Veasna was our great friend and guide in Phnom Penh. He has suffered personally at the hands of the Khmer Rouge. Here he shares some of his own sad story (click the link to view). It’s because we care so much about so many of the wonderful people we met, like Veasna, that our Cambodia experience will leave each of us changed in some way.
Here’s a final few words from Garry, comfortably seated at my desk in my study in Greensborough. Just a few photos from our final morning to tidy up this blog. With a few hours to spare on the last day we moved all of our gear into a single bedroom at the hotel for storage and took two vans out to the Banteay Srei temple, about an hour’s drive from Siem Reap. Banteay Srei is sometimes referred to as the Ladies Temple and is known for the beauty of its exquisite bas relief carvings. It is a much smaller temple than those we had visited at Angkor Wat and quite different in appearance.
En route to Banteay Srei, one of our vans’ batteries ceased charging and the driver became increasingly concerned. We had no air con or wipers and this made the journey somewhat uncomfortable. While we explored the temples, the driver searched in vain for a motor mechanic in the vicinity, but being so far from the nearest town he was not in luck.
It was a short drive back to our final stop, the Cambodian Landmine Museum, founded by Aki Ra, a man who was recognised by CNN in 2010 as one of its Top Ten Heroes. A former Khmer Rouge child soldier, who had once laid landmines, Aki Ra has now devoted his life to locating the landmines that are scattered throughout his country and safely detonating and removing them from the ground. He has personally removed over 50,000 landmines, making much of the countryside safe once more for civilians to farm and go about their daily business. The proceeds from visits to Aki Ra’s museum help to fund the orphanage that is adjacent to the property, where he and his staff care for the orphaned children of landmine victims.
The entrance to the museum was chilling as we walked along a path lined with the shell cases of the huge bombs dropped by American B52 bombers on neutral Cambodian villages during Nixon and Kissinger’s infamous carpet bombing campaign of the early 70s, aimed at destroying North Vietnamese supply lines via the Ho Chi Minh Trail that ran just inside the Cambodian border. The terrible destruction wrought by this bombing led to the emergence of the Khmer Rouge and the ultimate reign of terror that was waged by Pol Pot’s soldiers from April 1975 until January 1979. Inside the museum were displays of all types of weaponry used in Cambodia throughout the Vietnam War and the Khmer Rouge era that followed. Grim photos depicted the destruction and the atrocious injuries caused by landmines throughout Cambodia from that time until the current day.
We planned to all stop at the Bayon on the way back to Siem Reap for one last brief look at the beautiful Angkor ruins but unfortunately the errant van battery died half way home, so while a few went on to the Bayon, the remainder of our team spent a reflective twenty minutes or so by the side of a Cambodian rainforest road while the van driver frantically dialled again and again until he was finally able to get through to his boss and arrange for a replacement vehicle to pick us up and return us to our hotel.
A final meal at the hotel, a quick dip in the pool for some and a cull of unwanted clothing for others followed. We made it to the airport in good time and by the time our flight departed for Singapore we were all very much looking forward to getting home. A short stopover in Singapore gave the staff team an opportunity for some duty free shopping while our students went in search of fast food. Most of the team slept through a good part of the eight hour overnight flight to Melbourne, and for all of us it was a very welcome sight to finally exit Customs and see our families all waiting for us.
On behalf of the staff team, I would like to commend the students on the way they went about every aspect of this very demanding trip. Despite the heat, the grime, the long hours and the terrible poverty and sad stories, they kept their spirits high, supported one another, gave all they could possibly give to the people they met and were wonderful ambassadors for our country and our school. We teachers have only the highest respect and admiration for each and every one of them. In 19 days, we did not have to deal with a single disciplinary issue. We are very proud of them and we know you will be too.
