Volunteering In Siem Reap
Trip Start
Jun 29, 2008
1
24
40
Trip End
May 15, 2009
Siem Reap,
Cambodia
Saturday, August 23, 2008
There are about 15 volunteers here at the moment covering 5 different projects. Ranging from fairly established ones like Sangkheum to very basic new ones. Sangkheum has been around for about 6 years and is made up of resident and non resident children and aged between 4 and 18. The resident children are split into 'family'groups and housed in individual houses with a carer. The non resident children come from the surrounding areas. They are taught Khmer, English, Computers and Art. There are about 100 children there and they are split roughly in half between resident and non resident. Usually there are three volunteers from Globalteer out there teaching.
I got to meet most of the volunteers on the Friday evening which was handy as it was the weekend and it is usually difficult to bump into people as they are out and about relaxing. I made my way to town to have breakfast in my favourite spot, The Blue Pumpkin, fully air-coned absolutely bliss with cool tunes and big sofas to lounge on. I then treated myself to a massage, well I have tried to do one each week I'm in Asia as they are so cheap, and this one didn't disappoint at $7. The rest of the weekend was spent chilling out with some of the volunteers and having a drink. Well it would be rude not to have a drink on the weekend!!
On Monday it was out to the school. Marcus the education coordinator took me out there along with Maggie, an older Aussie, who had already been at the school for a week. The school is currently on their summer programme which mostly Khmer art and crafts and also making things for their end of summer show and award day. So for most of the day we aren't needed, we just get in the way. Maggie has two one hour lessons to fat lunchtime with some juniors and young adults. I just sat and watched with the occasional bit of participation. Maggie has been teaching for years so she is an old hand at it. It's a bit of a waste of my time but it is only for 2 hours a day so I get plenty of time to myself. The downside is it's a half hour tuk-tuk ride from the GH and costs $8 between us!! Poor Maggie paid it all herself the previous week which is a bit much when you pay 500 quid for 3 weeks and your flight here.
The rest of the week was pretty much the same other than new volunteers arriving and some leaving. We have a pretty good bunch ranging from 21 to about 65. There are five americans, six aussies, four english, a canadian and an irish woman. Five are over forty and don't really socialise with the rest of us young uns!!
We were joined by another aussie woman on Thursday at our school, Maureen, who is I think in her fifties. Lovely lady.
Friday the kid had the end of summer show/award ceremony. They put on 3 small plays about children's rights, their right to no discrimination, to be protected and the right to life. Even thought they were in Khmer we could understand their meanings. The plays were written and directed by the older kids, some of whom Maggie teaches. We then shared lunch with them, red curry with veg, chicken and pork served with french bread and noodles. It was lovely as long as you didn't look at some of the meat as we had a chicken foot at the bottom of our bowl. They spent the afternoon playing football which we didn't watch as it was too hot.
The weekend was spent partying quite hard on Friday night and getting in late. It was really busy in town and I ran into quite a few people I knew from last year, John from Bristol who owns Aqua, Mac, an english guy who owns Funky Monkey, Stewart from London who's an architect, Sam the previous volunteer co-coordinator and who now runs one of the projects and Zoe who works at Angkor Wat bar. What was real funny is that they all remembered me, not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing!! Thank god for Royal D rehydration powder, it's a miracle cure and preventer of hangovers!!
Most of yesterday (Sunday) was spent trying to prepare for our lessons on Monday as Maureen and I have two two hour lessons, 9-11 and 2-4 plus an hour at lunchtime and Maggie has two two hour lessons and two one hour ones to do. We are not sure of the class sizes, could be 30 kids, what their level of english is or their ages. So we are in the dark a bit so Maureen and I will have to wing some of it. I didn't sleep much last night worrying about things.
Well D day arrived after being here a week and I got up extra early even went out on my push bike to find breakfast, a pork filled mini baguette, it was surprisingly good and only cost 25 cents. We got to school only to be told that lessons don't start till Wednesday, three unhappy bunnies as you can imagine. Our tuk-tuk had already left so we had to find someone to ring Globateer up to get him to come back to us. We played with some of the younger kids whilst we waited. We went to see a silk farm on our way back to make use of our now free time. It was really interesting and we saw the people weaving the silk too. We then made our way back to the GH for our moan to Marcus. That didn't really get us very far which I expected. He aplogised and arranged for us to be able to start tomorrow instead. We asked if we could help at one of the other projects which was met with a NO they are already at full capacity. We decided to go out to New Hope one of the new very basic schools which has 6 of the volunteers at. It is in the middle of the local red light district with numerous karaoke bars, not just a place for singing if you catch my drift. This is a very basic school where two of the classrooms are part of the playground with no desks, the kids sit on the floor on mats. The volunteers teach 6 classes here with limited resources. The kids are lovely, very much like my kids from last year, very affectionate. I think our school's kids are going to be much more quiet and hands off.
