Highlights - Working at Tiny Toones, meeting the charity Mea Kea. Lowlights - Leaving Cambodia
It's taken me quite a long time to get round to writing my final post, as the last week in Cambodia flew by and jet lag and returning to work in the UK have provided a challenging first week back. Still, I have the most fantastic memories that are going to spur me on to make a few changes to my life in the UK.
My final week in Cambodia was very busy as I had the opportunity to work with another NGO based in Phnom Penh- Tiny Toones. This is a fantastic charity that works with street kids, providing education but more unusually teaching them breakdancing and rap. I joined Rich, who'd been at the charity for 4 weeks, to pick up reviewing the policies and procedures document and over 2 days I restructured the document and started to update procedures. The charity was a wonderful place to work, a constant buzz of energy and noise, with children practising dance routines and reciting their A,B,C's; it was a real joy to be part of the NGO.
I also had the opportunity to meet up with another NGO called Meakea, who provide education and community development to a province around 50kms outside of Phnom Penh. It was great to learn about the NGO and I was able to get a good understanding of what their requirements were for a future volunteer. I just wished that I wasn't leaving the next day and that I could've started trying to help the charity!!
So, on the return to the UK, several people have asked me if I felt like I made a difference. The only answer I can give to this is that I hope so! In terms of effort I gave a 110% to the charity - I met the main objectives set for me by CCAF, and shared as much of my knowledge as I could with Leakhena, the Senior Bookkeeper. However, 5 weeks is such a short time that it's difficult not to feel frustrated and feel like more could be done. I think part of this was that the charity, for various reasons, had periods of time where I was unable to work with them and I found this disappointing. . On the plus side, the NGO and Leakhena said that they benefited from the time I spent with them so I guess I shouldn't be too hard on myself!
I would do it all again in a heartbeat. Cambodia is the most wonderful country, with the kindest, warmest people I have ever met. The country definitely needs on going support to help it rebuild, after being shattered by the civil war, but it has a real sense of hope and determination that will see it succeed. I will continue to help the country through supporting the work of the NGO's that I have met and will, for sure, volunteer again.
So for now, I have to return to 'normality' but one day I will escape again to the sunshine, heat and noise of Phnom Penh and know that I have truly come home.
Sunday 27 February 2011
Tuesday 15 February 2011
Week 4 - It's the final countdown
Highlights: A visit to the charities beneficiaries, haggling in the market & a weekend diving trip. Lowlights: saying goodbye to CCAF & being abandonded by a taxi driver.
Monday morning, up bright and early to head down to Kampot with the CEO. Travelling through the countryside is always a joy in Cambodia as the many uses of a motorbike, never ceases to amaze me. They can be piled high with people, animals or goods for market. This mornings winning sight was a motorbike towing a large high sided pen, with 3 oxen inside!
On arrival at Banteay Meas province we went to one of the pre-schools run by CCAF, which provides eductation to 3 to 5 year olds. The pre-schools give access to education, to children who otherwise might not be able to attend early education, due to them being unable to travel long distances. The great idea behind the CCAF pre-school is that all that is needed is a teacher and some materials, to teach the children, with an actual school building being a bonus. The pre-school I visisted was held in the garden of the community chief, and it was a great setting, giving a real sense of community. Here, the children not only learn basics such as days, dates, weather & animals but learn to socialise with other children, learn about hygiene (hand washing and plate washing) and get health checks from the community doctor.
I was greeted with a song and smiles before the children settled down for a spot of rice and vegetables, as school had already finished for the day. Some of the children come from extremely poor backgrounds, living with their grandparents as their parents are forced to work away, often in Thailand, to provide money for their families. Therefore CCAF provide a nutritious meal for the children but sadly this can't be provided everyday due to funding constraints. They all seemed to enjoy their rice and afterwards all got up and washed their plates, and one little girl was responsible for sweeping the mats clean. After another sing-song the children then started to head off home.
We then headed off to meet a family who were beneficiaries of chickens from CCAF and who now had a thriving chicken farm. In 18 months they had managed to increase their chicken stock to 60 from the original 6 provided by CCAF. They ate around 2 chickens per month and sold several, using the money to pay for their childrens education. The CEO told me, that some families have stocks as large as 200. It's safe to say that the chicken farms are proving a success!
