Today is the long awaited day in which we get to meet with the orphans; or the girls who have been rescued from the sex trade. We leave Landon, Mike, and Abraham behind. We're told that the girls will open up more if there are no boys there. We tour the girls' house, then sit down in their common room. They are having bible study. We read Psalms 25, then all the girls take turns bearing their testimony. I can't believe how strong these girls are. They have so much hope. So much love. They've all been through so much, and overcome so much. I am amazed by their strength.
Where we're sitting at the girls' house is COVERED in ants. Little tiny baby ones. They are all over my chair. Soon, they are all over ME. But I can't do or say anything because everyone else sitting in that room probably has just as many ants all over them. Be strong, Jessica.
Our plan is to interview the girls and find out their stories. Simple enough, right? We had been assured before we ever left the U.S that this would be possible. We turn the conversation to the subject of the documentary. We ask Holly, the girls' house leader, if we can ask the girls some questions about their past. She nixes that idea immediately. She also tells us no pictures and no video, to protect the girls. It's as if they think we're exploiting them or something. The thing is, she told us last night that it would be fine to film them, to talk to them, and to ask them questions. Now we're finding out that we're not allowed to interview ANY of the girls. Why are we even here?!!?! After I think about it for a while, I realize that Holly tricked us, or lured us into coming over by promising us an interview. Then once she had us there, they bore their testimonies and shared with us their Christian beliefs, then encouraged us to share as well. They were trying to help us "find Jesus". Tricky bastards.
Today is the hottest day of the trip so far: 93° F and 74% humidity. We are all drenched in sweat. I don't think there is a square inch of my body that does not have at least some sweat on it. There are also mosquitoes everywhere. I haven't quite been eaten alive yet, but in spite of my best efforts to prevent mosquito bites, they still happen.
We thank Holly and the girls, and exit the premises. We need to go pow-wow with the guys. There is silence for the first 30 seconds of our walk. We're all waiting to be out of earshot of Holly's place. The moment we are, the three of us start ranting at once.
"--Why are we even here?!?--"
"--I'm going to KILL Judah--"
"--Is it too late to change the subject of our documentary?--"
"--They PROMISED us that we could interview the girls!--"
"--So, be basically came all this way for nothing!--"
"--Let's just go home now, since no one will let us accomplish anything."
We're discouraged because all we've gotten so far on this trip is B-roll footage. We basically only have two more days after today to get the footage we need. Then we meet up in Thailand with the other group that we came here with. We feel the day is wasted. We round the corner, still ranting to each other, and run into Mike and the other guys. We start all over again on our rant, telling him what happened and what we weren't able to get. We vent to him all our frustrations about the footage we still don't have, and won't be able to get. So far, this documentary is going to suck. It will be nothing but a tour of Cambodia, with a lot of shots of just the street out of the back of the tuk-tuks. LAME.
Mike listens patiently, the sets off to go resolve some of our issues. We need to talk to Randy, who is in charge of the orphanages, to see if he won't change his mind about the interviews. We also have an interview with Rin, a very charismatic and talented 30 year old Cambodian who is a teacher and mentor at the boys' orphanage. He speaks English well, and he is willing to be interviewed about his past.
His father abandoned him when he was very young, and his mother died a few years later. He was taken into the home of some relatives, but they abused him and made him feel worthless. He ran away and lived out on the streets, turning to a life of gambling and cheating, stealing, and prostituting himself for money. Male prostitutes here aren't like what you might think. Women don't pay them for sex. It is the men who take advantage of their services. I won't go into detail.
The whole interview is cinematic gold. Success.
This is Rin:
We interview Solomon, another local with a similar story. He doesn't speak English as well as Rin, and he isn't as open about certain aspects of his past, but it is still footage we can use. Another success.
Today isn't totally wasted after all. In fact, we got more done today than we have so far on this trip. We go eat dinner at a Thai restaurant. They serve yellow water there. I decide to be brave and try it. It tastes exactly like popcorn flavored jelly beans.
Mike orders a plate of what looks like testicles of some animal. No, thank you. He assures me it's delicious. Nah, I'm good. Now everyone at the table is staring at me, waiting for me to try one. Fine. I'll cave to peer pressure. I take one and put it in my mouth, chewing slowly. It's pretty good. Tastes like sausage.
We then make our way to Jars of Clay, the internet cafe, for some desserts and free Wi-fi. Mike is happy with how the day turned out, in spite of our stumbling blocks. He pays for all of our desserts. We are all in an especially good mood tonight. We're all laughing and joking and teasing each other. This is the best mood anyone has been in this whole trip. Before this trip, we were okay friends. In my case, I didn't know anyone except Mike before Fall Semester began. This trip has forced us to all get to know each other on a deeper level, and now we're like a family. We've seen each other's grumpy sides, but we still like each other. We've had to share some tight spaces. We've squeezed in uncomfortably close to each other when the situation called for it. We've been there for each other on bumpy bus rides, when we're tired and we need a shoulder to rest our head on. We know way too much about each other at this point, but it only makes me like everyone more.
Stairs that lead to nowhere:
Girls from Children of Hope orphanage sitting on a shelf outside their bedroom:
Kids at school, writing in Khmer:
Some observations of Cambodia:
- Maximum capacity of a scooter: five people.
- Maximum capacity of a small sized tuk-tuk: As many as are willing to pile on each others' laps, or up to 8. Just know that the more you pile in, the slower the tuk-tuk will go. Ours yesterday could only go about 15 mph.
- All the staircases here are incredibly steep, and each stair is really narrow. I have to turn my feet sideways as I walk down the stairs, because my big, giant American foot is too big for each stair. Landon made the point that it is because they don't have the luxury of laying out a ton of room for a regular sized staircase. Everything basically has to go straight up.
- There are dogs everywhere, just roaming the streets. You get used to how it is in America, where everyone keeps their dogs indoors, behind a fence, or on a leash. If you did that here, people would think you were crazy.
- Everyone wears hot pink, all the time--even the guys. Especially the guys. Giant buildings here are painted completely hot pink. Pink is everywhere. I love this country. Why can't it be like that in the U.S.?
- Everyone wears shorts and flip flops here. Even the construction workers. I saw one construction worker today in a tank top, shorts, and flip flops, with a giant beanie looking thing covering his face, with eye holes cut out. He was welding something. Someone needs to come over here and teach these people about safety.
- These people have nothing, but they smile all the time. I think these people are happier with their nothing than we are with our everything.
Smells of Cambodia:
- Dog
- Human feces
- Incense
- Dog
- Thai food that has been sitting out for several days
- Human feces
I've also picked up on some Khmer (pronounced K'my):
Thank you: akun
Hello: sosadai
Good luck: sosabai
Sorry/Excuse me: sumto
Goodbye: lehi
No: atay
(Note: The spellings are probably way off, but google translate doesn't translate to Khmer, so I couldn't look up proper spelling.)
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