Volunteering with the Indochina Starfish Foundation was a brilliant and unique experience. Cambodia is an amazing country, and working within it provided me with great opportunity to learn about its history and culture and to see some of the fantastic sights it has to offer. More importantly, it gave me a chance to understand some of the challenges the ISF children face.
Most of my time was spent performing tasks to ensure that the football project ran smoothly. This involved purchasing and delivering equipment, reporting on games, setting up new teams and maintaining the organisation of training sessions and matches. This was extremely rewarding work as I got to see for myself how much enjoyment the boys and girls take from the opportunity it offers. I have lots of great memories seeing the kids proudly kitted out in the football gear supplied through the project, and watching them enthusiastically applying themselves in the weekly training sessions and tournaments the ISF has set up.
The first annual ISF Cup was certainly a day I will never forget. Children from the organisations sponsored in the football project were invited along to support their teams. They were treated to free BBQ food and soft drinks and they watched some brilliantly competed matches. The stadium was packed and the volume of the support throughout the day created an atmosphere that would rival any English Premier League game! It was an extremely satisfy feeling to have helped organised that day.
It was a real shock when as part of my induction I was taken to see the huge rubbish dump just outside Phnom Pehn where some of the children work salvaging recyclable materials. The ISF educational program gives these kids a fantastic environment to learn and have fun. Assisting the teachers and helping the kids with their activities was again a massively rewarding task as the classroom was always filled with smiling faces.
Sam Cledwyn
United Kingdom
October 2007 – March 2008
Being a volunteer for the Indochina Starfish Foundation is a fun, educational original experience and definitely memorable! Getting up in the dark hours of the morning to greet fresh faced excited children dressed head to toe in football gear is a great way to start the day, if not a little tiring!
Being involved in the classroom activities and having creative input in to some lesson plans is fantastic and a great learning experience for any volunteer wishing to gain a real insight into teaching children. Volunteers are involved in all subjects and age groups, this can be assisting the teachers, taking part in the lesson as a student or teaching parts of the lessons. Any specialist subject volunteers are given opportunities to create their own lessons and teach the children.
Break times are when the children’s creative sides come out in songs and games which can be hectic but a lot of fun! The children get so much from what you can give them and as a volunteer you take so much away with you including memories that last a lifetime!
Gemma Carter and Craig Chambers
United Kingdom
August 2008
My time in Cambodia was an incredible experience and a great way to push my boundaries and find out more about myself. It was amazing to be able to help the kids with the teaching and training that I did, but also the importance of the friendships and relationships that were made during my time at the ISF School. I think submerging myself into the charity and the Cambodian way of life was a truly eye opening experience and I learnt a lot about the culture and lives of both the children and their families, and how different everyday life is for them. I found it difficult to say goodbye, and I can’t wait to go back at some point. My time in Cambodia was the highlight of my GAP year and I would encourage anyone to spend time working with the wonderful staff and children that are involved with the charity.
Andy Davy – GAP Year Student (2 months in Cambodia)
United Kingdom
January 2009
I had an incredible time volunteering in Phnom Penh for ISF. The energy the children gave off was so wonderful to be around. The enormous sense of humour that many of the children shared shined right through any language barriers! The children were so inspiring and appreciated everything around them. Their resilience and strength was truly remarkable. I would love to return and volunteer with ISF at the next available opportunity!
Megan Walsh
Vancouver, Canada
May 2009
Last May and June (2009) I spent a couple of months working for the Indochina Starfish Foundation charity in their school in Phnom Penh. I taught the children English and Art but also got the chance to play football with them at break times, help out with lunches, watch their football training and just generally get to know the children. The program was well organised and gave me some good lesson time but also gave me enough free time so that I could make the experience what I chose and could use this time to develop my relationship with the children or plan for my lessons. When I arrived, the children’s limited English was far more than my Khmer and so the language barrier was difficult but they are so friendly and welcoming and excited to have you there that it really didn’t matter. Instead of the usual ‘Hello, how are you?’ greeting that we are all used to; I would arrive in the mornings to massive hugs from all the students. I would teach them English, and, in turn, they helped me improve my Khmer so that I knew the essentials for my time there.
I loved the fact that the school not only gave the children an education, but fed them two healthy meals a day that they would be unlikely to get at home, gave them extra tutoring to ensure that they are staying on top of the work load when they move into the public school system, has a qualified doctor to help them when they fall ill, and also supports the family by providing food rations for them each month so long as the child has not missed any school unnecessarily. It was a wonderful experience to help hand out the rations and see how grateful the families are for the basics such as rice that they may not be able to afford.
I’m currently studying Medicine and I spent some time with the school doctor and so, for me, one of the most interesting experiences was watching him work and seeing the differences between Western and Asian medicine. They were so many opportunities for me in the school from the teaching, to the football, the cooking, learning a new language, decorating the walls and really beginning to understand another culture. The children are just so loving and crave any attention you may give them as they may not receive this at home. I gained so much from my time in Cambodia, I’m sure I gained more from it than the children I was teaching because nothing can compare to the life experience I got while I was out there. To see these children who really have nothing at home, with an enormous smile on their face each day really makes you realise what a difference the school makes to their lives.
