The pickup is notoriously unreliable. Yesterday, on our way through Kampong Chhnang city, Troy slammed on the brakes to avoid a bicyclist that darted in front of him. The engine stalled and refused to restart. After many unsuccessful attempts at restarting it, Savan and Bora arrived in the Nutrition truck to rescue us. Together, they were able to push start the truck and pop the clutch and we were on our way again. Later that day, Savan tried unsuccessfully to brake the Nutrition truck when a calf darted out in front of him. The guys are okay, but the cow is hamburger, and the front of the truck has a young cow indentation. Poor Savan feels so guilty, but there was nothing he could have done.
We did eventually make it to the countryside. Kampong Chhnang province is two and a half hours from Phnom Penh. We are currently feeding three villages there once a week, and Savan wants us to expand into a fourth. Troy and Tabitha are hoping to get another truck with more drivers to be able to go out there more often. We visited one of the current feeding villages and the new village where there are over 100 young children. We got measurements on some of them and will be going back next Friday to finish the job. Another long day, but mercifully it rained some which refreshed us all.
Picture captions:
We tried talking to the engine, but it didn't respond to either English or Khmer. Finally we had to resort to brute force. (Troy and Tabitha Snowbarger, pictured, are here for a year to supervise the nutrition program.)
Troy helped out with the weighing and measuring of the kids -- backbreaking work since both he and I were too tall to stand up underneath the house. The kids love him, though.
The fish are gutted, but still raw. They're left to dry in the sun and then eaten like beef jerky. At least that's my understanding. The gas station had these for sell as a yummy treat. I'm told it's a delicacy, but the smell alone puts them low on the scale of deliciosity.
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