Fish field trip

The day started off with with visiting Watthan Artisians which is wonderful worker-run cooperative of Cambodian artisans with disabilities. They are also the ones who make the leaf boxes that hold the fish. The workers are trained in a variety of trades from silk weaving to woodcarving. There are currently four stores in Phnom Penh and everything is so beautiful that it’s hard not to want to buy everything in sight.

Checking out one of the workshops at Watthan. 

The next stop was a small village an hour outside the city where we sat down with the village chief  who was one of the very first people to receive a Lucky Iron Fish. Through a translator we learned how she became one of the only female chiefs and how the fish has helped her entire family. She was so adorable that I honestly wanted to hug her. However, I held it together and did the customary greeting/farewell but with our hands at eye height to show respect. 

Our lovely host and village chief.

The last leg of the journey involved passing through an area known for it's garment factories. All these unmarked warehouses gave me a bad feeling as I’m well aware most of them likely live up to their bad reputations. At one point it looked like a school had let out for the day, when in fact it was just a huge group of young girls heading home from work.

I was especially looking forward to meeting the family that actually make the fish and was completely blown away watching the process of how these little guys are made.

This furnace was made by one of the family members. It heats up to 1200 degrees celsius and takes 2 hours to melt down the scrap iron. 

They set the fish mold into this box, place a metal rod in the middle, fill it with sand and pound it down.   

He then takes out the rod and lifts up one of the boxes to remove the mold and reveal the hollow imprint. You then flip the box back over and pour liquid iron into the hole at the top. I'm not sure what surprised me more. The fact that the sand stays in the box and gives such detailed print, or that they do all this in bare feet (despite our attempts otherwise). The fish take 1 minute to set, 1 hour to cool and then are chipped off one by one.

The "field" where the magic happens. 

The fish are placed into this mixer with charcoal which is manually spun to shine the fish. 

Voila!

Overall it was a really great day and my heart was filled with love for the all the kind and welcoming people we met. It was also good to see how the fish are not only helping people feel better but giving people jobs and improving their standard of living.