2003 Vacation Pictures

Early In The Year, I Was Invited To Participate In A Project Organized By Tommy Daniels For His Cambodia Corps NGO Operation. "Do Yourself A Favor And Come To Cambodia With Me." He Said. "You'll Have A Ball."

He Outlined The Scheme Of The Operation Was To Go To Mondul Kiri Province In Northern Cambodia And Build A Decent Facility For An Existing Orphange/Shelter For Homeless Children. Well, Shoot, That Sounded Like A Noble Enough Thing To Do. A Working Vacation Rather Than The Usual 'Tourist' Package.

I Had Always Fancied The Idea Of Visiting My Old AO In Vietnam Again To See How Things Were Today. The Problem Is That Most Of My Old Stomping Grounds In Darlac ("Dak Lac" Today), Lam Dong and Tuyen Duc Provinces In The Central Highlands Are Classified "Military Denied" Areas By The Vietnamese Today. Especially In View Of The Recent Montagnard Protests There This Past Year.

When I Examined The Map To See Where I'd Be Going, I Discovered That The Town Of Sen Monorum, Where The Project Was To Take Place Is Just Across The VN Border, Halfway Between Duc Lap & Bu Prang In Vietnam. OMG! I Did A Lot Of Backpacking Around Those Areas During My Tour Of Duty In RVN.

Now I Was Really Piqued. This Was As Close As I Could Possibly Get To My Old Areas Today. Further Map Study Showed This Area To Be Major Artery Of The Old Ho Chi Minh Trail and The Likely Staging and Supply Area For The Numerous Attacks Against Duc Lap & Bu Prang.

What A Hoot! Swap Sides With The Bad Guys And Have A Look At His AO While Working To Help Orphans & Homeless Kids From The Area. I Couldn't Resist Packing The Old Ruck & Gathering Sheckles To Do This.

Warning -- When Tommy D. Promises You A "Working Vacation" He Ain't Kidding. You'll Do A Lot More Work Than Lollygagging. But When It's Done, You'll Get To Feel A Lot Better Than If You'd Gone The Conventional Tourist Route.

