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Map of Timaru, New Zealand

Vietnam, November 2006.

Mekong Delta from the air
I have always loved the look of farm land and geological formations from planes. In New Zealand you see a rectangular patchwork quilt of paddock. The Mekong by air is an interconnected maze of flooded dykes and drains, all ultimately draining to the sea. For a boy who grew up building dams at Pareora River, the vista is amazing.

Getting to An Giang.
We are helping people in An Giang district. The trip to the office takes about 8 hours from Ho Chi Minh City.








Water World…
Because most everything is under water, one of the best ways of travelling is by water.



Photo by Ms. Kim An Nhiên, 2006.

And if there is not much dry land for growing field crops, then why not support the crop over water. Here are pumpkins on a trellis.

Learning in Cambodia

My purpose in Cambodia

I am in Cambodia as a two way info exchange. I expect some pretty challenging questions at my next stop in Vietnam , so I wanted to drop into their neighbours (Cambodia) and see how they do WatSan here. While here, I am also to get an understanding of the arsenic issues so we can offer assistance including helping with funding proposals.

Claire and Chris.
The main person I am working with is Claire Dixon (Australian Volunteer Ambassador). Claire and her fiancé Chris are out here together. Live like a king on workman’s wages…
In Phnom Pen you can live like a king on workman’s wages, and there is a huge crowd of young ex‑pats doing just that. Saturday night Clair has a party. About 20 young Aussies turn up for a BBQ and a splash in the Para pool. It has the buzz and excitement of the first few weeks of university. Probably because there is a huge crowd of young 20-somethings.

Water Stuff...
Too be effective, the technologies typically need to be increadibly simple and cheap. Have a look at solar disinfection... it does not get much simpler or cheaper than this.

>>>Hint: For the technophobes (that is you Mum and Dad!) the coloured text "solar disinfection" is a "hyperlink". If you click on it with your mouse you will be taken to a new web page.

A Week in Cambodia, October 2006.

I am light on long sleeve shirts and so I headed off to the Central Plaza. Great place, teaming with people and merchandise. The stalls are closing up not long after I arrive but I buy a few more bits and bobs. What I did not realize is that they lock the gates and the stall holders sleep in for the night. Looks like I might be spending my first night in there too. Eventually I found a gap where the fence meets the overhang and was able to climb out to the amusement of the locals.

The Longest Meeting…
We had a workshop about arsenic today. The for the first 1:30 I was struggling to keep my eyes open as the Minister for Rural Development was speaking in Khmer only, and about every 10 minutes the overhead would change to be replaced by another overhead in Khmer. Things got better after the break when we showed some educational material. Try the video clip below about don’t drink from the red painted well pumps.

(Opps, When I find the video I will upload it!)

When traveling, you use a map so often it becomes part of the memorabilia, so here is my trusty map of Phnom Penh.


There won’t be many (any?) photos of the people we are helping, it is against policy to take photos in anyway compromises people’s integrity and it turns out easier just to not take photos.

Peace Dance - Dili, East Timor

December 2006
I am over here helping build toilets in internally displaced people (IDP) camps.
Things have not been so peaceful in Timor in 2006. In response, some Timorese had a peace dance in front of parliament buildings in the weekend. Here is a clip of it. The guy with the machete was a very charming showoff.

Nite Moto in Phnom Penh

So here is my ride home from work in Phnom Penh.

The first day I took the hotel's suggested Tuk Tuk driver and it cost 8000 whatzits,

On the way home I negotiated 3000, by the end of the week I would get the same trip home for for 1000-1500 whatzits.

A lesson learned was don't get a ride with any one that looks too excited with life... A crazy smile or a sparkle in the eyes means a hair-raising (or life threatening) ride home.

To work this video, click on the triangle in the bottom right. Depending on your internet connection it may start immediately or take upto a minute to start. If if starts and stops, then let it run through (painfully once) and then replay. It will play smoothly the second time.

This file was a test run, I will add more larger clips later.

Download is 3.1 MB, 13 s.

Cambodia, 9 Oct 2006

Hi, Welcome to my blog.
You are invited to check this out whenever you want to know what I am up to.

Hopefully it will end up with movie clips and sound bites. Anyone wants to educate me on how to set up a decent blog is welcome to email me.

As you may know, I recently started as a WatSan guy with an international development and relief organisation, so now the fun begins...

My first posting is for assisting Cambodia with arsenic removal from groundwater. I felt very (self) inflated and important flying overseas with someone else giving me kit to play with water stuff which I would do for free anyway... so I took the "Al Gore" photo. (Recently I saw the “Inconvenient Truth” film by Al Gore which includes footage of him working on the plane.)


Flying into Phenom Phen, the land for miles around is not really sure if it wants to be the water or land. Reminds me of “Water World”. I have never been to these parts so I don’t know if this is a normal annual thing or have they had some flood. Later I learn this is normal.

That's all folks. Just starting my blog...
Johm riab lia (bye)
Kieran

There should be new postings going on quite regularly for a while now as it is all very new and exciting to me (the blogging that is!)