What a wonderful day!

MONDAY, JULY 5

This morning after breakfast, Banteay Srei met us at our hotel and we traveled to Don Oav village. This was not like a road trip to a village in Saskatchewan; a glance to the right and there was Angkor Wat, catching everyone's attention. The road was narrow and bumpy at times but passed directly by many of the temples that I had been reading about. The elephant terrace, Preah Khan, and the Bayon were all part of the scenery on our drive. There were also small thatched huts that were family homes and these quickly brought us back to reality.

Our morning meeting began with the usual introductions and then our hosts began to speak to us about some of the struggles in their lives. Land rights are a big issue for them and the fact that they do not have title to their land places many restrictions on their lives because they live in the Angkor area, a heritage site.

In the afternoon, on our way to meet with the “women's savings group” in another nearby village, we stopped at a small co-op store. This store, opened just one month ago by the villagers, is where purchases of goods can be made such that the profits stay in the village.

The women’s savings group is a very inspiring group who explained to us how they had set up a community credit union where they could borrow money to start a business, build a home, purchase machinery, etc. Their stories were very inspiring and we learned a lot from them. (One thing I definitely learned was that I could not be Buddhist if it meant sitting (or trying to sit) on a cement floor with my feet curled under me!)

It was a truly wonderful day and left me feeling so proud of the work of Development and Peace. And the temple scenery as backdrop didn't hurt either... I can't wait until Wednesday when we will have a chance to tour them.

by Linda Arsenault