Cambodia: Volunteering Diaries

Charlie Hope

Hello!
All is well here, we are looking forward to visiting the falls tomorrow before our bus trip. Sorry this is only a quick email- there is a queue for the internet and cafe shuts soon!Hope all is well in UK, we’re finding it very hot but very fun.Will be more expansive another time!
Love charlie.

Hey Guy,
Sorry its taken so long to reply, we've just been having such a great time in Siem Reap we haven't really had any time - its brilliant: food, accommodation, people (especially), work all been to expectations and beyond...it's been brilliant and we don't really want to leave. But we are looking forward to rock view. We should be heading there this afternoon. We changed our itinerary round so we could have more time off at the end, we 're going to thailand for a holiday! Hope all is well back in England and the Kenya groups got sorted out.

It was so great having Emma out here, we all got on so well. looking forward to the article.

Take Care Charlotte

Tom Taylor

Thanks for the email, we can't believe we're 3 weeks in either!

We left Phnom Penh on Monday having enjoyed our time there and had made friends with some of the staff there and other local volunteers. We helped develop the water project as well as teaching the orphans who are very sweet and we were fed incredibly well-too well!

We've spent the last few days in Siem Reap, which has been a fun experience! We explored the markets and the tourist attractions that were there-generally had a relaxing time and eating ice cream! We're headed for Tonle Sap tomorrow evening and are really looking forward to this phase!

Lou Jones

Hi Guy,

All is well in Siem Reap, we've been kept really busy and had a thoroughly enjoyable time! We've spent most of the time teaching as the teachers have been away on various workshops-we were even in charge of the whole school one day-an experience! We've also helped out in the healthcentre, trailblazer water project, and been giving computer classes to villagers!

We also went on a river trip down the Tonle Sap river which was amazing! Everyone has been very friendly and we've been made to feel very welcome! We're off to spend some time in Phnom Penh on Friday before the last phase begins!

Hope your well, Lou

Laura Sandars

Dear Guy

Sorry not to have been in contact before, been v busy and not always getting to the Internet cafe!

We're having a lovely time out here, and i can hardly believe that it's been 3 weeks since we left England - time has flown by.

We've just got back from our long weekend in which we went to Phnom Penh. It was a really really good trip and fascinating to see another part of Cambodia. We spent 3 nights there and managed to fit in quite a lot of sight seeing- The genocide museum S21, the Killing Fields, The Royal palace and
the silver Pagoda as well as all 3 markets.

The accommodation out here is really good, on arriving I didn't really know what to expect, despite being shown pictures by Alice at the training day. But I was very pleasantly surprised. As i'm sure you know, we have our own house between the three of us, so we all have our own room and our own space, 2 bathrooms and a nice dining area. Perhaps i'm a bit biased since I love Asian cuisine, but the
food is really good, and it's lovely not to have to worry about doing it myself.  We hope to try and do a cookery lesson at some point before we leave and have seen lots of places where we can do that so when we come back we'll all be professional Khmer chefs!

On thursday we start our next part of the project, and it seems very strange that we have already finished at trailblazers and the orphanage.

I really loved working at the orphanage - the children are all very loving and when we arrived on the first day a couple of them ran up to us and gave us big hugs. I found that i had a passion for teaching and am quite sad that that part is over, although we've promised to go back and visit the kids
before we leave.

Working at trail blazers was quite an experience!! visiting the villages where trailblazers was helping out was very interesting, and a great way to see what rural life in Cambodia is like. This was definately the best part of working there, although we did meet some lovely people whilst we were working at the base in Siem Reap, washing sand etc. On one trip out to one of the villages we were most definately the star attraction for that day if not the entire week/month, with the whole village crowding round us and wanting to get a good look at us!

We're looking forward to the next part of the project and will keep you
updated on how that goes.

Thanks,
Laura, Vivienne and Maud!

 

Becky Richards

Hi Guy and everyone at The Leap,
 
Sorry it has taken me sooo long to write this email - I've been meaning to for a while now! I've just been looking over all my travelling photos and reminiscing about my time in Cambodia when I realised I still hadn't sent you an email! I just wanted to say a huge thank you for everything you all do when it comes to the projects.

Cambodia was truly amazing and with such incredible people - both the team in country and everyone we met along the way - I have to say that I well and truly miss it! The kids at COSO and in Siem Reap are beautiful, and Cambodia is an incredible country - I know that we all left a part of ourselves there and I definitely wish that I could be there now!

