School Enrollment Campaign

- a road less traveled ...

Both the Cambodian grade 12 national rescheduled examination and the school enrollment campaign took place during a two-week period in mid October 2014. 

The first week, volunteer officials nationally monitored the grade 12 students' exams.  Once the exams were done here in Mondolkiri, students hooted with joy that the rescheduled exam was finally over, and said commented they looked forward to a brand new school year.  One of them said that they will  ‘study’ harder.  Exam results are expected to be published within the next few months.

School attendance is not mandatory in Cambodia but encouraged! 

Children ages 6 and older can enroll.  Sometimes there are children as old as 15 that will enroll in grade 1. 

Every year, 15 days prior to the new school term, a School Enrollment Campaign takes place throughout Cambodia to encourage every child of school age enroll in school.  For the first time this school year, because of the grade 12 rescheduled national exams and an end to the rainy season, the school term started on November 1^st..   Therefore, during the weeks of October 14 – 23, 2014 we held a School Enrollment Campaign throughout Mondolkiri Province.  

The objective for a School Enrollment Campaign is to promote ‘Education for All’,  to inform parents and guardians to enroll their children in school, through information dissemination, parades, communication and persuasion.  This is to increase awareness among families and communities; to put into practice a plan to enroll all school-age children from their local area and, to reach every child from poor and marginalized groups, especially girls and children with disabilities.  Last but not least, it is to ensure that All children have equal access to school And, to enjoy the right to a quality of education. 

 

This year a team of us supported the Sre Y back to School Enrollment Campaign and braved the treacherous road.  Reaching Sre Y Village School was difficult to get to on a motorbike because the road was severely rutted, slippery and muddy.    At this time of the year, motorbikes are the only vehicles that will endure this stretch of track -this so-called stretch of highway.   Since last May, when roads were better to ride on, have now been destroyed by logging trucks and the rainy season.  It took over 2 hours to drive 25-kilometers to the school, that was both arduous and exhausting to say the least.   However, on our arrival, we were warmly greeted by smiling children, tea and the director of Sre Y Village School, who told us that ’10 years ago, when I first moved in the community, roads were far better to ride on then they are now’.                                                                                     

 

At the School Enrollment Campaign, at Sre Y Village School, the Commune Chief, officials, and VSO addressed approximately 100 community members, including elders, parents and children. They shared their own stories stating the many benefits of education, the Child Friendly School programme and more. Parents were reminded to enroll their children, and when and where to enroll.    Parents listened attentively to the pleas of the officials and they appeared to understand the link between school enrollment and reaping the rewards of education.

 

Once the presentation was over, a group of parents and children surrounded the director to enquire further about enrolment.  While we were there, 14 new children enrolled in grade 1 (2 girls and 12 boys) for the school year 2014 -2015.  

However, keeping children at school in this part of the country, in this indigenous community is a challenge.   In the last 2013 – 2014 school year, 35 children in grade 1 enrolled.  By grade 6 only 11 students enrolled, of which four Grade 6 students passed.  The school director told us that the mere handful of children who had passed ‘are now living and attending school in Sen Monorom town’.

This appears to be common practice at Sre Y Village.   Further, the community faces many challenges where I work, there is little to no food security.  What the family eats that day is in direct response to how much they have managed to produce on the farm.   Often many children are either pulled out of school, or kept at home, in order to contribute to the family income, to help the family in the (cassava, rice etc) field to harvest or plant crops, or anything else that pertains to chores at home, such as caring for their younger brothers and sisters.  Sometimes parents will send their older children to the market in bigger towns to sell their harvest.  Sometimes schools are too expensive for children, parents cannot afford the 500 riels bribe per day to give to teachers.   

Apart from economic barriers there are also cultural constraints.  These Bunong communities such as in Sre Y Village remain socially isolated from the larger Cambodian society.  They are animist and worship forest spirits.  They’re ancestors are buried on their land and as a result, the Bunong peoples will not leave their village.  They speak an indigenous language that until approximately eight years ago could not be written since it lacked its own alphabet.

