That Time I Built A Library … With A Little Help

Well, 2017 began pretty fantastically for me. My charity built a library! Yes, an entire library. And all for just $1300. That includes construction, books, and the solar panel which allows the kids to, theoretically, have access 24/7 to their new education area. It amazes me how much further money can go in South East Asia and this project just goes to show that good, generous people are still on this planet. Sadly, they’re not pursuing a career in politics…

Back to that library, however. I travelled out on Friday to a village in Kampong Speu where Karuna Youth Cambodia, a fellow NGO, have a school. I had been a week earlier to drop off our latest volunteers, Emma and Reece, who are part way through a five week stint teaching at the school and living in the rainbow house. The day before I had received a shipment of 100 kg of books from England, which DHL had couriered door to door for free (seriously – you don’t ask, you don’t get). So I brought with me these books plus those donated by Paññāsāstra University of Cambodia and one of SKOPE’s new supporters, Association of School Aid in Cambodia (ASAC). That evening, powered by beer, Emma, Reece and I coded about 400 English books. We did the other 200 the following evening!

Onto the build. Well, let’s be honest I’m not a builder but luckily some men in the village are. A father of some children at the school is a carpenter and he took the reins when it came to directing the construction process, particularly the wooden frame. About eight men worked tirelessly for two full days, completely voluntarily, and constructed our library. It’s only three metres square but that’s still quite a feat. Emma, Reece and I tried to help where we could but when it came to hammering with the flat end of an axe, we decided we’d rather not lose an ear.

That Sunday saw the arrival of some Sovann Komar kids, handpicked to be the ones who always get stuck in on projects with SKOPE. Because we really needed their help. The walls weren’t entirely up by the time they reached the school but we began painting anyway. Despite me telling them explicitly not to wear their nice clothes, many of them ended up shirtless and splattered in orange. I am still finding orange smears of paint on me and it’s been over a week since I left!

We ate a delicious lunch cooked by the villagers and then headed down to a beautiful area of the village by the river where the Sovann Komar kids decided to go exploring upstream. Upon returning to the school, the kids were set to work clearing a newly acquired strip of land which KYC will build a volleyball court and football pitch on. Their earlier painting task wasn’t completed but the men were working on the roof with electric saws and we decided against jeopardising anyone’s life.

After the Sovann Komar children left, the roof quickly finished so Reece, Emma, myself and a load of the local children got stuck into painting and by sundown on Sunday evening, the library was up!

Sadly, I had to leave the next day to get back to Phnom Penh and work but thanks to the headteacher, Phearith, I was still able to keep up to date of all the happenings with his amazing videos. Which, naturally, I’ve turned into a story of the weekend, along with my own footage. Watch it here now! The following week saw a concrete floor poured and levelled, shelves built, walls decorated, and the solar panel fitted. As luck would have it, Reece is a fully qualified electrician so he was incredibly useful at this stage. Now, in typical Khmer logic style, we had chosen to construct the library under a tree to stop the building getting too hot during the dry season. But if the sun can’t get to the roof, it can’t get to the solar panel. Not to worry! Reece put it on the roof of the adjacent school building which is south facing and ran a wire the short distance across. Voila! Light!

I love all the work I do with SKOPE but this was by far and away the best project we have ever done. I don’t know if it’s because I love reading so much or because language and writing is so important to me personally but I am quite literally overcome with emotion when I see pictures and videos of what we’ve accomplished out in that tiny village. Those children now have the opportunity to truly learn. Their exposure levels to English went from one Doctor Seuss book and a few Khmer ones to 700 English language titles and 120 Khmer language books in the space of a week. And already it’s clear they’re hungry for knowledge. Thanks to Emma and Reece’s prolonged presence, as well, these children are not only picking up the language quickly but wanting to learn more, study harder and succeed in life. I hope with the support of KYC and SKOPE, they will!

Here’s another link to the video I made – can you tell I’m proud of it?