For the remainder of the week, I was back in the office at Phnom Penh and this gave me an opportunity to start shaping the financial information required for programme reporting. Like most charities CCAF need financial reports by donor and also need them by programme. This means that the financial records need to be kept in such a way that all reporting requirements can be met from them. Working with Leakhena, we created a spreadsheet to record all costs, and finished off the programme budgets, progrramme cashflows and monthly programme reports work that we had started in week 2.
My main aim was to leave the charity with the basic tools, to focus their thoughts on the programmes they deliver and the costs associated with this, in order to help them plan for the longer term future of the charity. Given my short time with the charity, I feel like I have only been able to point them in a direction rather than start them on a road and therefore I leave the charity carrying a sense of unfinished business. There is plenty more work to be done - I only wish it could be me that stays to help the charity on their journey.
Late Friday afternoon we headed off for a spot of R&R in the middle of the ocean. We had booked a weekends diving trip from Sihanoukville and had a 5 hour boat trip to the island of Koh Tang first thing Saturday morning. The boat trip out didn't provide the hoped for R&R with rough seas leaving me a little green and breathing deeply and a very grey faced Rich alternating between lying down and leaping up, jack in a box style, to hurl his breakfast into the sea. However, once we got over all the swaying and sickness we had a great trip and enjoyed some interesting diving. At night the upstairs deck was converted into sleeping quarters and we fell asleep lulled by the sound of the ocean. Perfect!! I also took the opportunity to take an underwater photography course and now have my underwater papparazzi licence - so a successful weekend all round!
So, without further ado - here's a selection of the weeks photos...
Monday morning, up bright and early to head down to Kampot with the CEO. Travelling through the countryside is always a joy in Cambodia as the many uses of a motorbike, never ceases to amaze me. They can be piled high with people, animals or goods for market. This mornings winning sight was a motorbike towing a large high sided pen, with 3 oxen inside!
On arrival at Banteay Meas province we went to one of the pre-schools run by CCAF, which provides eductation to 3 to 5 year olds. The pre-schools give access to education, to children who otherwise might not be able to attend early education, due to them being unable to travel long distances. The great idea behind the CCAF pre-school is that all that is needed is a teacher and some materials, to teach the children, with an actual school building being a bonus. The pre-school I visisted was held in the garden of the community chief, and it was a great setting, giving a real sense of community. Here, the children not only learn basics such as days, dates, weather & animals but learn to socialise with other children, learn about hygiene (hand washing and plate washing) and get health checks from the community doctor.
I was greeted with a song and smiles before the children settled down for a spot of rice and vegetables, as school had already finished for the day. Some of the children come from extremely poor backgrounds, living with their grandparents as their parents are forced to work away, often in Thailand, to provide money for their families. Therefore CCAF provide a nutritious meal for the children but sadly this can't be provided everyday due to funding constraints. They all seemed to enjoy their rice and afterwards all got up and washed their plates, and one little girl was responsible for sweeping the mats clean. After another sing-song the children then started to head off home.
We then headed off to meet a family who were beneficiaries of chickens from CCAF and who now had a thriving chicken farm. In 18 months they had managed to increase their chicken stock to 60 from the original 6 provided by CCAF. They ate around 2 chickens per month and sold several, using the money to pay for their childrens education. The CEO told me, that some families have stocks as large as 200. It's safe to say that the chicken farms are proving a success!
For the remainder of the week, I was back in the office at Phnom Penh and this gave me an opportunity to start shaping the financial information required for programme reporting. Like most charities CCAF need financial reports by donor and also need them by programme. This means that the financial records need to be kept in such a way that all reporting requirements can be met from them. Working with Leakhena, we created a spreadsheet to record all costs, and finished off the programme budgets, progrramme cashflows and monthly programme reports work that we had started in week 2.
My main aim was to leave the charity with the basic tools, to focus their thoughts on the programmes they deliver and the costs associated with this, in order to help them plan for the longer term future of the charity. Given my short time with the charity, I feel like I have only been able to point them in a direction rather than start them on a road and therefore I leave the charity carrying a sense of unfinished business. There is plenty more work to be done - I only wish it could be me that stays to help the charity on their journey.
