Day 11 - R&R Begins!

It’s Day 11, time to leave Pursat and head to Siem Reap for Rest and Recreation. Spending the past 10 days with the people of Sustainable Cambodia and staying in Pursat has been a journey filled with new experiences for many of us. The stay at Agriculture Training Centre

The bus is set to leave at 7.30am for Siem Reap and is estimated to reach at 1.30pm. The price of the ticket from Pursat (Phousat) to Siem Reap is 20,000 riel. Capitol Bus Company is one of the many bus companies available running between provinces in Cambodia, the rest including Rith Mony, Paramount Express, Mekong Express, G.S.T and some more. The meaning of Pursat in Khmer is Bodhi tree and Siem Reap means that the Thais have been defeated. (ATC) was an especially memorable one. Witnessing a lunar eclipse, sitting together to watch the stars and even spotting several shooting stars. Something that was especially touching was the warmth and hospitability that the people of Sustainable Cambodia displayed. They always greeted us warmly even in the early morning when everyone was feeling lethargic and grouchy.

The journey to Siem Reap took 6 and a half hours and along the way, we passed by major provinces such as Battambang (the main province that does a lot of trading over the Thai-Cambodia border and Banteay Meanchey. In Battambang, Jing Wei and Yun Yu got separated from the rest of the group during one of the break for lunch. The rest of the team had alighted to take a toilet break and the bus drove off to the bus depot to park. They were worried that the rest of the group would not be able to find the bus. Thankfully, after a while, the bus drove back to the original location and was reunited with the rest of the team again!

The team arrived in Siem Reap at 2pm and was picked up by two vans guided by Sunsame, our local guide for the Angkor Heritage Park and for the next two days. We bought tickets costing at US$20 each at the ticket counter that opens at 5pm for sales of tickets that will be valid for the next day. We reached the Pre Run temple in the southern part of the Angkor Park just in time to watch sunset. The other ideal place for viewing of the sunset is the Bakai Mountain located on the north side of the park. However, it has a more treacherous flight of steps to overcome than the ones at Pre Run. The steps leading the top of the Pre Run temple were really steep and dangerous. However, the view that awaited us at the top of the steps was really breath-taking. The Angkor Wat (temple) in the Angkor Park is also the first 7^th wonder of the world that I visited, although the list of wonders is constantly changed. Being at the temples reminded me of the history of Cambodia and what the country went through in the past. The magnificent kingdom that once ruled over the lands of where current Laos, Vietnam and Thailand lies. The rich history of the Angkor and Cambodia is really interesting and fascinating.

Another interesting thing about Cambodia is their roads and traffic system. Their roads are really different from Singapore. We had not encountered any traffic lights during our stay in Cambodia until we reached Siem Reap. We found out from our tour guide that there are only 5 traffic lights in the whole of Siem Reap and they are all quite new. Due to this, the people still jay-walk quite often and largely disregard the traffic lights. Siem Reap is also a very different city as compared to Pursat. Siem Reap is a place with many tourists, hotels and guesthouses while Pursat has very few tourists and virtually no hotels in town. The environment in these 2 Cambodian cities is really different. Western influence is evident in Siem Reap, mostly seen in the food sold. Western food is sold widespread and most of the shop owners know how to speak fluent English.

The changing landscape from Pursat to Siem Reap brought about new perspectives. Pursat was a town with minimal development and populated mainly with farmers growing rice and other villagers. Siem Reap turned out to be an entirely different environment. This showed how diverse Cambodia is and also, the huge room for change that can be done to better the lives of all Cambodians.

Day 11 - Trip to the waterfall

We woke up early to a very cold morning for our trip to the waterfall. The bus ride to the waterfall was filled with Khmer, English and Mandarin songs. Now we know that a lot of us can’t really remember lyrics and that Meng can sing a lot of Mandarin songs! The ride was a bumpy and dusty one with muddy water and uneven terrain. We were amazed at Jack’s superb driving skills!


Breakfast was at a roadside stall. The pork noodles and grilled pork rice were especially ching-an (aka delicious) after a freezing long ride!


