The pleasure of Leang Dai

TUESDAY, JULY 6

After meeting several Banteay Srei staff at their office in Siem Reap, we load up the van and head out past the temples again, this time enroute to Leang Dai Village. We are going to meet with a rice cooperative group this morning.

Her legs are tucked under as she leans forward over her notebook, glasses slightly crooked on her face. From my perspective glancing across the wooden floor, I can see her writing notes in sanscrit. I wonder what she writes about. Does she wonder the same about me and my notebook? She is one of seven Leang Dai community facilitators.

The morning's discussion is punctuated by a stroll through the village so that we can view pig farms, wells, and newly constructed houses, all made possible as a result of a successful rice cooperative and cow bank program.

She is a member of both the rice cooperative and the cow bank.When we arrive at her house, she is rocking her sleeping child in a hammock, one that is strung between two concrete pillars supporting the house above. We sit under her house to hear her story: she received one cow from the cow bank a few years ago and now, after selling several cows, she has a beautiful new house. She smiles and says she's happy.

The early afternoon heavy rain has us all running for cover, as we wait in Leang Dai village meeting place. After an inspiring discussion with a women's saving group, we hop into the van for our next and final destination of the day: a watermelon farm.

She wears high heels and carries a small beige purse, as she hops into the van. While we have seen her at both village meetings today (and yesterday also), she has spoken infrequently. When she does speak, however, it is with devotion to the people in her village and for all of the work that they are doing to improve their lives. As the van heads down the freshly mudded road, we realize that it is her watermelon farm that we will visit. She is the village chief.

by Kathy Nolan