Short précis on our Cambodian experience ...

Savy (our landlady) had the foundation  of her new house blessed by Monks 

It’s 7 o’clock on Wednesday morning and it’s another baking hot and humid April day!  Beads of sweat build on our foreheads, and are equally sneaking their way down the grooves of our spines.  Despite the sweltering heat beating down our sizzling bodies, group hugs and more group hugs are intertwined with the community:  with the landlord - Sukhon and landlady - Savy who’s tears roll down her cheeks, who’s sweat is soon tangled with ours.   Chatter and laughter is heard in the background from neighbours and locals who too line along the side road ready to wave us off …    to see us being whisked away by Virak Bumthum Express minivan.   All the while, the driver entertained by this curious site – a theatre of humanity, patiently awaits at our usual spot – the driveway of our home, for Kevin and I to mount the minivan.    April 13, 2016, was the day that we left Mondulkiri, the little community that was our home for the last 30 months (an incredible experience it’s been),  and whom at some levels, we’ve got to know so well!

Humble homes

As the main street, the Bunong market, the rolling hills, the humble homes drift by my window and fade away into the horizon, I’m reminded of the day we were accepted by VSO/Cuso International; to our almost 2 hour Skype interview with a VSO Country staff in Cambodia who asked us, ‘What burning questions do you have before you come to join us?’  We simply wanted to know:  the ability to deal with a different life style in rural Cambodia.   At the tail end of the interview, John, our interviewer, had referred us to a ‘well-seasoned’ VSO Cambodia English couple who stated that, ‘There is no such thing as a

Fun ICT Cuso/VSO volunteers

typical day in the workplace. Instead, to expect the unexpected…    

Once in Cambodia, we, together with a fun group of other new VSO/Cuso International volunteers, had an ‘In-country Training’ in Phnom Penh to learn about ‘life in Cambodia’ .   The training comprised from a cyclo orientation tour in the heart of Phnom Penh to a health care session with an English nurse who warned us that ‘Cambodia was a dangerous place to live in  … ’  because anyone who touched Cambodian soil would naturally fall in love with the place!   

Kevin, Anie and I

Cyclo tour in the heart of Phnom Penh

During our 4 week training session, we soon got a taste of Phnom Penh’s  charming chaos– of the insane traffic where motorists: tuk tuks, cyclos, bicycles, cars, motorbikes drivers holding between 3 to 5 passengers  (with children sandwiched between two adults), drove insanely in different directions, making it tricky to cross the congested streets.    Sidewalks were just as hectic, where food vendors and vehicles blocked footpaths, leaving little room for Barangs 'that's us' to manoeuvre around the pavements. You'll find that it's the expats who prefer to walk and the locals who prefer to drive.  Welcome to Cambodia!   

The beautiful hills of Mondolkiri

Fishing at the Sen Monorom man made lake

Before we knew it, we were heading to our initial 20 month  placement, to the poorest northern-eastern province in Cambodia.  Mondulkiri province!  Mondolkiri is a 400 kilometres - 5 ½ hour minivan ride north from Phnom Penh.    The excursion to Mondolkiri, the topography that changes with the 2 seasons is composed of three main parts.  Unlike the dry season where the terrain appears desiccated, our first stretch - to Memot, is characterized by  flat rice fields (the primary staple diet of Cambodia), that stretches for miles, that resembles fresh grass due to the rainy season.  The second bit of the landscape - to Kaov Seima, is replaced with rubber tree plantations, pepper and  cassava farms that line the National road.   The last portion of the journey’s landscape from Kaov Seima to Mondulkiri’s luscious scenery, my favourite part, is 800 metres in elevation.  The rolling hills defines Mondulkiri’s terrain with dense forests,  preserved parks, hidden waterfalls, to carpeted  lush rolling grassland dotted with humble homes and bright coloured attire working in the hills.  Hence, the beautiful hills of MondulKiri! 

Kevin and I arrived in Mondulkiri at the tail end of the avocado season, the tail end of the monsoon season in early October 2013 - though,

Bush fires on side roads 

it felt at that time that the rainy season was never going to end.  By early November, the wet saffron-red clay roads eventually progressed to a fine red talcum powder-like dust,  that equally became treacherous to ride our motorbike on.   The landscape had turned to a red plume of dust with a multitude of bush fires spread out on side roads of Sen Monorom Town (where we were based) and villages (where I worked).  