If you’re interested in donating to SKOPE’s next project, contact me at skopecambodia@gmail.com or leave a comment on this blog and I’ll get back to you. Alternatively you can visit the SKOPE website by clicking here.

Hurray for Library Books

SKOPE enjoyed another amazing donation day last weekend when we returned to Kampong Thom to a school I first visited in November 2015. We’ve already done a stationary handout and supplied sports equipment in March (read more about that awesome day here) but this time it was all about books. Library books to be precise.

Hurray for Library Books!

The school, located in the grounds of a pagoda, provides education to approximately 450 children from the surrounding farming communities. There was already a library onsite but the shelves were either sparse or stacked with English language books neither the students nor the teachers had any hope of reading. SKOPE decided to change that. We did a fundraiser in Phnom Penh in July, selling books to raise money for the library project, and it was so successful that the entire project was funded by this day so thank you so much to everyone who supported us.

Rachana reads to a local girl

The library books were purchased from Sipar, a local NGO and publishing house. Titles ranged from a Khmer translation of James and the Giant Peach to traditional Khmer folk tales to science books. Each one was given a code and covered in protective plastic. The school has a trained librarian too, so the books can be loaned out and kept track of just like any other library. A big thank you to Sipar for their work and support of this project.

Lionel works with two girls to read this book

As always, I was joined on the day by some of Sovann Komar’s children and staff. They were all absolutely phenomenal on this trip and really got stuck into the tasks I gave them. They all read with the local children, helping them out on difficult words and explaining the stories. It was magical to see and I am anticipating blossoming teaching careers in their future.

Maya definitely has a potential teaching career ahead of her!

We also donated two laptops, one to each school we’re affiliated with in Kampong Thom. These laptops were to be used by the school administration who are currently doing everything by hand. I’d had them loaded up with a Khmer keyboard so they could type and then Sam, Jack, and Colin, three boys from Sovann Komar, spent time with the headteachers showing them the basics of Microsoft Word and Excel. A huge thank you to my cousin, Stephanie, and her school in London who donated these laptops to SKOPE.

Our tech-savvy teens were more than happy to help explain to the local teachers 

When it was time for the children to go home for lunch, they were definitely reluctant to leave their newly stocked library. They loitered for a while, chatting with the Sovann Komar children and staff before finally cycling away towards their family farms. We stayed at the school to eat lunch before making the journey back to Phnom Penh, during which every single one of my helpers passed out in the van.

I know I often say how much I love my work but this trip was particularly special to me for two reasons. Firstly, I got to return to where this girl, Srey Nang, studies. After taking this photo of her in November last year, she sort of became the face of SKOPEs campaigns. It was therefore an honour to go back and photograph her with some library books, proving that we can indeed “be the change”.

Secondly, I love reading myself and I was overjoyed to see the same look of rapt attention on these kids’ faces as I’m sure I get at times. They were so enthusiastic, so well-behaved, and so eager to get stuck into the new books, ready to explore the worlds captured within their pages. Already I’m launching a second library project, and am considering making this one of SKOPE’s speciality project types as the benefits are just phenomenal. Books and reading open so many doors for us and I think it is an area we can really make a difference in, especially in rural Cambodia where access to literature is limited. So please check out our next library project plans here, and see how you can get involved.

Bookworms

SKOPE (I) visited a couple of primary schools in Kampong Thom in November last year where several different projects were suggested to me. Our return trip in March saw us handing out exercise books and stationary to 900 students (amalgamated from two different schools). We also donated sports supplies and games. Now we’re heading back to complete the second request: a library.

I love to read. Always have. It comes in fits and spurts and sometimes I’ll go for months without reading anything. Other times I’ll become completely engrossed, moving seamlessly from one novel to another, devouring the words on the pages as fast as I can. So I was more than happy to put my effort and the finances of SKOPE behind a library project. The school in question has an onsite library and the only problem is the lack of books. Now, I’m no expert but books are a pretty fundamental part of creating a library.

