Today started out much earlier then most would of liked. With a 0630 am departure we were off to Preak Tar Sor. This is Hai's (one of our amazing interpreters) home village. Prey Tar Sor was approximately 50 km from Phnom Penh. 50 kms doesn't seam far, however, when you factor in Combodian "peak hour" morning traffic and the road conditions, you may remember the mud fest from the last trip (yes same village)- thankfully its the dry season, it actually took us 2 hours with a 20 minute ferry ride across the Mekong river to get there. When we finally got to our destination we had the best welcoming party anyone could ever hope for. Stepping out of the van and being bombarded with hugs from the children egerly awaiting our arrival. Followed by the heavenly harmonys of the childrens choir. We were all overcome with emotions, it was so beautiful, some of us were bought to tears (myself included).
Team on the ferry crossing the Meekong to the village
As we were setting up for our clinic, the local police showed up to inspect what we were doing. It was a little touch and go for a brief moment. The offices gave us the okay to commence, in exchange for some soap, tiger balm and some wound care, which Heidi was only to happy to oblige (she loves her wounds). Thinking about it now, i belive we we were shaken down for our services, which is kinda cool in a weird way. We saw around 200 people today, lots of coughs, colds, dry eyes, mucky ears, beautiful babies and lots more delicious wounds (Heidi and the Melbourne ED girls were in there element), including a knife injury to a little girls leg while farming. Burns were cleaned and dressed. Abby the master plasterer, set a brave little boy's broken elbow in a back slab cast (the girl has skills, just saying).
One of the lovely families who remembered us from last trip
There was even time for a sneaky game of soccer with the kids out the back of the church beside the happy pig in his mud pit. Claudia once gain was fly paper for kids, taking their photos and playing hide and seek in the jungle. This village and it's people are so special they touched each and everyone of us deeply. When it was time to leave there was tears all round. The kids didn't want us (especially Claudia) to leave, they even chased after the van as we left. We have to thank Hai for taking as to her amazing village. We all feel blessed in so many ways for the opportunity to be apart of the Prey Tar Sor family for the day. xxx
Rachael