I pronounce you husband and wife.”
The Priest turns to the crowd and encourages them to anoint the newlyweds with holy water. “Please offer them your blessings,” he says.
The elders of the village sprinkle holy water on the couple’s heads and throw white palm buds at them as a way to wish them good health, prosperity, and happiness.
THE BOMBING RAID
AUGUST 6, 1973
Time seems to pass very quickly. Almost three years into their marriage, Savanna and Isan have not yet been blessed with a child.
Savanna, her husband, Isan, and her childhood friends, Money, Molly, Ratanakiri, and Mondulkiri are in their early twenties. Their friendship has been growing stronger with each passing year. Savanna and her friends still do many things together. They are like brothers and sisters to her.
Money married Mondulkiri a few months ago and Molly and Ratanakiri will be getting married in May next year.
Early one morning, they board a double-decker boat filled with goods at Bassac River with the intention of visiting Neak Loung, a small ferry town on the Mekong River in southwestern Cambodia near the Vietnam border to buy diabetes medication for Savanna’s father.
Isan, Ratanakiri, and Mondulkiri built the boat together. It is made of water-resistant teak wood. Over the shallow V-shaped hull, which is the body of the boat, is a flat open deck that can be snapped on and off as needed. The boat is designed to rise up and glide on top of the water when traveling fast and to stay buoyant while at rest or at slow speed, allowing them to travel rapidly and comfortably across the river through rough or smooth water.
At the stern, Mondulkiri maneuvers the boat out into the open channel, while Ratanakiri, Molly, and Money are busy mending the fishing nets on the middle deck.
Sitting at the front deck, Savanna takes out a handful of lotus rootlets from the bamboo basket and soaks them in a large bucket of water to keep them fresh so they can sell or trade them at the market in Neak Loung.
A warm breeze ruffles her hair as Savanna turns her gaze southward. She has been thinking about her father constantly wondering how long he would survive without the insulin. She tries not to dwell on these negative thoughts, but they keep coming back to her over and over again. Savanna pictures his ailing face and wonders how she would feel if something bad were to happen to him. She just wants to focus on finding the insulin and returning home to be with him.
Savanna and her family have no money. People in the village have donated many items for them to trade for insulin.
Back in Great Moat Village, everything is bartered and traded for. There is no need for money. For many centuries, people of Great Moat Village have existed as a community. They take care of one another when they are in need. No one dies alone. No family carries all of the burdens on their shoulders by themselves. No couple gets married without the help of the community.
For as long as she could remember, Savanna had never met a friendless or a homeless person in Great Moat Village. But in Phnom Penh, people seem less friendly. She has seen very little community involvement among them. People are too busy helping themselves, even a simple inquiry about insulin had cost them five kilograms of tobacco.
Insulin was a precious commodity even before the war. People in small villages often had to travel long distances to find it. For two days, they had searched for insulin and diabetic supplies in every hospital and pharmacy in Phnom Penh, but had been unable to find it.
Savanna does not understand much about diabetes. All she knows is that insulin has saved her father’s life. Without it he will die. About two years ago, her father suddenly became very sick. With a stroke of luck, they ran into a French missionary doctor in the village. The doctor gave her father insulin and taught him about diabetes. After that her father was doing very well until he ran out of insulin.
A pharmacist in Phnom Penh told them that the hospital in Neak Loung might have diabetic supplies. Without delay, they decide to strike out for Neak Loung on their motorboat and they travel at top speed in search of the insulin.
Three days have passed since they left Great Moat Village. It has not been long, but it feels like a month. Savanna hopes it is not too late to save her father.
Neak Loung is one of the major trading routes. Many foreign goods pass through the town’s busy port.
Savanna thinks if they can get to the hospital in time, they might have a better chance of finding diabetic supplies in the ferry town than in the capital.
As they move down the river, they pass by many small villages along the shore. From her position at the bow, Savanna has a clear view of the landscape. Almost every home is made of bamboo and thatch. There are boats in different shapes and sizes moving up and down the river.
Savanna looks at the water around the boat. Seeing its brown color shifts her thoughts to the climate of Cambodia.
The annual flooding of the Mekong River covers a large part of the land from June to October. The river replenishes the land with fertile soil, irrigates the fields, refills the lakes across the country, and provides means of transportation for villagers who live inland. Boats are the most common and convenient form of transportation for many people who live in the floodplain, especially during the wet season.
In addition, the Mekong River splits into numerous tributaries. The rivers are a major source of fish, providing an important source of food for the people. Many Cambodians get their daily supply of protein from fish. As a result of the climate that does not become extremely cold and the fertile soil, a variety of vegetables and grains thrive in this part of the world.
In some areas, farmers can grow and harvest rice three times a year. There is one strain of rice that can alter its rate of growth according to the rise and fall of the flood water. If the water rises, the paddy heads rise above the water line just enough to catch the sunlight. If the water level drops, the rice plants lower themselves, but manage to stay a little higher than the water line at all times. After the water has receded from the floodplain, the rice plants fall to the ground. Within a few weeks or so, the grains are ready to be harvested. This unique strain of rice is known as floating rice.
Regardless of the wet or dry season, the temperature stays very warm throughout the year, except for the month of January. The short winter is slightly cooler. Savanna has no need for thick clothes or heavy blankets—a thin, long-sleeved cotton shirt is enough to keep her warm in the winter.
But the heat can get very uncomfortable at noon under the direct sunlight. Along the shores of the river, people leave their homes very early to do their daily activities before the sun reaches its zenith. Here and there, she sees people bathing and washing their clothes on wooden platforms while their little children play nearby. Life here looks just about the same as life in her village.
They are making good time despite the rough water and bumpy ride. By mid-morning, they are near their destination.
Here, about sixty kilometers south east of Phnom Penh, three kilometers north of Neak Loung, far from the melting snow of the Himalayan mountains and the running streams that feed it, the mighty river has flowed over four thousand kilometers. Soon, it will drain into the open arms of the South China Sea.
In Great Moat Village, the river is much calmer. Savanna’s ancestors knew how to channel the water to irrigate the rice fields. They also learned how to hold water in reserve by building moats and ponds. Thanks to
