Open a bakery

If my future as a weaver doesn't work, maybe I will open a bakery...Today , I had the privilege of teaching my language teacher how to make a cake and cookies. Folks here don't have ovens, many don't have indoor stoves but use charcoal to cook, so these are new concepts. And, the no-bake cookies were especially designed for such situations!  Yahoo for new vocabulary!

 

Raneth learning to cream butter and sugar

 

Just the two of us in our matching aprons!

 

I learned how to say mix so it doesn't burn.  Then, I forgot the word for burn...  At least five times...  I still don't remember! (Darn those multiple syllable words)

 

Reason number 200 I love this country, you sit around on the floor to make food.  For those who have eaten my food (stop reading), I have a tendency to do this anyway so I fit right in! (And, the food is never directly on the floor just the pan)

 

Learning to make butter cream frosting.  Though, I am going to give up on such things soon because the butter here all has a funny taste, as does the milk, so it is just not the same.

 

Filling the cake with cashew butter cream frosting.

 

Drawing on the cake!  Everyone can embrace their inner-child for cake decorating!

 

Finished product!  The one with both of us didn't turn out :(  But, she is prettier any way!  Next, time on baking with Karen, we will make the chocolate cake with almond frosting that is my fav cake my mama makes!

Ok, really, the point of this is to share more of my future job options and more of the work of Maryknoll Lay Missioners here in Cambodia (I am not opening a baker or weaving). To clarify, as last post confused folks, I am just sharing all the places I have visited chronological, any are options for my future ministry placement.


Karol and Setha, which is an acronym for Knowledge and Reflection On Life and SExuality Through a Holistic Approach, works with predominantly youth around healthy relationships. They lead popular education style workshops and examine everything from gender roles to sex work. Cambodia is in an interesting place that it is 'old-fashioned' in the sense that the male is definitely the one in charge, especially of sexual relationships. Communication between the genders is not the norm, even now. For example, at weddings, often all the men will sit at one table and the wives will sit at another because then the men can drink and joke around, which apparently can't occur as freely if the women are there. Women also can't go out in the evening, unless married/with their husband or with family or they are thought of as bad girls while men can be out until all hours of the night. There are huge gender gaps, I am sure beyond what I have even thus far observed. That being said, this generation has much more global exposure and thus they are more 'progressive' which not only leads to conflicts within parent/child relationships, youth receive no real training on healthy relationships and communication. Karol and Setha attempts to fill that void. One of the most poignant examples I have heard is that women just accept that men go to massage parlors or other locations for "special services" because they believe men need to have sex like they need to eat food and drink water. Funny how when men control the truth the absolutely ridiculous things that work to their 'advantage' become the norm. Now, I am sure some of you are saying, "They are so messed up!" But, please try to remember, it is a cultural difference I share not so we can pass judgement but see that things are definitely different.  And, in someways it is not so different than we were 60 years ago in the states


Another site, which is the second home, aka workplace, to three Maryknoll folks, is the Boeung Tun Pun (BTP) Project. Boeng is the word for lake and this area is right by the lake/in the lake. Well, it is a lake for a little while longer. They are actively filling it in with sand to build a large shopping center among other things (Civil Engineers, feel free to express what a wise idea it is to build large structures on top of lakes that were filled in with sand, especially when there seems to be no plan as to where the water will go that usually floods into that lake for five months a year). So, this project doesn't deal with the infrastructure challenges, it works with the incredibly economically poor and marginalized folks that live in that area. Many folks come from the provinces to live there and seek work in Phnom Penh, they are now being relocated. This is an area where some folks have one pair of clothing, no shoes, and homes constructed of whatever they can find at times. Needless to say, basic needs are a challenge. The program runs a number of early education centers (pre-school/daycare), school support programs, scholarships of uniforms and backpacks for kids, health outreach, transportation to the hospital, assistance with prescriptions, small loans, basically, most of your very BASIC needs services (you know those guaranteed human rights according to the UN). As many of you know, I have a love of first graders, one of the classes at BTP is for first graders who can't seem to learn to read. Some of them will repeat this class multiple times with no ability to make it past the equivalent of abc for us. There are no resources in the public school system for educationally delayed students and they honestly don't even know if it is a form of dyslexia, malnutrition, or other issue inhibiting these children's ability to succeed.  Thus, NGOs such as BTP are working to fill this gap.