Thanks again for your great support. We are delighted to have in excess of 8000 hits on our blog by the end of our service project. Best wishes, Garry
Good morning everyone. It’s our final morning in Siem Reap. We’ve arranged for a couple of vans to take us out to Banteay Srey temples this morning, often said to be the most beautiful of the Angkor temples. We’ll spend a little time there getting one last lesson on Cambodia’s ancient history then head back to the Landmines Museum to have a final look at Cambodia’s more recent unfortunate history. Then it’s back here to the hotel to get our (heavy) bags organised and maybe make a few last minute donations of clothing to the orphanage across the river. Siem Reap International Airport awaits us in the early afternoon and, despite the fact that we’ve had an adventure none of us is likely to forget, we’re now all quite eager to board the flight and make our way back home again. Thanks for following our blog. See you in Melbourne tomorrow morning. Garry
Hello all,
Tonight its Joseph and Orso for the last blog of the Cambodia 2012 service project. Today was the finale of Friends Forever and it came with many tears and some very tough goodbyes.
The morning started with us going to a Kindergarten in the Angkor Thom District with all of our friends. Today there was no teaching but instead a goodbye party for us and the Cambodians, who have returned home to their own districts this afternoon after spending the duration of the project at a hotel in Siem Reap not far from where we were staying. The morning began with some great Khmer games and some serious tug of war which almost broke the rope.
We also evaluated the program with lists of pros and cons to try and benefit future trips. We then had our last lunch together as group, which in itself was a very touching experience. After lunch there was a series of speeches in which Will and Monique thanked the Cambodians for their participation and friendliness during our week together. After this two Cambodian students, Pon and Mey Mey both expressed their gratitude with amazing speeches in English. Following the lunch we exchanged small gifts (some quite amazing, with Lucas and Keiren receiving home made fishing traps), and email addresses and we signed shirts with all of the students so that we would be able to stay in touch. With all of us starting to feel quite emotional, we did some singing and dancing – both traditional and some more dancing familiar to us.
Though all amazing things must come to an end and before we knew it the day was drawing to a close. We got into lines and individually said our goodbyes to each student, this bringing almost all of us to tears and before we knew it the day was over and we were getting into our buses and starting the journey home. Once back at the hotel we all got into the pool, still with the thoughts of the students clear in our heads though with an hour-long massage lined up for all of us we would soon be all quite refreshed and relaxed. Later in the evening we stayed at the hotel for a beautiful buffet dinner, the last dinner in a hotel for the trip. Soon though we will be on a plane all heading back to Melbourne (minus Steve ‘Stevo’ Ward who is staying behind to have a holiday). In approximately 36 hours we will be back on Australian shores and can’t wait to see our families again.
Signing out for the last time, Joseph and Orso.
On Saturday evening we attended the free concert given each week by Dr Beat Richner, also known as Beatocello. Dr Beat is a Swiss doctor who is also a world renowned cellist. He was working for the Red Cross at Kantha Bopha children’s hospital in Phnom Penh in 1975 when the Khmer Rouge came to power and all foreigners were forced to flee the country. In 1991 Dr Beat was asked to return to Cambodia to rebuild the Kantha Bopha hospital that had been devastated by years of conflict. Dr Beat established a foundation to raise funds to support the hospital and in 1992 he re-opened Kantha Bopha. By 2012 he has continued to raise funds through donations and has now constructed four Kantha Bopha children’s hospitals in Phnom Penh and another in Siem Reap.
Dr Beat performs weekly free concerts for tourists where he seeks both blood donations and also cash donations in order to continue his work. He also returns to Switzerland each year to raise further hospital funds. The funds he raises allow him to provide free medical care for every sick child in Cambodia and this includes paying for the travel of the mother and child to and from their home in the countryside and also providing a place by each child’s bed for the mother to stay during the hospitalisation. Dr Beat trains and employs only Cambodian staff, including doctors, and the current staff number is around 2400. He pays them a wage that is well above Cambodian levels and he provides them with proper working conditions.
