Cambodia: Orphanage Home visit II

(continuation from previous post)

And next, some outdoor activites for the kids!!

While the boys started to play soccer with the older kids, we were left deciding on how to entertain the younger kids. Musical chair? Nah, can't find any chairs to begin with. Galah panjang? No to that too, it'll be a bit hard to explain the rules of the game etc etc. So what else then? We turned to Afa, asking her opinion. "I know, we can play Tadom's Lekcer"( OK I don't know how to spell it, but it sounded like that to me, at least!). she said to us. "Er, what is that?" we wondered. Well, it turned out to be a traditional game of the Cambodian people, and there's not much need to explain to the kids, since they're all experts on the game already.

And so we began. Afa as the 'host' and with 2 teams, 10 people on each side, we lined up. Each person on a side was numbered one to ten. And when Afa shouted one of the numbers, say 2, the person numbered 2 from each team will need to come fwd to the middle and grab a stick, then go back to their own team. The trick is that, once you get the stick, if the person from the other team 'pat' or 'touch' you, you're out of the game. So you need to have STRATEGY and you need to be FAST.

Pic: Me being chased by a boy (I wish.. hahha). And the kid was fast!!

I was a number 7, or 'Prampi' in Cambodian. When Afa screamed 'Prampi' I dashed to the middle, only to be faced with this really cute-looking boy, aged perhaps only 8 or 9. But, oh boy, was he fast! And he took the stick without me realizing it, and when I tried to chase him, I failed (miserably). And the next time I grabbed the stick, he was fast enough to chase me, and I never really reached my team back successfully. Kuikuikui, but it was definitely fun, really. It's just great to see the smiles on the faces of the other kids who were watching the game, and to see them just so happy!!!

Pic: My team and I. The team that err, lost.

Next up: A match of the traditional game, this time it's between us, The Malaysian Medics versus the Cambodian Medics.This time, I decided not to participate but became the cameraman instead. Hehe and thank God i didn't play, so ganas la everyone played hehehh.. both team played with true team spirit...and it was really fun. And funny. :) And
it's just great to see the kids smiling and cheering for us, and just having a great time together.
Then there was the balloons-and-sweets-giving ceremony to the kids and we snapped some photos for the memories.

All sunburnt from the scorching heat of the afternoon, we came back from the field- with smiles plastered on each of our faces. I wasn't actually expecting them to prepare us lunch, but they did. The kids had their usual lunch of long bean and rice, but for us, they had a special treat which was a fried fish, long bean and rice for each of us. OK, I actually felt a little bit 'guilty' somehow that for us, they needed to prepare something else, but at the same time, it was really touching that they were such good hosts. And for that, I am very thankful.

(to be continued..)