Ellie, a member of the TravelAid team from Oxford University,writes here about what she learnt and loved during her month with JWOC....
Finishing university was a daunting prospect, and the
knowledge that I would be leaving England almost immediately after to spend a
month volunteering in Cambodia (a country I knew almost nothing about) made it
even more so! However, JWOC has proved to be an incredible experience, with
experiences and challenges that were always exciting and rewarding.
The month began with us meeting our Khmer interns, which
involved playing various team-building games to get to know each other. Having
been involved I various theatre productions, I am well acquainted with these
sorts of games, but playing them with people who do not speak the same language
fluently, and in the Cambodian heat, was a very new experience!
I was paired
with a boy called Khin, who has been a great help and friend throughout my time
at JWOC. Khin, a 23 year-old from Prey Veng province in Siem Reap, is the
youngest in a large family, with 2 sisters and 7 brothers. He is currently
teaching at a nearby school, and although he had originally wanted to become a
business man, his dream is now changing, and he hopes to go to university.
Working at JWOC on this summer school will help him in this, as this valuable
experience will improve his applications for a scholarship. Throughout the
summer school, Khin proved to be an enormous help – the three years he spent as
a monk have left him with a calm and accepting demeanor, which was certainly
helpful when working with the children!
The summer school itself, and the children who attended, was
a delight from start to finish. As we began planning, we found games and songs
that we learnt as children come flooding back to us. The project was daunting
initially, as we were given complete freedom to plan and carry out the
activities ourselves. At first this left us feeling somewhat overwhelmed with
the task before us – none of us had ever been responsible for over 30 children
with few guidelines before! But as the month progressed we found ourselves
rising to the challenge. Although we found that we had simply not planned
enough activities for the first few days, we successfully worked together to
find new ways to entertain the children. By the end of the month we were all
confident and accomplished at running the activities.
We tried to incorporate arts and crafts into each of the
days, as many of the children came from a severely deprived background, where
such luxuries as coloured paper, crayons, and glitter pens do not feature. As
part of the advertising for our summer school we visited the nearby village
where most of the children live. This was a harrowing experience; I had never
seen such levels of poverty before, and it contrasted sharply with the happy,
affectionate children who attended JWOC. Throughout the month the children were
unfailing smiling and friendly, and we all formed strong bonds with them.
Despite their lack of previous opportunities to partake in many arts and crafts
activities, they took to them with gusto, and produced an astounding range of
pictures and models, from papier mâche globes, to animal masks, as well as
countless drawings. A firm favourite was making friendship bracelets, which
everyone loved!
As well as these activities, every day included songs and
games, and the children quickly established their favourites: Head, Shoulders,
Knees and Toes (sung at various speeds and volumes!) and Splat became regulars.
We played numerous party games, and also discovered their enjoyment for word
games, such as Hangman, Pictionary, and Bingo. The Khmer interns also taught us
various Khmer games which were a huge success with the children. One of the
best mornings was at the end of the week themed ‘Around the World’, when we
held a mini-Olympics. The children were split into two teams – team UK and team
Cambodia – and competed in various races, such as the sack race, the
three-legged race, and memorably the wheelbarrow race. It was a happy ending
with the two teams drawing, and medals (which the children had made the
previous day) being awarded to everyone.
Alongside all of this, we were also given the opportunity to
observe some of the many amazing projects that JWOC is involved with, such as
the Clean Water project, and the Microfinance project. These trips gave us
further opportunities to meet Khmer students, and to observe traditional Khmer
lifestyles. We were also charged with painting a new mural, which was hugely
enjoyable, and a source of endless fascination to the children.
My time at JWOC has been simply incredible. Although the
summer school was daunting, being given this degree of freedom is an
opportunity that I haven't had before, and I’ve loved every
minute of it.
