Havresting rice at Smile Kids Village

Saturday morning I went up to the Smile Kids Village that BSDA run to help everyone harvest the rice. This rice we use to feed the students everyday, my friend Cookie came up as well to lend a hand. it was a beautiful cool morning and we started at 7.30am.
The students showed us how to do it - we were much slower then them but at least we gave it ago.

The Village has 2 small rice fields as you enter and some of the rice wasn't ready as there were 2 types that had been planted - so we had to harvest only the golden rice not the green rice.

Cookie trying her hand at cutting rice.

Panha, BSDA's program manager and vice director gave a hand as well.

All of us at work.

Me with my first bunch of rice that I cut.

Senghour, one of the students who was teaching me and who was showing me how to do it properly

Rice ready for harvesting.

We all worked in a line to cover the field.

Cookie busy at work.

Sokhoeun, BSDA's Manager of the MKK project, who is a dab hand at it as he comes from a family who have a rice farm - he was very quick and also showed us how to tie the rice into proper bundles.

My harvesting tool - you swipe the wooden point under the rice plants to lift them up and then you grab them with one hand while flipping over your tool and cutting the clump of stalks with the blade - there is a real skill to it but it works once you get a flow of movement going. On the handle you can see some of the rice husks.