Turtle Time

I'm back in Cambodia now and I think I'm ready. I have had a great time in Timor and have been emenesly blessed by spending time with old friends and new and in some way restored a little bit more balance to my life. My highlight was last weekend and the mountain bike challenge. There were two days of racing with the first being a cross country marathon and the second being a cross country Olympic format. The marathon was a mission and a half with a 1300m ascent up a re-entrant (The Camora River) over 28km and then mostly down for the following 30. The (female) field was made up with some international talent, some Timorese, and myself... I got to borrow a 'Giant Lust' which was pretty sweet on the down but didn't do much for me on the up! Apparently it's the motor that makes the difference and I had nothing compared to then feather lite Timorese girls who got the job done supremely! I weaselled my way to 5th after making gains on the down. The second day was kind of like a criterion race and my feather light friends got knocked out in the second round after they were 80% slower than the race leader (a lovely Portuguese girl). It was pretty technical in parts (like the steep side of Waitangi) and I fell off three times on the first lap when the hydrolics on my back break gave way. I went consideribally slower on the following three laps! It was an extreemly hot and humid day and so I made my way to 2nd curtosey of the Japanese girl who passed out! Across the two races I got an overall ranking of 3rd which was brilliant because I won enough prize money to cover my living costs for the month! I love riding my bike!

Now I am a excited and a little bit nervous about the next few months for my time in Cambodia. Now is the time that will comulnate all of the work I have been doing this year. I am helping with two programs which are starting (one for school-age children and another for pre-school children) and we're sweeping through with a few other projects. It's going to be crazy-busy but I have February in NZ to look forward to. Being in Timor has helped me have the oportunity to take a bit of a deep breath and regroup for the madness in the Wild West of the East: Cambodia. They say that a change is as good as a holiday and that works for me.

Duck Tales

Generally the 'development world' is dominated by females but this month has been funny because I have mostly been hanging out with dudes. Among which are a few army guys, the other dentists, the university staff, and the all male NGO staff. The NGO staff are funny wee guys, very eager to please but half of the time they have no idea what you want from them because they have never done it before. A number of times we have had to go out for shopping trips for which they accompany me to show me around and because they have nothing to do... I soon realised that I was actually able to navigate better using google intel and basic observational skills than to rely on them to find something, even in the local markets. So what ended up happening is that I would be moving around the mall or market at full Bethy pace and there would be three young guys trailing behind me. They kind of dawdle and get distracted so I would have to always keep eye so that I wouldn't loose them.  The other funny thing about them is that they have these cute little mo-hawks going on with curly hair on top and so when they get distracted or you have to repeat yourself five times they just kind of smile at you with their dark eyes and their Curley little tufts of hair... It's like trying to stay angry at a puppy... Or a duckling. I mentioned this to one of my good friends and so now we refer to them as Huey Duey and Leuey... Above are two of the trio making sure that I have my bike before I go home... I won't go on to describe goofy, Mickey Mouse and Scrouge!

I can't believe that I only have one more week to go! It's hard to explain what it has been like these last few weeks. To be honest it has been a little bit overwhelming and I've now come to the realisation that if we can't get the right things in place soon, then the most prudent thing would be to stop. Everything. I have never been on the cold face of something so wholly and systematically neglected. The students at this dental school are expected to turn up to class each day although their lecturers only turn up on Saturday, they are expected to learn all of their knowledge in one day per week although there isn't enough time to cram the knowledge in during a month of Saturdays! People have been trying to help in various ways and the result is patchy at best. It is not the fault of the students, they are eager to learn. The fault lies wholly with us, the educators. 

It has been a steep learning curve and I have been ultimately grateful to a veteran, a giant, in the world of community dentistry who has been able to guide my thinking and help me to process strategies for getting through. Being able to identify the thought processes and stage of learning that the students are at has helped me to consider the best way to get my message across. The reality here is that the students are learning in a very concrete way. They have missed out on so much during their school years that they have no ability to conceptualise or generalise the understanding from one problem to another. Even basic maths is a struggle. Basically, consider the way that you would present a lesson to your 10 year old and bingo you're getting somewhere. In the past week the biggest break through has come by setting and inforcing routine in the clinic. I'm sure that there must be many (many) layers to the psychology behind their way of thinking and I have not even begun to scratch the surface!

In the mean time, check out the scenary!