This week we are in the small town of Stoung, north of Kampong Thom. There is no Internet access here, so we are asking our colleagues in Putney to type this phone message.
We are quite likely the first real-life ambassadors from the United States to many people in Stoung, as many school children here have never seen Westerners in person. With the help of the school director, who oversees the 780 kids, we have decided on a complex teaching system of rotating our students into the 10 classrooms to provide lessons about hygiene (kids don’t have toothbrushes at home), the environment (trash is often thrown on the ground here), and American culture and professions. The director enthusiastically explained this idea and his aim is for us to present the ideas to the children so they start to think about possibilities for their own country.
In addition to these teaching projects, we are tiling one of the classroom floors, painting the school’s wooden windows and doors, and we’ll hopefully give out toothbrushes (which we will buy for 10 cents each) and tubes of toothpaste (13 cents) to each student. We will also model how to wash hands and brush teeth. Our students have finished their posters and are excited to teach tomorrow. We’ll have internet access when we reach Siem Reap on Friday evening.
Minty toothpaste and no litter waste,
Nate and Jenn