The Team Forms In Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Mar 2003
Tommy Daniels (L) & Bob Golden Arrive In Phnom Penh March 3, 2003		The Boy Is Introduced To Da Rools...
Dai Wuy (Tom Rau) Reports For Duty.
Followed By A Quick Evening Get Together.		Tommy Daniels Delivers The Customary SF Welcome To Dai Wuy Tom.
The Phnom Penh Phase Begins...
Shopping For Materials & Supplies. Looking For A Motorbike To Convert To A Motor Tuc Tuc Here.
Checking Out The CSI Poultry Operation.		Interior Of The CSI Poultry Facility.
Final Loading & Preparation Of Up-Country Convoy...		Tommy Daniels & Tom Rau Supervising Convoy Loading & Packing.
The Road To Mondul Kiri... Anytime You Need To Be Reminded That You're Not As Young As You Think, Try 12 Hours Of Dirt Road In An Overloaded Truck...		Flashback Time... The Terrain, Vegetation and Roads Left No Doubt In My Mind That I Had Left The Big City & Was Back In The Central Highlands Of SE Asia.
Arrival At The Sen Monoron Site In Mondol Kiri Province
Unloading Covoy Supplies At The Site.
Unloading The 12,000 Liter Water Tank.		The Water Tank Was A Real Challenge To Unload, Though.
The Kids Waste No Time Unloading The Trucks.		They Just Go To Work & Don't Ask Questions.
Off Loading The Steel For The Water Tank Tower Was A Serious Chore, Too.		This Was A Lot Of Heavy Steel To Deal With, But The Kids Never Slowed Down Till The Job Was Done.
A Boy's Work Crew Attacks The Steel Supplies With Paint.		The Crew Presses On... The Afternoon Heat Didn't Even Phase These Kids.
When The Headmaster Calls For A Formation, These Kids Dress It Up & Look Sharp. Even For Work Detail Formations, They Always Double-Timed To Formation & Looked Sharp.
1st Order Of Business – Clean, Sanitary Water For The Site
The Original Hand Dug Shallow Water Well at the Site.		The Kid's Only Source Of Water.
Our Well Drilling Rig Drew An Immediate Crowd.		The Crowd Formed Every Morning Before School To Check On Progress.
The Kids Would Come Back During Their Lunch Breaks, Too.		The First Water Strike Brought On Loud Cheering.
The Plot Continued To Thicken As We Drilled Deeper.		At This Point, The Observers Never Went Away...
At 53 Meters, We Were Into A Solid Water Vein.		The First Boy To Grab A 'Shower' Of Running Water After The Well Was Capped & The Pump Installed.
Health & Sanitation Efforts Continue... To Correct The Deficiencies Of Basic Health & Sanitation Facilities, New Boys & Girls Latrine & Shower Facilities Were Planned & Built. Tommy Daniels Inspects The Start Of The New Latrines Part Of The Project.   As Always, The Work Was Accomplished Manually.             The Kids Press On While Ignoring The Mid Day Heat.   The Foundations & Plumbing Starts To Take Place.             The New Latrines Start To Take Shape. Notice The Old Outhouse Style Latrine In The Background.
Building A Poultry Operation For The Site
Our Plan Was To Build A Suitable Poultry Raising Operation That Could Be Upgraded To A Serious Commercial Operation. Initially To Supplement The Children's Protein Intake. Then Hopefully To Distribute To The Local Community. Guinea Fowl Were Selected To Be Introduced Here Due To Their Favorable Qualities Of Eating Bugs & Putting A Cap On The Insect Population In Their Immediate Area. They Also Make An Excellent 'Early Warning' System Against Animal Or Human Intruders. The Indig Especially Like The Guinea Fowl Meat, Unlike Some Of The Other Plumper Varieties Of Chicken That Have Been Tried In The Past.
Like Everything Else, We Started With The Basics & All Work Was Done By Hand. Note The Freshly Bulldozed Level Land Behind The Crew.		Ranger Bob With His Contemporary, Sam Mang, Local Builder Extraordinnaire. Sam Served Us Well And Became A Valued Friend To The Project.
Progress Continues...		Siding Being Prepared The Old-Fashioned Way; Bamboo, A Sharp Blade & Manpower.
The Structure Is Moved To Level Ground & Siding Applied. Nothing Like Seeing A Good Plan Come Together...		Looking Good. Notice The Kid's Work Detail Still Hauling Dirt To Level The Base.
The Guinea Crew Ready To Receive Birds.		A Quick Field Class About The Proper Care & Feeding Of Guinea Fowl.
Another Field Class For The Troops...		One Final Class Before The 1st Arrival Of Birds & We Go 'Live Fire' In This Part Of The Op.
The First Ten Guineas Arrive From Phnom Penh.		Open For Business With First Shipment Of Birds.
The Water Tower Takes Shape
Remember All That Steel Moved To The Site? Simultaneous To All Of The Above Efforts, The Water Tower Was Being Constructed To Provide Clean Running Water.
The Painted Steel Starts To Take Shape.		A Serious Erection In The Making...
How Do You Get The Tank On Top Of The Tower Without A Crane Or Helicopter? Rope & Manpower, Of Course.		Rope, Manpower & Willpower Prevails.