Siem Riep was the highlight for me. The town itself was vibrant and so friendly - a great starting place to settle in, especially for me who had never been to Asia before! COSO was amazing - what topped it off was that we were there for Khmer New Year and they involved us all in the celebrations, from running around with the kids throwing flour at each other (a completely crazy but really fun tradition) to being able to sit with them for a meal.

The kids were just beautiful - lively, adventurous and so full of life, despite the harsh reality of their situation. We were truly welcomed and I had a brilliant time there. The orphanage is really well run and we could all tell how much the director cared – even about the small things. All I can say is that I have been touched by that experience alone. Trailblazers was a whole world away. Sifting all that sand and cleaning rocks was hard work in the heat but worth it all in the end. It was unbelievable to see the condition of the water which the villages drank - which only really hit home when we saw it first hand at the deliveries. I hope the project will go on to save many more lives.
 
The trip was fuelled by emotional highs and lows - more than worthwhile. working at the pagodas and seeing the people affected by illness totally brought me back to reality. Working with the monks was for me brilliant. I found them out to be normal, funny guys – even though it took me aback the first time one of them whipped out a mobile phone from his robes after it started ringing from the back of the class it kind of became the norm. Lovely people!

Walking around the slums was sobering to say the least. I don’t think anything could have prepared me – totally different from how I imagined it. Just hearing the people’s stories was hard at times but they never seemed to give up on hope. Genuinely a world away. Everyday became a bit of an emotional rollercoaster, but it was definitely worth listening to these people even if it was for a few minutes – they are incredible and have the most amazing stories to tell.
 
And then there is the team leader. Both Socheat was amazing – always there if we needed something We deffinately would have been totally lost at times without him! A big thanks to them both!
 
So thank you so much for organising this amazing project – I hope that future leapers get to experience even just a little of what beautiful Cambodia gave to me. Thank you!
 
Becky x

Lara Chapple

Alice,

Thank you so much for your email. I mainly wanted to share with you, what an incredible experience we are all having. Though I am speaking on behalf of the others, we all talk a lot about how we feel about Cambodia, and I well and truly believe that you have given us every angle on the country. For that, I am eternally grateful. I have never been so involved, and felt like I'm truly being of service in a place before. Siem Reap is beautiful! I am very excited about returning there, and the new arrangements sound superb. Pnom Penh is fantastic! I was shocked (in a positive way, if that makes sense) by the poverty that is ousted from the main city. It is a real privilege to be able to see how the majority live, and, not to sound overly cheesy, but it is certainly teaching me a lot, as it's a true awakening.

The highlight at Trailblazer was certainly going out to deliver the filters, and seeing the rural communtities. Teaching at the orphanage there was such fun, and they have made tremendous progress in building the place in the short period I was there for. The children's English is surprisingly fluent!

Here, the work is beautifully hard. I love waking up knowing I will see something that I am sure to remember. The monks are a dream, they really are. Though I feel very attached to those adorable kids at the pagoda already. They are fast learners, and refuse to have a break from their lessons. The nuns and kids at the afternoon school are just as bright and gorgeous! It is a pleasure teaching them. Plus I have aquired a new flower-making skill from my visit to the community this morning.

Of course, I have so much else to say, but I thought I would touch base and thank you for allowing me such an experience. It is more than what I could have asked for on this placement, and I really mean that.

Hope all is well in England, will be in touch soon.

Lara. xx

Katherine Brashaw

Hi!!

I thought I would write and let you all know what I am up to!

Have settled in well and am getting ready for our first full week at work. We rise at 6.30am and cycle to work- which is an experience in itself! There are not many cars, mainly scooters and bikes and we all do look rather conspicuous 6 girls cycling along not really knowing the rules (although I don't think there are many) everyone is fairly polite on the roads, which is lucky! Pretty exhausting and when we turn up to work we all need another shower. Socheat our translater doesn't even break out in a sweat.

First job of the day is at Trailblazers the water charity here we sift and wash sand, wash granite - quite tiring and not good for ones nail polish. This is all for the water filters they build and then take out into the community. Over the fence is a really scary crocodile farm, am hoping that will not end up on my plate for dinner.

In the afternoons we go to Osborne House orphanage to teach. There are three classes of different ages so they are learning at the moment about colours, how many brothers and sisters they have and about verbs and nouns (lots of bad grammar in that sentence!) The kids are great and very beautiful. There is such a vast difference in age in the classes, that the kids understand at different rates so it's quite a challenge.

Our house is nice, we are sleeping under mosquito nets like princesses. Our hosts are lovely, so is the food, but we are having cravings already, luckily one of the girls has brought some marmite with her.

Xxx