Last days of research

Hello ! Yes, I'm still alive and well after my bout with illness here in Cambodia.  What wonder drugs antibiotics really are ! 

Like a good soldier wounded but not yet dead, I went back to my village today.  I was happy to see my two Khmer translators and I think the feeling was mutual. It was a lot less hot today in the village.  We started out with a brief chat about the interviews they had done the day I was in bed with my stomach, head and intestines doing wild things to my body.   Not to my surprise, they fared well without their foreign friend. They were actually probably quite delighted to get a respite in the translation work because it can really be mind fatiguing.  

We decided to continue our villager interviews.  I went with Sreng and we walked for about 20 minutes through the green rice fields with a gentle wind blowing.  I even tried my hand at plowing behind two large, but malnourished oxen.  Those beasts are really strong and when you say "go" (also the word for 'cow' in Cambodian), they just bolt off !!!  Sreng had to run and stop them or they would have pulled me right into the next rice paddy !!   Both of the ladies at separate households whom we interviewed both lost their husbands, not under the Khmer Rouge though.  They had multiple kids and grandkids.  Dr. Judy recounted a story of a woman she met in another village who was only 22 years old and already had given birth to 10 kids, 9 of whom had died.  She'll want to be reincarnated in her next life either as a gynecologist or a Saint !!!

So did you know that there are several types of rice cultivation ?? My villagers practice the "wet rice" technique, but there is also "dry rice", "deep water" and some others.  

With wet-rice cultivation, seeds or seedlings are planted out by hand in rows in slightly drained, or puddled, fields. Throughout growing, water levels in paddy fields are kept to a few centimetres deep to prevent weed growth and ensure there's enough water for the plants to grow.   Water usually arrives either flooding during the rainy season.  The problem right now here in my village is lack of rain.  Villagers are pumping water from a pond to keep their fields irrigated.  But planting the rice in naturally swampy areas can also be done.  Or if they villagers have money, irrigating using a series of canals or wells, can be helpful. Fields are sometimes temporarily drained for weeding and fertilising. With wet-rice cultivation, seeds or seedlings are planted out by hand in rows in slightly drained, or puddled, fields.  This is apparantly back-breaking work for men & women and the water that they are standing in for hours on end is not too clean either !   Some pictures of rice cultivation and rice fields are on the way in my next blog article.

Throughout growing, water levels in paddy fields are kept to a few centimetres deep to prevent weed growth and ensure there's enough water for the plants to grow. This is done by either flooding during the rainy season, or by planting the ricein naturally swampy areas, or by irrigating using a series of canals or wells. Fields are sometimes temporarily drained for weeding and fertilising.   Then you must harvest by hand or with a sicle.  Then you thresh, winnow or hull.  I'll spare you the details of all these agronomical action verbs, but ust think about all the work that goes into rice cultivation when you buy your next bag of rice or eat your early-morning Rice Krispies (although those rice grains probably would have been genetically modified and picked, harvested and thresed by robots instead of some hardworking Cambodians !!).

Anyway, tomorrow is the last day of research.  We will do a few more and it'll be a wrap.  I'm glad and yet it was so utterly interesting.  I did an interview with a "samane" ( young novice) today which was captivating. He was only 15 years old and became a monk to study the Dharma.  A Sanskrit term, "Dharma" signifies the underlying order in nature, human life and behaviour considered to be in accord with that order. Ethically, it means 'right way of living' or 'proper conduct,' especially in a religious sense. Regarding spirituality, dharma might be considered the Way of the Higher Truths. Dharma is a central concept in religions and philosophies originating in India.    Some politicians, dictators and nasty killers should study the Dharma too !!!  the World would certainly be a better place, n'est-ce pas?

Here's a photo of me and Sreng, one of my translators :

more to come... bye bye from Cambodia !!!