The health care provided to Cambodian children free of charge has saved over 100,000 lives since 1991. The rate of tuberculosis in Cambodian children, which was once 65%, is now only 2%. The current dengue fever epidemic in Cambodia poses a huge threat to the welfare of thousands of small children, but Kantha Bopha will treat every sick child that is brought in and many, many lives will be saved.
We had our own personal experience of the importance of Dr Beat’s work when Sothy, the project leader for Plan of Friends Forever, did not arrive on the first day of the program. His three year old son had been bitten three times in his bed at 2am by a deadly snake, which Sothy killed with a coat hanger. Sothy raced his son first to the place where his medical insurance instructed, and then to the international clinic, but both turned Sothy and his son away because they did not have the antivenom to treat the wounds. Sothy then arrived at Kantha Bopha in the middle of the night with his son and within a short time the doctors there had administered the antivenom required to save the boy’s life. On Sunday evening Sothy and his son joined our team, along with other members of the Plan staff, for dinner. The three wounds were healing well, though small puncture wounds and bruising still remained. The boy is going to recover fully thanks to Dr Beat and his team.
You can read more about this remarkable man at his website. You can also donate there. Garry
It’s Will and Kieren here after a long day of visiting our students’ villages and houses. We started off the day normally with each of us getting into our separate busses with the Friends Forever kids, but today it was their turn to show us some of their culture and how they lived. Four separate groups went to four different provinces – Angkor Thom, Angkor Chum, Banta Srey and Srey Snam. The distances varied from a short 30 minute bus ride to a gruelling 2 hours on a variety of different road conditions which challenged the bus drivers greatly.
On arrival to our various destinations we were warmly greeted by the families of some of our friends from the Friends Forever program. We were each given fresh coconut juice to drink and despite the distaste of many of us towards the drink we managed to swallow most of it down to show respect to our hosts. The houses were based in remote villages throughout the countryside and were very simple to the eye. The houses, made of wood, banana leaves and whatever spare material the family could obtain were as basic as one could get, yet the kids were so happy and proud to show us around. Although filled with holes and made up of rooms separated by sheets the families somehow managed to fit families of around 6-8 people inside.
I (Kieren) found it amazing to see that even though these families had so little, they still managed to create makeshift classrooms so their children could teach English to the villagers. I was lucky enough to visit Pon’s, Cheay’s and Bun’s houses, all of which had classrooms somehow attached to each house. They all taught varying levels of English to different ages of kids, and Pon even taught both Cheay and Bun, and Lucas discovered that the few inquiries Pon had made on the first day of the Friends Forever program had been quickly transformed into lesson plans.
The villages themselves were entirely self-sufficient, filled with farm animals such as pigs, chickens and cows as well as being surrounded by rice fields. As we walked through the winding roads within the village we saw a grand temple surrounded by a glistening moat littered with mosquitos. The group which visited the village in Srey Snam district was also treated to the surprise of a new born baby when we were welcomed into the only medical centre of the village. The remote hospital was surprisingly well kitted out and sanitary and it was just our luck to be present for a birth in a village with such a small population.
After another long bus ride home the team cooled off once more in the pool here at the River Garden. Tonight we will have the last team dinner out for the trip, a sad moment for a lot of us, and visit the Night Market again to pick up some late presents for our friends and family.
Bye for now, Will and Kieren
Hi guys, Steph and Annie here again to write about Day 16 of our trip. After our glorious rest day we were back in to the swing of things and met the Friends Forever kids at the oh so early time of 7:45 to make the two hour bus ride up to Kulen Mountain. Everyone was really pumped because we’d heard so much about the beautiful sights we would see this day. However the excitement gradually died down as everyone started to fall asleep on the bus or feel car-sick on the terribly long, excruciatingly windy and extremely bumpy road.
Upon reaching the Mountain we visited the largest Buddha in Cambodia and the Cambodian kids were extremely excited, as this was something they’d dreamt of visiting for years. The view from where the Buddha was situated was absolutely breathtaking. Looking over the treetops you could see valleys upon valleys that stretched for miles. One thing that astounded most of the team members was the large number of beggars sitting on the steps on the way up to the Buddha, asking for “one dollar”. It was very hard to walk away from the child beggars in particular, some of which would have been no older than four.
