keep running.

This is enough for the day. More than sufficient for one to reflect.

Time to try some Ramen.