Summer in Cambodia

Regarding summer greetings, we first introduced the culture of sending letters to show concern for others or send wishes during each season or on special occasions, and then we all thought about Cambodian traditional customs for this time of year.

Cambodia has largely 2 seasons, the dry season and the rainy season, and the same crops can be harvested all year round, so there doesn't seem to be much difference from month to month.  Nevertheless, we asked them to think about whether there are any particular characteristics of the period from June to August.

Since it's the rainy season, the first thing that comes to mind is "rain."  But if we take a closer look at the daily life, we can notice that durians, rambutans, and dragon fruits are often lined up in the markets at this time of year, and that because roads often turn into rivers during the rainy season, people go fishing in the fields at this time of year, which are unique sights and customs.  We think this was an opportunity for the children to look at their lives from a deeper perspective than usual.

After they introduced such summer life on postcards addressed to the foster parents who are supporting them, we let them draw pictures, too, on the card.  The number of foster children we can support in this area has increased since last year, but when we asked, none of the children said they particularly liked drawing or were good at it.  Drawing is not as common in rural areas as it is in cities.  However, there were many children who actively started drawing something.  Some were drawing in detail, mixing colors, and even creating gradient drawings.   So exciting to see children's such artistic senses.