Started volunteering at Epic Arts cafe last week after a rushed arrival into Kampot, Cambodia. So far things are excellent, a great change to work with really nice people and with an actual project and goal. Actually I'm mostly helping out in the kitchen which is great, I haven't cooked in 7 months! and doing some brushups on the cafe. But the staff
are wonderful and it's a great organization that integrates the disabled and deaf through the arts. A really great concept. Here's their website www.epicarts.org.uk, they are trying to build an accessible arts centre in Kampot, so if you have some extra change please consider donating! During the slow hours, I'm learning some Khmer sign language and I think I'm more conversant in that than in actual Khmer. All in all, I'm very happy staying here for the next month as I know the following months will be just travel travel travel!After leaving Myanmar, I've been devouring books on the country, political situation and talking to people in the cafe about it. My trip really stirred something in me, the situation is so well hidden that I didn't really sense the horrible situation while travelling there. I knew generally what human rights abuses occurred but when I was there, I was quite afraid of address these issues for fear of causing trouble with the locals. In a way, it's a vicious cycle because the government plants informants throughout but eventually because people are afraid, they start to close themselves off in speaking about these matters... so the government is more effective because of the fear they have instilled. The government has really done a good job at hiding many things from foreign eyes. I hope to return someday and really explore the country off the beaten track and actually talk to some people there about the situation...albeit covertly!