Late Friday afternoon we headed off for a spot of R&R in the middle of the ocean. We had booked a weekends diving trip from Sihanoukville and had a 5 hour boat trip to the island of Koh Tang first thing Saturday morning. The boat trip out didn't provide the hoped for R&R with rough seas leaving me a little green and breathing deeply and a very grey faced Rich alternating between lying down and leaping up, jack in a box style, to hurl his breakfast into the sea. However, once we got over all the swaying and sickness we had a great trip and enjoyed some interesting diving. At night the upstairs deck was converted into sleeping quarters and we fell asleep lulled by the sound of the ocean. Perfect!! I also took the opportunity to take an underwater photography course and now have my underwater papparazzi licence - so a successful weekend all round!
So, without further ado - here's a selection of the weeks photos...
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| Meeting the children |
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| Washing hands |
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| Eating lunch |
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| How tall am I? |
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| Chickens galore |
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| Ocean delights 1 |
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| Ocean delights 2 |
Monday 7 February 2011
Week 3 - All quiet on the Western front
Highlights - Celebrating Chinese New Year, answering the question of 'how many people can you fit in a tuk-tuk?' & the views from Udong. Lowlights - A very sore eye & running the gauntlet with a swarm of mosquitos outside our bedroom door.
The week did not get off to a good start, waking up with an eye that was swollen, half closed and constantly watering - bit of a lesson learnt there on the perils of wearing contact lenses in Cambodia! I was due to meet with the CEO that morning to visit the beneficiaries of the charity in Kampot but headed back to Phnom Penh to get my eye sorted out. Disappointing to miss out on the Kampot trip but necessary, and am pleased to say that a couple of days of drops and 'eye' was on the road to recovery...
It was the 3 day Chinese New Year year celebration, starting 2nd February and therefore the CCAF office was closed Wednesday to Friday. Tuesday at the office I worked with the Programmes Assistant, Dara to build up the history of CCAF - charting it's progress in donors and the successes of the Programmes. Since the charity started in 2007 they have helped in excess of 300 families with farming training and have increased pre schools from 4 to 18. The challenge now is around the long term sustainability of funding for the programmes and this is something which Channarith, the CEO, is seeking to address with the introduction of an Aquaponics farm. The intention being that the fish and vegetables produced in the farm can be sold and the proceeds used to help with funding the Programmes that CCAF deliver.
Wednesday through to Friday was put to good use, writing up reports and completing my objectives agreed for this assignment. I have to admit that it got pretty lonely for 3 days with no-one to speak to with just my i-pod for company. I knew I was begining to slightly lose the plot when I found myself dancing along to my i-pod and talking to a stuffed toy...
Wednesday evening we were invited to celebrate Chinese New Year at the home of the founder of Tiny Toones NGO, where Rich is volunteering. A memorable night ensued with me attempting to dance Khmer style (its all in the wrist action) and the Tiny Toones boys showing us how its done, busting a few break dancing moves! The journey to and from the party was interesting with 10 of us packed onto a tuk-tuk. At one point, we bumped our way along a dirt track aided only by the light from a mobile phone, with 2 of the boys jumping out every so often to stop the tuk-tuk tipping over on the really bumpy bits. On the way back into Phnom Penh around 1.30am the tuk-tuk started spluttering and stopped. Yes - we had run out of petrol. 3 of the boys pushed the tuk-tuk as we shouted encouragement from inside the vehicle - my excuse being that I had inappropriate footwear on to assist in the pushing activities...Then appearing like an oasis in a desert, we found someone who was awake, and willing to siphon petrol from their compressor and sell it to us. Drama over, the boys piled back into the tuk-tuk and we sped off towards home.
At the weekend we decided to stay in Phnom Penh. The plan had been to visit another province, Kampong Cham, but the logisitics of getting there for a weekend were proving problematic. Public travel around Cambodia is limited to bus or possibly taxi (only if you can find a taxi driver willing to go to your destination) and journeys take hours. So we decided to stay local and headed out by tuk-tuk to Udong which was the ancient capital of Cambodia. It was badly damaged by the Khmer Rouge but restoration has taken place so it is definitely worth the visit, even just for the views from the top.
So, I will endeavour to do more exciting things next week, given its my last full week in Cambodia (boo hoo), but for now a few pictures to share my memories.
