Day 2: Maple Ridge performance

5 days ago

3 min read

For my mother and I, the second day of the tour started off in a unique, exciting way. The hosts for my mother and I, Eric and Shirley, have a small farm where their crops and chickens are often under threat from bears. Eric and his son-in-law (who lives nearby) have licenses to hunt them, so there was a chance we would see a dead bear. Sure enough, that morning saw a male black bear run from a corn crop and up a tree that was within viewing distance from the house. Eric and his son-in-law went out and shot the bear, all while Shirley, my mother and I watched from the balcony. We then viewed the body up close, which was a very memorable experience.

When we got to the church, we showed the team the video and photos of the bear shooting (I understand that not everyone wants to see that, so they won't be on this blog). It was interesting to see the kids' reactions: at Rescue, there are no large predators to watch out for, but venomous snakes and scorpions are present and need to be dealt with. The idea of getting rid of a dangerous animal was not new, but the animal's size intrigued the kids.

As we waited for a moving truck to bring out our supplies/equipment, we found out a little more about the kids' experiences at the houses they were staying at. The universal aspect is that the kids' internal body clock is still thrown off and that they are getting up earlier than they need to.

When the moving van arrived, it was time to unpack. It was then that I realized the absurd amount of stuff we have. Everyone did their part, including some of the hosts. After the unpacking came organization and set-up, as the marketplace and stage were prepared for the night. Everything went smoothly with so many hands, even if some of the kids began to lose focus and play instead.

After unpacking and setup, it was time to do some rehearsals. I made sure to video some of the practice dances, as I realized it was something that I neglected to do on the two previous tours. It was cool to see Sany, the dance instructor, at work. Once the kids were finished practicing, the adults talked about the program schedule and who would give their testimonies. Everyone was a little apprehensive to volunteer, as this was the first performance of the tour, but Seepat and Tra agreed to share their stories. I too was nervous, as I would be sharing the story of Koemlin, one of the grannies at Rescue, at some point during the performance.

The performance was great, but it did not go off without a hitch. Behind the scenes, numerous opening night mistakes were made, but one would never know it from how the kids performed. The most humorous moment happened before the very first dance, as the six girls were queued to go on stage, only for them to be nowhere near the entrance. Sarah had to run and grab them all, practically shoving them out onto the stage.

Aside from the dances, Seepat, Tra and I all did our speeches, and they all went well. The Cambodian men's testimonies were raw looks into their past, while my speech on Koemlim seemed to move the audience greatly. It felt good for all of us to be congratulated after the performance for a job well done.