2nd April

we left for the orphanage after breakfast as usual. but when we reached the main entrance of the orphanage, they were having construction, and the bus couldnt go thru! we wanted to get off and walk, but after the driver went down to ask police, the police instructed him to take an alternative route. so off we went. after driving further and further down, we started to get a little scared cos there were kids who ran out from their houses naked, and the kids were looking at us as if we were URO(unidentified rolling object). and when we thought we were finally reaching, we met with a problem. there was a steep step on the ground probably due to soil erosion? it was narrow and the steep. andy and owen tried looking for stones, and planks to make a 'bridge' so that the bus will be able to make it down the steep step. in the end, we figured that it wasnt gonna work out so the driver just decided to go back the same way we came in. and cos the road was narrow, the driver had to reverse like at least a 100 metres before he could perform a three point turn? wooh. i tell you, with all the trees and the road wasnt even straight, but he reverse like no kick like that... if such a reversing stunt was included in singapore's driving test, i believe 99% will fail it. HAHAHAHA.. and then when the bus could roll straight, we all boarded the bus. after going on for about.. 5 minutes? we saw twpo familiar faces alongside the bus! they were kids from the orphanage! somehow they knew that we were lost somewhere. so they came out looking for us. we wanted to bring them up the bus and out to the orphanage. but in the end, it was us who went down and followed them. the orphange turned out to be a 2 minute walk away.

We had a village tour! mr pol pean, who is the founder of RAINBOW ORPHANAGE, brought us walking around their reul district, which is just behind the orphanage. he told us about the history of the area and that this area is actually protected by the government! the militaries werent allowed to enter or to disturb the villagers. we were also shown their different types of technologies like their wells some were the 30USD type, some were the 200USD type. then our MISSION started. we were armed with clothes and sweets and colgate! mr pean knows 90% of the population there personally. so we were told to only give our dontaions only when he instructed us to. cos some were more well off than the others. there was a problem we faced. kids were following us and we were unwilling to give any kid more than one time. but all the kids looked the same! topless, bloated bellys and act cute eyes. the girls started to freak out as the crowd of kids seemed to be neverending. oh and one thing we realised was that the clothes we brought werent very suitable. as we only had two sizes, XL and XXL and the other clothes we had were for toddlers. the average age range was about 5 - 9 years old. so we didnt have stuff to give them other than sweets. however, for everyone that we did give the shirts to, they were extremely appreciative and were really grateful. even when it was a nyp open house tshirt, which was probably oversized, and we ourselves do not even like wearing it due to its material which is not water absorbent polyester. its not dri-fit. but they were still very glad to receive. ms tan guessed that its probably cos they din take the shirts out frm the plastic bag thats why they were still so happy about the shirts. :) then we continued the touring. we came to this compund where they hold ceremonies for large events. the walls were covered with paintings painted by a 23year old. everything was so life-like. the portrait of one of the monk seemed really 3D. just look at the talents of this country. then we went back to the orphanage and had lunch! :D

after lunch, it was back to work. we spilt into two groups, one group did farming and one group did teaching. for the farming group, we went into the greenhouse, and we started ploughing the ground. the tool we used was REALLY heavy. and can you imagine, there at the orphanage, it was the GIRLS and LADIES who did the gardening. after loosening the soil, the fun part starts. cow dung came! and we were to mix it into the soil with our bare hands and then make the ground even, before watering the ground using a REALLY heavy watering can that our guys had problem with carrying even using two hands, while sin and leksa(two girls from the orphanage) carryed it easily with one hand. they were 15 and younger. guys, whats up with all the going to the gym!? looks like u guys should switch to farming. lovell suggests that we should start a farming CCA in nyp and lovell is glad to be the president of the club. he has visions to transform the field at the stadium into a rice padi field. and will collect all the shit from the toilets to use as fertilizers. interested parties ready to commit to this noble project please contact lovell at 91234567. okay and on to english lessons. the kids were told to write compos. the initial plan was to let them write ONE compo out of the three topics given. it turned out that all of them finished all three compos within the first hour. and it was their first time writing compositions! awesome? definitely. then the kids were told to read out their compositions to the class to boost their self confidence and help train public speaking and train their english pronounciation all at the same time. then it was play time with the kids after that. we learnt a new game which as some what like dodgeball, but used chaptek, u know the rubber thing that has a coin to provide weight and feathers to make it land nicely? yeah. that. then suddenly a tickling fiesta erupted and everyone ran around tickling each other. :D victim number one: lovell.

We had dinner followed by de-briefing then it was bed time.