chornicles of project angel

credits to qiming for all the pics taken! :)

day 1: 21 may - where the journey begins..

cambodia from the air, just fields and more fields..no tall buildings or moving vehicles..


arrival at siem reap air port


an artistic shot with the wet market as the backdrop..i think..haha..


at the landmine museum...what cruel traps set by humans..

day 2: 22 may - the angkor wat







me and deb pretending to be goddesses



day 3 & 4: the real work begins..laying the foundation..


it's hard manual labour under the merciless sun........no joke!!

day 5: it rained! so we got a half day off.

paparazzi..kids posing for us on the streets of siem reap


nonetheless because i was in the cooking team today, we had to return to the host's house to prepare dinner..evidence that i cooked!! eh..or rather more accurately, i helped in the preparation haha..

day 6: first contact with the kids...

the old kropeu sch..

..is nothing more than a hut..







child labour

kids forming a human chain helping us with the laying of the foundation of the sch


trying desperately to communicate with the kids..but they're laughing at me cos they've no idea what i'm talking abt..haha..


ordering the kids! bossy me!

playing games






seeing how run down the old school was, playing with the kids and having them to help out with the construction, seeing them smiles and hearing their laughter...made everything worthwhile. though the language barrier prevent any deeper form of communication, love is felt from the heart..isnt it..

day 7: the work continues..and more games..

making cement the primitive way..manually mixing soil and packets of cement first, and then adding water thru a pipe connected to the well. we werent of much help at this stage.


playing with water


my group's turm to cook again.

more games



getting whipped..damn it hurt!



and work...

4 men team, these kids are stronger than what they looked..

day 8: bricks laying..

laying bricks isnt easy!!! we were so clumsy that the foreman refused to let us lay any more bricks the next day..haha..the section of wall we did turned out to be pretty slanted.

..and more games..

playing their version of lao ying zhuo xiao ji


we taught them how to play london bridge is falling down..


trapped!


assaulted!

some games are just universal..


drawing water from the well

with the kids, it's just so easy to be happy.

day 9: the day after we stayed on site in tents, bathed under the stars..a slack day..because we werent allowed to lay the bricks..haha..

oh no! caught on camera brushing my teeth!


me and lg disturbing yy..hahhaah..we look stupid


me and caihua writing our journal


our clothes line


looking upon the almost completed school...

day 10: the end is drawing near..

cooking


tranquility

day 11: visit to fishing village







sisterhood

day 12: the finale..

students in the new sch!


distributing out old sch blouses and pinafores that we brought from singapore.


a classroom full of students transformed! they looked absolutely adorable!..and clean..urps..


'la-ork!'..good in khmer..

balloon scrulpturing



me! costume for the cultural performance.

farewell..i wish i could do more..but there's just so much that we could do..

IT'S HOLIDAY TIME!! R&R!!
day 13: floating villages on tonle sap river










day 14..to be continued..