Mud, glorious mud was the order of the day as we spent the morning at the Green Gecko Footprints Farm with our new young friends.
Footprints Farm is a flourishing permaculture enterprise overseen by Rem, husband to Tania Palmer and Gecko Dad. The farm provides much of the daily nutrition for the Geckos, as well as a source of income, employment and training opportunities.
The jobs on our list today included digging holes in the sticky clay for new fence posts, affixing bamboo poles to a mushroom hut, and weeding the garden beds. This was a great chance to get dirty and have fun, with plenty of music to lift the mood.
The afternoon was spent reversing groups from our previous visits to the Silk Screen Printing Lab and Rehash Trash.
Reflecting on the work of Green Gecko, it is really so heartening to see the thought and care invested in cultivating social enterprises that can ensure that the entire families of Gecko kids are looked after. The Gecko’s mums and dads have opportunities for training and employment, and engage in work with a social and environmental impact. It is so humbling to work alongside the people involved in these enterprises and participate in a small way in the work that enriches their livelihoods.
As we travelled back to our hotel this afternoon, I couldn’t help but think how fortunate we are compared to the average tourist, who might spend 2-3 days in Siem Reap “do the temples”, and leave a significant social and environmental cost in their wake. To travel in this way is perhaps not so much sightseeing, but vision-building.
Of course, while we are lucky to work with credible organisations and enterprises, the simple fact is that there is also a lot of the uglier side to confront here: visible poverty, children begging, lack of infrastructure and social support, corruption and lack of access to basic education and health care. Seeing these problems first-hand, need not be cause for disheartenment, but a catalyst for action and change. We are hopeful that your daughters will come away from this experience empowered to work toward positive change, no matter how small.
Tonight, we discussed the Starfish Story in our debrief. It is included here for all to share in:
Once upon a time, there was an old man who used to go to the ocean to do his writing. He had a habit of walking on the beach every morning before he began his work. Early one morning, he was walking along the shore after a big storm had passed and found the vast beach littered with starfish as far as the eye could see, stretching in both directions.
– Adapted from The Star Thrower, by Loren Eiseley (1907 – 1977)
Off in the distance, the old man noticed a small boy approaching. As the boy walked, he paused every so often and as he grew closer, the man could see that he was occasionally bending down to pick up an object and throw it into the sea.
The boy came closer still and the man called out, “Good morning! May I ask what it is that you are doing?”
The young boy paused, looked up, and replied “Throwing starfish into the ocean. The tide has washed them up onto the beach and they can’t return to the sea by themselves,” the youth replied. “When the sun gets high, they will die, unless I throw them back into the water.”
The old man replied, “But there must be tens of thousands of starfish on this beach. I’m afraid you won’t really be able to make much of a difference.”
The boy bent down, picked up yet another starfish and threw it as far as he could into the ocean. Then he turned, smiled and said, “It made a difference to that one!”
Today our reflections are offered by Iliana and Emily:
The most impactful moment for me today was when we went to the farm. As well as having so much fun playing with the Gecko kids, seeing them smiling, laughing, singing and screaming together while playing with the mud, made me realise that while materialistic items can bring you joy it’s the connections you make with other people and the time you spend with them that really mean the most to you.
– Emily
The most impactful moment for me was when I was at Rehash Trash and while one of the ladies where helping me crochet I stopped to read the sign on the wall about how the social enterprise came together and how it helps the women who work there. I suddenly had an overwhelming feeling of warmth in my body to read the positive effects of the project on not only the children but their mothers and whole family.
Despite the negative imagine the media portrays by focusing on times of crisis and horrible events, especially in developing countries, I realised that there are good people in the world who do amazing things.
Seeing how happy the Geckos and their mothers are and how much pride they take in their culture and work made me hopeful for the future.– Iliana
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