A sad looking bookshelf in Kampong Thom

The school’s headteacher has arranged a timetable to ensure each of the school’s classes visit the library every week, exposing them as much as possible to reading and literature from an early age. The only problem is, the kids are bored. They’ve read all the books suitable for their age range, of which there were only ever a handful. How can we expect kids to become passionate about reading if we don’t have engaging texts for them to explore? Well, thanks to SKOPE, they soon will.

I held my first fundraiser in Cambodia to raise the money for this project. Whilst visiting my sister in Perth, Australia, last year, I had come across a gimmick in a bookshop I wanted to try out. It’s called Blind Date with a Book. The premise; the books are wrapped up so you can’t see what the title is and you choose what you want to buy based on limited summary points on the front of them. Fun, quirky, and unusual. Perfect.

Just a few of the books I wrapped to sell

It took ages to get the books ready but it was a lot of fun and a way of remembering back over the books I’d read over the past couple of years. Almost all the books we sold were one I’d accumulated during my time in Cambodia. Next we needed a venue. I asked permission from one of my favourite restaurants for me to hold the fundraising event one Saturday morning where I knew footfall would be high. Helped by Sovann Komar’s current intern, we set up our display and prepared for customers to arrive.

Ready for supporters

To be honest, I wasn’t exactly optimistic about raising a huge amount of money but I was blown away by the support I received. Although many of my friends here in the city also came along to support SKOPE, the vast majority of our customers were strangers who had seen our advertisement on Facebook. In fact, we almost ran out of books and were generously restocked by my friends Emily and Josh. Other buyers offered to donate their own books beforehand, should I want to do the same fundraiser in the future which was wonderful.

With the money raised, I went to visit the head offices of Sipar, a Khmer language book publisher. They had an eclectic mix of titles from my first words to a translation of Pippi Longstocking, non-fiction books about Cambodian history and traditional moral tales. I put in an order for 120 books and we’ll be delivering them some time in September or October!

Some of Sipar’s fantastic range

Thanks once again to everyone who came along that day and supported us. Keep an eye out both on this blog and our Facebook page for any upcoming projects and fundraisers you might want to get involved in.

Playgrounds! Millbrook School and Sovann Komar build happiness with SKOPE

Sovann Komar and SKOPE recently played host to some students from Millbrook School, New York, who came over as part of an educational trip to get involved in our outreach programme. Which, naturally, meant I was running most of the weekend. There were eleven students and three teachers visiting to organise activities for and I think everything went smoothly. At least, by Cambodian standards. The theme for the overall weekend was: playgrounds!

My willing band of helpers on the first day

On Saturday the American students and some of our own kids worked really hard to recondition the existing playground in Sovann Komar Children’s Village. After eight years of enthusiastic playtimes, it was looking a little dilapidated. So we replaced the sandpit, painted the climbing frame, swing set, and seesaws, hung a new rope swing, and replaced the jumping tyres.

Have you ever tried to remove a tyre filled with concrete and anchored with an iron rod? No? It’s hard!

We put a fresh coat of paint on the climbing frame

It was all hands on deck for the new sand pit

We got new horse heads and seats for the seesaws and painted them

Everyone got stuck in and we were all covered in paint, sweat, sand, and mud by the end of it. But that doesn’t matter in Cambodia in July because there’s always a monsoon around the corner to wash it away. And what better way to experience the rainstorm than by playing a game of football (or soccer, for my American readers)! Those of us who preferred to stay dry (ish), helped with the construction of a giant banana boat.

Sunday was SKOPE’s latest project in Prey Veng province. It was much more ambitious than all of our previous ones combined. And by that, I mean we were doing multiple things, most of which required manual labour. Here was the schedule:

• Hand out stationary to every child (equipment donated by a very generous supporter from China and supplemented by the headteacher at Sovann Komar School)
• Plant trees
• Hand out water filters to each family
• Create a cement base for the new water well
• Build a playground

I was most involved in the first and last point as SKOPE fundraised to support those two endeavours. The trees and water well were supported by Sovann Komar itself, Panasasatra University of Cambodia, and donors from the United States. The water filters were donated by Millbrook School.

