The mother of Sophea, one of our field workers in Kampot Province, died yesterday and because our management team all had really close connections to Sophea we decided to all go today for her funeral. Susan Sporl, our social services advisor, also went with us in a rented taxi. |
|
| We knew we were getting close to the family house, in a remote area of rice fields, when we could look across the fields and see this colorful funeral pyre which had been erected in a recently harvested rice paddy. Notice there is a man standing on the second tier of the topmost part of the pyre, adjusting the decorations up there. It is a really big structure! |
 |
| It took us about an hour and forty-five minutes to drive from Phnom Penh with a terrible taxi driver who was all over both sides of the road, running people off the road, etc. Luckily our manager remembered how to get to Sophea's house so we were able to find the dirt road without trouble and navigated the potholes to the house where the body was kept. Here Susan Sporl talks to the young daughter of our staff member whose mother died. The grandmother cared for this girl while her mother, our staff, worked in Kampot town. |  |
| The family house, up on stilts in the rear of the picture, was in a grove of coconut trees on the edge of the rice fields. A little wooden bridge carried us across a small canal used to irrigate the paddies. |  |
| The arrival of four NGO people, three of them foreigners, was a matter of great excitement for the family and really gave them "face." Most Cambodian people never have a chance to be recognized or affirmed so our coming was important to the family. |  |
| The family had arranged for five monks to chant the service, indicating the esteem in which they held the deceased woman. The monks would have chanted starting about 7:00 AM and now at 11:15 were eating lunch. They had to eat before noon because after midday they fast until the following morning. This was the first time I have seen monks eating at a service like this. Usually they arrive in a tuk-tuk, chant for an hour or two, receive gifts, and then depart, but because of the remoteness of this homestead, they probably stayed to eat. |  |
| This is the DDP staff who went to Kampot to be with Sophea. (Front row) Susan Sporl, Social Services Project advisor; Sophea; Charlie Dittmeier, director of DDP. (Back row) Keat Sokly, Manager of DDP, and Justin Smith, Deputy Director of DDP. |  |
| After the monks ate, the family and neighbors who had gathered also ate. The meal is prepared by a group with a mobile system of pots and pans and dishes and charcoal fires. |  |
| Because we were the honored guests, we sat at a table for our lunch. We stayed about two hours and then headed back to Phnom Penh. |  |
| Charlie talking with Sophea about her mother. The body was placed directly in the coffin and then put under the tent. There is no embalming. The actual cremation was to take place at 8:00 PM at night but we could not stay that long. |  |