In the middle of the week, the older kids at Anjali House had a very special treat. Actually, my husband, Don, was the one who had the biggest treat of all. A group left early in the morning and had a day of fishing, cooking, and hanging around. Of course, the goals were beyond that, namely to encourage teamwork and cooperation. But for a group of the boys there was a goal even more important than those. The children at Anjali are not only economically underprivileged, but many come from broken homes. Some are without strong father figures. Others have no fathers at all, and so the chance to hang around with a strong, compassionate and fun man like Don is more than a treat — it is a crucial life experience.
 
Don is a keen fisherman. He fishes every year off the coast of Massachusetts, and last summer, spent several days a week working as first mate on a charter fishing boat. He knows how to fish. But he’d never done anything like this before. After traveling about an hour into the countryside by tuk tuk and truck, the group set off through a rice paddy or two and into an area around the Tonle Sap Lake.In the rainy season, that entire area is flooded, but now, they were able to reach it on foot. They fished with nets. As Don said, the kids had to teach him, and he never really got the hang of it.  But  it was great fun, very hot and dirty, but still great, and then they all cooked what they caught together and had a feast of a lunch.
I was sorry to have missed it, but I spent the day teaching some of the other kids. And any way, this was Don’s time to be with the kids.