The new well looks great! Plus it provides safe drinking water for the students and surrounding community.

Now the children and their families can drink clean, safe water at home

The playground was an idea I had had a few months previously. It was a somewhat daunting task but with so much help from various men at Sovann Komar and the children themselves, it soon became viable. I held a design competition for the playground layout for the children at Sovann Komar, involving them in the structure from the start. The frame itself was built by me and my manly helpers and erected a couple of weeks before the official donation day. On the day itself, we had painted tyres to nail up for monkey bars, ropes to thread for a climbing ceiling, more tyres to tie together to make a climbing wall, and an amazing spiderweb design.

This aspect of the day took the most co-ordinator, the greatest number of people, and the most brain power. Seriously, knots are confusing. Luckily, one of the girls from Millbrook School was a former rock-climber and with her advice, several other students were able to create sturdy, safe connections. We also hung two tyre swings from trees which were inundated with children as soon as our workers were out of the trees above them.

Monkey Jack!

Complex spiderweb making

I’ve never seen so many children climbing on a structure before. As soon as we stepped away, they ran for it, scaling up to the top with ease, swinging on the ropes and clambering through tyres. It was one of the happiest sights of my life and one I will never forget. Also, the playground stayed standing so that was a win!

The completed structure!

Amazingly this held up fine!

Monkey bars or a place to nap? You decide!

Trying out the spider’s web

Monkeying around

In the evening of that night we sailed the banana boats we had made the night before and then had a feast of home-cooked Khmer food, slaved over all day by several of Sovann Komar’s mothers and employees. Then it was time for singing and dancing and generally having a great time. I was so impressed with the way the Sovann Komar children interacted with the Millbrook students. They were confident, friendly, and helpful and I hope they have formed long-lasting friendships. The goodbyes were tearful, let’s put it that way.

Monday morning was the end of Millbrook School’s trip but they had time to eat breakfast with my unusually shy Grade 5 class before teaching English. From origami to reading time, singing songs to conversation classes, Grades 1, 3, and 5 loved learning from our young volunteers.

Origami with Grade 1

After breakfast with Grade 5

And then they were off, continuing on their adventure through Cambodia before returning to New York later in the week. It was amazing to host these bright, funny, caring young people and I hope they had as good a time as we all did here. It was fantastic to meet every one of them (you, if you’re reading) and everyone hopes you come back to visit us again soon. Sovann Komar and SKOPE are very grateful for your time and energy and look forward to continuing our relationship in the future.

Oh and just in case you missed it, here’s the link to a video of our amazing weekend.

Farewell sunset of the Phnom Penh skyline

Donations and Decisions

After months of planning and fundraising, on Tuesday 8th March Sovann Komar Outreach Program for Education (SKOPE) returned to Kampong Thom Province with donations for two rural schools there. I first visited Chhouk Sak Primary School and Wat Chroum Primary School last November and this time I brought some children and workers from Sovann Komar.

The children from Sovann Komar: Colin, Anton, Lionel, Sam, Mathew, Jack, Sak, Luccas, Noah, Theo, Veasa, Maya, Lucy, Rachana

SKOPE donated school supplies to over 900 students. Each child got individually packaged (it took hours) gifts of two exercise books, a pen, and a pencil. These might seem like small things to you or I but many of the children attending these schools do so without the basic necessities for learning. We hope with these new supplies, the children will be able to study more effectively and improve their educational abilities. But schools aren’t all about sitting in a classroom and studying text books. Along with 1,820 books, 910 pencils and 910 pens, we also took some sports equipment. Six footballs, six basketballs, ten hula hoops, ten skipping ropes, twelve say (foot shuttlecocks), and four bags of building blocks were also donated, to be split between the two schools. At this point I would like to extend a specific thank you to Sarinda, one of the teachers at Sovann Komar, and her family for donating most of the sports equipment to SKOPE’s project.

So many books! And balls, and hula hoops! And helpers.

