Gary

It's almost GO time!  OESP together with Northwest Medical Teams will be leaving soon for Cambodia  I look forward to forwarding information on our journey.  Stay tuned for more!

We have landed safe and sound and really tired. Going from Cambodia to Thailand to Japan to the USA all in the same day makes for a long trip. 

 

Saturday we meet with The Prince of Cambodia.  He was very open and honest about his country.  He picked me out of the group as he had seen me on the national tv news the night before interviewing during the big fire.  He advised us that the King and Prime Minister knew of OESP and had a good grasp on what we are trying to accomplish.  Both wish to meet with us on our next visit.  He gave us all an article from the paper that day that included an interview with Andy. The meeting lasted about 45 minutes and we were on our way.

 

We did some shopping after the meeting.  People were burning fake money both inside and outside the shopping mall in honor of Chinese new year (they wonder why so many fire sweep their city).  There we meet up with a Firefighter from San Francisco Ca.  who Andy and I first meet at the big fire on Thursday.  We will hook up from him in the states to see if he and others from SFFD would be a good fit within OESP.

 

Now we will catch up on our sleep and get back to our real jobs.  We will begin planning for this years Colombia trip and next years Cambodia trip soon. We also will hit the interview circut with many clubs, organizations and news papers to talk to.  Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers while we were away.  We will update the web site http://www.oesp.net as we go.

This has beed a great 2 weeks with sooooo much getting done and so much more left to do.  We meet with the Prince of Cambodia this morning.  He picked me out of the group and mentioned that he saw me on the national news  the night before.  The Prince is very up to date on what we are trying to accomplish here and offered his help in any way. He gave us his personal e-mail address and offered meetings with the King and Prime Minister for our next visit.  He also advised us that both the KIng and Prime Minister were up to date on what we have done and will keep in contact with our group.  I think we made loads of progress with these meeting and FINALY have everyone on the same page.

 

We did some shopping and eating and are saying our final goodbyes to all.  With many people stopping us in the malls and streets to thank us for our time and donations. Tonight we fly to Thailand and most of the students told us they would be at the airport to send us off.  This happens every year and has become tradition.  It is bitter sweat to see them one last time.

 

As I understand it OESP is off to Colombia soon for more adventures there.  As for Cambodia...Goodby and thank you for your hospitality.  I look forward to seeing you all next year.   Happy Chinese new year to all!

Today was crazy from the get go.  A quick breakfast and off to a cosing ceramony.  Yes a closing ceramony 6 hours before the class ended, but thats the way they do it here. After the ceramony and official turnover of our Zoll AED's with all the press covering the event we came back to the hotel for lunch.  About midawy through lunch we saw a fire engion go by so Andy, Bunna and I went after it. We came to quite the fire.  Spreading nearly and entire block we found ourselves in the middle of it all (see Andy's blog for firefighter perspective).  As we approached police were trying to keep order by hitting anyone who came near the fire with sticks.  We had our OESP dress shirts on and they immediatly waved us into the scene (I didn't even know they knew about us).  Approaching the fire people ran to us thanking us for being there and saying "God bless the people of the USA for helping us".  I have never seen these people before in my life but they recognized us from the news.  meanwhile the fire still burning out of control and as the firemen saw us approaching they would run to us to shake our hands. The press was the next to recognize our being on scene ranto us for interviews.  I sent as many as I could to Andy but I could'nt escape the national TV news.  I interviewed as the fire continued to burn not 20 feet from me.  A commotion broke out and I learned that one person tried ludding from a store under the fire.  The store owners and the police took care of the situation, and let's just say he did not walk away from the scene.  We left before the fire was out but it was a crazy scene (again see Andy's blog).

 

WE then went to HOPE hospital to meet with the Hospital administrator who interviewed us for the HOPE newsletter and chit chatted with us for about an hour.  While we were with him our students were taking their tests under proctor of the Hospital security guards.  We had bought many prizes for them and had a drawing after the tests were completed and being graded.  They love winning things.  We had books, hacky sacks (soccer items) soccer balls, dart boards, US related items, cigars, basketballs ect.  When tests were graded we announced the top score(s) for the class.  We had a winner for highest test score in the class.  The students name is Lim, and Lim scored a near perfect score.  Some things you should know about Lim are that Lim is From the New Life Foundation, and yes Lim is the first and only female EMT in the country of Cambodia.  She was awarded with a brand new motorcycle helmet (we were getting her one anyway) and the applause and admiration of the class.

 

We left the class at 4:30 and had a class party at 6:00pm cambodian time (6:45).  We ate and danced. They taught us Khmar dance and we taught them country line danceing.  The Texas 2 step is one step too many for them.

 

Tomorrow I am going to breakfast to meet with a group from Colorado called Child Rescue.  http://www.ChildRescueInc.org  This group is another non profit organization that taked clothing and medical supplies to orphanages throughout the country.  That will be followed by a meeting with the Prince of Cambodia and then some seriouse shopping before heading to the airport for a 7:30 pm flight.  See y'all state side.......................G.

Today we found ourself very wanted.  Not only by our students but by many different press organizations numerous 2 and 3 star generals and the Prince of Cambodia.  We will try to spend the next few days meeting with all of them and work on not becoming a political pawn for any of them. 

 

Our students finished their practical exams today.  One group failed my station and had to come back later that day.  They were advised that a 2nd failure and they would not graduate and would not be listed as pioneers in EMS for the country.  They were very wide eyed their 2nd attempt at auto extrication/patient assessment and when they were done I made them sweat for a while before I advised them that they had passed.  They were all jumping around, screaming and hugging each other. Tomorrow will be the written test.

 

Tomorrow will be a huge day of not only exams, but we also will be in a full color guard closing ceramony. There will also me a news conference with all TV and newspapers in the nation there.  We will also have a closing party put on by the Department of Interior tomorrow night.

 

Saturday before we leave we meet with the Prince and Andy and I have been asked to have a photo session at a nearby massage and beauty salon to be in thier brochures and advertising campain, so we will try to fit that in as well.  Saturday night we take flight to Thailand stay over night there then off to Japan before we return home.