Reality

My internet has not been working so I am just now posting this...

These last two days, Monday and Tuesday, have been the best so far! This has been my favorite day because we FINALLY got to do and see the reason I came to Cambodia in the first place, to teach/hang out with vulnerable and underprivileged children. Seeing the schools has further inspired me to do a fantastic job and has also provided me a peace within about being here. Its about 6pm on Tuesday and we just got back to the Villa from touring the 3 schools where we will be teaching with the RUPP students. I should not have been so nervous about meeting them on Monday, they were just as enthusiastic if not more about meeting us. There are 17 of them and 6 of us, so I have many new Khmer friends. They are so nice and have VERY good English. Its cool to be with my peers who are from another country. We have so much in common, yet we are also so very different. Monday we went to the Royal University of Phnom Penh, it was an expansive campus with students all over the place. The class we are working with at PIO are all 2nd year psychology students. Dr. Lewis and their teacher (Neakkroo Hema) have been working together on research projects and such for the past couple of years so that’s how this is all working out. We basically had a meet and greet with them; found out about their families, their studies, their favorite hobbies, favorite foods, dreams, aspirations etc.

After the meet and greet with the RUPP students, which was so fun, we went back to the villa for lunch then we ventured off into our neighborhood and shopped around in a cute part of Phnom Penh, there were so many cute cafes that catered to foreigners. A coffee shop or cafe, Cambodian style, on every corner filled with ex-pats on their computers or enjoying a meal. I felt completely safe in that area. There were also several NGO shops that sold cute arts and craftsy type items. After exploring that part of town we took about a 3 mile walk to and from the river front. I was so excited to do this because I have felt like a caged bird in the villa lately; we did not leave the villa at all on Sunday and I was just rearing to go and get out and see the city via foot. I think walking around in a new place is the best way to get to know it. You can see the sights, hear the sounds and smell the air and scents of daily life. It was a beautiful day and started getting cooler, so the walk to the Mekong River was nice. We snapped lots of pictures and enjoyed the scenery. Cambodians, especially children, love having their photo taken, which is great for me because I love taking pictures. This is a video of some precious children who LOVED the camera, I gave them a quick English lesson.

Tuesday morning (this morning) came early, we woke up at 5:45 am, ate breakfast and were off to pick up the RUPP students to tour the schools. It was so wonderful getting to know them a little more. I talked to three of them for most of the time on the bus their names are Keam, Malen, and Rattanak Ly. They are helping me with my Khmer, I’m trying to get to the point where Khmer people don't laugh their ass off after every time I attempt to say something in Khmer...that's a good goal right? It was almost all of the RUPP students’ first time to visit these parts of Phnom Penh as well. This took me by surprise. I just assumed that the educated and/or wealthy knew about the poverty and underprivileged in their own country, but I have found out that it is not the case. Phymean Noun, the founder of PIO, is actually a revolutionary. Most organizations in Cambodia that serve the poor are Western NGOs, which is not a bad thing, but it contributes to the problem of this ignorance or turn a blind eye approach by other Khmers. Since Phymean Noun is a Khmer woman who started an organization helping other underprivileged and poor Khmer people, I am hoping and praying that her work will inspire other Khmer people, like RUPP students, to get involved with PIO or even have a dream to start their own organization similar to PIO.

The first school we visited was Borei Santhipheap II, it was about a 30 minute drive. It is located in the outskirts of Phnom Penh. It was an absolutely BEAUTIFUL drive, the Cambodian countryside is breathtaking. It is so lush with beautiful flowers of fushia and lavender blooming from Lilly pads, houses on stilts and cream-colored cows grazing the pastures. Borei Santhipheap is a small, extremely poor agricultural community. It is filled with simple homes storing just the items a family needs to get by , yet the village is still very colorful and alive. The drive to the school was an experience in and of itself. We got to the school and the children greeted us with THE most adorable song, it went something like "Gooooood Mooorniiiing Teeeacherrrrr, How are yooou today?" (teacher would answer) "I am fine, Thank you, teacher" But its much cuter when you hear it! The children are so full of life and so eager to learn! They showed off their English to us. Almost every conversation I had with a child went like this, I would ask. "What is your name?" They would answer, "My name is..." then they would ask, "What is your name?" then I would answer. Then they would ask "How old are you?" followed by "Where do you come from?" It was so fun hanging out with the kids, I was so in my element, teaching them songs, and laughing with them. I must say, I am so so so so so happy that the RUPP students are teaching with us because they are phenomenal translators, we can make MUCH more progress working side by side than alone. I have so many cute pictures; my finger just could not stop pressing the button. At the end of our tour it was lunchtime for them, so we took a big group picture. If you can't tell I have made 2 new friends, they just jumped into my arms. The little boy is holding up his money hahaha

Sorry this is getting lengthy so I will end it quick. Every school had its own personality. The second school we went to is called Borey Keliah, it is the school that is in the middle of the slums. A family's only possession might be a hammock, which doubles as their living room. It is quite a sight to see, there is one room, split up by tin into 3 different classrooms... There are SO MANY students packed into 1 room, Mary and I got up in the front of the Kindergarten classroom and sang the itsy bitsy spider, they LOVED it, we had to do it like 5 times hahaha. We finally made it to Stung Mean Chey, the school that is in the dump. This is the place that affected me the most. As we drove into the village, or community you could begin to detect the stench of garbage. There were heaps and heaps of garbage that went on and on and on. We kept driving down the street which was lined with homes and a few vendors, women covered from head to toe scavenging through the trash. There were children running next to the bus and when we got out and walked into the school, amidst all of the trash, we were greeted with the biggest brightest smiles. We met a few of the classes and then they performed traditional Khmer dancing for us, its was ADORABLE! I made friends with two little girls and taught them the hand/clapping game Mrs. Mary Mack. We became great friends. After the show, Pryth, one of the boys who performed the dance wanted to show us where he lived. We walked about 40 steps down the “road” to a freshly painted building. We walked into a big room that had nothing in it except for a few murals on the wall and a poster with about 40 pictures of individual children on it. Pryth had just taken us to PIOs orphanage. He gave us a tour of the orphanage, the first room we saw was the boys’ room, I’ve posted a picture of it below. Pryth was SO proud and boasting at the fact that everyone had THEIR OWN toothbrush and toothpaste. The platform is their bed and the shelf against the wall holds each boy’s belongings, ALL of his belongings. Lisa, one of the girls also in the program, said is perfectly, the room where the children slept and kept all of their things was a perfect visual to the excess that we have. This is so true! I mean you should have seen the suitcases I packed to come over here. Upstairs was the girls’ room, same thing but no platform for a bed. Stung Men Chey was my favorite of all the schools because the children were extremely lively since they’re so used to interacting with foreigners and also because the dump, filthy as it was, made for a great sight to see. Unfortunately that was my first and most likely my last visit to Stung Men Chey while I am here. It is for an extremely great reason though. Since Phymean Noun won the CNN award, the Stung Men Chey school has gotten a great deal of publicity and is already full with volunteer teachers. Dr. Lewis told us that we are desperately needed at the other 2 schools because no foreigners have ever volunteered there.

So much for that short ending… I guess I just had a lot I wanted to talk about.

Aah I am tired of typing! I didn't read it over, so sorry in advance for all of the errors..haha

Much love!
Rosie