14 children enrolled - 2 girls and 12 boys

There is good news, however.  Within this last school year, VSO worked very closely with CARE, developing a 20 module ‘Multilingual Education’ (MLE) Curriculum for Bunong Teachers, to deliver in all 5 districts State Schools of Mondolkiri Province. As I speak, they are presently conducting a one-week ‘Multilingual Education Training’ workshop (Modules 1 - 5) at the Education Resource Centre in Sen Monorom town.   The MLE Training was approved and fully supported by the Ministry of Education, for Bunong Teachers to teach their mother tongue to indigenous children in their community.   Consequently, as of November 1^st, 2014, grade 1 to grade 3 children will receive 100% Bunong instruction.  By grade 4, Bunong children will be introduced to the Khmer State Language Curriculum and by grade 5 they will fully be immersed in the Khmer Language Curriculum. 

Sadly, Sre Y Village School was exempted from the Multilingual Training, because the teachers were unable to attend the first one-week workshop, due to poor road conditions.

Two days later, after holding the school enrollment Campaign at Sre Y village School, we headed for home to Sen Monorom Town.   On our arrival, we had lunch with our landlord/landlady and his friends.  One of his friends was a doctor, who told us that malaria was a concern at Sre Y village. He added, that he and his nursing staff would only visit the community certain times of the year, to deliver malaria medication for the people, due to limited access to the village community.   Like VSO, the doctor and his team plan to return and support Sre Y village once the road is rebuilt.

More later …

Pchum Ben

– a religious festival

In August we went to Malaysia for a holiday to escape the wet season (an account of our trip will be mentioned at a later date).  On our return there was a heavy downpour in Phnom Penh and the streets were flooded.  We were soon greeted with a reminder of why we had left.  At the airport we had quickly grabbed a Tuk Tuk attempting to stay dry on our way to the guesthouse.  However, there were people on motorbikes that were drenched and others were wading through the streets with water up to their knees.  By dinnertime the plugged drainage system had somewhat cleared and the roads were nearly back to normal to walk the streets while avoiding the garbage that had accumulated on the streets from sewers during the downpour.

Back to Mondolkiri the clinic/house next door (that took a year to build) was completed.  The landlady had moved her petite maternity clinic in her new house and  was now ready for normal business.

On our return we were faced with the fact that our landlord/lady told us that they wanted to raise the rent, despite the contract we had made for a fixed time here.  They rational:  ‘You have an extra person living with you (that’s Kevin) and we should raise the rent’ was the analogy they gave us.   As soon as they realized that we were serious at looking for other housing they quickly changed their minds and became our friends again, giving us food, inviting us to the Watt and for a meal.

We had also arrived at the beginning of Pchum Ben.  The local Watt was in full swing with chiming music and Monks chanting the Sutra’s in the background.  This seemed very fitting for this particular occasion that began at the wake of dawn (4 to 11 o’clock).   Pchum Ben is a Cambodian religious festival that lasts 15 days leading up to a 3-day national holiday.  This is a time for Cambodians to commemorate their ancestors of up to 7 generations by cooking meals for monks and making offerings to the "ghost" of deceased relatives. It is also known as "Ancestor's Day".  During the 3-day national holiday, religious rituals were held each day at the local Watt and everyone brought food-offerings to the Pagoda.  Food was mainly composed of rice, greens, and an abundance of fruits.  The end of the mantras gave rise to a different sound, to the sound of birds’ chirping  whilst building nests for their young.

This is the second year that we have experienced Pchum Ben.  Last year at the end of September 2013, we were at the tail end of our ICT and we stayed in Kep for the week.  This year we stayed in the beautiful hills of Mondolkiri to visit the Watt, have a meal with our landlord/landlady and to invite our little VSO group to join us for dinner one evening. By the way 2 more new VSO people have arrived and now we are 5.