Heather Stirling
United Kingdom
June 2009
On the 12th of June 2009, our class left on a late flight for Phnom Penh, Cambodia. We were all ready and fully packed with hundreds of sets of football boots and several large bags of football equipment, as well as prepared lesson packs for the children at the Starfish Foundation School.
The first day we visited the school we went to see what it was like. When we arrived in the small street, all the children were waiting excitedly, pushing their faces against the fence, all curious about who was about to teach them for the next few days. All the children were absolutely lovely and so friendly, I was even taken to the canteen by some of the children to sit and eat with them. We all helped to serve food that day and got to know the children by playing games with them as well.
All of us got up bright and early the next day excited to see our new classes. Together with my two classmates, Fiona and Yvonne, I was going to pick our class for the day. We chose the classroom on the end, which was filled with children with great big smiles on their faces. We walked nervously into the classroom and introduced ourselves and with the help of their teacher, our first lesson went very well. We started by teaching the kids how to introduce themselves in English.
To our surprise, we quickly found out that these children could speak English quite well, which made our job a lot easier. Combined with learning games and worksheets our first day of teaching was a success.
The next day, we had photocopied several worksheets about the body parts and also for art we had photocopied finger puppets which they were going to make. They were all enthusiastic about coming up to the board and spelling out the words to the different body parts, which they were able to do very well (though with a few spelling mistakes). Then we started to make finger puppets, which the children were very happy about. They all sat there quietly making the puppets,
and just enjoying themselves in general. When it was time for their break they all ran out with their finger puppets to show the children from the other classes what they had made.
On our third day of lessons, we started teaching them a game called ‘Heads down, Thumbs up’ and from that day on, they always wanted to play it in class by hinting towards it every lesson. Our lesson plan that day was clothes, which the children loved to do as well. We had worksheets prepared with puzzles and cutouts.
On June 17th it had sadly come to our last day of lessons and we had a small revision class in the morning while the rest of the day we played ‘Heads down, Thumbs up’, which the children enjoyed. To our surprise at the end of the day the children had prepared songs for us and the girls did a traditional Cambodian dance while the boys sang a Cambodian version of a pop song. They had also made us letters, which they gave to all of us. This was absolutely heartbreaking, as we had come to get to know the children, and found it very hard to leave.
The trip was incredibly life changing and inspirational. It showed us how different things are in their world and I have learnt and experienced a whole different world. I dearly miss all of the children and wish to one day return to see how they have all turned out.
Michelle Johansen
British International School, Shanghai
June 2009
My daughter Dominique and I visited Cambodia for the first time in July this year. After having a few
days in Siem Reap, visiting the temples of Angkor Wat, we flew down to Phnom Penh. There we spent a couple of days at the Stung Meanchey ISF school. On the first day we were greeted at the gate by giggling children, who crowded around us, shouting hellos. After being introduced to some of the staff, including Vicheka, Mrs Prachnary and Long Phanna, Dominique and I, together with Leo, started to run the P.E. classes for the day. There were lots of laughs and giggles as we demonstrated tunnel ball, captain ball and skipping races. I think we provided quite a lot of entertainment and a contrast to the children’s usual studies! The teachers, who were supervising, also appeared to enjoy the antics. We enjoyed our short time there and have great admiration for the staff, who manages to keep the 142 children interested in their studies throughout the 10 hours each day of the school week.
Paddy Brogan, Australia
July 2009
It was great to finally get to see ISF at work on the ground. The school has a great feel to it and the kids were brilliant. The dedication and commitment of Kate and the ISF team was truly inspirational but one of the key point for me was the effectiveness of the whole operation.
There are lots of well-meaning initiatives around but it is hard to imagine others bringing more benefit to disadvantaged communities for the budget involved.
Mark and Vanessa Petterson
Sponsors of the ISF building in Stung Mean Chey
August 2009
United Kingdom
We had been looking for some time for a suitable organisation to introduce our kids, Lucas 8 and Maya 6, to the reality of life for many children in the developing world, having recently moved back to Hong Kong after a number of years in Paris and Canada. Through a chance meeting with Kate Griffin at an event held by ISF board director Martin Cubbon, we were introduced to the great work being done by ISF and Kate kindly agreed to let us come and visit the school.
Kate was a superb host, and after our first meeting, our children were very excited about a) the extraordinary number of geckos on the walls of the FCC (Foreign Correspondent Club), b) the prospect of teaching some football and c) getting to run an art class for the ISF students. We had a chance to see the Sunday football training in progress at the Olympic stadium and were immediately struck by the enthusiasm of the players both in their games and their organised training. They were overwhelming in their welcome, with Lucas being invited to play and several of the players on the bench urging their team mates to ‘pass it to the new kid’.