We had a truly fantastic day from start to end. We had hired a minivan to take us up to Kampong Thom and I asked thirteen of the older children from Sovann Komar Orphanage to accompany us. One of SKOPE’s key initiatives is that the children who live within the orphanage are involved in our outreach work. We also had three students from Sovann Komar School and various members of staff including Sarinda and her family, Mr Arun (my boss), Morokot (the accountant), and Kunthea (the administrator).

Left to Right: Anton, Morokot, Luccas, Arun, Noah, Lucinda, Sak, Maya, Me, Neath Neath, Kunthea, Sam, Rachana, Lionel, Mathew, Theo, Veasa, Jack, Chumrean, Nathya, Colin, Sarinda, Savy, Sambath.

Everyone was very enthusiastic about the day despite the early start on a public holiday (Happy International Women’s Day!). As soon as we arrived at the school where all 900 students were gathering, I met Samreth, the man who had helped me organise the whole event. The students from both schools were asked to meet at one site for logistical reasons and they behaved excellently, all lined up neatly and patiently whilst the adults faffed around and discussed who was going to translate my speech for me. An unplanned speech, may I add. Luckily I’ve always been good at thinking on my feet and I think it went pretty well despite me never having spoken in front of close to 1,000 people before. It probably helped that most of them were under ten years old and didn’t understand English.

Me speaking to over 1,000 people!

I had been concerned about the logistics of handing out donations to over 900 students but with my willing helpers, the whole thing barely took five minutes. The students were sat in lines and we simply walked up and down handing the books out. It went incredibly well and the children were all very sweet and thankful.

Then came the fun part: the sports equipment. I wanted to get the children from Sovann Komar playing and interacting with the children from the Kampong Thom schools. I had already warned them that they would need to be careful when playing with the younger ones as some of my helpers were the older boys in the orphanage and are fourteen and fifteen years old. They were all great and little games of football, basketball and say popped up everywhere. Some of the Kampong Thom teachers arranged skipping games for the girls and I think (I hope) everyone had a good time. Lots of children came up to me trying to give back the balls and equipment but when I explained, in Khmer, that they were for the schools, their faces lit up in the most heartwarming way.

My new hat

Skipping ropes

Teamwork with building bricks

 

After an hour or so of playing, the local children began to leave. It was a day off, after all. We packed up too and went to have lunch at a nearby restaurant which is run by a Malaysian woman who is friends with Samreth. After our delicious lunch the children headed into the fields behind the restaurant to look at some cattle and relax in the countryside. We were given the opportunity of writing and drawing on a board which will be secured to the ceiling of the restaurant to memorialise our day. Mathew and Rachana, two of the Sovann Komar kids, copied the SKOPE logo onto it!

Are you picturing the day in your head? You don’t have to! I’ve made a video about it so just click here and enjoy 3 minutes of One Republic whilst you watch adorable children in Kampong Thom.

Everyone fell asleep on the journey home, unsurprisingly. After I’d finished the book I’d brought to pass the time, I sat there contemplating the day. I’d been planning this trip for months and had organised everything. I got the feeling some of the staff at Sovann Komar were a little pessimistic about how the day would pan out as a result but, even if I do say so myself, it all went perfectly. Everyone knew what they were doing, everyone knew when and where they were going, and everyone was able to relax and enjoy their time knowing the logistics had all been taken care of. Without sounding too big headed, I felt an immense sense of satisfaction at how well my first day trip project for SKOPE turned out.

I felt something else too. A realisation. People always ask me when I’ll be leaving Cambodia and what I’m going to do next. I’ve become very good at avoiding giving a straight answer and that’s because I truly didn’t have one. I didn’t know what I wanted to do, where my life was going, what was coming next. Here I am at 25, with a Masters by Research, and no idea of where life is going to take me after this school year ends. But now I know.

