oNe PhOtO a DaY DeCeMbEr 2020

 

THE PROMPTS

 

TUESDAY 1st WHITE: The gorgeous orchids still flowering in our garden and displayed on the little Buddhist altar in the living room

 

WEDNESDAY 2nd YELLOW: deliciousness in the form of my favourite fruit today.  Local mango bought in the market and consumed as an afternoon snack

 

THURSDAY 3rd BLUE: A retro shopfront sign hanging inside one of our favourite cafés in Kampot. I’m pretty sure it’s announcing a motorcycle cleaning business. Although the hoardings have changed somewhat, they are still very popular start up business to this day

 

FRIDAY 4th AQUA: Today I have been packing and preparing products for the Xmas Market on Sunday in Kep. Fingers crossed these and other upcycled trash bags sell for IWA. We will be volunteering and selling our own eco-wraps. Two products that tackle the pollution problem and offer alternatives at affordable prices. I’m also excited at the prospect of doing something other than sitting around at home focusing on my knee

 

SATURDAY5th BLACK: Yesterday we finally started making traditional Xmas cakes from a Scottish recipe that calls for Guinness or black beer! This mixture of dried fruit, sugar, butter and spices has now been brought to the boil and simmered for ten minutes. After three days of allowing it to brew with the occasional stir and taste testing of course, we will bake the cakes and douse them in Scotch not Brandy. No self-respecting Scott would settle for anything less!

SUNDAY 6th PINK: The flash of fire as the sun hits the pink hibiscus syrup in my keep cup. It’s a nice reflection of banana palms too. Tasting provided by Sweet & Spicy at the Sunday Market in Kep

 

MONDAY 7th BROWN: I’m pretty happy with the inaugural bake in the new oven today. First batch of traditional Xmas cakes are now baked and cooling. Everything seems to have cooked through and browned nicely on top, even the almonds. Next batch we’ll have to bake a few minis to taste test while these all age until Xmas Day

 

TUESDAY 8th PURPLE: The beautiful purple cover of the book I just finished reading. I really love Pearl Buck’s stories. They illuminate the everyday lives of Chinese in every walk of life, in different eras. This one was a digital purchase to help me escape my current home bound existence and I loved every page

 

WEDNESDAY 8th ORANGE: With so many orange possessions I didn’t think I would go for an archive shot today but I love this Aussie sunset, which is in the gallery on our living room walls. It was only when I tracked it down in digital form that I realised it has been on the wall upside down for over three years. Gotta laugh! I will never forget Xmas Day Adelaide, Australia 2013

THURSDAY 10th NAVY: The first mask I bought back in March when we were in Phnom Penh and refused entry to a shop to buy water because we weren’t wearing masks. Neither was anyone else at that time but rumours had spread that foreigners were the cause of the pandemic in Cambodia so we just complied to alleviate stress and ill feeling. That notion has definitely subsided now but the mask remains with me whenever I go out. Discretion is the better part of valour. At the time I thought it was black but it turned out to be navy

  

FRIDAY 11th GREEN: The green canopy of the coconut palms screams resort but this is an everyday sight here. I delighted in being able to go out to dinner last night and feel that life might actually reset into a viable routine soon

 

SATURDAY 12th RED: My favourite brand of toothpaste. It’s Ayurvedic and difficult to find, though I now have on three continents. Who else can say they actually bought toothpaste as a souvenir but we did last year in Bhutan! Imagine my delight when I discovered it in an Indian spice shop in Phnom Penh last year. Persistence pays off

 

SUNDAY 13th GREY: “It is in your hands to create a better world for all who live in it.” Nelson Mandala. Image from a postcard I collected in Lao many moons ago and simply could not part with

 

MONDAY 14th BLACK AND WHITE: This month’s selfie featuring my favourite pants in a black and white outfit on the porch, where I have been spending way too much time recently

 

TUESDAY 15th PATTERN: The pattern in each of these pieces will forever remind me of the specific country from which each piece came. We have had the privilege and honour to live in all four countries. I wonder if you can guess which countries they are? Would you like to try?

 

WEDNESDAY 16th MINIMAL: No flashy sunset just a minimal ocean view I snapped as we drove by in a car today

 

THURSDAY 17th RAINBOW: We bought this tiny multicoloured prayer wheel in Bhutan last year and I can’t walk past it without giving it a spin. Since today is the 113th National Day of Bhutan, it seemed like the obvious choice for a rainbow photo. Tashi Delek!!

