School # 268 - Part 3 - Handing Out Supplies - #

We arrived in Mondulkiri with an SUV full of school supplies for the children of School #268

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This is a "better" part of the road leading to Mondulkiri Province. About half of the road from Phnom Penh to Sen Monorom is paved but the second half is dirt. It took us about nine hours to travel the 150 miles from Phnom Penh to Sen Monorom in Mondulkiri Province.

This is our hotel in Sen Monorom. We arrived after dark on Wednesday, January 3, 2007 but Vansoeurn had previously made reservations for several rooms for us. Joy and I chose the more expensive rooms with AC which cost us $22 per night.

Our hotel "Mondulkiri" is quite new. Even the driveway in front had not yet been paved.

We were pleasantly surprised at our accommodations. The rooms were quite adequate, with individual flush toilets, shower and wash basin.

We ate all of our meals in Sen Monorom at a restaurant just down the hill from our hotel - perhaps a hundred yards away. The menu was unique however we usually ended up with a pork and rice dish.

Thursday morning, our first full day in Sen Monorom we drove to the school to give out the school supplies we brought for the students. Before distributing them, however, I just wanted to visit each of the four classrooms to say "Hello." In typical Khmer style, they rose to their feet as we entered each classroom.

The kids had been anticipating our visit for several weeks and they knew we would be bringing them some school "goodies." I couldn't help but wonder what images might have been going through their minds about what they would get.

For the three regular teachers, I brought from the USA, large wall maps of the world and hygiene charts. For Vansoeurn, who teaches English and Computers, I brought large alphabet charts. I also brought four badminton racquets and twenty-four shuttlecocks. I don't believe the kids had ever played badminton before.

This is a "better" part of the road leading to Mondulkiri Province. About half of the road from Phnom Penh to Sen Monorom is paved but the second half is dirt. It took us about nine hours to travel the 150 miles from Phnom Penh to Sen Monorom in Mondulkiri Province.