When we reached our destination, the SC people guided us to the waterfall. We had to navigate through rocks and unlevelled ground. Just when we thought that we have reached the waterfall, we were told that we had only completed half of the walk. We finally reached the waterfall after some time.


The waterfall was nice and for many who have not played in a waterfall before, it was an exciting experience. Upon arrival, we could immediately sense the coolness of the water and were quite apprehensive about going into the water. But well, since we were already there, it would be a waste if we do not experience waterfall first-hand!



After some fishing, chatting and sleeping (where Sam was repeatedly caught on camera), most of us finally made our way into the river. Wei Hong was the first brave warrior who went into the river!





Almost everyone dreaded the coldness of the water but it got much better after we spent some time inside it. And we can clearly see the guys shivering with chattering teeth in the cold water. We then made our way to the waterfall where we had individual shots of us in meditation and also group photos.
Lunch was next. It was ginger chicken with rice and grilled pork with rice. We also tried something interesting – baguette with condensed milk, placed in a bamboo which was slit into half. It’s quite amazing how resourceful the Cambodians are; they seem to be so at ease with nature where they could create things they need from natural resources. Other examples include the fishing rods that were made with branches and the grilling of the fishes with bamboo and fire. However, there were some things they did that intrigue us. One example, Jack was happily burning the Styrofoam lunch box when he realized that there was uneaten rice in one. He then naturally retrieved the partially burnt box to finish the rice. Maybe he wasn’t aware that burning Styrofoam emits poisonous gas; maybe it was because of thrift and the reluctance towards wastage, or maybe such concerns do not even feature in their lives.


While some of us were drying our clothes by the fire, a second batch of us went to the waterfall. It was very nice of Wei Hong and Meng to accompany the girls down to the waterfall again! After that, a group of us went for a hike leaded by Sokun, Vicheka , Siap and semi-Cambodian Wen Hao. The route was fun and challenging. It was super nice of the four of them to ensure our safety and pave the road for us, including moving a big log so that we could use it as a bridge to cross the currents. We were really grateful for their help.


We then made our way back to SC! The trip was long and freezing and dusty, but the night sky was dotted with stars! Some of us played lame games such as the water bottle game, Around the world in eighty days, how many meh-meh jump over the fence, ji ke xing xing diao xia lai, and black/yellow/red/green/blue magic.



Back at the guesthouse, we took group photos (including with Jack!) and we finally told Jack the meaning behind his name. He is so cute :D Then, we made our usual trip to the petrol station to have our ice-cream, betagen and other snacks. Chang Tat, as usual, replenished his food supply. Zhi Hui also finally and successfully raced to the cashier to get small change for her USD note. We then ate a lot of fish for dinner.


Time flies! With only the R&R portion left, our trip is almost coming to an end! It is very heartening to see how SC and also the children and villagers have helped make our trip meaningful and enriching. We are really grateful for their kind hospitality and sincerity in making us feel at home. Sometimes, it almost feels like we are on a tour than the usual OCIP trip. It is great that our trip is not a once-off thing because of the business component we have with respect to the sewing class. SC has been very sincere in making a positive difference to the lives of their fellow citizens and we have witnessed this by their hospitable treatment and cooperation with us. It would be great to come back to Cambodia someday again to look at the trees that we have planted, to see how the kids have grown and learned, and also to contribute in more ways through SC. This trip not only helped us understand more about our project by putting faces behind the organization we have been working with, it also allowed us to understand and experience the Cambodian way of life and make us more appreciative of what we have in our home country.

Day 9 - Work Ends!!

Day 9 in Cambodia started off early, despite the team just returning from ATC the evening before.

It was going to be a busy day for the sewing business team (which included Meng and Me) as we had execute our plan to capture on video various interviews we scheduled with a few of the SC staff, namely Mr Chenda, Mr Polla and Mr Dimang, to act as material for a video to be made that would complement our project and any future business proposals.