FRIDAY 18th ONE COLOUR: I thought this was going to be the month that our little monks didn’t make it into a prompt but I’m glad to say we saw them at the pagoda a couple of days ago. Robes come in all shades of yellow and orange here and the monk body of each pagoda seems to wear just one shade. For our monks this dusty mustard orange/yellow is their one colour for attire

 

SATURDAY 19th TWO COLOURS: Delving into possessions for inspiration today, I came across this gold printed Buddha on hand-made burgundy paper. You don’t have to be wealthy to collect art as long as you appreciate simple aesthetics

 

SUNDAY 20th THREE COLOURS: The first three ingredients for the “eat a rainbow” salad I made for dinner tonight

 

MONDAY 21st DARK: The image is dark but the prognosis is good. It seems my kneecap is actually knitting back together and healing and mobility returning. The whole morning was spent at the hospital but a celebratory lunch is definitely in order now

 

TUESDAY 22nd LIGHT: Dappled light on the yellow orchid flourishing in the garden. It’s been a grey old day and this was a rare burst of sunlight, which inspired me to take a short walk outside

 

WEDNESDAY 23rd POP OF COLOUR: This is the furushiki - wrapping cloth I made this morning especially to fit a gift for a friend. I love that even the cloth is part of the present and can be reused again and again. No waste wrapping is the way to go this season

 

THURSDAY 24th PASTEL: A festive sunset and drink in pastel shades taken earlier this year as today is a crazy weather day. Still a favourite place to soak up the Kep ambiance

 

FRIDAY 25th A FAVE COLOUR: orange

 

SATURDAY 26th COOL: I think Ian was pretty cool riding this ‘cyclo’ through Kep and past the iconic Kep Crab in weekend traffic and dressing the part of a cyclo-rider to do it. I was in the support vehicle and managed to snap a few shots and videos along the over ten-kilometre route he covered in the heat and humidity that day

SUNDAY 27th WARM: With the addition of fresh, local, green, peppercorns which have now been turned into a sauce and salted green peppercorns, tonight’s dinner will be warm but not hot

 

MONDAY 28th MONOCHROME: Keeping it simple with local tamarind

TUESDAY 29th GOLDEN: memories, golden Buddhas, a golden frisbee and Gam the golden boy in the classroom and at play. We miss him now he’s given up his robes but we hope we will soon resume classes and he will return as many do. An archive shot from July when we first all played with frisbees together

 

WEDNESDAY 30th MATCHING: Two matching Bhutanese treasures from our last trip to the kingdom and our last major trip anywhere actually! Waiting hopefully to resume the wandering with these two in hand

 

THURSDAY 31st BRIGHT: A final bright ocean sunset to end the year on a high note. It was actually a bit grey and gloomy today but this shot captures the hope and optimism I want to project into the coming year

  

TIME TO GO

What a tumultuous week it has been. The short of it is we are leaving Orkeeswa, Tanzania and in fact Africa!

There have been numerous issues from the onset. Our existence here has been fraught with environmental impact: the drain on the precious water supply and the drive to school being those, which most distressed us. We also have grave concerns about the entitlement mentality that charity and volunteering seem to engender. Having the night watch security, laundry, cleaning, and sundry other household chores assigned to paid locals has also made us feel uncomfortable and in fact we have persisted with doing most such tasks ourselves, which is in retrospect is possibly another source of conflict between the management and us. The school has been a source of frustration with respect to the administration and lack of processes and accountability. So all in all we can now see that this has not been a happy time. Nonetheless it came as something of a shock to be told that we would never be happy here and that as far as the current leader is concerned it would be better if we just left. This message was delivered to us personally at home on Thursday and it certainly set our minds spinning.

This was not on our agenda at the time and we concede that it has been a struggle but leaving has in fact become the current game plan. We were determined to make it work……That is until this week. We returned to school to inform the Leadership Team of the decision on Friday morning and then chose to walk back into town before classes began. We have been told that we are “just not a good fit” and that may or may not be true but I don’t want to hear another “Pole Sana.”

We had placed our focus firmly on the students and it was no easy task to win them over initially, but we felt that we had. The turn over and relative lack of experience of the staff is perhaps what makes students reticent to trust newcomers but our assurances that we intended to stay 2 years and our determined and committed efforts in the classroom brought about results. There have been some very precious moments and there are some amazing kids out there at Orkeeswa. We felt unable to explain our departure to them and are feeling not just rejected and humiliated but in some ways as if we have let both them and ourselves down. I only hope that they are told the truth and not fed lies. It was not our decision to leave.

Having said that after the initial shock subsided there was also a sense of relief!We feel disappointed that we will not see the wildlife, or the country but our gut reaction tells us to return to Asia. We will take a little time to travel and to collect our thoughts before deciding where to next but we are not ready to give up the game just yet.