The week did not get off to a good start, waking up with an eye that was swollen, half closed and constantly watering - bit of a lesson learnt there on the perils of wearing contact lenses in Cambodia! I was due to meet with the CEO that morning to visit the beneficiaries of the charity in Kampot but headed back to Phnom Penh to get my eye sorted out. Disappointing to miss out on the Kampot trip but necessary, and am pleased to say that a couple of days of drops and 'eye' was on the road to recovery...
It was the 3 day Chinese New Year year celebration, starting 2nd February and therefore the CCAF office was closed Wednesday to Friday. Tuesday at the office I worked with the Programmes Assistant, Dara to build up the history of CCAF - charting it's progress in donors and the successes of the Programmes. Since the charity started in 2007 they have helped in excess of 300 families with farming training and have increased pre schools from 4 to 18. The challenge now is around the long term sustainability of funding for the programmes and this is something which Channarith, the CEO, is seeking to address with the introduction of an Aquaponics farm. The intention being that the fish and vegetables produced in the farm can be sold and the proceeds used to help with funding the Programmes that CCAF deliver.
Wednesday through to Friday was put to good use, writing up reports and completing my objectives agreed for this assignment. I have to admit that it got pretty lonely for 3 days with no-one to speak to with just my i-pod for company. I knew I was begining to slightly lose the plot when I found myself dancing along to my i-pod and talking to a stuffed toy...
Wednesday evening we were invited to celebrate Chinese New Year at the home of the founder of Tiny Toones NGO, where Rich is volunteering. A memorable night ensued with me attempting to dance Khmer style (its all in the wrist action) and the Tiny Toones boys showing us how its done, busting a few break dancing moves! The journey to and from the party was interesting with 10 of us packed onto a tuk-tuk. At one point, we bumped our way along a dirt track aided only by the light from a mobile phone, with 2 of the boys jumping out every so often to stop the tuk-tuk tipping over on the really bumpy bits. On the way back into Phnom Penh around 1.30am the tuk-tuk started spluttering and stopped. Yes - we had run out of petrol. 3 of the boys pushed the tuk-tuk as we shouted encouragement from inside the vehicle - my excuse being that I had inappropriate footwear on to assist in the pushing activities...Then appearing like an oasis in a desert, we found someone who was awake, and willing to siphon petrol from their compressor and sell it to us. Drama over, the boys piled back into the tuk-tuk and we sped off towards home.
At the weekend we decided to stay in Phnom Penh. The plan had been to visit another province, Kampong Cham, but the logisitics of getting there for a weekend were proving problematic. Public travel around Cambodia is limited to bus or possibly taxi (only if you can find a taxi driver willing to go to your destination) and journeys take hours. So we decided to stay local and headed out by tuk-tuk to Udong which was the ancient capital of Cambodia. It was badly damaged by the Khmer Rouge but restoration has taken place so it is definitely worth the visit, even just for the views from the top.
So, I will endeavour to do more exciting things next week, given its my last full week in Cambodia (boo hoo), but for now a few pictures to share my memories.
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| Break dancing the night away |
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| Monks receiving their alms |
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| Udong |
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| Udong |
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| Udong |
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| View from Udong |
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| Anyone for a ride? |
Monday 31 January 2011
Week 2 - Steady away
Highlights - Doing it Cambodian style on a moto, eating cow goes to mountain & starting to make sense of all the information. Lowlights - 12 mosquito bites, a bruised knee and grit in my eye.
In and amongst the accountancy excitement I have also learnt about Cambodian weddings, watched monks receive their alms and heard first hand, the experience of living under the Khmer Rouge regime. It is very humbling when people choose to share this with you and I find myself unable to say anything useful in response and therefore just listen. I have found that often it's about being able to talk about the experience which is important to the person telling the story and not about them a needing a response. I have only admiration for these people, who have lived through so much.
Thursday evening was great fun as we were invited to dinner at the home of the CCAF treasurer and his wife. We ate 'cow goes to mountain', drank lots of beer and listened to great Khmer music. 'Cow goes to mountain' is best described as a fondue but with beef rather than cheese! Strips of beef are placed on top of what can only be desribed as a giant juicer under which charcoal or gas flames cook the beef and the juices run down into a soup, in the rim of the juicer, in which vegetables are cooked. Everyone just digs in with their chopsticks, whilst sitting cross legged on the floor (a cushion is definitely required after the first hour). A friend of the host offered to take us home, so there was the driver, me sat side saddle and Rich wedged behind me all piled onto a moto (moped). How the moto wasn't wheely-ing down the road with us two sat on the back I have no idea!
