Cambodia CAS Trip
26 May to 3 June
During our week of teaching, we were all surprised and in awe of the will these children had to learn. It was especially sad when we realised that for some of the students who go to the school, it was their last year of schooling. This made us even more determined to give them all we had to offer.
The school lacked basic facilities like lighting and fans; facilities we take for granted. We taught them arts and crafts, English, Maths and played games with them. We greatly underestimated how much an issue the language barrier would prove to be. We overcame this using sign language and with a lot of help from the local translators. We also did “Eggs for Trash” where we paired up with a few children and collected trash together in the hopes of raising awareness about keeping the environment clean.
Apart from teaching, we also helped with building fences around the school to prevent animals from coming in. It was gruelling work, but we felt satisfaction when we completed the fencing around the compound. Reflecting on the events that
had transpired in that week, we all got the wake-up call we so desperately needed growing up in a first world country like Singapore. Suffice it to say, we have learned to be much more appreciative of all the facilities we have.
Besides the service aspect of the trip, we also got to experience what Cambodia had to offer, culturally. We practised the Cambodian martial art, Bokator, tried our hand at Khmer cooking and got to see the temples of Angkor Wat. We visited the workshops of Artisans of Angkor that employ those stuck in the poverty cycle, those that are visually or hearing impaired.
We even went to a silkworm farm to learn about how silk is made. Towards the end of the trip, we got a chance to go to the a Khmer Rouge memorial where we learned a little more about why the country is in the state that it is now.
Ayushi Lahiry, 5 Thoburn