I Found Them!

Did I really want to take a 10 hour bus ride to Siem Reap for the weekend? Why not? I had a mission. Four years ago I was in Cambodia for only 4 days. I connected with 5 little girls who sold me enough of their mom's grass bracelets to cover my arm - wrist to elbow. It was my first morning and the girls and I ate fruit together by the river, learned to play cat's cradle, and sang Itsy-bitsy Spider. I rented a bike so I could take them up on their offer to meet their moms at their homes, an hour's pedal away. It was a moving, magical day for me. They had so little, their bamboo huts so small and they were so kind and appreciative of me. I took the girls to lunch - I'm sure their first time to eat in a restaurant - and saw them the next day and the next. Fortunately I was able to give them their family photos I'd developed because I never saw them after that. I got called back home, back in time to see my dad just hours before he left us.

So here I am back in Siem Reap wondering how I can possibly find the girls who must now be 13 and 14. My tuk-tuk driver from the bus station recognized the grandparents. He would meet me 8 the next morning and we'd see if we could find them. Nephew Nate and one of his Putney Summer Travel students, Nat, went with us and I dubbed him official photographer. We weren''t sure the tuk-tuk could make it down the dirt paths, but it did and we kept getting pointed closer as we showed the pictures along the way. The last person we showed got all excited and emotional. It was the grandmother! The one there in the picture! Runners were sent down the winding footpaths and two of the girls were found. Of course they remembered me! And they could still sing Itsy-bitsy. In four years, the bracelets were still a dime a piece. I now have enough to go all the way to my arm pit. The girls have pretty necklaces from Alaska with gold flakes inside. One girl, the one with the amazing smile, came back to town with us so I could give her the extra pictures I'd brought. She and Nat played cats cradle the whole way in.

I didn't know what to expect by finding the girls or even why I wanted to do it. But I feel fulfilled. And yet I feel sad that only the one girl is still in school. Grandfather who was very ill is still alive and getting around on his toothpick legs. Father who played music for me on a Cambodian instrument was now drunk. One family looked better off. The other with only the little they were still getting by on.

I'm thinking about my dad and how he'd be shaking his head that it was okay going back and reconnecting. Yes, it was okay. I feel good and I hope I brightened their day too.