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Cambodia - a country who's past is very much part of it's present and future, it is full of beauty and inspiring people. Many of you are probably unaware of Cambodia's sad history that has seen millions of Khmer people killed (Khmer is the main ethnic group).
In 1975 the Khmer Rouge under the leadership of Pol Pot, embarked on a genocide of the Cambodian people in an attempt to create a nation full of workers with no education. The Khmer Rouge entered Phnom Penh on April 17th and ordered an evacuation claiming that the American's were planning to bomb the area, millions of people were forced out of their homes and into the near by contry side. These people were informed the evacuation would last no longer than three days, however it did not end until 1979 when the Vietnamese managed to over throw the Khmer Rouge. During 1975-1979 millions were tortured and murdered, in particular teachers, doctors and those with higher education. The result of this horrific regime where babies were killed up aganist trees in the killing fields just outside Phnom Penh, and where people were tortured in s-21 (toul slong) which used to be a high school left Cambodia starting with nothing in 1979. I read in a history book that only 12 teachers were left after the genocide. Cambodia is a country that i feel the world failed. Learning in a Jewish high school, i was always taught the two words 'never again' - what happened to that?
There are currently over 3000 ngo's living and working in Cambodia, UNICEF have stated that hope is not for the Cambodians of today, nor their children, but their grandchildren. Working and living in Cambodia was an incredible experience - the constant smiles of Khmer people is inspirational.
We were volunteering in a school called Seametrey Children's Village that catered for children from nursery up until year 5. Our main role was taking circle time in the mornings with the nursery students and teaching dancing and swimming to the older ones. We spoke in English to all the students, we were pleasantly surprised with how amazing some of the students English was, obviously some are better than others but a few of the older ones spoke better than children their age in England and their handwritten English was often outstanding. The school itself works in a beautiful way - the rich expat families pay full fees, wealthier Khmer families pay half fees and the poor pay what they can when they can, its very robin hood but it works. The school is lucky as it had excellent facilities, in particular a swimming pool, so every afternoon the kids are in the pool and taught to swim.
As the school was preparing for a fundraiser at the end of Feb, our main job was getting them ready for the sponsored swim, sponsored skip and teaching them a salsa dance. I thoroughly enjoyed this experience. Teaching the children to swim was a lot of fun, there was one student that i would like to tell you all about as she really stood out to me in swimming and is such a beautiful and intelligent girl. Her name is Srey Pich, when we arrived she couldnt swim. She along with her brother and grandmother live in the school - they sleep on the floor of the nursery room. When the fundraiser came round, she was in the pool with the rest of her year partaking in a tag race and swimming lengths to raise money - she swam 14 lengths that day and instead of swimming in clothes, she was wearing a swimming costume we had donated to the school - i cannot explain how proud of her i was, even the normal sports teachers was shocked that she'd learnt to swim. She was so determined to learn and join in with the others and i was so honoured to be apart of that.
As for the salsa dance - that my friends was AMAZING! On our first rehearsal with them we didnt really no what to expect but they picked it up so quickly it was very impressive and they really enjoyed it. We got a group of 14 students paired up and they performed an awesome dance on the day of the fundraiser that included spins, partner work, spanish hand movements and a brilliant ending position if i do say so myself. Rehearsing for the dance was a lot of fun, two of the boys, Kosal and Socheat (who i nicknamed mr smiles due to his beautiful and infectuous smile) were such good salsa dancers, they were shaking their hips and leading all the other students all the time. If someone was having trouble with a move they were the first to offer help and always with a smile on their face (they were also incredible swimmers). The dance bought myself and Kate to tears on the day of the fundraiser, was just so proud of them and they did such an amazing job, the parents loved it :)
During our time in Phnom Penh Kates father d*** came out which was so nice. He was there at the fundraiser which was amazing for us, we were so proud of the students it was nice to have people from home there to see all the students hard work with us and also to show what we had been working on during our stay at the school. It is thanks to d*** that we were able to volunteer in Cambodia so i would like to take this opportunity to thank d*** for such an unforgetable experience and for everything you did for me during your trip to Cambodia.
There is so much to see in Cambodia so on our days off we took trips. On our first trip we went to the coast to a little untouched town called Kampot where we stayed in a beautiful hostel right on the river front. Whilst walking around town i managed to get painfully sunburnt - i swear i was in the shade though, oops. And during the school holiday we went with all the other volunteers up to Angkor Wat which was spectacular. On the bus journey up there there bus did however breakdown which meant we had to sit in the sun during the heat of the day waiting for it to be foxed. The Cambodian people o the bus got off the bus so quickly at the first sign of problems, i found it quite amusing as no one here has any sense of urgency to them but the second the wheel blew they practically were smashing the windows to get out the bus ha.
We watched sunset over the temples where Tomb Raider was filmed and got up extremley early to watch sunrise over angkorwat which was so stunning, well worth the crazy early get up.
We've still much to do in Cambodia which we will do on our way back through after Thailand, Laos and Vietnam.
Saying bye to the children was heartbreaking. They went all out and made us tons of cards, some even bought us presents - i got given a beautiful red scarf from my little friend Socheat, hair clips from meta and all the kids made us big cards with their hand prints on them - we cried. I am very excited to see the kids when we go back through! One of my little favourites Samrith (pronounced Sum-rat) who is about 4 broke my heart saying bye, hes just so adorable. I will really miss the kids and school - i'll even miss the early mornings, ha.
I am so proud of the work we did in Cambodia, i feel like we made a true connection wth the kids and with the fundraiser raising $1083 i feel we made a difference. Another person who needs to be mentioned is Kong our tuk tuk driver who looked after us, took us everywhere we needed and was forever helping us out making sure we got things for the right price. He had the most beautiful family, a 3 month old son, a 3 yr old daughter and stunning wife - they live in a tiny room and all share a double bed. But they never stop smiling, just like all the other Khmer people. Yes, there is much work to be done in Cambodia to give it's children the best start in life just like we have, but there is much we can learn from them.
Until next time Cambodia, i will hold a special place for you in my heart....x
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