The first interview with Mr Dimang went very smoothly and frankly speaking we were rather relief everything went according to plan. The other interviews were alright as well, but because the nature of the interview was rather impromptu (ie. Their speech was unscripted and the interview was not planned in detail) some portions were rather “long-winded”.

Nonetheless, I believed we were able to capture the crucial information we required, and hopefully the video we piece together would be presentable as it will definitely go a long way to support SC’s cause.

We were also able to interview the sewing girls and their sewing teacher and it makes sense to do so since they are the real stars in our story, and we wanted to get to know them better. Hopefully by featuring their personal stories, it would motivate our future clients to support their cause, and improve the lives of these girls by providing them with a sustainable income.

After concluding with the interviews, our team took a break for lunch nearby at the Chinese restaurant (we had fried mee J)

After lunch, the entire YEP team attended what would be the last official meeting with the SC staff to allow both sides to discuss any future plans as well as serve as a feedback session for the trip.

After feedback meeting, we’re going to have 2 friendship soccer matches with SC staff and students at Kandeang High School, to where we had already been on the second day. Recalling what we had done yesterday, after swimming in fast current flowing river, we had a so-called warm-up match or perhaps stamina-exhausting torturing. Everyone was too slack and finding excuses for not playing. It seemed “diarrhea” was the best excuse. We got on the truck with a few international volunteers heading to the unknown and unpredictable “battle field”. Hopefully we could come back in one piece (quoted from Li Zhou).

The truck paused for a while in front of a beer store after a short leave from SC. We thought SC people wanted to play “drunk soccer”. Actually they stopped there to buy drinking water. Accidentally, we run into a group of medical students who are also from Singapore to Pursat. With a short conversation between Wen Hao and them, we found that they had been here for 3 days to provide medical service to one of the villages. The rest of us didn’t have any interaction with them, but Wen Hao suggested us most likely have a bonding dinner with them tomorrow.

One funny thing to be mentioned, Sam fell asleep on Wilson’s should, which se wanted to take picture but failed. We went along the way with curiosity and anticipation until we reach the high school. What were waiting for us at the high school were students and our opponents. We felt overwhelmed by the large soccer field, cheering crowd, and our opponents’ uniform and nail shoes. This time everyone was even more reluctant. Because earlier I mentioned I played soccer at NTU on weekends, I was pushed to play with SC staff against the high school team, who were well-trained and well-prepared. Never mind, if I didn’t go to hell, who else? [T_T] The match took approximately 10 minutes respectively for first and second half. The SC team I was in ended up in losing 0-3. The second match started immediately. It was between the high school teachers including the school principle and SC main personnel mixed with 2 foreigners and our Sabbaay team. Surprisingly, Shi Hui was pushed to play because the other side had a female player. The match was less formal. Our Sabbaay team’s guys took turn to play except Sam. Tak Chuen was not feeling well since morning, but he managed to play for quite a long duration. We lost the game by 0-2. The soccer session ended with cloudy sky and little rain.

The celebration banquet was unexpectedly prepared for us already at another area of the school. Under the open sky, the meal was chicken curry served with barquet on a few rows of tables plus local palm wine and village music. Before the dinner kicked off, there was a lengthy speech about the history of Cambodia and the introduction of the high school addressed by the principle. All of us sit face-to-face with SC staff and school teachers. The dinner went on with conversation and laughing. The word of the day, “Joul Mouy”, which is supposed to mean cheers or Yam Sheng, was pronounced like some kind of Cambodian vulgar word. Perhaps drunk by palm wine, some SC people felt so high to describe their opinions and experience. Mr. Synoun, who was the computer technician at SC, shared with a few of us his “10-girl-friend” theory. The end of the dinner was highlighted by the song sung by Mun Yee, Yun Yu and Sam to the whole banquet. The flow of local popular songs was performed by villagers with their traditional er-hu and hand drum to make all of us come together in circle to dance. All of us were so interested in learning Cambodian traditional dance.

The whole celebration ended after 7pm. We got on the truck with a few local and foreign volunteers, so we ended up with squeezing within a row of 5 people. We made some noise under the darkness along the way by singing some random songs like Merry Christmas, Jingle Bell, Singapore Town, The Moon Represents My Heart, etc.