I want to go into the charity sector. I want to work in this field, make a different, feel the way I did on Tuesday. I’ve never been driven by money when it comes to my job, hence I’m working at an NGO rather than an international school where my salary would double. I’ve always said I’d rather be poor and morally content than rich and depressed about my job. There might not be much money in charity work (at least, there shouldn’t be), but that is the arena to which I want to devote my life. I’m sure it will take time and when I return to the UK (yes, I’ll be returning), I will be starting on the lowest rungs of the ladder. But my experience with SKOPE is invaluable and I hope it will enable me to get a position in an organisation which is truly doing good and with a far wider reach and impact than I could ever have on my own in Cambodia.

So all that is left to say is thank you to everyone who has supported me so far, whether that be through donations to SKOPE or support of my wanderings and aimlessness in life. Specifically I would like to thank my parents who will be reading about my new life choice just as you are because I haven’t actually told them about it yet … I hope this is something you’re happy about Mum and Dad!

SKOPE is still working, of course. Our next project will be in Kampot where we will be donating classroom supplies such as posters, flashcards, props for teaching vocabulary words (animals, fruit, vegetables etc.), and dictionaries. If you would like to support this, we have one week left of our Crowdfunder website so please click here to donate today. Thank you.

Waving books!

My bracelet made an appearance, naturally

More handing out photos

A rare candid photo of me where I don’t look awful! Laughing with Arun and Samreth

Children waiting. Photo credit to Sok Chomrean

More waiting. Photo credit to Sok Chomreun

A happy little girl

Packing the hula hoops safely away

Such a beautiful smile

Cycling home

Farmer Sam

Anton, Colin, Jack and Lionel go wandering into the fields

Pensive Sam

Colin

Mathew

Anton relaxing

Lionel watching the other draw

Sak supports all of SKOPE’s projects!

SKOPE in Kampot: Chumkriel Language School

I am always on the lookout for new schools for SKOPE to work with. In November 2015, whilst holidaying with my parents, I got chatting to one of the waitresses at our guesthouse who was very interested in what I, and SKOPE, do.

Sokha had learnt her excellent English from Chumkriel Language School, a small NGO set up on the outskirts of Kampot, a riverside town in the south of Cambodia. She thought I might like to meet with the head teacher of Chumkriel Language School (CLS) and maybe work together.

Meeting Sokonthy at CLS’s main site just outside Kampot

 

I visited in January 2016 and was thoroughly impressed with what the NGO and their inspirational, kind-hearted founder Nget Sokonthy are doing. Not only do they provide free daily education to hundreds of children, they also support the local community in many other ways. Attached to a public school, CLS share their facilities with the government school, organise workshops and sporting events and provide free lunches from their soup kitchen using vegetables grown in their own plot.

The great, invaluable vegetable patch at CLS which provides nutritious food for the on-site soup kitchen

About half the 450 students attend the evening English classes for free, with the other half paying approximately $1 per month. Those who cannot pay are encouraged to give something back in other ways, including teaching classes themselves when they graduate or getting involved in other projects. This is what Sokha is doing now so after she works all day at the Greenhouse guesthouse where we met, she teaches children who come from a similar background to herself.

Most children cycle or walk to their evening English classes

I am particularly keen to get SKOPE involved in CLS’s shelter building projects. Sokonthy builds shelters for vulnerable families on the condition that their children then attend his school. By providing a safe, secure house for these families, Sokonthy is stabilising the family unit and therefore the children are more likely to attend school regularly and excel in their studies. Each house itself costs $500 but CLS likes donors to contribute $700. The additional $200 will cover the cost of the children’s schooling until they are 18, including books, stationary and uniforms. Interested? Email me at: SKOPE@sovannkomar.org or visit our Facebook page.

We are also looking to supply CLS with some classroom equipment including speakers to help the children learn the correct pronunciation, flashcards and posters in the Khmer language, and exercise books. At the moment we have no funds for this particular project so, again, if you are interested, please visit our Crowdfunder page.

The small play area outside CLS where they have recycled car and bicycle tyres to create a climbing frame

SKOPE is hoping to make a different in rural Cambodia but we can’t do that without your help. Anything you can spare will go directly to the projects I have written about here. Already we have two schools in Kampong Thom which we will be donating exercise books and stationary to in March which is great. But we want to do more and with your help, we can be the change.

