Srei Saart

Srei Saart translates into English as ‘beautiful girl’. When I first met Mr Sophan’s wife I thought she was really beautiful with a youthful and very kind face. Many Khmer women of her age have lost a few teeth and/or developed a stony, weathered expression after years of child bearing and rearing, labouring in the sun and generally working hard for their husbands and families. Mr Sophan’s wife has done all those things and more during her 55 years of life but I thought she glowed! So, with my limited Khmer, the best words I could find at the time to describe her were ‘Srei Saart’. This of course caused much hilarity from everyone within earshot, including Mr Sophan himself, as it is a term reserved for much younger unmarried girls. However the name has stuck and he has even taken to use it himself.

Khmer culture dictates no physical contact between husband and wife in public and their roles are also quite clearly defined by the culture. This can make married couples appear quite distant from one another and, with arranged or semi-arranged marriages being the norm, this is quite often the case. Mr Sophan and Srei Saart seem different from the norm, as I have observed it, but this may also be due to the fact that I have developed such a close relationship with them. Often, within 10 minutes of getting back to Phnom Srok after a weekend in town I receive a phone call from him asking me to dinner and to share a few beers!

One morning last week Mr Sophan told me he was going to meet his Srei Saart in the rice fields as it is the right time of year to sow rice seed. Not one to miss an opportunity, I asked if I could come along to help! Slightly bemused, my offer of help was accepted and we hopped on our motos at the hottest time of the day and trekked out to the fields. It was a fantastic thing to experience and really raised my awareness of how dependant all the families in Phnom Srok are on the rice harvest. We met other families and workers out on the fields and I had no translator with me but did my best to understand what needed to be done.

Tractors ploughed the fields, turning over the soil, men and women alike walked up and down in rows with rice seed in a basket on the hip and threw the seed onto the soil. It is a much more complicated process than I had ever imagined, I mean how many ways can you throw rice seed on the ground? I was shown the correct way! And was laughed at (but in a supportive way) as I did a few lengths of the field. I got the impression I was being humoured slightly when the basket of seed was promptly taken from me after my second length and a Khmer took over. I think they found it a bit off the wall that a barang wanted to help sow their rice! I believe the tractors turn the soil again so to bury the seed and a better rice yield comes from transplanting the rice once it has grown a foot or so. I think I still have a few things to learn!

We had some interesting conversations about why I hadn’t worn a long sleeved top and I explained that I would quite like a tan! This is such an alien concept as all Khmer people want lighter skin and think white skin is absolutely beautiful. As we have tanning creams in the West, here in SE Asia they have whitening creams made by the same brands! (By the way, despite my protestations, I was literally forced to wear a hat and cover my head and neck with the traditional krama – scarf.)
Mr Sophan’s field didn’t get sown that day. I couldn’t see a dark cloud in the sky but all the farmers were standing or sitting around, after we’d had a picnic lunch of rice and fish, looking intently at the sky and muttering something about rain. Apparently it would be disastrous if they planted the rice seed just before it rained. We left Srei Saart and the other farmers at the field and whizzed back to the village on the motos literally being chased by large raindrops. It was a great experience and this week Mr Sophan told me the rice I did help sow has already grown! I quite fancy myself as a farmer! I hope to go back to the fields myself and observe the whole process and if nothing else, to understand more about this major part of everyone’s lives here. Most families in the district are primarily farmers and own at least one small field which is either their entire livelihood or helps to supplement another poorly paid job. All the school directors I have met, and a lot of the teachers, are farmers as well as they simply cannot live on their government salary alone. I am starting to understand more about some of the problems schools face in student (and teacher) attendance during these times as many poorer families need every pair of hands they can find to help in the fields which means many children miss a significant amount of school. Mr Sophan can afford to hire a tractor to turn his field but I have also seen many farmers ploughing with smaller motorised ploughs or cows, which obviously takes a lot more time. The Khmers find it hard to believe that we have no rice fields in the UK but think that our beef must taste better as they have a lot more grass to eat!