Dusty Face and Sore Cheeks

A typical day at work -

Darin + I arrive at Maxima's office and collect our print-outs for the microloan clients we'll be visiting that day, hop on the back of a moto with our loan officer/driver/translator and away we go! After almost a year in Southeast Asia, weaving our way through traffic like one in a school of fish feels natural. The busy Highway 6 leading North of Phnom Penh is dusty and clogged with traffic. Large trucks and buses blare their horns in a "Get out of way way!" message to the other vehicles, which are mostly motos, as they blaze past with minimal room to spare. We arrive at a ferry crossing and stop, waiting with the line of loaded-down motos carrying bags of goods back to the island until the next boat arrives. Fortunately, it's not long, and we're soon on our way to Koh Dach, the largest of the three Mekong islands, and home to a large community of silk weavers. (Photo: Ferry Crossing)


Koh Dach is a quiet, tree-shaded, elongated spit of land that feels a world away from the bustle of Phnom Penh. It's the tail end of monsoon season, but there hasn't been much rain this year so the dirt roads are only marginally muddy and difficult to navigate. Usually, we're told, it's necessary to walk, pushing the moto through the reddish muck, which is what the loan officers have to do in order to visit their clients. Darin and I split up, aiming in different directions to split our client list for the day. All visits are unscheduled, as many people do not have phones, but I'm hopeful that we'll find most at home.

I strike out on my first stop - The woman has gone into Phnom Penh for the day to buy her raw silk. My accompanying loan officer asks around of passersby to find our next client, as there are no addresses, and she points us in the right direction. Fortunately, this woman is at home. Eksavy, age 48, has been weaving since she was a teenager and is now teaching her daughter the craft after school hours. She invites us to sit, Khmer-style (barefoot + cross-legged on a woven mat), while we explain why we're here. We show her her image printed from the internet, and she looks shy and embarrassed. We ask her several questions about her life and the impact the loan has had on it, which she answers, smiling broadly the whole time. She smiles so openly that I can't help but return it in kind. She allows me to take photos and there are bows all around as we thank her and take our leave. Our next couple stops are similar, and the people (usually women) always cheerful and willing to answer personal questions about income and future hopes. The homes we visit are built in the traditional style - Very modest and constructed of wood and/or corrugated steel set up high on concrete stilts with an open-air living space underneath, where most of the days activities take place. Here is the kitchen, the loom or other piece of equipment and the informal living room where guests are received (and afternoon naps are taken). Everything is done in the open and the need for privacy is minimal compared to what we are accustomed to in the west. (Photo: Maxima loan officers and happy clients)


We break for lunch at one of the loan officer's homes (many of them come from rural villages that we visit) and meet up with Darin and his loan officer. We've shared three different guys so far - All in their twenties with business/finance backgrounds and varying levels of English proficiency. They've been so helpful in answers cultural questions and teaching us bits of Khmer language. We're really learning alot!

After lunch, we head to our next client who treats us with fresh coconuts to drink during the interview. This woman, Rany, is also super-friendly and smiles constantly, seemingly tickled by my presence. I return her smiles - My cheeks are hurting now from all this smiling :) Our last stop of the day is at the home of a family applying for a new loan, and I wait nearby as they go through the necessary paperwork with the loan officer. Several children are running around - One boy leans against his Grandmother and she pats him affectionately; A few boys are playing soccer barefoot; Two beautiful, little girls stand shirtless in colorful sarongs, timidly smiling at me; A round-eyed babe is wobbling around pantless, playing with a piece of broken mirror! Such relaxed parenting in a place where you've got to be tough to survive. (Photo: Grandmother + Grandson)


We arrive back at the office, dusty and tired, and with sore cheeks. I wonder who we'll meet tomorrow...


Check the links for more detailed posts as they appear on the Kiva site -

Channa Ven, Minimart
Pov Pouch, Fisherman
Yean Chey, Weaver

Twice as Nice, Double your Pleasure

Just like most American kids, I grew up with the standard couple of destinations my family would religiously visit every year. Even though I LOVED Pismo Beach and Tahoe, and looked forward to them with a keen anticipation, there was still something in me that longed for a change. Those changes certainly came when I moved out of the house and finally saved enough money to travel abroad - Not until I was 24. Since then, I've visited 23 other countries and have savored (almost) each + every one of them. Without fail though, during the last few days of my stay in each I've felt an aching sadness and question whether or not I'll ever be back, and WHEN?! (Photo: Isolated, but impressive Banteay Samre)