One last but not least thing to be mentioned was that Sam found a girlfriend, Ratha, a local SC student who had been with us at ATC. Everyone was talking about them from the school back to guest house. I was not sure what the process was, but they looked getting with each other very well. Hopefully she would be going with us next day to Waterfall in Chrak La Eang.

Tak Chuen & Meng

Day 8 - The day that we return from ATC

Today is the last day that we will be helping out in the village. The morning is colder compared to the last 2 days that we stayed in ATC. 4 people (Wen Hao, Wilson, Li Zhou and Wei Hong), decided to have a jog to the preschool, which is around 3km. They took around 18mins to complete the run, which is good considered it is their first run in Cambodia. When we reached there, we helped to reinforce and beautify the fence first. After which, we played with the kids while waiting for breakfast to arrive, which is at 9.30am. After eating, we gathered in the classroom. Yun Yu and Chau Min gave a short speech, and then we gave out stationary set and colored pencil and tidbits to the preschool children. We also presented a sign board made by us to the school. All the students are very happy receiving the gifts and we hope that they can do well in their study.

Finally, we said goodbye to the preschool and children and head for the river, which took around 45mins. After alighting, we took a short walk through the woods to reach the river. Initially no one wanted to go down into the river, but after seeing the clear water and much peer pressure, all of us went into the water and had fun playing and swimming against the current for about 1 hr. Then we had a “picnic”, which consist of our lunch pack and leftover tidbits that we had brought to eat during our outfield stay. We then decided to hit the road and return back to guest house.

However, while crossing the bridge, Mr Chenda spotted an area under the bridge and thought that it is a good idea to play soccer. So we had a quick match and everyone was tired out. Mr Chenda then told us that it was a plan to tire us out so that we will not be able to compete in the match the next day. After that, Mr Chenda bought us to another school (Kravanh Bright Future Centre) under Sustainable Cambodia, and we get to see the school, and interact with the students there.

After that, we finally return back to the guesthouse. We finally get the chance to go to the petrol station and bought things like bottled drinks and ice cream. People like Wei Hong had to buy yogurt drink because of constipation, and several people bought a second ice cream. We then had our dinner, follow by a 2 hours long of sharing session on what we had obtained from this trip so far. All of us feel that it was a once in a life time experience and we all enjoyed the trip. It was a very long sharing session, and most of us are very tired after the long ride. Rest well and prepare for the soccer match tomorrow.

Done By: Jun Xian and Wilson

Day 7

The new day started with a quite windy and cold morning. The breakfast (Fried Rice with Sausage) was really nice. We were fortunate to be able to have packed food for breakfast, lunch and dinner as compared to some of the locals who may not have the ability to enjoy this luxury. After breakfast, we split into 2 teams to help out with the furnishing of the school. One team helped out with the construction of the concrete bed while the other team dug holes to plant 5 coconut and 5 mango trees.

Constructing the concrete bed

Constructing the concrete bed, which we had never been exposed to before, was really an interesting process. At the very first beginning, we thought it should be quite easy to align these bricks into a line. But the fact was that we spent quite much time in finishing only a few ones. The villagers were really friendly to give us the demo again and again. Although we did not speak the same language, we could still communicate through the body language and understand each other very well. After finishing the first concrete bed, we found the bricks were not enough to construct the second one. Finally, the villagers found the way to help finish our plan by making the wooden mode and fill the cement into it.

Planting trees

Initially, digging holes for planting seemed like an easy and straightforward task. We did not have to mix the cement or fetch water like what the concrete bed needed. We watched as Mr Ros mon taught us how to dig the holes which were square-ish in shape. It looked simple enough. Swing the chunko down, pull, get the soil out and repeat the process. However, it turned out to be much more difficult than expected. The angle that we swing the chunko down determines how much soil we were able to dig at one time and also determines how efficient we are. It was also extremely tiring for us as we are not used to manual labour. It was interesting to see how a particular kid was supervising Wilson and taking over from him every now and then. The kid was small in stature but he was able to dig better than most of us. This made us wonder about the age at which they start doing manual labour.