First day at school and was totally nerve racking. Maureen and i had done quite a bit of prep but as we didn't quite know the children's level of english we weren't sure if we had done enough. Lessons went ok if a little shaky. We had one of the young adults, Bota, helping with any translation we needed, which helps. The first class didn't know as much as we thought they might have. Two hours is a long time to teach when you are non teachers. We made it through to lunchtime (11am) and had lunch with the kids. It was some kind of broth with veg, some greens which looked like pond weed and some kind of meat well more bones than meat. It was delicious. Mum you'd be proud of me!!
The afternoon was slightly easier as the kids knew more but still hard to fill two hours, thank god we have a fifteen minute break in between. By the end of the day Maureen and I were absolutely knackered, I don't think I've ever been that tired. We talked all the way home in the tuk-tuk about the classes and listened to Maggie moan about hers (she's a trained teacher), this drained me even more!! We then had to plan for our next day lessons; I was not looking forward to that as I just wanted to go to sleep. It took us nearly two hours to prepare for the next day, I could have cried. I nearly didn't make it to dinner I was that tired, but you all know me I need my food, oh and a beer!!
Marcus the education co-coordinator from Globalteer came along for Wednesday to observe and help as he is a trained teacher of english and Maureen and I had requested some help as we were totally over whelmed with the idea of teaching. He was very helpful and gave us some good suggestions about how to run the classes and how to cut prep down to 15 mins. I also have an hour english class for some of the staff at lunchtimes which I really really didn't want to take. I tried my hardest to get out of it but with Marcus' help we prepared a lesson and I felt more confident. The class was made up of 6 members of staff, a khmer teacher, a cook and some of the house mothers (they're called educators). Their english is pretty good and they were really kind to me and now I actually look forward to spending that hour with them.
The kids here are really cool, they really want to learn. They are looked after so well will three cooked meals and day. We have lunch here everyday, it's always some sort of soup with veggies and fish or meat. It has been nothing but delicious and contrary to the belief of some of the volunteers here that wouldn't eat it none of us have got sick from it!!
The week has just got better and better with the teaching. Bota said that our first day wasn't too good but that we had improved. Prep is only taking us 10 mins at the end of the day as we look at our next day at lunchtime for our morning class and at the end of the day for our afternoon class. We feel more like teachers now. It is definitely a good way for me to prepare for my TEFL course in B Aires.
We had a new aussie volunteer join us on Thursday, Bronwyn, and she is staying for 3 months. She is pretty quite but very smart o she'll be fine. She's taking over Maggie's classes. Maggie was supposed to be here until the following Wednesday but decided to leave early on the Sunday instead. She didn't cope well with the heat and found being out here really hard at her age (61) so it was the best thing for her. Good for me too as I was struggling with her negativity, it was getting me down. Maureen on the other hand is nothing but positive and she doesn't stop (must be that generation). She's always walking or out on her bike.
Friday night some of our older kids were dancing at a local hotel/restaurant. So we went to watch them. The Apsara dancing was something special to watch and made more special as we knew some of the dancers and musicians. Maureen was like a very proud parent as she teachers some of the older boys that were there. I saw a tear in her eye as she was watching. Once it was over we both rushed back stage to congratulate them all. I haven't smiled that much for some time. The four of us went to dinner before I went to find the others. It was Jim, Sarah and Rachel's last night. They are a great bunch and it was sad to think of them leaving. It's amazing how you can form a bond and friendship with people in such a short time. They were leaving at 7am the next morning for Bangkok by bus but that didn't stop them from having a good drink. We were out at X bar til 3am. Sarah was particularly drunk she was so funny. God knows how she got up at 6am and was ready as she still had most of her packing to do. I got up at 6.45am to see them off. I was sad to see the three of them go as they were fairly big personalities.
Sam, Jess, Carla, Kate and I went quad biking for an hour or so. It took us around paddy fields and small villages and we had a real insight into Cambodian life rather than the false one we see in the town. I nearly ran a dog over and Sam nearly ran a chicken over. So many children came out to shout hello to us as we went passed in various states of undress. The paddy fields were so beautiful all shades of green. We went through big puddles and had a chance to open them up on a large straight dirt road which was so much fun. Our french guide did have a bit of road rage with a truck driver and the driver went to get out of his cab with his crowbar which was a little scary. The rest of the day was quiet. Sarah, me and Jess went for a foot massage with the blind people on the Sunday. It was the funniest foot massage I had ever had. We had to lie down rather than sit in a comfy chair with our feet up and they didn't use any oil or cream on us it was a bit like a mini thai massage on our feet.
