This morning, after our usual early breakfast, we shuffled quickly to the bus and were on our way to a floating village. We took a beautiful slow boat ride along the lake to see all the houses built from steel and wood and how the families live on the lake. The floating village had a school for the children to get educated and a temple for the families to pray. The kids have to learn how to swim at the age of three and learn to drive boats soon after. Life in the fishing village is tough but there was a clear sense of community with people buying and selling local produce and fish, and children taking advantage of their permanent swimming pool by doing backflips off their front verandahs.
We then travelled back on to the bus where we were able to have some western food for lunch. Later in the afternoon we went off to a stationary store to spend some of our Walkathon fundraising money on pens, pencils, books, posters, whiteboards, hoola hoops and toothbrushes just to name a few. The goodies were a gift to a local school that has very little help from the government. We arrived to a guard of honour which made us feel like royalty and very special. We wondered how much English the kids could speak and understand. In the hot classroom with no walls, we split up and read books, taught basic English like abc and colours, sang songs and asked them about their daily life. Although English was their second language, they knew a lot more English than we gave them credit for. The soccer game was a highlight for both us and the school children. There was lots of laughter and giggling and we were no match for them as their sheer numbers meant they were too strong. We ended the afternoon by listening to some English songs the kids knew and we all joined in to ‘If you’re happy and you know it…’ We ended our day by having some pizza and a quick shop at the night market nearby.
Jared & Zac
