February 14th, 2010. This day will be special day for more than 100 Japanese who have involved this school project. A young Japanese couple, Kade and Guriko had a dream to build a school in their favorite country, in Cambodia during their honeymoon. They have collected the money since 2007 and started to builded since Nov 2009. For about 3 months, they go to the village almost everyday to build the school. This village is really far from Siem Reap and spend about 1.5 hours one way and streets are very rough. There is no restaurant around the village, so they stop at the market to cook lunch themselves. Many have never experienced to build houses/schools, so they learned from experienced local carpenters. Weather is very hot almost everyday and the heat have damaged many Japanese people. Some got very sick and needed to stay at the international hospital. It is easy to pay money to build a school, but they provided not only for money, but also human power. More than 500 children have been waiting for a long time to school around the village. They are very excited to learn at the IKI IKI school after the raining season on Octover 2010. I could only join a few days for this project, but I am very proud of the people who have involved this school. I have never seen such a cute school. It is so original and very special for children at the village.
２０１０年２月１４日は、イキイキスクールに携わった１００人以上の日本人に取って、村人にとってもも忘れない一日になりました。かでさんとぐりこさんという方々が、新婚旅行世界一周旅行の最中に大好きなカンボジアに学校を作ろうと企画したのが２００７年頃。それからお金を集め始め、２００９年１１月についにカンボジアで学校建設を始めました。毎日片道１時間半かけて村へ出かけ、建築関係経験者は、たった数名のため、住み込みのカンボジア人大工にいろいろ教わりながら建てて行きました。村にはレストランもないので、途中市場により、お昼の材料を買いすべて自炊。連日汗を流し、３０度以上の暑さの中の土木作業は、体力的にもとてもきつかったです。慣れない外国での生活、食事、そして暑さの厳しい中での作業で体調を崩す人も何人かいたそうです。経済的に余裕があれば、お金を出して学校を建てることはなんとかできますが、こうして人とお金を集めて学校を建てる方々は本当に珍しいと思います。５００人以上の生徒が長い間学校に行くことを夢見ていました。これらの生徒は、雨期が明けた１０月にこのイキイキスクールで学ぶのを楽しみにしています。建築に参加できた日数はほんの数日ですが、かでさんとぐりこさんに出会えて、少しでもご協力できて、村の人たちの笑顔をいっぱいもらって、参加した人たちと完成を涙して喜べたことを幸せに思います。