By the start of the next Monday we had our classes down and didn't need to do much prep and we were confident on taking them between us. We concentrated on large numbers with the older kids in the afternoon and the body and colours with the younger ones. We have more of a routine now and it feels a bit like going to work and in the evening we are a little community which is really cool.
I decided to stay on an extra week and put my flight back to Oz. This means I leave at the same time as Sam, Tony and Carla on Thursday. I'm going to go to Bangkok with Tony and Carla before I fly to Sydney on Sunday and they fly to Nepal.
It definitely feels like home here with these people. We all looked forward to Fridays. Maureen and I always so an hour of craft which each of our classes and we decided to make paper beads with the kids so they could make necklaces, bracelets and the boys made headbands (thai boxing ones).
We all hit the beers after dinner as is our tradition. We started on beer pitchers in temple bar at $3 each and then moved onto AK47 cocktails (buy one get one free) before hitting Angkor Wat for Jager bombs then X bar. It was all very messy with Ashley falling asleep in the bar. We made it home at 4am. We were all so tired on the Saturday that the most we did was go out for lunch and then spend the rest of the time in my room watching DVDs as my room is the coolest. Most of Sunday was spent at a fancy pool grabbing some rays. I also went with Sarah and gave blood at the free childrens hospital. The kids can have up to 12 transfusions if they contract Dengue Fever (a high number of under 5s die from this every year) so we did our bit for them. You get a free Tshirt a box of biscuits and a car sticker. They so don't need to give you stuff though as they are run completely on charitable donations.
Monday was off to school for my last day. You can imagine my surprise and sadness when we got to school and found out we didn't have any students to teach. The kids were registering for their local public school so were there instead. We we're pretty pissed off as this is the second time we have gone all the way to school, sent out tuk-tuk back and then found out there is no school. So we had to wait for Mr Bol (tuk tuk driver) to get back to the GH (1/2hour) before we could get him sent back. Bronwyn managed to find six of her students (she normally has nearly 40) so she taught them for an hour before we headed back. It would have been so good to have had the opportunity to say goodbye to the kids but oh well it wasn't meant to be.
I now have free time until I go back to Bangkok on Thursday. Michelle and I decide to go horse riding. me a complete novice and her a trained riding instructor, should be interesting!! We go for the 2 hour ride through paddy fields and small local villages. We get there eventually in the tuktuk, we think our school road is bad, its nothing compared to this road. All pot holes and mud where is has been raining the last couple of days. We get there and we are introduced to our horses, don't know the name of mine but it likes to eat.....funny how they can match rider to horse eh!! and also likes to drop itself down in water...great as we are going through paddy fields. It's a great way to see the countryside, we saw water buffalos treading the mud in the fields, numerous white herons catching fish, cows wandering around, people planting rice, kids wandering around the small villages wearing practically nothing but rags but laughing and smiling and people drying the rice outside their homes and scrawny chickens running around. Well she was right about my bloody horse liking to drop its arse in the water. We wnt through a deep patch of water and straight away it tried to sit down, I was like what th F*@!, good job Michelle was around otherwise I would have been dumped in the water. She was shouting at me to kick him but to begin with all i managed to do was flap my legs about, but eventually got the hang of it and stopped him from sitting, I was bloody knackered afterwards though and I rthought I had pretty strong legs! We stopped off at a monastary and a remote temple which was cool. It was time to head back which was a relief as i was pretty tired and sore, maybe an hour would have been better for me? We were about half an hour away from the stables when the heavens opened and we got absolutely soaked. All the locals had a good laugh at our expense, we must have ben a right sight. All in all it was a good afternoon, i learned to trot sort of without bumping all over the place and had a go at cantering which was bloody scary, I thought I was gonna come off. If I had fallen off it wouldn't have been too bad as I would have been surrounded by water and mud so it would have been a soft landing.