We headed off to Kampot town for the weekend to get our fill of the countryside. We opted to go by private taxi choosing comfort over price. Our original plan of a share taxi, lost it's appeal when we found out that a share taxi squeezes four in the back and three in the front with the driver half in/half out of the car! It's one of the delights of Cambodia that I'm happy not to discover...
Kampot is a beautiful town situated on the river and surrounded by hills. Saturday we headed up to Bokor Hill Station, lured by stories of a ghost town and beautiful views. We got the beautiful views but there wasn't so much of the ghost element, I think thats disappeared now that the construction work has started. It's easy to understand why the French chose the location for the old hotel/casino and why the Cambodian government have sold this for development. However, the destruction of the forests in the National Park in which its situated is a heavy price to pay. We at least got to walk through the ancient forest on our way up to the Hill Station which once the road is renovated and re-opened will no longer be part of the trip up.
Sunday we headed towards Kep, taking in Phnom Chnork (a cave temple) and a pepper plantation of the way before eating our own body weight in prawns and crab, which Kep is famous for. The cave excursion was an interesting trip. Around 11 kms down a dirt path, situated on land which had been cleared of land mines and with 7 young locals as our guide we entered a huge cave which had several rock formations resembling animals. Our guides were entertaining - play fighting all the way up to the cave and one particular bad boy insisted on throwing fire crackers as we walked along. They all pulled out mobile phones to act as a light in the cave shrine- unsuprising really as wherever you go in Cambodia there's always a mobile phone shop!
So here endeth another chapter - am posting photos so no-one has to sit through a slide show when I get home.
Week 2 has been a busy one. Monday was spent mapping out the financial processes of CCAF so that I can make recommendations around improvements. Mapping out the process makes it easier to test that my understanding is correct when discussing this with the staff, as I've found it's very easy to have pre-conceived ideas, which are very different to what is actually happening.
Tuesday and Wednesday gave me chance to gather further information on the process and start to explore the reports produced by the charity. My role is to help to develop financial capacity in the charity and therefore I spend a lot of the time talking with staff, firstly, to gauge their understanding on the financials and secondly to get their ideas about the current processes. I discuss my ideas with them and walk them through my thought process so that when I write my final report there will be no suprises in it, as they will understand the reason for any recommendations and hopefully will be able to easily implement them. Thursday, I worked with Leakhena to produce by programme, an annual budget, a monthly report and a cashflow as I want to help the charity in their planning process. Friday I started to write one of several reports I need to produce- the good news is that the laptop is fixed. Good job as I am running out of pens...
In and amongst the accountancy excitement I have also learnt about Cambodian weddings, watched monks receive their alms and heard first hand, the experience of living under the Khmer Rouge regime. It is very humbling when people choose to share this with you and I find myself unable to say anything useful in response and therefore just listen. I have found that often it's about being able to talk about the experience which is important to the person telling the story and not about them a needing a response. I have only admiration for these people, who have lived through so much.
Thursday evening was great fun as we were invited to dinner at the home of the CCAF treasurer and his wife. We ate 'cow goes to mountain', drank lots of beer and listened to great Khmer music. 'Cow goes to mountain' is best described as a fondue but with beef rather than cheese! Strips of beef are placed on top of what can only be desribed as a giant juicer under which charcoal or gas flames cook the beef and the juices run down into a soup, in the rim of the juicer, in which vegetables are cooked. Everyone just digs in with their chopsticks, whilst sitting cross legged on the floor (a cushion is definitely required after the first hour). A friend of the host offered to take us home, so there was the driver, me sat side saddle and Rich wedged behind me all piled onto a moto (moped). How the moto wasn't wheely-ing down the road with us two sat on the back I have no idea!
We headed off to Kampot town for the weekend to get our fill of the countryside. We opted to go by private taxi choosing comfort over price. Our original plan of a share taxi, lost it's appeal when we found out that a share taxi squeezes four in the back and three in the front with the driver half in/half out of the car! It's one of the delights of Cambodia that I'm happy not to discover...
