At lunchtime today we tried visiting the place we found earlier – the one where we saw haircuts happening. We were greeted with joyous smiles by our friend Jendi (with apologies to Jendi if this is not how she usually spells her name).
We asked her whether we would be able to get Sanjay’s hair cut, but sadly we were out of luck. The person who did the haircuts was pregnant and unable to provide haircuts. Jendi explained that there was someone across the road who was able to provide haircuts, but this person was thought to be unavailable, since it seemed she was in Phnom Penh with no indication of when she would get back. Nonetheless we crossed the road and searched for her, and she was there after all! Unfortunately she was unwilling to provide haircuts for men – she, like the rural hairdressers, only did haircuts for women.
Mission status for Sanjay’s haircut mission: In jeopardy!
As a consolation prize, we got talking to Jendi about her studies. We learned that she was studying general management at a local university. The course was very expensive for her – she paid $300-$400 per year. She hoped to run a restaurant for foreigners when she was finished.
We don’t know whether this is true of Jendi’s family, but we hear that in many parts of rural Cambodia (including this one) it’s common for men to start drinking early in the day and for women to be the ones that the family relies on for an income, whether that’s from working in the fields or doing something else. Whether this is the case for Jendi or not, we were pleased to discover that Jendi was investing in her future anyway.
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