Hello,

During my previous visits, I had met a young girl selling books on the street. I remembered this girl especially, because I never bought anything from her and told her that I wouldn’t buy her books, but we could be friends. She never tried to sell anything to me and stopped all the other kids when they bugged me for money. Anyway, I was walking down the street on this day and this same girl ran up to me said “Hello Gerry. How are you?” She remembered my name after all this time away. Soklin remembered my name. And, she has never again asked me to buy another book. We sometimes sit at a table and play the game “Connect Four”. She beats me every time.

Two months after I left Cambodia, I received a phone call from an Internet shop. Soklin went to every place where I hung out to ask if they knew me. She found my friends at the Frog and Parrot and got my phone number from one of them. She phoned me from an Internet phone to tell me that she was still going to school and that she wanted to know when I would come back to play “connect four” with her again. I got to know Soklin from a simple “hello”. And, her simple “hello” back to me after returning to Cambodia and on the phone is most special.

Love Gerry