Kampot is a beautiful town situated on the river and surrounded by hills. Saturday we headed up to Bokor Hill Station, lured by stories of a ghost town and beautiful views. We got the beautiful views but there wasn't so much of the ghost element, I think thats disappeared now that the construction work has started. It's easy to understand why the French chose the location for the old hotel/casino and why the Cambodian government have sold this for development. However, the destruction of the forests in the National Park in which its situated is a heavy price to pay. We at least got to walk through the ancient forest on our way up to the Hill Station which once the road is renovated and re-opened will no longer be part of the trip up.
Sunday we headed towards Kep, taking in Phnom Chnork (a cave temple) and a pepper plantation of the way before eating our own body weight in prawns and crab, which Kep is famous for. The cave excursion was an interesting trip. Around 11 kms down a dirt path, situated on land which had been cleared of land mines and with 7 young locals as our guide we entered a huge cave which had several rock formations resembling animals. Our guides were entertaining - play fighting all the way up to the cave and one particular bad boy insisted on throwing fire crackers as we walked along. They all pulled out mobile phones to act as a light in the cave shrine- unsuprising really as wherever you go in Cambodia there's always a mobile phone shop!
So here endeth another chapter - am posting photos so no-one has to sit through a slide show when I get home.
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| Leakhena (Senior Bookkeeper) in the office |
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| Dara (Programmes Assistant) |
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| Channarith (CEO) working on his latest project - wind power |
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| 'Cow goes to Mountain' |
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| Bokor Hill Station- Hotel |
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| Phnom Chnork - spot the elephant! |
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| With our 7 friendly guides |
Monday 24 January 2011
Week 1 -And they're off...
So, first week is over. The highlights are : meeting the great team at CCAF & surviving the 30 minute tuk tuk journey to and from work each day. The lowlights : still no computer, so no photos to upload, and a virus on my pen drive (ouch!).
Working with Accounting for International Development ( www.afid.org.uk), I am in Phnom Penh to assist, with all things financial, at a small NGO called the Cambodian Childrens Advocacy Fund (CCAF). CCAF provide assistance in the rural province of Kampot, aiming to help in the reduction of the root cause of poverty, through the provision of pre-schools and supporting community development. Pre-schools in remote areas allow children who have no means of transport to access education and whilst children are schooled this allows parents to farm chickens and crops with basic necessities and vocational training provided by CCAF. This is my paraphrasing so please check out their website for more information -www.ccaf-khmer.org
As Kampot is around 140 kilometres from Phenom Penh, there is only a small team in Phnom Penh, working in an office at the house of the CEO, where there is a small 2 person office and a large table in the garden. Sitting in the sunshine, with the families dogs at your feet in the peace and quiet is a great way to spend the working day. I'm not sure it would catch on in the UK though...
The first couple of days the CEO, Channarith, was in Kampot with one of their major donors and therefore I had chance to meet the rest of the team, the senior book keeper Leakhena, Programs Assistant Chandara and the Internal Auditor Sopheary. All were very welcoming and it gave me a great opportunity to start building my knowledge about the charity. The rest of the week was more knowledge gathering as the objectives agreed with the CEO are around review of the existing financial systems. This week has been, not so much a learning curve, more like vertical learning! However, Leakhena who I've worked closely with this week has been great - with a degree in accountancy and soon to have degree in English, my job has been made easy.
My Khmer is coming along nicely as I now have the basics such as hello, thank you etc and a full sentence of 'see you tomorrow'. I can now also give directions to tuk tuk drivers, although I suspect that my wild arm gestures help to reinforce my Khmer instructions.
Too jet lagged/lazy there has not been much venturing out on weeknights so far. Much research has been undertaken on the local beer and will continue to be researched throughout the stay I suspect. Saturday evening we went to a local nightclub to watch a performance of rap and breakdance by street kids who are taught by the NGO Tiny Toones, and they were excellent, much better than the aged american "rap star"" who was the headline act. Much fun was had people watching in the club that night, particularly the sugar daddies, manfully strutting their stuff, to impress their young cambodian ladies.
Anyway this entry is far too long - congratulations if you made it this far. So it's "leasenhai" from me, until next time.
