Floating water purification on floating village by Seim Reap

Went to Seim Reap about a month ago to dedicate a water purification project that the church helped organize and pay for.  

There are 11,000 people living in this floating village on the Tonal Sap Lake.  It was 1.5 hr boat ride from Seim Reap to the floating village.  The people have been drinking the water out of the lake for centuries.  At any given time there are more than 3000 people sick with some water borne illness.  The church partnered with several other organizations to built this water treatment platform.  They treated us like royalty when we arrived and really made a big deal about what was done.

 Part of the floating village

 This little kid was my buddy on the trip.  He is from Seim Reap.  His dad is the Elders Quorum Pres and they just went to the temple in Hong Kong last month.

 This is  a luxury cruise ship on the lake.  Kind of like a houseboat on Lake Powell

 How most all the families get around the village

 Kids in the floating village hollering HELLO!

 The treatment platform

 The welcome

 The ramp leading to the treatment platform

 More floating village

More Village

 Water skiing boat.  Note the rooster tail

 More floating village

 More Village

 Treatment Platform

 Coming ashore

 Dignitaries

 Religious Leaders

 Kids who get the clean water

 People at the ceremony

 Dancing girl in trad Khmer dancing outfit

 Water bottle in the treatment area

 Filtration system

 More filtration system

 Elder Peterson filling the first bottle to be given to villagers

 Villagers coming to get free water

 More Villages getting water

 More Village

 Village

 This family makes their living pulling along side of boats and having you take a picture of the kid and phython and the want money.  Worth a buck to me.

 Inside the treatment area with clean water from the filthy lake

 Elder and Sister Houser  Great friends from Payson and came the same time we did.

 Arriving back at Seim Reap in our custom cruizer

 Disembarking

 More disembarking

Walking up the ramp to dry ground

Our driver for the day.  He is the Branch Pres of Seim Reap and a really great family  Their daughter was just called to serve a mission in Cambodia also.

School is in session

Bikes parked at an elementary school where we did a latrine and water catchment

Sitting in class and looking at the funny guy with the white skin and long nose taking a picture through the window.

And you kids think you desks are bad.

Sista Thalman & Sista Noera, Kosal's and Houa's chickens

Sister Neora and her adopted mom.  These two have really gotten close and they are so fun together.  Sista Neora is the only member in her family and all of her family is pretty anti, but she is so tough about it and such a great missionary.

Growing chickens just getting their feathers.

Kosal and Hoa and one of their chickens.  Look at the drum sticks

Boy these chickens have grown fast and boy do they know how to eat.  Just like growing kids I guess.  They were one day old when we got them and now they weigh 1.5 kgs.  They sell them when they get to 2 kg.  That will be in about 12 days.

Chick

Kosal and Hoa and a chick the first day they arrived.  It really put a smile on their faces.  Kosal is in such a bad way, but he always has the biggest smile and this really put a smile on his face and Hoa's too.  I told Kosal to smell the chicken and then asked it what it smelled like.  He said well it smells like raw chicken.  I said no try it again.  Well he couldn't figure it out until I smelled and said to me it smells like money.  It really put a big smile on his face.

The island in the dry season

This cart came through town with this whole load of pottery.  Lim said they came from nearly 60km away and take a few days to get here.  They try to sell it all and then go back home and start over again.  The long stick over the cows is a shade he made so the cows could walk in the shade.  Pretty thoughtful I'd say.

On our way to the island.  Lim would not take his car over the bamboo bridge again because he is afraid it will fall through the bridge and he is probably right.  You can see the bamboo bridge in the center of the pict.  When the water comes up in the rainy season they take the bridge apart and float it to each side of the river.  When the water goes back down they put it back together again.  A real project.

This is a members house on the island.  They ride their bikes across the bamboo bridge and it is about 4 to 5 miles one way.  They never miss except the mom who is now to weak to ride her bike.  She got bit by a cobra and has never been the same since, but she did survive.  Sister Thalman trying to work up the courage to climb the steep stairs.

We rode a gombay or tuk tuk to the island this time.  I tried to talk my senior companion into letting us ride motos, but she said it is against the rules and would turn me in if we did.  So we settled for this.  It was really rough riding, but we made it over and back.

The back of the house 

Looking down from inside the house.  Our shoes are the black and brown ones.  We take our shoes off about a kazillion times a day.  The steps really are that steep.  Kid of scary so we go down backwards.

This is the power supply to the house.  The battery by the pole.  Note the Hong Kong temple on the pole and the air conditioned floor.

Another members house on the island

Sugar cane.  They just peel the outside off and eat.  They say how sweet it is, but to me it tastes just like a sugar beet for those who know.  Pretty close to a raw potato

A pod that grows on trees and in about a month they will harvest it and let it dry and then cut it open and it has something in it that looks just like down and they put it in pillows and mattresses and it works pretty well.

Tobacco They grow it all over the island