Cambodia - Village Life

My friend, Irene and I spent a day in the life of a villager. Village is called Kompheim, 16km from Siem Reap made up of farmers and itinerant workers. These families are graded into three tiers. Tier 1 being the poorest of the poor who live in the most basic thatch houses they call home. They struggle to meet daily needs, often struggling even to put food on the table. There is no electricity so they go to sleep pretty much as soon as the sun sets.

With little or no electricity in most homes, ice is a valuable form of refrigeration.

Even the chicken has a lack of feed.

Our guide, Sokha shows us how recyling is helping the village. Empty mineral water bottles are cleaned and dried and stuffed with dry waste. Every bagful of these bottles earns them a bag of rice. The bottles are then used instead of bricks. It takes 12,000 of such bottles to build a small toilet block for a family.

The village recycling bin.

Our bullock cart which took us to right up to the front of our host family's home. Our octogenarian bullock cart driver could not stop mumbling and scolding her four-legged charges.

Bundles of thatch all ready for threading.

Our host family showing us how to thread the thatch.  These will replace their present run down thatch in time for the rainy season.

Our guide, Sokha giving us some pointers.

Mother and son.

Mother and daughter.

 Manually drawing water from a well.

Our lunch consisted of boiled rice with freshly caught fish and vegetable from their garden.  And the piece de resistance?  The piece de resistance?  Red bull ants and larvae mixed in garlic, lemongrass & fish paste.

 Wrapped by fresh banana leaf.

Wedged between a splity bamboo, delicacy is ready to be grilled over an open fire.

 One of their prized possession - the TV powered by a portable battery pack.

 It's time to go off to school with their school books inside plastic shopping bags.

Girls spending carefree time climbing trees.

A water pump built by the travel company, Beyond Unique Experiences which we did our day tour with.  20% of our fee goes back to the community. 

An 87 year old female monk we met at the village temple.  She showed us the scars on  her head sustained from a land mine incident as a child.  This same incident killed a sister.