Julie Kierski

Rice!

Last Sunday, we visited my friend Keo’s homeland, which is about an hour taxi’s ride away. We met her family, hung out, ate a delicious lunch, visited her family’s rice fields, relaxed, and ate some more.

The rice planting and harvesting process seems quite involved. It’s a big part of the Cambodian culture and lifestyle. We helped out a little with the gathering part. The rice stalks had already been cut and bundled together. They were just sitting in the fields waiting to be gathered. So Keo, her sisters, her husband, Dave, even the taxi driver, and I went out under the blazing hot sun (the sun is still hot even in the “cold” season) to gather the bundles.

After the bundles were all piled up on the side of the road, they were loaded onto a cart and then taken to Keo’s parents’ house. (We did not help with this part.) The rice grains are then separated from the stalks. The stalks are used as cow feed. And the rice grains are later on husked to store and eat.

Cambodians are a very generous people. We left their home with two pillows (made by hand by Keo’s sister), a hat (which they insisted I take even though it was a gift from someone else to Keo’s sister), and rice (mm). I hope, by the end of our service here, that generous part of the Cambodian culture will rub off on me.