ISF is delighted to have School Partners from around the world including the British International School Shanghai. Through these partnerships students learn about the challenges that children in Cambodia face and also how they can help our ISF children meet these challenges. A group of students from British International School Shanghai are currently visiting Phnom Penh – here’s the latest of their daily reports back home. Thanks to the students and staff of British International School Shanghai for their visit and their continuing support for ISF.
Day One
Day one of the June 2011 Year 12 trip to Cambodia was spent in Phnom Penh.
Paivi Pirhonen reports.
Our first day in Cambodia started with, for most of us, a freezing cold room upon waking as we’d put the aircon to 16 deg C, and an alarm that went off an hour early because we forgot about the time difference. After only a few hours of sleep, having arrived at the airport around midnight, this wasn’t exactly refreshing. However, after breakfast and a trial that found Mariana guilty of the brutal murder of Thomas the Croissant, we woke up a bit, and by the time we got on the bus to the school most of us were almost awake.
At the school we were instantly welcomed by the kids. Some half a dozen were waiting for us on the balcony, and another few by the gate. They all seemed excited to see us, and were incredibly cute! After a tour around the school we started lessons. It was amazing how well behaved the kids were; we could see that they really wanted to be there.
During lessons some of us were taken to see the community where the kids live. The conditions were quite shocking. There was rubbish strewn on the ground everywhere, puddles of muddy water from the last rainstorm, and the roads were no more than dirt tracks. The place looked miserable, but the people seemed optimistic: they were happy to answer our questions through the translation of our guide, and a few children smiled shyly at us as we bought bracelets made by the locals from paper they’d found in the rubbish. The children of this community had a future.
In the afternoon we had lunch by the river and had time to be tourists. We convinced Kevin that the Jackson on the twenty dollar notes is Michael, and set off for a walk down the boulevard. After a few gallons of sweat, the philosophical question of “to do TOK or not to do TOK” and some dozens of pictures of the various fancy buildings and Buddhist monks with matching orange sun umbrellas, we met up again, took some group pictures in front of a fancy building, chased some pigeons and took the bus back to the hotel. After repeating the philosophical question most of us decided against TOK and went for a swim. After this we had dinner at the Cambodian version of Hongmei Lu, and headed back to the hotel in small groups. The geekier ones got back early, feeling guilty about their earlier decisions regarding TOK, and presumably we didn’t lose anyone on the way.
Day two
Our year 12 students venture out to visit the children and families of the local community. Yike Hong and Linda Burchhart report.
Teaching in Cambodia
Today Yike, Tina, HyeJin and Sarah went to the school and taught Art to the students. When we went in the classroom the students were very passionate and keen to learn new skills in drawing. We taught them how to draw portraits of their friends using complementary colors. The children were excited about using crayons and playing around with different colours. Although communication was difficult due to the language barrier, they could still understand our meaning because they were very focused and listened to our instructions very carefully. The children created a lot of artwork and from their painting we are able to feel their enthusiasm and how they are keen to learn more knowledge.
By Yike Hong, Year 12
The Children of Cambodia
“What are these children doing playing on the muddy ground without shoes?” was our first thought.
“Why are there so many flies?” was our second thought. “How can you raise a family in such inadequate conditions?” was our final thought as we entered the village that the students call home.
Arriving in a tuck-tuck after a 4km ride from the school, each group was given the chance to view the lifestyle and living conditions of the homes of the children. The grounds were muddy, the air polluted from exhaust fumes and the poorly constructed huts consisted of a leaking roof and four concrete walls. Yet when we met the inhabitants, of what we would call a ‘shanty town’, our first impressions started to change. Families filled the place with warmth – women sitting in circles chatting, children playing joyfully and people of young to old ages laughing at the same joke.
Even within this small village, a range of stories and different tales began to unfold. A boy, as young as 15 and soon to be wedded to his new wife, was collecting water from a basin outside the house next to stacks of litter, possibly thinking of his wife as he did so. Another boy, 3 years younger, without any education, spends the day carrying his sister around the village. On muddy, flooded grounds, standing barefoot, a family mourns a recently deceased 12-year old child, who died of blood fever. A woman sat within a pile of litter, separating the plastic bags, yearning to earn that one-dollar a day. A man lies sick on a wooden bench inside the house, droplets of water seeping through the roof collecting on his forehead. Two men comfort him in the 15 dollars a month rented home.
As we make the final trek back to our tuck-tucks, we realise their lives are different to ours in so many ways, yet there is one similarity between such different worlds – the concept of a family. Look around you, look at the people you love, at the smiles you could not live without and imagine that wherever you are, however you live, not a single day without their love will pass.
By Linda Burchhart, Year 12