On the walk back down to the buses, we passed a range of merchant stalls selling a variety of items from rings and key chains to traditional Cambodian medicines (yes, this included tree roots and even the bones of pigs and monkeys that are to be mixed into tea).
After this we took the short trip up to our swimming destination for the day and ate a wonderful lunch of rice, chicken, fish and dragon fruit.
After lunch we abandoned the ‘wait-one-hour-before-swimming’ rule and ran to the nearest waterfall. We splashed around in the pool and stood under the waterfall for about half an hour before we were told that there was an even bigger waterfall just downstream. We all hurried down the long 100% completely unsafe its-a-wonder-we-didn’t-die slippery steps that were nailed in at hilariously odd angles. We were not disappointed. The next waterfall was absolutely HUGE. 12 metres to be exact. The view from the bottom was like something out of Jurassic Park with vines, ferns, piles of smooth rocks, fallen logs covered in moss and everything concealed in a fine layer of water. We wasted no time jumping in and swimming across the large pool to climb the rocks beneath the waterfall and stand underneath while the water pounded down on our backs. Many brave souls were soon climbing up the slippery rock face to jump into the eight metre deep water below.
All too quickly it was time to go and we all made the long trip back to Siem Reap, where we went out to dinner with the Plan staff. We were seated at the tables about to start eating when in walked Mr Foley and his family. They were just as surprised to see us as we were to see them. They were just in Siem Reap for a few days and, of all the restaurants in the town to choose from, they chose the same one as us. Mr Foley got around to all of the members of the team for a quick chat and then decided that perhaps another restaurant might provide a quieter dining environment for his family.
Overall it was one of the best days of the trip and we all had an absolutely incredible time!
Hi everyone, this is Garry. We’ve just returned from a late evening meal and it’s 11pm, so there will be no student post tonight. Today was our rest day in the Friends Forever program and the 10.30am start was very popular with the members of our team. They’ve been working very hard, often in high temperatures and close to 100% humidity, so three extra hours of sleep was just what they needed to prepare themselves for the final few days of the trip.
We travelled about 15 km out of Siem Reap to a tributary of the vast Tonle Sap, the lake that dominates central Cambodia and is, in fact, Asia’s largest lake. Tonle Sap is tidal. When the rains come (they have started now) in the wet season, the waters of the Mekong and other streams and rivers fill so rapidly that they flow back into Tonle Sap, raising its water level considerably. Around the shores of the lake, and in many of its tributaries, live boat people. They are often very, very poor – too poor to own any land, so they have to live on boats. As the levels of water change with the seasons, the boat people move their floating homes accordingly. Along the shores of the tributaries are also ramshackle homes made of pieces of wood, tarpaulins, tin and any other pieces of refuse the owners can scavenge. These homes are also dismantled and moved above the water line as the levels rise and fall.
Many of the people in the floating village we visited are of Vietnamese descent. We boarded a large cruise motor vessel and chugged our way down the channel to the lake. On both sides we saw floating homes and other structures in various states of repair. One boat that we passed served as a floating general store, another as a floating men’s clothing retailer and a third was selling fruit and vegetables. We saw a floating pagoda where monks live and work, floating schools, a floating orphanage, a floating TV repair shop, a floating Catholic church, floating mechanics, a floating duck farm and even a floating basketball court.
As we motored along, boats passed us in both directions. Often their appearance belied their seaworthiness and many had someone sitting in the prow continually bailing water while another worked the tiller. As you might expect, the water was filthy, yet we saw a child defecating in it, people washing clothes and dishes in it, people catching fish in it, kitchen waste being dumped in it, and on several occasions, people dipping cups into it and drinking it. As fascinating as it was, there were also many depressing sights. Of all the poverty we have seen in Cambodia, this was perhaps the most extreme.
