Royal Ploughing and a Holiday

Prince Norodom Chakravuth carried in state during the ploughing ceremony.

It's always rather nice to be caught unawares by a holiday - so we were pleasantly surprised to hear about the Royal Ploughing Day on Wednesday and a day off school to allow everyone to look forward to next year's harvest.  The King, or his representative (in this case Prince Norodom Chakravuth) cermonially follow two oxen who spend an hour ploughing some sand in front of the National Museum in Phnom Penh, after which various offerings are made to them, and the nation waits with baited breath to see which dish they will choose.  There was some jubilation this year that the beasts ignored the wine (which would have portended disaster for crops) but went instead for beans and corn.  This will clearly please the bean and corn farmers, but might give a moments pause to the rice growers. There was a hint of some flooding to come - but everyone earnestly hopes that it will be less severe than last year.  

Vebol and his pump.

Working in Kurata garden.

Hard work carrying water.

We were back in school bright and early (-ish) on Thursday morning and delighted to see everyone engaged in minor agricultural work.  A major difference between schools in developed countries and those here is that here the children are expected to make a major contribution to the upkeep of the school.  This might include sweeping the compound for leaves and litter, and spraying it with water to keep down the dust, cleaning classrooms and offices or - as in the case here at Kurata - planting and tending flowers and shrubs in the various garden areas around the compound.  The Principal, teachers and Vebol, the administrator, were all busy with the children, and Vebol has created a rather sophisiticated irrigation system which pipes water from his recently renovated pump to various parts of the school compound.

Children rush to claim their play things.

Playing in the shade of the building.

The new donated playground equipment is proving a real hit in the compound at Kurata school.  As soon as the wheel-bell sounds for play time, there is a mad dash from the classrooms to the Library/Office where the equipment is kept.  The shaded areas under the trees and around the buildings are soon bustling with children playing with hoops, knocking shuttleckocks into the air and skipping.  Play times have been totally transformed, thanks to this gift.

Expert ball work from two girls.

Luce works with Dara.

Panni and Rotha with their 'new'names.

Another first:  we have arranged for the Kindergaten children to have two English classes a week as we think this should give them all a head start.  Ratha was very keen to do this, but was a little hesitant at first as he had never taught children this young.  However, he need not have worried.  The children are proving very receptive - although some of them are exceptionally shy.  Thierry, the kindergaten teacher comes in with them, and today we all worked on creating 'monster' names, with their names written on paper and then cut out and coloured.  Our two Dutch volunteers, Lotte and Luce, also joined in, so the children got plenty of attention, and even began to respond to 'What's your name?' without diving in fright under the desk.

Lotte helps with the name monsters.