The night was party night as it was Tony, Karla, Sam and my leaving drinks. Most people went off to a Khmer restaurant to eat but Sam, Michell and me went with Kate into town as Kate doesn't eat Khmer food. We took ourselves off to Temple bar (so not a good idea). Our drinks with dinner were Vodka and Red Bull pitchers (5$ each so bloody cheap), so we were off to a good start. So afetr two pitchers were went down in to the bar to find Ashley and Tony drinking the same stuff (must be fate!!). The others arrive and the carnage starts. Kate, Sam, Michelle and I find pretty much anything funny and I've never laughed so much in all my life. We eventually head across to Angkow Wat for more Vodka and Redbull mixed in with a couple of Jager Bombs!! There are arguments (nice ones) over the free tshirts (buy 2 oitchers get a free tshirt) so LAclan buys a whole bunch for us. After a lot of dancing and sweating we eventually get kicked out and go off to X bar. On the way Karla and I stop off at the noodle lady (fried rice and noodles a dollar) and find some begging kids to feed and also a couple of the ladies with babies begging. We wo't give them money but are happy to feed them, you don't know when they were last fed. We feed about eight of them that night (sam and I fed about six the previous night) and play patter cake with the kids, not very well as we were pretty drunk. Once at Xbar I start to feel a little sick so head home about 4am via the noodle lady to get some noodles to take away which I don't eat (I had them cold for breakfast the next day, yum yum).
As you can imagine everyone is a little worse for wear the next day and some of them have school to go to!!Fortunately for the New Hope teachers, Ashley, Lachlan and Sarah school is cancelled as the road is flooded, howevre for everyone else teaching it was a 9am start. Very little was done other than going into town for lunch and then a lot of sleeping and mooching around. For our last night we went out for a quiet dinner and a wander around the night market. As a goodbye present Sam bought, m, Karla, Tony, Rachel and Sarah (the last two left the week before) bracelets to remember our friendship and time in Siem Reap...such a sweetie!! Sam, Kate and I head home as I have a 7am start the next morning to catch the bus to Bangkok. We thiought the rest were going to do the same but it turns out that Karla and Ashley went and had a few cocktails and then headed back with the rest with wine and stayed up late talking and listening to Lachlan's rooster kareoke (he does a mean rooster impression).
Thursday morning comes around far too fast and I am knackered. We are leaving at 7am to get to the bus (if you can call it that). Karla, Tony and I are surprised as everyone has gotten up early to see us go. I was so touched as before the goodbyes are said the previous night. It was hard to say goodbye as I had had such a good time in Siem Reap and made some really good friends, we had such a good bunch. We expected to picked up by mionibus as Jim etc were but no a lone moto turns up to pick three of us up!! So we are taken one by one with our bags to the place the bus is picking up. I of course get the dainty girl on a moto who can't hold my bag infront of the moto so I have to wear it on my back. Sam had to help me onto the back of the moto as I nearly fell over with the weight! I prayed to god that I got to the place intact and didn't fall off. I made it in one piece just. The bus didn't leave until 8.30am in the end. Well I am glad that it has rained the last couple of days and it was cloudy when we left because it meant the temp was quite cool so it didn't matter that the aircon wasn't very good. We went through town to leave, the bus is full of people and bags, even bags in th aisles and then we stop....to pick up two more people!! it was like where are they gonna sit?? The driver goes and gets two plastic seats and puts them in the aisle....total madness. We finally leave for good this time. The road out of town and past my school is not good. It is full of potholes and mud and is so uneven and the rest of the way is supposed to be the same as this (it was last year!). We hit the first pothole and we hear cries from the back...bags have fallen on their heads. Two minutes later the bus skids out on the mud and we think god this is it our time is up but the driver manages to gain control. It takes us about 5 hours to get to the border town of Poipet and the road was better than last year, not quite so bumpy. We are dusty and sweaty though and poor Tony has had to sit next to a japanese guy with bad breath the whole way. We see some crazy sights in Poipet, the muddiest roads ever with people walking in flip flops through it, motos carrying far too much stuff, lorries loaded up so high, its hard to see how the stuff stays on. The border crossing was ok just takes ages especially when people on your bus wander off and keep everyone else waiting. The bus back to Bangkok was much better, a double decker with toilet and good aircon. We get into Bangkok about 8pm. I take Tony and Karla to a GH I use in Bangkok near Khao San as its easy. We sent Rachel a message about where we were as she was going to Nepal with Tony and Karla, but we weren't sure when she was getting in to Bangkok. Low and behold on the next morning we get a knock on the door and it's Rachel, she had found us and was staying in the same GH. We spend the day doing chores, going to the post office for Tony and The electronics mall for Karla. The day goes before we know it. It's good to have other people around whilst in Bangkk it's usually a lonely place for me. They leave early on Saturday to get their flights to Nepal. I'm so jealous of them, I wish I were going to. If only I had spoken to them a few weeks earlier I could have changed my plans around..Oh well maybe next time as we all hope to meet up next year.
Saturday sees me alone in Bangkok again, I mooch around, get a massage, eat good street food and do some shopping. It's off to Sydney for me on Sunday evening!! A bit of normality and to be able to drink from a tap...bliss (you start to realise out here that you take that for granted!!).