In the boats, many people lay in hammocks. Others, including children, were in the water alongside their boats, playing or perhaps repairing fishing nets. Our guide told us that those people lucky enough to get a job often left their children unattended on the boats all day while they went in to Siem Reap to work. He said that seven children drowned in this village in the past year. He had grown up in the village, but his father forbade him to leave the boat until he was sixteen because of all the unexploded landmines that were once prevalent in the area. He lost his best friend to a landmine.
As our cruise boat left the tributary and headed out into the lake, the sky suddenly turned very black and threatening. Scanning the horizon, it was impossible to see the far side of this vast inland sea. There were a few small fishing boats on the lake, but falling fish levels have caused the government to place a short term moratorium on fishing to try to build fish numbers to healthy levels once again. Fish is a staple food in Cambodia, especially in the vicinity of the lake and the Mekong River.
Looking back to where we had come from we saw a small boat rapidly gaining on us. Soon it was alongside us and a small boy unwrapped a python from around his neck and draped it over Arthan’s shoulders. “You give me one dollar. One dollar,” he demanded. His mother at the tiller was also begging. It was distasteful and very depressing. We looked to the other side to see that a second boat had also chased us. In this boat was a woman with a sleeping infant. She reached her hand over the other side and began screeching that she also wanted “one dollar.” It’s hard to explain to our students that handing over money to beggars such as these is wrong, but all of our guides have advised us that people such as this often spend their money on alcohol and gambling and use their children to beg rather than sending them to school. The best advice we have had is to be generous with people who work to earn a handout, such as blind or landmine victim musicians who will play for a donation, but will never solicit money in a menacing way. They only left us alone when another cruise boat was nearby.
On the return journey the boat stopped at a souvenir shop that doubled as a crocodile farm and we had to virtually ‘run the gauntlet’ of more begging mothers and small children and infants, many of them bearing pythons. A python was placed on our boat deck at the place where we had to alight. Another was placed on the boat dock, between the crocodiles and the boat, requiring some of us to step over it. The pythons are harmless and present a photo opportunity, but the relentless “You give me one dollar” that the children were screeching was enough to drive us all back onto the boat in a short space of time and we all breathed a sigh of relief when the beggars were left in our wake.
As we chugged noisily back along the channel the rains came. In Cambodia, when it rains, it really pours down in bucketloads and soon it was coming down very heavily indeed. This did little to deter the people of the floating village. Little kids still continued to jump in and splash about. Fishermen continued to repair their nets. Commuters continued to pass us in both directions. Meanwhile, we huddled under cover and pulled the tarps down on all sides of the boat.
It was an eye opening experience and allowed us to witness yet another aspect of the hardships faced by the people of this country. Perhaps most obscene of all is that the government has commenced the construction of a huge resort casino complex at the entrance to the floating village and clearly intends to exploit foreign tourists who want to visit the area. Sadly, almost every large tourist hotel constructed in this region in recent years is foreign owned and all the profits earned ultimately leave Cambodia to fill the coffers of business people in other parts of the world. Even the Cambodian people’s greatest cultural heritage, the Angkor Wat temple complex, is managed by foreign owners and most of the tourist dollars spent there do not ever find their way into the hands of the descendants of the Khmer people who built it.
Hey guys its Rach and Jess here once again. Today started off with the standard bus ride to Angkor Thom High School, the same school we taught at yesterday. After arriving, we dived into some fun little games to start off our day. Sack races were a big hit all round, and the unexpected stack every now and then made it more humorous. We then were taught a Khmer game which involved two people blindfolded and chasing each other, this game was very popular. Eventually the heat got to all of us and we headed inside to start the day’s teaching.
Today we were teaching body parts. In many of the classrooms, we were very surprised with the amount of words and knowledge that they already knew, and we then soon had to come up with more challenging activities for many of them. It was extremely rewarding seeing the students learn more and build on what English they already knew, and being able to witness the impact that we are creating towards their lives is truly wonderful. After our teaching we headed off to another buffet lunch, where once again too much food was consumed by many members of the team.