The Tower & Tank Assembled With Materials For Other Projects In The Foreground.
Agricultural Ops Begin...
Agricultural Efforts Will Play A Large Role In The Future Of The Site. Dai Wuy Rau Brought Many Seeds & Cuttings From Hawaii To This End.
Dai Wuy Briefs Dar Li Via Our Trusty Interpreter (R) On The Various Seeds To Be Planted.		Tom Pauses For The Translation.
Tom Lays Out The Agricultural Stategy.		The Work Crews Start Prepping The First Garden.
The First Use Of The New 'Running Water' System Was , Appropriately Enough, To Fill Watering Cans For The Garden.		... And Prudently Applied To The Newly Fenced Garden...
Dai Wuy Carefully Oversees The Gardening Project.
The Mighty Motor Tuc Tuc
The Motor Tuc Tuc Is A Common Beast In SE Asian Countries. A Motorbike Front End & Drive Combined With A Cargo/Passenger Carrying Back End. Very Functional. Since The Site Was Devoid Of Any Kind Of Transportation Besides The Foot Express, This Was A Great Enhancement To Their Mobility. Plus, It Was The First One In The Province; A Mark Of Distinction & Espirit For The Kids.
Upon Arrival, The Tuc Tuc Drew An Immediate Crowd. So much that you couldn't even see the beast...		Headmaster Som Othrey, Bob G, and trusty Asst, Dare (pronounced "Dar-ree" - roll the R espanol like accent the "ee") Posing With The Tuc Tuc. I just called her "My Darling" through the tour & got away with it.   They are both handsome & beautiful individuals beyond 'skin deep'.
The Kids...
Well, After All, They Were The Cruxt Of This Project. It Is An Absolute Pleasure To Report That They Are Totally Outstanding. Different Than American Kids. Totally Hard-Working & Dedicated To Improving Their Lot. You'd Never Know What A Desperate Situation They Are In To Witness Their Enthusiam To Do Well In School & Get Ahead In Life & Work Hard To Do It. A Totally Refreshing Thing To See. The More We Worked With Them, The More We Learned About What Absolute Talents Lie Within This Small Pool. One Day, During A Lull, I Asked A Young Man To Look At The School Notebook That He Was Carrying. Could Not Understand All The Camay (Cambodian) Notes, But The Math Notes Were The Same As We Use. He Was Doing Algebra, Geometry, Trigonometry and Basic Calculus Equations. All In The 8th Grade! And Very Tough Problems, Too, Not An Easy One In Sight. His notes were written neater than anything I'd ever seen. The Headmaster Stresses Doing Well In School & These Kids Attack That Like Everything Else. The Most Common Things They Asked Us To Help Them With Was Better School Supplies & School Uniforms So They Would Be On Par With The Other Kids From The Town. The Ministry Of Health Told Us In Phnom Penh That Malaria Was Not A Problem In Mondul Kiri, But We Had To Medevac Several Kids To The Local Hospital For The Classic Symptoms. We Had Brought Medical Supplies With Us For This & Other Anticipated Health Issues, But That Got Mired In Bueracracy. To Counter This, We Struck Up A Good Rapport With The Local Hospital, Photographed All The Kids & Fashioned ID Cards For Them To Get Good Treatment There. We Were Totally Happy To Have Worked With These Kids & Walk Away Knowing That We Had Made A Great Investment In Generations To Come.
1st Formation After Cambodian Holidays... Some Were Still Missing...		Weekend Work Detail... Taken Sunday Afternoon... The Kids Felt That In View Of Our Efforts, They Should Clean Up The Site More... It Was One Hot Day, But They Were Determined...
Attention To Orders... Tom Rau Had The Foresight To Bring A Bunch Of 'Giveaway' Stuff With Him. In This Case, It Was Pharmacuetical Company Promotional Book Bags, Pens, Etc. We 'Awarded' Them To The Top Ten Students.
Headmaster, Mr. Othrey, Announcing The Top Ten Students Present.		Mr. Othrey Forms Up The Top Ten Students For The Awards Ceremony.
Tom Had Brought 'Giveaway' Book Bags, Pens & Other School Supplies, Which We Awarded To The Top Ten Students.   Although This Is Not A Flatterging Photo, This Young Lady Should Be Getting Groomed To Be The Next "Miss Cambodia", If Not "Miss World"   She Not Only Made The FOGs Look Whenever She Turned Up... She Was The TOP STUDENT At Everything We Judged "Grades" In School About, Too.
We Had Also Purchased 600 Blankets, Tooth Brushes & Toothpaste, Shampoo, Soap & Other Basic Sanitation Supplies. We Issued These To All The Kids In A Seperate 'Ceremony'.
The Upcountry Team, Dai Wuy Tom (L) and and Ranger Bob (R) Maintained Constant Presence & Supervision Of The Project In Mondul Kiri While Tommy Daniels Shuttled More Supplies & Materials From Phnom Penh.   Notice That Both Their Foreheads Are Flat From Head-Butting Excercises...   Life In The Jungle With Two Mike Force Officers... A Good Friendship & Memorable Experiences Finally Established Here, Though.