One thing that has surprised me on THIS trip is that it's been so much more rewarding than I even could have guessed to retrace some of my steps around the globe. I can now count Spain a second time, and Paris - Both of which I'd return to AGAIN in a heartbeat, except that I still haven't visited Morocco, or Egypt, or large parts of Mexico, or Brazil... ; Thailand got it's visit numbers two + three; Vietnam x2 - Wish I was STILL there I dug it so much; and now we're giving Cambodia another whirl. Which leads me to where we are now - Angkor, via the Tonle Sap delta from Battambang. Two of our favorites of the country. And though you can never recapture that FIRST time, always unique because of the element of surprise, I'm certainly not loving it any less. (Photo: Before the Storm)

Angkor offered up several firsts for me this time around, surprisingly, though it's my third visit. The first day I FINALLY did what I've been meaning to at each past visit to Bayon - Slowly make a full circuit of each level leading up to those smiling faces. On our second day we actually spent almost the entire day checking out outlying sites we'd missed last time. And we managed to cap THAT off with another first - Seeing someone get struck by lightening! It's the tail end of monsoon season now and sudden, but brief daily showers are not uncommon. This day, we were capping off with a visit to a large reservoir in the complex. A breeze had picked up and we could see the line of the storm moving in. And then, rain, hard and fast. We ran for cover at a nearby food stall. It was POURING and kids were out playing in it - Swimming, running, soccer. The latter was a group of boys not far off from us. The first HUGE crack of lightening struck with thunder following IMMEDIATELY. It made us jump and literally shook our bodies. We both looked at each other and simultaneously said "Holy Shit!" A few seconds after this there was a bright flash before my eyes RIGHT where the boys were playing soccer and another deafening, earth-shaking thunder. It took us a few seconds to recover from that second shock, but as we did we saw a group gathering around a figure lying on the ground... One of the soccer boys had been STRUCK! Darin ran out in the rain to investigate. The boy was coherent, but badly shaken + crying, and with a large welting burn on his thigh. The other boys carried him home. CRAZY! (Photo: Broken window spindles)

You'd think the rest of our visit would've been anticlimactic after that, but on our last day (primarily spent at Angkor Wat) we were treated to a late day shower and a RAINBOW, arcing right over the temple + causeway. Now, I don't know if these were signs from God that we're doing something right, or a warning, but we're feeling "Touched" right now. And what a powerful touch he has - WOW! (Photo: Somewhere over the Rainbow)

Now it's back to P.P. to try our hand at working again.

Check the links for more photos of the Tonle Sap delta and Angkor

You Got Jobs!

Greetings from somewhere in Southeast Asia!

After 21 months of semi-wayward wandering and immense and intense submersion into a dozen different and distinct countries and cultures, we've now decided to - Stop.

For the past few months we've spent countless hours researching and propositioning various NGO's whose work we felt inspired about in the the hopes of giving of our time and dedication. This search has proven MUCH more difficult and frustrating than we could have ever expected. I can't even TELL you how many aid org's actually want YOU to pay to work for FREE! Crazy, I know, but true. Finally, and thankfully, our search is over. We've just been accepted as "Fellows" for a San Francisco based non-profit, Kiva, that channels microfinancing from lenders, like you or me, in the U.S. to the disadvantaged in the developing world. The money is primarily used to start or expand small businesses and generate income, a more sustainable approach to development. (Photo: Biking through Angkor Wat ruins)

Our jobs will entail working with a local microfinance institute and going out on visits to people that have been lent money through Kiva to check the status of their loan and enquire about the impact it's had on their lives and business. And, to photograph + blog about it. Seems right up our alley, doesn't it! Here's a link to the the borrowers page for the local microfinance institute, Maxima, we'll be working with.

We'll be based in Phnom Penh, Cambodia for the next 3 months. A very cool + interesting country, if you've never been. A little on the lawless side, with nice beaches + killer ruins. The Khmers are super-sweet, charming people too. You can be guaranteed of an interesting time if you decide to come. Here's a little taste, quite literally so, of what awaits you - Cambodia made it twice.

After that, time will tell, but there's a distinct possibility that we'll be making a slow, homeward journey via India and getting home sometime next summer. Stay tuned for updates as you just never know how our plans may change...

That's the new news for now.

(Photo: Above - Cyclo Driver, Below - Tonle Sap delta)




Hope to see you somewhere in the near future...