After a lovely meal it was time to head off to the cultural village, which was a first time experience for many, and I know we can all agree that it was an extremely delightful and thrilling one. We started off with looking at some of Cambodia’s culture and many of us were extremely lucky to have some of the Cambodian students give us our own personal tour, enabling us to get a greater insight towards Cambodian culture. After we were given a few hours to explore and many of us found ourselves trying out what was called ‘the judgement tunnel’, which was a dark cave filled with many scary decorations and you had to find your way out of it. I (Jess) was extremely confused as to what was going on within the first 20 seconds, as suddenly out of nowhere everyone around me suddenly started screaming and sprinted off. Being extremely puzzled, I turned around to find a man in a black hooded cloak behind me and I can safely say I have never been so terrified in my life.
It was then time to watch a traditional Cambodian wedding, and we were lucky enough to have one of our own boys from the team have the honour of being the groom; so the team all decided instantly on Mitch doing it. We can all agree that Mitch was extremely fortunate that his fiancé was extremely gorgeous and it was clear that she was definitely out of his league…sorry buddy. After his successful marriage, we visited the Chinese village and experienced an exciting and exhilarating performance with many different talents being displayed.
Unfortunately it was time to say goodbye to our new and strong friendships that have been bonded over the last 5 days and we all can’t wait to see how they will grow over the final remaining days.
Anyway hope you enjoyed the blog 🙂 goodnight!
It’s Olivia and Shiu-Li back again to write about Day 13 of our journey. With the usual morning routine we headed off to Angkor Thom High School where we were once again welcomed by our ‘Friends Forever’ companions asking us about what we dreamt of and what we had for breakfast. I (Shiu) was lucky enough to meet Pheakdey who did the Friends Forever project last year. For those who gave me letters from last year’s trip to give to Pheakdey, he was very happy and grateful, and you should be expecting some letters back from him. We started off the day with team games such as the egg and spoon race, the three legged race and, of course, tunnel ball! Kieren and Lucas ate dirt!! (Editor: Folks, you will note that our teams are becoming very competitive!)
After team games in the blazing sun we went inside the classrooms to teach the Cambodians food and utensil words, as these words would be helpful for them if they wanted to become a waitress or waiter. In my classroom (Liv) we have a very shy boy named Sambo who has barely spoken a word, however after helping him to recite his sentence in front of the class he returned to his seat with a big smile and the whole class cheering him on. I was filled with joy to know that I had helped him open up and progress with his English. We then travelled on the terribly bumpy mud track to a beautiful buffet restaurant with the Cambodians, which catered for various cuisines. The ice-cream was amazing. Nat had four bowls…
In relation to our food themed day, we were taken to the local Puok Market by our friends. It is very uncommon for westerners to trek to this market as it is the market where the locals shop for everyday items – these items include things like clothing, shoes, pots, pans and of course food. The infamous fish cheese could be smelt from a mile away, which was unusual for us to come across. I (Shiu) was taken around the market by my new friend Lida, who introduced me to her Aunty who worked in a little store selling general goods. Lida also gave me a hand-woven purse she made herself. I (Liv) was followed by a few of the more advanced students (Pon, Ny and Danny) who were pointing to every second thing in the market and asking me to translate it into English for them to write in their notebooks – the problem was, most of the things in the market were foreign to me, but it was amazing to see how eager they were to learn English. Compared to the markets we have in Australia, we were taken aback by the lack of hygiene and the general condition of the Puok Market. However it was a great opportunity to see foods that we don’t have in Australia and to bond with our friends.
PS – Shiu: Some people keep calling me Heli who went on the trip last year, awks….
PPS – Liv: To mum, KFC last night was worth all the excitement.
PPPS – Shiu: No it wasn’t…
Cambodia Service Project 2012 