Now that the festival is over, we have entered another cycle of another great year in Mondolkiri.   The monsoon season is currently coming to an end and the dogs are yelping louder than ever.  They are getting ready for mating.  The weather is becoming dryer each day. The illegal logging trucks are back at full speed.  We’re now getting beautiful sunsets, which we missed during the rainy season.  And, before long there will be bomb fires on every corner of town.

In terms of work, back to school programme starts November 1, 2014 due to the anti corruption exam that took place last July. 2014.   Only 25% of high school students passed while last year 86% passed.   Another set of exams has now been scheduled for October 13, 2014 throughout Cambodia to give high school students a second chance to rewrite their exams.    Kevin and I have been busy conducting a workshop together; preparing for the School Enrollment Campaign with my Khmer and VSO colleagues and arranging Annual Partnership Review for us VSO Education Sector.  Time has indeed passed quickly for us and I’m afraid before we know it time will fly faster than ever …

On that note, Kevin and I are spending our 35^th anniversary at Cullum’s place this evening for a yummy hamburger and tasty fries.

Last but not least, Esther will be coming to town for a visit from Australia

More later …

Expect the unexpected

There is no such thing as a typical day…

We’ve now been in Cambodia exactly one year today and an incredible year it’s been!

I remember our almost 2 hour Skype interview with a VSO staff in Cambodia and chatted mainly about travels, education, general life experience to the life in Cambodia that was soon to begin.   Our interviewer had also referred us to a ‘well-seasoned’ VSO couple who forewarned us that ‘there is no such thing as a typical day and instead -  to expect the unexpected…  ‘  

Once in Cambodia we spent 4 weeks in Phnom Penh for In-country Training with a fun group of people.   We quickly got used to the insane traffic, horn blowing, noise for the sake of noise, rules that no one cared to follow and  that no one gets upset at each other when a motor gets in the way of another.

Before we knew it we were heading to our placement destination.  The beautiful hills of Mondolkiri!  A colleague, Karen compared the hills of Mondolkiri with Wales – green and lush at least during the wet season.  During the dry season the landscape transforms itself to a red plume of dust with a multitude of bush fires spread out on side roads and in villages where I work.

Kevin and I arrived in Mondolkiri at the tail end of the avocado season – the tail end of the monsoon season, in early October 2013, (though it felt at the time that the rainy season was never going to end).  By November the rain stopped and the wet saffron red clay was replaced by a powdery dust.  On the way to the villages by motor bike, a combination of high winds with heavy trucks created clouds of dust that blew on our face, mouth and nose and crept into every part of our body, permanently staining our skin and clothes.  Back on the ranch  the red fine dust took on a life of its own finding its way to anything to the touch: furniture,  the crevices of our laptop keys to  wooden floors (our landlady soon came to the rescue with a mop in hand to give us a ‘floor washing’ demonstration). 

I was welcomed with a Khmer/English dictionary

On our arrival to our placement we were very excited and my adrenaline ran high for quite some months.   During the transitional stages of getting settled, we found a house within a week of being here. Kevin quickly found work with 3 different NGO’s to teach English to the staff.  As for me, I hired a VA a week after we arrived, met some very important people in the education sector such as my Khmer colleagues who welcomed me with open arms – they were more than helpful.  Each day, either my Khmer partner or one of our Khmer colleagues took me on many expeditions to meet teachers in the village schools to observe classes in action, exchange ideas, listen to what the teachers have to say and to be able to assist and support them in any way we can.   My Khmer colleagues work hard each day to make things happen to help improve the quality of teaching, to reach every student and more …  

