Reunion with Elephant

Last night was our long awaited reunion with Elephant, the man who had driven for us when we adopted Bodhi. A ‘driver’ in this country is much much more. He is your translater, your guide, your maitre ‘d’, your fixer, your babysitter, your friend – if he’s a good one, and Elephant was the best. In the eight years we’ve been gone, he’s become a man of means. He and his family have moved on from the tiny one room shack on stilts, to a four-bedroom, three-bath house. He has been elevated to Colonel in the Cambodian Army, though he does not actually serve, there is a cot and uniform for him at the barracks. He has become Executive Director of a well-known charity that operates schools, orphanages and an HIV clinic for mothers. Elephant is a survivor of the Pol Pot regime, he was raised in refugee camps on the Thai border, he and his brother were separated from their family and forced to dig ditches in lieu of a normal childhood. He went on to become one of the top three ranked Khmer kick-boxing champions.

He is stronger and wiser than when we met him eight years ago, but with the same sense of humor and absurdity, the same zest for life and especially, the same constant clock ticking driving him to work 16-20 hours a day. He remembered us well enough and especially Bona. He commented on Bodhi's head rounding out (his head had a big flat spot as a baby from lying in the crib too much.) It was sweet to see them together and for Elephant to see what a great boy Bodhi has grown into. We had a drink or two and shared some food here at the hotel. We will see him again on Sunday at a dance performance at one of the orphanages.