LaoKa Village School, Sen Monorom District 

During the transitional stages of getting settled, we found a house within a week of being in Sen Monorom Town.   Kevin quickly found work and taught English as a second language to NGO staffs and to other locals who were interested in pursuing their English further…  As for me, I hired a Khmer Translator within a week of our arrival.  Met some very important people with my partner organization: the Provincial Office of Education  aka POE.   My POE Khmer partner and  colleagues welcomed me with open arms and had the good wisdom to place me, an English speaking person, under the same roof as them, to place me with my six Khmer/Bunong colleagues,  in hopes that we’d communicate in Khmer/Bunong/English.   Slowly, but surely it worked!.  

Lem Mas Village School, Bousra Commnune , BuCh'ri district 

During the early phase, I was introduced to local schools, administrators and community leaders across Mondulkiri to  observe classes in action, exchange ideas, listen to what they had to say in order for us to assist and support them in the best possible way.   As a Primary Education Advisor, I was assigned to help strengthen the education system; to work closely alongside teachers and school directors in order to help improve the quality of basic education , to help increase access to education for a better tomorrow …  

As luck would have it, our initial 20 months placement  rolled out to another adventurous year  in Cambodia.  As a result,  it gave us, my Khmer /Bunong colleagues, an opportunity  to resume to the ‘Love of Reading’ and other projects that we were in the midst of tying loose ends with.   More to the point, to simultaneously continue to ‘pluck’ away with a much different needed project: build the capacity of POE staffs to be more effective in increasing school enrollment, And, to improve the sustainability of higher school enrolment across all grade levels from grades 1 to 12; in particular, in poor and isolated rural Bunong Communes. 

A beautiful Khmer woman selling her produce in Sihanoukville

Aside from working, we had some wonderful trips in Cambodia,  mainly visiting Kep, Kempot and Sihanoukville indulging to different foods that we would not have experienced in Mondolkiri.. 

Why did volunteering work for us?  We had a sense of adventure,   kept an open mind and had fun throughout our time in Cambodia. The warm weather off course was a huge help.  What's more, we truly enjoyed working and living among the local people who were full of energy and hope;  and with friendly POE staffs, State/Community teachers, school directors and cluster chiefs who do the best they can with limited resources.  Most importantly we got high support from family and friends who followed us on our Cuso/VSO blog and sent us a number of emails of appreciation on a regular basis – It was like having them with us!  

We’ve now been in Canada for 4 months and we’re really enjoying food that we took for granted before leaving for Cambodia.  We also have relished playing catch-up with our family and friends whom we love and spend much 'fun' times together.

A graceful Bunong lady who worked at the POE

During our time in Cambodia we were happy with so little – materialistic things didn’t mean much to us.  We also learned a lot about ourselves:  We’ve become more laid back and when someone’s late we don’t fret :)  

What’s next? We have continued to support the POE with the Enrolment Campaign.  Khmer - Bunong stories from our book are expected to air on the Mondolkiri local radio station in October 2016 . See Note below as to how we trained POE educators across Mondolkiri province whilst there: 

Khmer - Bunong stories will be broadcast on the Mondolkiri local radio station in October

Trained teachers, school directors, cluster chiefs, POE staff and village chiefs on the document ‘The Road to Prosperity –my education –my life’that was printed in January 2016 on the value of education.  The training  was done in two parts:

1 . The first part of the workshop consisted of, ‘what sustainability in the school system looked like?  This included: 
a.     Keeping children in school,

b.     Equity (gender) and inclusion - with a focus on marginalized groups who face gender, disability, cultural and linguistic barriers to education, as well as to ensure that Indigenous minority groups, primary age children in targeted Bunong districts can access a quality education

c.      How to best implement this tool, these activities in the classroom to raise awareness on the value of education.  

2.     The second part of the workshop entailed:

a.      Why children dropped out of school?
b.      What educators and the community can do to overcome these problems?
 

Because we fell in love with this amazing place, I’ve no doubt that we’ll return there someday soon. In a nutshell, we were fortunate and very lucky to have been placed in the beautiful hills of Mondolkiri. 

More later :)