Playing with children

During our free time, we also played games with the kids. Their games required a lot of stamina and were very physically strenuous. Our old bones were put to the test with their enthusiasm and eagerness. Many of us were panting after the games while the children seemed to be able to play another 100 more rounds. Their boundless energy is really amazing. They were playing with us during our break, amongst themselves during our lunch break and continued even after our lunch. Their childhood seemed to be a lot more fun and interesting as compared to many of us. Another moment that was really touching is when the children go back and bring the cow home. When they see the sun set down, the elder brother or sister in the family will stop the games and go back to bring the cow home. As a child, they are really disciplined and bear more responsibility compared to us at the same age.

Lunch time entertainment

An interesting incident happened during lunch. We saw that there were 2 dogs mating. The dogs were eating our leftovers and after they had their fill, the male dog went over to the female dog and initiated the mating process. It was an eye-opener for many of us as we had never seen dogs mating before.

Waste management

At the end of the day, we discovered that the way that they dispose rubbish in Cambodia was by burning. They burned everything, including plastic bags and boxes every day. Many of us told them burning the plastic could produce poisonous gases and it was harmful for the health of the children. But they had no choice. In that place, there is no certain place to throw away and depose the rubbish, nor is there any rubbish truck going around to collect these waste. The kids just consider it as a funny game and cannot realize it is a dangerous action.

A sense of achievement

In the evening, Mr Chenda brought the signboard saying “This School is constructed in December 2011 by NTU SIFE (SINGAPORE)”. We all had a strong sense of achievement. It is amazing that in only two days’ time, the school can look so different. We do hope that those lovely kids all can study well in this better condition and have a brighter future.

Love,
Zhihui & Yun Yu

Day 5 - Trip to ATC!

Today, we left for Agricultural Training Centre (ATC) to help out in the furnishing of the pre-school. We had to wake up 1 hour earlier today and had to pack so much stuff for the trip. The worst thing was that there was no internet access there and hardly any electricity!! Nooo! L

Anyway, we left at 7:45am for the 2+ hour journey on board our faithful lorry. We stopped by at about 9am to stock up on water for the days as potable water is rare there. After buying 60-litres of bottled water at 90000riel, we managed to find this Water Filtration Centre which purified rain water using UV and slow sand technique. We bought the other 60litres there at only 3000riel, which is like 30x cheaper!! Just that we had to give a deposit fee for the containers, which was a no-brainer. XD

The lorry ride itself was quite boring at first, but it was better than Day 2 as we started sitting face-to-face instead all facing the front. Equipped with the “surgical masks”, we managed to brave the ‘sandstorm’ throughout the journey (I really wonder why there’s so much sand on the front compared to SG). When we were 20mins to ATC, things got really exciting. The road became super bumpy and we had to hold on for our dear life. Quite exhilarating I would say, haha. We learnt that ATC was previously a mine field as well, and the mines were recently cleared with the help of UN. So its now quite safe. J Also, our very skilful lorry driver managed to squeeze through countless obstacles, which really amazed some of us. Oh ya, someone enjoyed the slap of her life during the trip. Great slap therapy, haha.

Anyhow, we reached Srah Romdeng commune in Chung Ruk village at 1012am. And there was a huge crowd of students already there welcoming us like we were some VIP (which they think we are?). They sang for us even and we returned with a rendition of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, haha. We briefly shared that we feel honoured to help them with the building of the pre-school and hope that they will really appreciate our help and stuff. The villagers seemed really thankful for that and we could really sense that they really valued our help fully.

After which, we gave out chicken biscuits to the pre-school kids. They were really cute and adorable with those small hands, and they seemed really delighted to have such treats, even though it was just a small gesture and effort on our part.

We even played tug-of-war with the children, which was really interesting as I have never seen so many people playing it before. We won’t holding on to any rope as well but just our arms around each other’s body. The kids let go too fast as they didn’t have enough strength, if not, it would have been much more challenging.

