{"id":1076,"date":"2025-12-01T05:45:42","date_gmt":"2025-12-01T05:45:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/watopotians.org\/?p=1076"},"modified":"2025-12-01T13:18:42","modified_gmt":"2025-12-01T13:18:42","slug":"a-week-of-giving-thanks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/watopotians.org\/index.php\/2025\/12\/01\/a-week-of-giving-thanks\/","title":{"rendered":"A WEEK OF GIVING THANKS"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We left Phnom Penh early on Monday morning and arrived at the SAHAKA FOUNDATION’s pre-school in Prey Veng a few hours later. Our goal was to start the long-overdue project to build a kitchen for the school, which had been delayed primarily because of funding. Thanks to an anonymous donor, we decided to get started. We did not have a blueprint or even a design on a napkin… just a strong desire to get it done. Our first step was deciding where to build the kitchen.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Building materials were purchased, and local laborers were hired. Work began early Tuesday morning. Putting the windows in first seemed rather odd to me, but I have learned to keep my mouth shut since things usually work out in the end.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Wednesday, things were taking shape, and it was beginning to look like a kitchen. I was amazed at how things came together one step at a time without knowing where the next step would take us.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fortunately, they had me and my team of experts to fall back on should they run into problems… but it turned out that because of our curiosity, we were always in the way, and we were the only problem they had to deal with.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Friday morning, it was finished, and after moving the kitchen supplies in, we headed back to Phnom Penh. A hot shower was first on my agenda, and a good night’s sleep without the need to fight a mosquito net every time I needed to get out of bed to urinate.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Saturday morning, we picked up Kate, who is visiting Cambodia for a week before heading to Hong Kong for a conference, and headed out to do home visits on our Takeo kids.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

We took them out to eat at a new outdoor restaurant near Chisol Mountain, and later drove up to the top of the mountain for them to explore. At one time, we all lived together as a family, and these outings are a way of staying in touch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Sunday, we made a three-hour drive out to Svay Rieng for another home visit. We got back to Phnom around 5:30 pm, just in time for a hastily planned dinner with our adult children and their families who are working or studying in universities in Phnom Penh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The end of a great week in the continuing saga of the Watopotians and the SAHAKA FOUNDATION. Thanks for stopping in. We are very grateful for your support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The SAHAKA donation page<\/a> is up to date for those who may want to help us in this coming year with a tax-deductible donation. If you live in Cambodia, you can make a QR donation to the SAHAKA FOUNDATION bank account.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We left Phnom Penh early on Monday morning and arrived at the SAHAKA FOUNDATION’s pre-school in Prey Veng a few hours later. Our goal was to start the long-overdue project to build a kitchen for the school, which had been delayed primarily because of funding. Thanks to an anonymous donor, we decided to get started.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1083,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/watopotians.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1076"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/watopotians.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/watopotians.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/watopotians.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/watopotians.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1076"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/watopotians.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1076\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1093,"href":"https:\/\/watopotians.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1076\/revisions\/1093"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/watopotians.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1083"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/watopotians.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1076"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/watopotians.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1076"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/watopotians.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1076"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}