Throughout the course of the year there have been successes and milestones.   More money is spent on education and an end to corruption is finally coming to light.  For the first time, earlier this year, teachers opened their own personal bank accounts.  They now receive direct payment from the government as a result from a two year research, campaigning and lobbying (credited to a group of NGO’s, VSO/Cuso and the government);  potential Bunong in-service teachers graduated from Teachers’ College in Stung Treng and returned to their home villages in Mondolkiri to teach; more girls are staying in school; some schools have become a model school for others; corruption-free grade 12 exams are now strictly regulated by the government. As a result only 25% of grade 12 students passed compared to the 86 % that passed last year (you can read more about it in the ‘Cambodia Daily’).   As for the challenges, teachers continue to be absent from school.  In the villages, teachers work on the farm, have family commitment and spend time working at other jobs to make ends meet due to low teaching wages.  As a result, teachers spend limited time preparing and delivering a child-centered curriculum; Schedules, meetings, sudden change of plans are given without notice – sometimes when I arrive at the village school teachers tell me that they’ve been called to yet another ‘unannounced’ meeting; Children have language barriers; some bilingual/trilingual schools speak Bunong, Cham and Khmer.  Teachers do not speak either Bunong or Cham.  Classrooms are poorly maintained.  Lack of good teaching practice, limited professional development support, limited teaching resources is apparent.

My VSO colleague was right   ‘there is no such thing as a typical day…’ every day is a different day.  It is how we face those challenges that count. 

Here on the home front, I think that we are slowly adapting to their Cambodian ways.  We are often invited by our landlord/lady to join them and their friends for a meal and a beer.  We are always happy to accept!  When locals (from other places in Cambodia) ask us where we come from, Kevin has a set answer and proudly tells them ‘We’re from Canada, but we live in Cambodia’.  

Fresh cassava left in the sun to dry

Furthermore, we’ve now become more familiar with the tropical fruits, vegetables and lush vegetation that appear at different times of the year.  Some of the fruit trees even grow in our own backyard:  papaya, passion fruit, guava, rambutan, mangosteen, jackfruit and the ‘smelly’ durian that’s delicious to eat!   It is soon the cassava harvest and the side roads to the villages will once again be lined with white vegetables drying in the sun.  The indigenous people – the Bunong people bring their crop from the fields to the side of the road where they and their little apprentices (their children) peel, dry and prepare the vegetables for shipment.

Awesome teddy bear street pajamas

Added to our Cambodian lifestyle, we now ride our motorbikes with flip-flops (I now wear my sandals ‘that soon fell apart from the rain and were re-sewn twice’ in Phnom Penh), as a result our feet are permanently stained in red.  Recently a colleague and I bought a colourful bright pair of these awesome ‘street’ pajamas that the women wear to the market and even to work.  We wore them to work the day we bought them except that they were no one to show them off too …  In terms of speaking Khmer – well that’s another story.  

Over this past ‘incredible’ year we’ve had an opportunity to meet and talk to people that we wouldn’t otherwise had the chance to encounter –  to hear their stories - their dreams and their hopes.  Such as the late Dara, our VSO Khmer teacher who was sm art, witty and fun.  He had a way of making us laugh when he knew we had had enough with our Khmer lesson.  Dara sadly passed away a month today.

And yes, we are still going strong despite the drastic change of the two seasons and even to think that we’ve experienced two winters.  The first winter came in December and the second in July when it turned cold because of the endless rain and dark clouds that keep temperatures low.   What counts are the people that continue to teach us and direct us with the countless things that we are yet to discover...

More later …  

Ah the sounds of la vie quotienne here in Mondolkiri

Time goes quickly.  It’s hard to believe that Kevin and I have been here for almost 10 months.   It means that we’re still having fun … working out in the field, organizing workshops, taking trips to Vietnam, Kep, Kratie and lately, taking several trips to Phnom Penh trying to get my laptop (that crashed recently) fixed, celebrating, organizing induction plans for new VSO volunteers (while sadly biding farewell to others)…   Not to mention the sounds of la vie quotidienne from our little community down below who are still working on the new house that began to take shape a while ago.   Though we’ve had many activities on the go, I have no real excuse for not writing.  My motto is to procrastinate until guilt creeps in to tell me that it’s time to put pen to paper.