Then we went to ATC for lunch. Local food which was not too bad. And we did some FISHING!! It was quite cool as for most of us, it’s the first time we ever fished. Even though some girls didn’t want to try it for fear of animal cruelty and stuff, haha. I found it really cool that the fishing rod was hand-made. They just got a long bamboo branch and tied the fishing line on it. For bait, they just dug up some soil and used the worms inside. Really inventive of them.

We just fished in a small pond which was full of tilapia (aka drain fish, lol). And it was just for fun as most fish was so small that there wasn’t much meat to eat. The farmer and Mr Chenda were super awesome as they had a fishing net to play with. And they caught 2 BIG tilapias with it. J

I think we fished until 3pm. Then we had like a mini-orientation of ATC itself, where Mr David Scott (the pioneer of Biosand filter) and Mr Sothea showed us around the place, gave a brief history and told us the efforts that are currently being put in place to make ATC better. So currently, ATC uses solar panels to power lights at night and produces crops (which are rotated based on seasons) for small sales to their local market. Future plans include installing a biogas digester to degrade and utilize cow dung fully as well. And in the long-run, the goal that SC have is for ATC to become a production center for agricultural products where such goods will then be sold to nearby places, creating sustainability. A truly remarkable goal in my opinion, and I wish them success in their endeavours.

Other than that, some other random stuff I found out was that roosters crow randomly during the day, not only during sunrise.  

And for the rest of the day, we just played card games, interacted with the locals and had HTHT. Then it was SLEEP!! Just wanted to end off by saying that we felt really grateful to the farmer and SC people for lending us their blankets, mosquito nets and hammocks. Without them, we would have been quite screwed. So lets give 3 Cheers for Sustainable Cambodia! Hip Hip Hooray!!

Done by Sam, Wen Hao and Yam

DAY 6 In field part 1

It is gonna be a hectic day for our team as it is our first official day for in-field work in furnishing the pre-school and fencing around the school.

Our day started at 6.30am when we were awaken by the rooster, it was the first time that we experience being awaken by the rooster which I doubt we will have it in Singapore. After washing up, we engaged on a bumpy ride to the field site. To my surprise, on the way to the field site the locals told us that it is their public holiday today in Cambodia known as “Human rights day ”. As we reached the school, we were amazed by the villager’s kids gathering around the pre-school compound waiting of us. Seeing the kids carrying the woods and pushing the chicken wire for us make us feel heart warming for the start of a day. The most unbearable sight is to see some of them carrying wood which is longer than their heights. There are also a few warm hearted villagers who came to help out.

After having our breakfast, we were split into two groups for the in-field activity, some of us went to dig holes for the fence, the rest went to help with wall-furnishing. None of that is a easy job, but we are all well-engaged by the locals and spare no effort for the furnishing.. The kids are pretty skilled as h they helped us in digging the holes and also teaching us the correct technique. Perhaps furnishing and digging of holes for them are just part of their living in the village.

The progress our first day of work is beyond our expectation as almost 70% of the work is being completed due to the help from the SC personnel, community and the villager kids. Some of our team member went to play with the kids. Games like “3 minus 1” and “husband and wife” are quite well known to the villager kids.

The day ended off as we went back to ATC (Agriculture Training Centre) to rest. Guess probably we came to ATC at the right time that we are able to see the eclipse under open area where the natural surrounding makes the atmosphere perfect to see stars! The additional bonus that most of us witness is the amazing SHOOTING STARS!!! Probably this can be the most memorable moment/place that all our us will remember.

Though is a tiring day but all of us feel elated and looking forward.

From a tiring weihong and energetic jingwei.

Day 4 - Being a khrew part 2 (Teacher in Khmer)

How time flies! It has already been the fourth day we stay in Cambodia.

Our day started at 8 a.m when we went down to have breakfast.  Shi Hui was fighting with NTU Stars System the whole morning, literally a STARS WAR!! After breakfast, we walked to SC again. I still remember the first time we walked to SC that everybody was so curious about everything and taking photos here and there. Today, we seem to have been familiar with the way and just wanted to arrive there faster.