Dawn, Phillipe & Le Camp Family
October 2009
Hong Kong
The main thing that stood out for us during our experience volunteering with the ISF foundation, was the strong sense of community, both amongst the students as well as the staff body. We were greeted warmly every day, immediately invited into the team, and even invited on day trips to the provinces to visit the families of the staff members. The foundation has a very positive message, and despite the children’s impressive work load, their days are filled with play time, and more relaxed classes such as art, PE and yoga. We were able to spend a great deal of time interacting with the children who were not only the friendliest group of people we have ever met, but were constantly trying to help us out with our work. Our objectives as volunteers were numerous, but Kate, the country manager, let us know what needed to be done, and allowed us to carry out the tasks we enjoyed the most. We took part in teaching English, the football training, art classes, any useful administration that needed to be done, and lots of painting, to help brighten up the multi-story school. It has been a truly fantastic experience and have certainly learnt that the more that we contributed, the more that we got out of it.
Helen Gazzi (Hong Kong), Katie O’Driscoll (Hong Kong) and Carina Sterling (United Kingdom)
February 2010
Coming to ISF, I had no idea what to expect. I assumed it would be just another week of my life, but with teaching various lessons to kids instead of being in lessons myself. I was pleasantly surprised and enormously touched by the way we were received. The kids at ISF are truly little angels. They were the most enthusiastic bundles of joy I have ever met in my life. A week with them just flew by – we were having so much fun. They made us feel so welcome and we never even noticed the language barrier.
The most important thing that I learnt from this trip was just that: how to learn. A very bright young girl, named Kunthea, relentlessly bombarded me with Khmer colours till I learnt them all off by heart. I can now safely say I am an expert at saying my colours in Khmer. Her persistence, her tirelessness and her faith in my ability to actually learn all these new words showed me that the only way to learn was to persevere and believe in yourself! This was just one of the many wonderful things the kids taught me during the week. I had such a great time – especially when we all did the macarena.
On the very first day I met Kate, I remember telling Kate that I love my current school. I told her I believed it’s the best school in the world. Kate immediately disagreed- she said “ISF is the best school in the world.”
After my week at ISF, I really couldn’t agree more.”
Maithreyi Raman
UWC East Campus, Singapore
March 2010
A group of friends and I left Singapore to Cambodia on the 20 March 2010 to embark on our school’s project week: a trip we make to another country for a week where we perform some form of service. My group, which consisted of Kirsten, Ji Soo, Mun Yi and I, chose Cambodia and the ISF programme and we had a wonderful and memorable experience there.
Going to the football stadium was a blast. The kids were really shy at first but once we brought out the face paint, they went wild and surrounded us, asking us to paint on their arms, legs and face. Mun Yi tirelessly painted flowers, butterflies and dolphins for hours, fulfilling the request of every kid that asked her to draw something.
I must admit it was a little scary and intimidating to be thrown into a classroom on the first day and told to teach a class of kids who didn’t speak the same language as us, but in the end, teaching the kids was really fun as they all seemed really eager to learn.
We taught the older kids how to read time off an analog clock and divide fractions, which felt really rewarding, and the younger kids the days of the week, origami and basic English words. We also played games, danced and sang with the kids, which was understandably more enjoyable for both of us.
The kids that make up the ISF are kind, wonderful, determined, funny and intelligent. It was ultimately them that made the whole experience so enjoyable. They participated in our classes with great enthusiasm, despite our feeble attempts to teach, which was refreshing to see. All the kids were so full of life and happiness it was inspiring to witness it all.
Going to their villages and seeing where they live was definitely an eye-opening experience. Going to the ISF school, you would never suspect from the kids’ attitude that they have to return to very unfortunate circumstances at the end of the day, so seeing where they live was really important in understanding how important the whole programme is for these kids.
Saying goodbye was definitely the hardest part of the whole trip. It was extremely sad to say goodbye after forming strong bonds from only four days of interaction. Despite an age, language and cultural barrier, we all managed to make great relationships with the kids at the school. It was definitely a great experience and I have memories that will definitely last me a lifetime.
LeAnn Goh
UWC East Campus, Singapore
March 2010 (Project Week)
We arrived in Phnom Penh not knowing what to expect and we settled in very quickly thanks to the help of all the staff, teachers and children at ISF. The two months we spent in Cambodia were challenging but incredibly rewarding; it was an experience we will never forget.
Despite the language barrier we learnt so much from the Cambodian people and the charity who have opened our eyes to a completely different world. ISF is an inspiring organisation that aids so many children that do really need the help. The school was so welcoming towards us and immediately made us feel at home in an environment so different from our own.
We would like to thank Kate and all the staff at ISF for giving us such a fulfilling and insightful experience that will stay with us forever. There is no doubt that one day we will return to visit everyone who showed us so much hospitality and kindness.
Lucy Williams and Abey Bass
United Kingdom
February 2011
Dear Kate and Vicheka
It is with pleasure I pen this letter of appreciation on behalf of the Rhinos RFC. It was an apprehensive bus which arrived outside the ISF school that Monday morning, however these nerves were soon dispelled with the welcome we received from the children.
It is truly amazing the results you and your team are able to accomplish with such limited resources.. And the results speak for themselves, they say a smile is worth a thousand words and the team received volumes during our visit. I speak for all when we wish you all the best for the remainder of the school year and look forward to our next visit.
Matt Munn, on behalf of The Rhinos
Hong Kong
November 2011