Setting Forth: SKOPE’s first projects

Part of my role as SKOPE coordinator is to identify rural schools which may benefit from our projects. This is harder than it sounds because there are so many obstacles. The first one is language. Although I have weekly Khmer lessons, I am unable to easily have flowing conversations, especially about specific topics such as whether a school’s well is in good working order. I don’t even know the word for well. The second obstacle is the fact that I’ve chosen to focus SKOPE’s attention on rural schools, ergo they’re not near where I live and usually involve long journeys into unknown areas of the country. Thirdly, Cambodia is one of the most corrupt countries in the world and therefore one cannot simply go around offering to donate money to schools or buy supplies without there being a trustworthy advocate.

Be the change

Luckily for me, all three obstacles were easily surpassed for my first two schools thanks to my Khmer teacher, Salamon. I have been having lessons with Salamon for three years and I think he would sum up my progress as “could be much better if she did her homework.” Yes, even as a teacher myself, I still avoid homework as a student. Anyway, Salamon has helped me with projects in the past and very kindly agreed to help me again. He comes from Kampong Thom, a province just less than three hours north of Phnom Penh. He also has links to a local pastor who works closely with the local communities. Salamon gallantly gave up one of his Saturdays to accompany me on a bus to his pastor’s house. There, I met his extended family and the pastor himself: of course the epitome of an honest, trustworthy human being and therefore the perfect person to act as a link between SKOPE, myself, Salamon, and the schools.

Actually, Salamon didn’t come to the schools as he had a legal case to work on (Salamon is a qualified lawyer), for which he got paid one chicken.

So whilst Salamon was earning his chicken, his pastor, Samreth, took me to visit two different primary schools near his house. Samreth spoke excellent English and was able to translate for me with both head teachers, neither of whom were able to communicate much outside of their native Khmer. And why should they? Surrounded by rice fields, cattle, and a snake (!), what use is English to the communities? I’m pretty sure no westerner had ever visited either school before I arrived.

One of the school buildings and the play ground, looking out over the rice fields

The projects SKOPE intends to pursue are very much in the early stages but I wanted to write a little about the schools I visited. There were two primary schools, both teaching Grades One to Six. The first one I visited also had a secondary school which went up to Grade Nine. If children wanted to study above this stage, it was about a ten kilometre journey, usually by bicycle, to the nearest high school. Most children did not attend school past Grade Nine (about Year 10 in England).

It doesn’t matter if the bike is too big. If you have it, you ride it!

Neither school had a working well. Neither school had a working water filtration system.

Children at the second school gathered around the well when I went to take a look at it.

Neither school were able to provide their students with pens and exercise books.

Sharing supplies

Neither school had a computer on which the head teachers could complete administrative tasks or, say, ask for grants from the government to help them repair or restock their schools. One in particular wanted to be redecorated, to make the school a pleasant place for children to come and learn.

The second school had a poorly stocked library, the first school didn’t have a library at all.

Empty shelves

A lot of the children at the second school were barefoot: there were glass shards all over the grassy playing area from broken bottles thrown there during festival celebrations.

The children at both schools were delightful. Curious, smiling, laughing, and eager to learn. Whatever hand they have been dealt, they were making the most of their lives and SKOPE aims to make them better. If you would like to donate to this project, please visit our Crowdfunder site by clicking here.

So cute!

Sitting in the playground

A broken well pump

Be the change

Boys having fun

 

 

SKOPE – a new education outreach program

Ever had a rather ambitious idea and then actually made it happen? These past few weeks have seen a stroke of inspiration I had about a year ago evolve into something tangible.
My workplace, Sovann Komar, has always done sporadic community outreach work. When I accompanied the orphanage director and some of the children to see a book donation project last year, I was immediately interested in getting more involved. As of September, I have become the co-ordinator of my own little project: Sovann Komar Outreach Program for Education (SKOPE).
Through SKOPE, I will organise several projects each year, helping rural schools throughout Cambodia in various ways. We are aiming to provide these schools with the basic necessities: classrooms, running water (toilet blocks and wells), and equipment (text books, exercise books, pens, etc.). These are things we take for granted in western countries but many schools and families struggle to provide them for students in poor areas of Cambodia. Through SKOPE, I hope we can make a real difference.