For the Khmer New Year, Kevin and I spent a week  (via Kep) in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.  Though we were warned that Saigon would be like a ‘zoo’, we welcomed it with open arms after camping for nearly 10 months.   It was indeed a nice break for us.   On the way to Ho Chi Minh, we spent the weekend in Kep.  Kep is known as the ‘little French Riviera’ of Cambodia.  It’s a popular place for tourists and it is the place to relax, sleep and soak up the sun on a sleepy afternoon.  The best part of the day is taking a stroll to the sailing club for a drink and to end up at the crab market to watch the sunset while eating crab slathered in Kempot pepper sauce. 

As for work, we conducted several workshops to build the capacity of State/community teachers, directors and cluster chiefs in education: reading, math, science, social justice and inclusion; Healthy living, some English (here  and there) in the villages, in Sen Monorom town and in Kratié, our neighbouring province.  In late June 2014, VSO Educators from the 3 northern Provinces (Stung Treng; Kratie, Ratanakiri) joined us VSO educators here in Moldolkiri Province to  discuss and to possibly link a VSO English programme to the new Cambodian student book that was published late last year - November 2013 and was put into action in some village schools here in Mondolkiri province in January 2014.  A follow-up of the workshop was done in Kratié where teachers were given the opportunity to put into practice what they had learned!

Now that the rainy season is here I’ve been staying in the villages for longer periods of time to work with teachers and directors.  Sometimes the teachers come to school and other times they are out in their farms harvesting mung beans, planting cassava, or working in rice fields.   Seasonal food production work is critical to the village people and salvaging their crop will always be a priority for them.  For example, if the village people don’t harvest the beans before the rain comes they will spoil.   So my VA and I plan our activities around the teachers’ schedule.  However, it’s good to know that when I’m in the village for several days, teachers do come to school and will let me know ahead of time when they plan to work on their farm.    

Elsewhere in Mondolkiri, on the way home (to Sen Monorom) from the villages, on one occasion, when we thought it was safe to return home from our village visits in several schools, we were caught in a heavy  rain storm and got drenched.  Rutted muddy roads turned to rivers, high cliffs on the outskirts of Buch'ri Commune converted to a cascade  that contributed to rivers, and, my camera got soaked.  I was able to salvage some of my photos, however, I lost them all when my laptop crashed just recently.

On the positive side, in courtesy of Kevin and our daughter Tralore, I had a month long birthday celebration at home and in Phnom Penh.  During one of our many trips to Phnom Penh to find out the cause of my laptop, why the operation system failed and crashed, we took a river cruise along the river.    We noticed that the direction of the Tonlé Sap flowed backward because of the high waters of the Mekong.

More later … promise!

photos will be posted at a later date.

A time of change …

The dry season is over.  It’s early May and the rains have arrived. 

Each day lightning with thunderstorms heralds the rain and each day the rain last longer turning the ‘saffron’ dirt roads into streams and rivers of mud becoming treacherous to ride on …  

So now I get up at 5 a.m.  In the dark.  In a vain attempt to beat the rain, my VA and I rush to the villages to deliver workshops, but invariably return home drenched and splattered with mud … I have adopted a large bamboo stick as my travelling companion to wade through the muddy waters when I have to dismount the motorbike while Savy pushes the motorbike up and down the muddy hills.

With the rains, surrounding forest has come alive with lush green foliage;  together with deafening sounds of frogs, cicadas and other unknown ‘electrical’ insects.  Also, swarms of cream yellow butterflies drift by during the day and at night we are invaded by thousands of ‘May Pleans’.

‘May Pleans’ - Rain Insects, also known as: large 4 wing-flying ants appear at night. After a heavy rain thousands of ‘May Pleans’ dance around night-lights shedding their wings in the course of the night littering the grounds by morning.   Fried ‘May Pleans’ are a local delicacy which I’m told taste like bacon bits. 

