Day 5 - From 'Hands On' to Seeing Hands Massage

Team Itinerary Overview
Hands on volunteering at New Hope
Kampong Speu to Sihanoukville

Cycling: none!
Team Spirit: Sad to leave New Hope, happy the children are loved and cared for and nervous for their big day tomorrow!
Overnight: Sihanoukville

Goodbye New Hope, Hello bike

There were mixed emotions for the Windermere Adventure Challenge team on Day Five – saying goodbye to the orphans and preparing to say hello again to the bikes.

The orphanage stirs at 5am for a 6am breakfast and the kids are off to school by 7am. The main task this morning was to help out in the classroom, mostly pre-school, and in descended into a bit of chaos when the visitors arrived. Calm was restored by a few nursery rhymes.

John and Kathy thanked us for visiting and were presented with a donation on behalf of the team and pledges by many to sponsor a child.

They made a special effort to thank Audrey Pearson back in Pakenham for her lucky dips and challenger Eva Foster for bringing a donation of children’s multi-vitamins.

Leaving New Hope was difficult for most of the team.

Suellen Conway walked arm in arm with a girl she had befriended, both in tears. Meleea Wood had two girls either side covered in paper bling they had created for her as a parting gift. Brian Paynter reconnected with a girl he had befriended on his first visit two years ago.

Olivia Lyon and Ann Selby both received lovely farewell notes from Vanda and Sina.

Olivia’s read: “I praise Olivia because you come to play at NHCC and you play with me a lot. When you go back to your country, I am so sad today.”

Graeme Moore was performing his ditty right up to the gate. There were tears both side of the fence as the bus pulled away.

The three hour trip to Shinoukville was punctuated by a Happy House (toilet) stop at a roadhouse, where many took the chance to load up on sugary junk food that had been in scarce supply.

Arriving at the country’s coastal capital and port, the team was taken to Seeing Hands massage, which trains blind people in the art of massage so they can earn their own living. Most indulged.

Then it was off to a restaurant on the beach (literally) where our tour guides surprised Cath Zulian with a birthday cake to celebrate the milestone she had so cleverly kept from the team the day before.

To give the celebration a bit more bang, Geoff Bainbridge bought Cath a fireworks stick from a child vendor to fire up over the water. A while later, Gaylene Howe decided she wanted a go of the sticks, which emit 18 flares each. She must have lost count, thought it was finished and, as she turned back towards the crowd, the last salvo flew over the heads of startled diners.

Gaylene had been feeling poorly the previous day, but has clearly bounced back. “I don’t know what was in Kathy’s soup, but I feel like I’ve got an 18-year-old body again,” she said.

She and a few of the girls danced with the tour guides until the wee hours of the twilight. No late night today, there’s a 100 kilometre trip ahead tomorrow.

The medal tally for bravery has reached four. Suellen Conway was honoured for doing it tough at the Killing Fields and S21, Shorty Brooks for bravely overcoming her fear of spiders and allowing a tarantula to sit on her shaking hands, Graeme Moore was awarded for performing his ditty while clearly under duress and Cath Zulian for holding down the defensive post on the basketball court and dominating the dance floor at the orphanage.

To make a donation on behalf of your Windermere Adventure Challenge Champion CLICK HERE

Garry Howe – Editor Star News Group

Carina Tomietto and Ann Selby – Windermere Adventure Team Leaders