 

Arun pumping a well donated by Sovann Komar in 2009

 

SKOPE will be co-ordinated by me but it will be a community effort to help others. Many of the older children at Sovann Komar are going to get involved in helping decide the aim of different projects, organise fundraising events, and deliver the end product to the school. I think it will be a great opportunity for these children to see more of the beautiful Cambodian countryside as well as developing various skills, including organisation, management, budgeting, and social. I’m really looking forward to working with these kids after seeing them at the last outreach project and their engagement with the village children.

 

Lionel and Luccas handing out books at the rural school

 

So far, my work for SKOPE has included writing a detailed project proposal for the American board of Sovann Komar, logo design (thoughts?), reaching out to current education NGOs in Cambodia, and creating endless spreadsheets of ideas, places, schools, and numbers. The project is most certainly in its infancy but I’m very excited to see where it goes over the next year.
If you’re interesting in getting involved in any way, please comment on this blog, visit our Crowdfunder page, like us on Facebook (SKOPECambodia), or follow us on Twitter @SKOPE_Cambodia.

Children at the rural school in Kampong Chhnang, October 2014

 

SKOPE logo – thoughts?

 

Bizarre Books, Laughable Literature, and Random Reads

Sovann Komar is very lucky to have an extensive library on site. I believe that reading and literature is a vital part of education and encourage my students to read as much as possible, both inside and outside of the classroom Every Wednesday I take my Grade 3 and Grade 4 classes there to do some one on one reading with them. Jo assists me with the Grade 3 classes, working with the higher level kids. This allows me to work on challenges faced by struggling individuals and gauge the level at which each child is working and progressing. The books are mostly donations and cover a vast array of topics. Whilst the library would not exist without the generous contributions made by past volunteers, donors, and other people with connections to Sovann Komar, the random people, places, and ways in which these books arrived makes for a rather … eclectic mix. Below are a few of mine and Jo’s favourite titles.

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Completely Inappropriate Books

• Abdominal Operations – illustrated!
• Foreign Market Entry Strategies – I don’t think the foreign minister nor the economic minister has a Sovann Komar library pass.
• Practice Karate, Volume VI: Self-Defence in Special Situations – not much use without the other five books.
• How to do business with the Japanese – is this mildly racist?
• Liberal Socialism Applied – aka how to launch a suicide mission in a dictatorial county.
• Catalysis in Micellara and Macromolecular Systems – so far beyond the education of anyone with access to this library.

Abdominal Operations

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Completely Irrelevant Books

• Kneed it, Punch it, Bake it – not one of the ten houses within Sovann Komar has an oven …
• Girl Scouts Badges and Signs – there are no scout groups in Cambodia.
• Pruning Handbook – we have gardeners at Sovann Komar but they are English illiterate.
• The United Nations in the Post-Cold War era – international politics is not a high priority on the English syllabus.
• Marxism: The Science of Society – who’s up for some in-depth sociological debates?
• Public Administration in the United States – perhaps study your own country first?
• Introduction to United States Internal Taxation – ^^^

The United Nations in the Post-Cold War Era

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Just why?

• Vegetable and Fruit Carving
• Safe Firefighting 
• Cities of Canada: Volume I – where’s volume II?
• Drawing and Planning for Industrial Arts
• Selling your Screenplay – because so many of our students are budding script writers.
• What’s the matter with Kansas? How conservatives won the heart of America – Jo: “I forget Kansas is a place”
• Co-ordination Polymerisation – what even is this?

Vegetable and Fruit Carving

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I hope some of these made you laugh, or re-read the titles in amazement. If you are interested in expanding our literature collection, maybe you’ve spotted a gap, please comment below or send me an email. You can never have too many books!