Through their eyes

The Reyum Institute, a non-profit NGO dedicated to Cambodian arts and culture, will Thursday (9th) begin hosting a new exhibition of paintings by twelve contemporary Cambodian artists, who've all exhibited with Reyum in the past. This exhibition, titled Through Our Eyes, will focus on the present and how the artists view today. Amongst the works of a dozen artists will be Hen Sophal, Chhim Sothy, Prom Vichet and many more. The opening of the exhibition will take place at 5pm at Reyum, opposite the Fine Arts campus and National Museum in downtown Phnom Penh and the exhibits will remain on view until 5 November.
In town today or very soon are a couple of old friends in Doug Mendel, the firefighter guy who is kitting out the Cambodian fire service seemingly single-handedly. His tireless efforts to raise funds to bring equipment over from the States for the fire stations around the country are worthy of so much praise. More notable efforts to bring schooling and a better life for the villagers of Chrauk Tiek in a remote area of Kompong Speu province are in the capable hands of Kari Grady-Grossman, the author of the wonderful book Bones That Float, which I would recommend to everyone, and her Sustainable Schools International team. If it works out I'll be enjoying an Indian meal with Kari this evening so she can update me more fully on the opening of a library at the school and an update on their brickette-making community business. Link: SSI.
On the subject of eyes, my eye infection hasn't cleared up as I hoped. It got better then returned with a vengeance, so I've been nursing 'red eye' for a while now and treatment is continuing with stronger cream and tablets. It's meant a temporary hold on my football-playing activity whilst I sort myself out. On the football front, don't forget Cambodia has a series of home games this month as they seek to qualify for the AFF Suzuki Cup finals. The opening game against Laos on the 17th is following by matches against East Timor, Philippines and Brunei.