This paper explores the life of a teacher, John S. Noffsinger, who arrived in Manila in either late May or early June 1910, and taught for two years in Bayombong, Nueva Viscaya.
This is a photo taken on April 4, 2007, the day our group of Peace Corps trainees became the first group of Peace Corps volunteers to serve in Cambodia. We were placed in the backroom of a hall on the campus of the National Institute of Education...
When I first got to my training site in Cambodia, my family was still finishing planting rice in the fields behind their house. I was interested to see that the animals weren't raised for food, but were kept to work in the fields during the...
This photo was taken in my backyard with my two favorite neighbors- Ging and Sia Mai. Three Peace Corps staff members had visited me the week before and given out some balloons. It made these little girls' day.
In December 2010, I asked my students if anyone celebrated Christmas in the village. They replied, "No teacher, we know Santa Claus, but he doesn't stop in Cambodia." It was such a sad response that I decided we would have to change that during my...
Welcoming Ceremony at the Wat: None of us understand much of anything that is going on around us, but we understand when a little girl is diligently collecting every one of the best-smelling flowers in the room for her own.
Much to our amusement,...
Children; Secondary projects; Water and sanitation
While building wells in a rural community in the hottest months of the year (April), I stumbled upon this little guy trying to cool off inside a chamber pot.
Near my house, the rice fields at dusk are never a dull sight. Every evening is different. The colors are shaped by the day's weather, whether it rained or remained humid and heavy. This particular palm tree is my favorite. Its reflection in the...
One day I showed my training host brother, Samon, how to build a simple card tower with a deck of cards I brought from America. I didn't know if he got anything out of it at the time. A couple days later I was reading outside, and he came and...
This photo was taken sometime during Pchum Ben 2010 (Sept. 18-20), in my host mom's outdoor kitchen. They live in a small Village in Cambodia. She and my host pa are rice farmers. The preparations for this celebration were particularly poignant as...
This is a photo of my host mother and my host grandmothers on Chinese New Year 2010. In Cambodia many families celebrate Chinese New Year by offering food up to the ancestors and burning incense. That day we prepared three separate meals; one for...