Of course this time of the year ‘May Pleans’ are a real feast for geckos.  Every evening, around 7, our friendly gecko positions himself on the awning with his head stuck out ready to attack.  First, he lets flying insects swirl around him and then he devours them whole once they are close to his bite.

Farewell to VSO volunteers

With the changing of the season, there’s a change of VSO Volunteers.  As I speak a swarm of VSO volunteers are getting ready to leave Cambodia.  Gemma has just left.  Followed by Tracy, Karen.  Soon Yves, Zeneida, Sabrina will be leaving …

Last night we had a party for my colleague whom we met at our pre-departure training in Ottawa.   While Karen and I prepared for the party, the heavens opened, the house began to leak and Kevin began to ‘madly’ mop up the floors.  

During the downpour the power went out.  The pizza guy called to say that the pizzas were ‘ready’, but not cooked due to power failure.   So for a while we sat on the verandah with romantic lit candles, wine, beer and food until magically the power returned just as our guest arrived with the pizzas at that!   In the end, everything fell into place, despite the constant downpour that continued throughout the evening.

It’s now 2 in the afternoon.  Dark clouds are rolling in quickly.  Another burst of torrential rainfall is about to start.  Kevin and I are getting ready to meet the VSO gang at Café Pkhar for one last farewell ….

More later ...

Photos will be posted at a later date

One day in the life of … Hello my name is …

Monday morning, I asked my Line Manager for the key to the POE Resource Centre. This was to prepare for the Saturday BEL workshop.  With a smile he replied ‘Do not worry...  You will get the key by Thursday or Friday of this week’.   Pointing to the other POE building he said,  ‘Find the ‘cheerful housekeeper’ and she will give you the key’. 

By Friday morning, I became a little anxious.  There was no sign of the  ‘cheerful housekeeper’ who throughout the week had promised me the key.   Finally, she appeared with a tangle of keys wired together and dared me to try and separate the one I needed.   I sat on the steps outside our office and like everyone else before me, I did a few twists and turns to separate the keys when  ‘Voilà’ – Success!  

Once I had the key, there was a mad scramble to get the room prepared.   Mop in hand and bucket in the other, together, Kevin my husband, Savy my translator, the ‘cheerful housekeeper’ and I, we began to clean the room. 

Preparing for the workshop

We opened the windows, washed the floors; dusted walls, tables, chairs; placed chairs in a horseshoe shape ...  I even washed the garbage container and positioned it at the entrance of the door as a reminder to keep the room clean.  Finally, it was!      

Unfortunately, the toilets were not functional, apparently, the man who had authorized the water supply was in Phnom Penh.   What the participants did remains a mystery, although the POE complex has many walls to hide.

In total 27 Directors and teachers attended the workshop.  They came from 6 different districts in Mondol Kiri Province, some traveling up to 135 km by motorbike on rutted dusty roads.    At first they appeared to be just as nervous as me because of their limited English.   However, they went away with a few simple English expressions such as:  ‘Hello my name is …  I am from …’

Posting survey charts

Creating survey charts

In the end, the workshop came altogether.   

Kevin and Savy had created charts with questions for the participants to respond to and taped them to the walls.   
We had enough BEL materials for all participants.  The water and snack -banana fritters and sandwiches arrived as planned.

Picking a partner ...

Most importantly, the teachers had joined in most, if not all of the BEL
activities, contributed to discussions and had fun in the process.

Hello my name is … Part 2.   

Savy - midwife and super lady ...

Back on the ranch, the highlight of the day
was to discover the wail of a new born baby that had newly arrived in our little community.   Savy, our landlady and midwife (not to be confused with Savy my VA), had just delivered a baby in her little shed below our house.   Though she looked a little wary, in her English she said, ‘baby’ -  ‘proh’.  I answered with a nod, ‘baby boy’.   She repeated, ‘baby boy’.  And we never did know his name.

More later ...