Scrubadub

I am so lucky.
I have soap.
I have a shower.
I have air conditioning.
I have food and clean water.
I have all of my teeth.
I have people who love me.
I have never been beaten.

We've done two big days at Khnar school, scrubbing the kids clean. We take out the first aid kit, but also buckets, cloths and scrubbing brushes, soap, Johnson's baby shampoo...
The kids are really helpful now - they see us coming and they grab the big basins and fill them at the well. They get the stools and set them on either side of each basin. And they huddle around waiting their turn. Many are still reluctant, but all of the students are very supportive - and they understand levels of need. They push forward ones with bad cuts or who are really dirty.

They sit on a stool, feet in water and we scrub. You wouldn't believe the filth that we see everyday. Especially anyone who reads this that is a parent cannot imagine the grime - when we wash arms and legs twice, three times and the skin is still black with dirt that won't come off.
There's a baby that is brought by his mother - originally for a wound on his back - that Lori has deemed the dirtiest baby in Cambodia -seriously, it's on her Facebook page! He had been cleaned a bit the first time he came - and he was certainly upset about being bandaged up that time. But on Friday when they showed up, we stripped him and immersed him in soapy water and two of us, Barbara and myself, got brushes and scrubbed. He cried at first, but once he was clean and wrapped in a towel, he was laughing! He smiled for the rest of our time there, and when we saw him yesterday he was excited about being washed up and his wound is infinitely better.

We know how great it feels after getting dusty and dirty to get into the shower....but I can't imagine what it feels like to wash off a lifetime of dirt!

Yesterday also, once most kids had gone off to class, one little girl stayed behind - her friend pushed her to see us. It was clear she had been beaten - looked like with a switch. One of the mothers that was there said the girl's mother had done it. She was pretty scared with us foreigners but we shoed away all of the boys that were hanging around, and she allowed us to take off her shirt. Not sure how old she was......looked about 8 but could mean 11 or 12 here....she had scrapes on her back, her tummy, her legs and on one arm. Granted, they had healed well, so there was not much we could do in that respect. But we put some ointment on, we talked to her, brushed her hair and eventually the tears stopped. She rejoined her friend and seemed a bit happier.

Finally, we brought two boys back with us to Siem Reap to see the dentist. These two boys - 14 and 15 but they look about 9 - had never been to Siem Reap, never ridden in a tuk tuk. It was exciting I think for them, but as they were on their way to the dentist, it meant that they were probably in a good deal of pain. (We only take kids with serious problems - all kids have rotten teeth here, so it has to be pretty bad to go into town)
One had to have 5 teeth pulled, some filled and some cured (?) which I understand they were trying to solve some infection so they didn't have to pull those teeth as well?
The other had a couple teeth pulled to solve a major infection near one cheek and had a solid cleaning done. Since I teach night class at Khnar, I took them back out there after the dentist. The one, with the 5 teeth out, which included his front teeth, was so upset. He would never show it, but I can't imagine what he endured that day. A bunch of strange people whisk him away, he sees a big loud city for the first time, sees a Cambodian dentist which is not one of the nicest experiences, gets bunch of teeth yanked, and then has some food, which must have been so painful to eat, and then is returned to his family. He was certainly in pain, and had stress bags under his eyes. I tried to chat with them - make them laugh - in the tuk tuk on the way out, but I think they had reached their strength limit for the day.
I'll see that one kid again today as he's coming back to get a bridge in front.

And so, in sum, I am lucky.
I have soap, and a shower, clean water, all of my teeth, I have never been beaten and I have people who love me.

J.