Sun, 20th Jan, 2019
It's 10.25pm but I'm too awake to go to sleep so I thought I'd do my diary. The day worked out well although it's always worrying when there's nobody waiting for triage. Inevitably, when we decide to go off and help in the different work places, people start to come so I have to chase around to find translators to tell them what is happening. A group of ladies came and they said they were very nervous as they'd never been to a dentist before. Then another lady appeared and she said she'd been to our clinic three years ago and it was a wonderful experience so that helped the other people to relax.
We had lunch in one of the classrooms. There was rubbish all over the floor, parts of the walls were missing and hens and cockerels kept coming in and out, hoping we'd drop something on the floor. It was so strange to see advanced math on the blackboard. I had no idea what the calculations were as they were so complicated, plus they were done without calculators. It's exactly what the author of "The Outliers" has to say, it's not individual intelligence that counts but opportunity. There are obviously children in this particular math class who are brilliant at what they are doing but sadly they won't have the opportunity because they are in a remote rural area. In a recent English language newspaper there was an article about an excellent government school in Phnom Penh where students are able to participate in debates, they have computer classes and all sorts of modern educational aids. What the article didn't mention is that this is available to about 1 percent of the Cambodian young population; the rest put up with what they can get.
Luc, who asked us to work in the area, came by and said he'd visit parts of the commune to let people know we were here. He said that health workers do go around the community checking on people's health but, when he asked them to tell the people that they could have their teeth fixed, they refused unless they were given money. It's the same in the schools. The teachers are so poorly paid they generally only teach half the curriculum and then the students have to pay their teachers for evening classes. If there's an exam, the students have to pay for the exam paper. In all school playgrounds you can find stalls, selling all sorts of educational supplies (pencils, exercise books etc) plus snacks, and they are all owned by the teachers' families. It's an awful state of affairs but I can't blame them for wanting a higher salary.
After doing our work we packed up and left the school. Tomorrow there's be 600 students so it's going to be a bit chaotic working in the environment with children running all over the place. We had time, so I suggested we go to see the bats. I don't know how many millions come out of a large opening into a cave and it's fascinating watching them. I've taken the 15 dental groups to this place and we sit and have a drink and snack while waiting for the bats to emerge. In this year's group some were concerned about rabies, which is something I'd never thought about. I suppose it is something to be concerned about but sometimes we allow these medical issues to prevent us from enjoying ourselves.
Around 6pm the bats started to come out. In one second there are thousands of them and they are coming out of the cave for over half an hour. I often wonder what's happening in the cave. Do the bats have an internal clock that tells them it's time to leave or do they have one person with the alarm clock who makes the decision. They stream out in a ribbon that weaves its way across the sky. At some point they say to each other, "Well, I'm going off in this direction so I'll see you in the morning." They all return to the cave in a ribbon of thousands rather than one by one. It's fascinating.
We went back to the hotel and had a shower and change of clothing and then we went for dinner. Today was a scrumptious meal of mushrooms cooked in a sauce, a dish made with vegetables and very wide noodles, a Tom Yam soup which is a Thai soup and Lok Lak which is a delicious beef dish.
After dinner we took the group to a karaoke. Three or four didn't want to go so they stayed in the hotel. Some of the group had never been so it was a lovely experience for them. We had the enormous VIP room which had space for dancing and I made sure we had Cambodian music so the boys could teach the Canadians some dance steps. It was a huge success.
One lady said she was enjoying the programme so much and she said I was an absolute - I don't think I'd better say as we were talking about dental egos and I might have to class myself in that group. The lady is from Saskatchewan and her husband encouraged her to join the group because of the history in the area. It's really great when people keep on thanking me and the boys for giving them a good experience. The trouble is that it makes the boys want to continue and I have to join them.