Working with Accounting for International Development ( www.afid.org.uk), I am in Phnom Penh to assist, with all things financial, at a small NGO called the Cambodian Childrens Advocacy Fund (CCAF). CCAF provide assistance in the rural province of Kampot, aiming to help in the reduction of the root cause of poverty, through the provision of pre-schools and supporting community development. Pre-schools in remote areas allow children who have no means of transport to access education and whilst children are schooled this allows parents to farm chickens and crops with basic necessities and vocational training provided by CCAF. This is my paraphrasing so please check out their website for more information -www.ccaf-khmer.org
As Kampot is around 140 kilometres from Phenom Penh, there is only a small team in Phnom Penh, working in an office at the house of the CEO, where there is a small 2 person office and a large table in the garden. Sitting in the sunshine, with the families dogs at your feet in the peace and quiet is a great way to spend the working day. I'm not sure it would catch on in the UK though...
The first couple of days the CEO, Channarith, was in Kampot with one of their major donors and therefore I had chance to meet the rest of the team, the senior book keeper Leakhena, Programs Assistant Chandara and the Internal Auditor Sopheary. All were very welcoming and it gave me a great opportunity to start building my knowledge about the charity. The rest of the week was more knowledge gathering as the objectives agreed with the CEO are around review of the existing financial systems. This week has been, not so much a learning curve, more like vertical learning! However, Leakhena who I've worked closely with this week has been great - with a degree in accountancy and soon to have degree in English, my job has been made easy.
My Khmer is coming along nicely as I now have the basics such as hello, thank you etc and a full sentence of 'see you tomorrow'. I can now also give directions to tuk tuk drivers, although I suspect that my wild arm gestures help to reinforce my Khmer instructions.
Too jet lagged/lazy there has not been much venturing out on weeknights so far. Much research has been undertaken on the local beer and will continue to be researched throughout the stay I suspect. Saturday evening we went to a local nightclub to watch a performance of rap and breakdance by street kids who are taught by the NGO Tiny Toones, and they were excellent, much better than the aged american "rap star"" who was the headline act. Much fun was had people watching in the club that night, particularly the sugar daddies, manfully strutting their stuff, to impress their young cambodian ladies.
Anyway this entry is far too long - congratulations if you made it this far. So it's "leasenhai" from me, until next time.
Monday 17 January 2011
17/01/11 Get Set
Journey am pleased to report was uneventful other than a brief encounter with 2 Chelsea players at the Travelex desk. Although I have to admit having no idea who they were at the time, tutting loudly about how long they were taking!
Anyway,arrival in Phnom Penh very straight forward and having been collected by an employee of the charity we were soon speeding along by tuk-tuk to guest house. Experience is best described as taking part in a real life mario kart race. All manner of vehicles, any side of the road & about 10 vehicles wide. As a pedestrian, crossing the road is going to be interesting!
Other points of note in 1st 24 hrs-guest house is not the one we thought it was and the laptop broke the minute we arrived, therefore posting of pictures will be delayed.
Next thrilling instalment of blog I will introduce the charity and its people-i should be able to pronounce their names by then!
Anyway,arrival in Phnom Penh very straight forward and having been collected by an employee of the charity we were soon speeding along by tuk-tuk to guest house. Experience is best described as taking part in a real life mario kart race. All manner of vehicles, any side of the road & about 10 vehicles wide. As a pedestrian, crossing the road is going to be interesting!
Other points of note in 1st 24 hrs-guest house is not the one we thought it was and the laptop broke the minute we arrived, therefore posting of pictures will be delayed.
Next thrilling instalment of blog I will introduce the charity and its people-i should be able to pronounce their names by then!
Wednesday 12 January 2011
12/01/11 - On your marks...
So, this is me nearly ready for the off - finishing off all the last minute things before heading off to Cambodia for 5 weeks to do a charity placement. Now I've set up the blog,I guess this means I really must be going and what started out as an idle thought back in April 2010 has now become my reality. I comfort myself with the fact that I've briefly visited Cambodia and therefore have some idea of what to expect when I get there, but I'm sure living in Phnom Penh for 5 weeks will give me a whole new perspective. For now I will focus my attention on whether 5 pairs of shoes is enough for 5 weeks...
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