There were 2 sessions conducted simultaneously, one is the Business Lessons with the youth clubs and another one was with the sewing class. For today’s business lessons, there were more interaction and discussion with those lovely students. In the morning, we discussed with them about demand and supply and 4Ps (Product, Price, Place, Promotion). The girls in my group were quite interested in the topic and were trying their best to understand the concepts by asking numerous questions. They were helping each other and you can really feel their efforts. At the end of the lesson, they taught us some local games and played together with us. The games were quite simple and we enjoyed such interaction with them.

The lesson in the afternoon was quite relaxing; we guide them to analyze the market of their products and write down the business proposals. Afterwards, we chit chatted with them to find out more about their life.

While for the other team, the team had a knowledge transfer session with the sewing girls, which we provided some products’ designs and prototypes for them to sew. 4 days were given to them to explore and sew the products. The feedback sessions will be given when we are back from the village area.

Before the afternoon business lessons, I got a chance to talk to a girl. Her English was very good and she was very active in the class. I asked her that was she going to continue the education and go to university in the future. She gave us very definite answer that she would definitely continue and she planned to apply for foreign scholarship. In the environment that many students drop off at the grade nine and then went out to work to support family, there were still a group of children who had strong determination to change their life by education.

It is heart warming to observe how the team conducted the business lessons, they took the efforts to explain and also to go through the important points with the students slowly. Professional, will be the word I will use to describe my team members. As a Singaporean, we usually speak very fast, and it’s Singlish, the locals find it hard to understand us. Thus, we need to learn to speak slowly and also articulate our sentences clearly.

Business lessons ended off on a high note. All thanks to the business team committee who has painstaking prepared the lessons plans. Certificates were given to the students at the end of the 2 days when they attended both sessions. One of our team members, Taing Meng, told me that, actually this is probably the first certificate the Cambodians received.

Besides that, we had handmade friendship bands for the students. We used the Cambodia’s flag colors; Red, blue and white, each was given to the students. They were elated to receive the friendship bands, many started to wear it on their wrist. The team also started to sing Singapore Town song with the students, who enjoyed it very much. 

While singing the song, it started to rain, which is unusual, because this is the dry season. Many Cambodians also find it bizarre that it rains. This could probably due to the changes in the climate in the region.  All of us put on the poncho and walked back to our guesthouse. The session was ended off early for the members to rest as tomorrow the team is setting off to the rural area to begin the furnishing of the pre-school.

Stay tuned for another exciting journey ahead!

With Love,
The 2 Huis (Zhi Hui and Shi Hui)

Day 3 - Being a Teacher

We have been looking forward to this day. Business concepts and knowledge will be taught to the local students. Back in Singapore, we started preparing the business lessons since September. During the planning of the lessons, the main concern was whether the Sustainable Cambodia students will be able to understand the content. Nonetheless, all of us have been looking forward to interact with those lovely youths.

From the students' response, it's quite a surprise for us that they are pretty pro-active and outgoing towards us after the well-conducted ice-breaking game. Both the students and the facilitators enjoyed the interaction with the students. Lecturer Wilson gave a lecture on "Rural Innovations". The students breaked up into the small group and discussed on the need analysis of those innovations. As the student English proficiency are different, the better students help to translate the lessons into Khmer language for the rest. Their learning attitude has inspired us to teach them even more. The day ended with a prize presentation for the group with best innovation.

The students have make our day. Beside the teaching experience, their passion for learning is something I have yet to see this before. Through the sharing session, it can be seen that they are really working very hard to reach their goal. They grabbed hold of any learning opportunities. Moreover, I noticed that they helped each other in different ways. In order for one to succeed, one has to help the others around to succeed. I believe that one day they will succeed.

PhOtO of the day:

Cheers,
Jing Wei & Li Zhou

Day One/Two - The Beginning

They say that a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, and that step began for us when we bade farewell to our loved ones at Changi Airport Terminal One on Monday.

Our journey continued when we touched down and exited from the airport at Phnom Penh (Cambodia’s capital), and started our very very very very (4 verys = 4 hours) long bus ride to Pursat, the Cambodian province our project will be carried out at. On this long and arduous ride, we found out a few new and interesting things we didn’t know before the ride.

1. We passed by 101 crop fields, 120 Shop houses and 1345 motorcycles.

From these random facts and observations, we deduced that Cambodia is a rather self-sustaining country able to grow their own crops such as rice and various vegetables. The locals do their business by setting up small shops beside the main road as it has the most human traffic, which mostly consists of motorcycles, as it is their main mode of transport.

2. Never ever play Munchkin on a moving bus travelling on a bumpy road

For the simple reason that we ended up holding onto the cards instead because we couldn’t place the cards on a flat surface (eg. Chair) without them falling on the ground every few seconds.

3. Wilson did not know about the ‘Club’ suit in poker cards

Shocking but true, he thought it was called ‘Clover’. LOL

After what seemed like forever, we finally arrived at the guesthouse we will be staying for the next few days and proceeded to move into our cozy home away from home.

We then had a very satisfying dinner with some of the managers from SC, which left a good first impression of them in our minds, as humble and motivated/driven individuals working together for the common good of the masses.

After a brief meeting to round up the day and prepare us for tomorrow, we retired early and began the next day bright and early.

The following day was filled with just as many new and interesting things, such as breakfast at the guesthouse, which was fantastic. However, some how some people were able to wolf down more food than others (Not going to name anyone … since we all know who haha)

Our walk to Sustainable Cambodia (SC) brought us through the marketplace and past a few state schools, that was refreshing and eye opening as this was the first chance we had to actually walk amongst the locals and experience the atmosphere in Pursat. Of course, Sam had more of an experience than the others as he took part in a rather impromptu fear factor challenge that involved him eating a fried cricket sold at the roadside (Sam is still alright after the event, thus strengthening our hypothesis that he will just about eat anything and everything if he is really hungry).

Setting foot into the SC compound for the very first time today, we were finally able to familiarize ourselves with the place and people that our work/project will leave an impact on. It is very heartwarming to know that there are so many people (both Cambodians and foreigners) putting in effort to make the country a better place for the locals. I remember that the mission (or vision) of SC is eventually, for the Cambodians to help their own people. Seeing that many Cambodians are involved in the projects of SC, I do think that they are doing quite well in that aspect. I am particularly impressed by the foreign volunteers who help SC with its projects on a long-term basis, especially those who stay in Cambodia for a long period of time. I think there are challenges not only with regards to the poorer living conditions, but also having the capability to look beyond one’s immediate demands and concerns to help those who are in greater need.

We also passed by the villages on our way to the floating village. We could see that their lifestyles are really quite simple – there are little facilities; no air-con, fridge or even warm water. But yet, these are things that we Singaporeans often take for granted. For the villagers in the floating village, we were wondering how they bathe in the water that they throw practically everything in it. But like what YT said, it is just their lifestyle – something that forms their ‘norm’ and not ours.

This just reminded me about HS8008 Understanding Culture & Globalization (my AHSS-PER) that different cultures really mean doing the same things differently J

The trip to the school was pretty heartwarming too. It was great to see that most of the students are sincere about learning, and some of them understand the importance of education. Education enriches and empowers and it is great that many developing countries such as Cambodia are starting to see the importance of it. It’s also nice to see that girls are given the equal opportunity to receive education too.

It was also pretty intriguing that the kids were so happy at our arrival that they kept thanking us when we left. But somehow I kind of felt that their gratitude was more than what we deserved because we did not really do anything except to exchange some conversation with them and to try to sing a few nursery rhymes. Anyway, I think we should practice some nursery rhymes so we can sing a proper complete song when we go to the pre-school at ATC. J

In a nutshell, we had a tiring but happy first 2 days in Cambodia haha.

From a very tired Tak Chuen and Mun Yee (YawnzzzZZZ)