Digital Freaks Become Reality

For the past eighteen months I’ve been working online for a digital marketing agency. I suppose you could say I’m a static digital nomad. While my newfound profession allows me to work from anywhere in the world, my love for Cambodia and my little furry friend has resulted in my setting up residence in sleepy Kampot and getting the fastest internet connection the country has to offer installed in my house.

I knew relatively little (read none) about the world I was stepping into when I got a job as an SEO blog writer through an online platform in September 2016. But like most things I turn my hand (fingers) to, I picked it up soon enough. I’ve always loved writing (this blog is exhibit A) and it wasn’t long before my boss began to offer me a diverse range of writing tasks.

But who is this boss? Karyn started Digital Freak a few months before bringing me on board and is based in Melbourne (along with almost all of our clients). Over time, as I began to do more work, we started to get to know one another. Time passed, I took on more responsibility and our Skype message conversation began to be so long that trying to find a password or task shared just a few days before resulted in my entire computer becoming overwhelmed and crashing.

Before long we were talking about more than just work, growing closer in both our professional and personal lives. We learned about one another, talked outside of working hours (which is saying something considering we’re both workaholics and have been known to be at our respective computers into the small hours of the morning), and eventually began to call one another friends. When I knew I was coming to Perth to see my sister, therefore, I knew it was time to hop over to Melbourne. This is the tale of how Digital Freaks became reality.

There’s a difference between knowing someone in messenger form, commenting on one another’s Facebook posts and the (very) occasional work phone call. I won’t deny that I was a little nervous of meeting Karyn. I had joked several times that if we met and didn’t get on, the business would implode. I maintain that statement is true. Luckily for both of us, Digital Freak stands strong. After over a year of talking to each other every day, sharing stories, thoughts, hopes and dreams, I was standing outside her apartment building, pressing the intercom and about to come face to face with the individual who set my life on an unpredicted, yet wonderfully enjoyable trajectory.

At 7am, after only an hour’s sleep and suffering from jetlag aren’t the best circumstances under which to meet someone for the first time but considering that, I think we did pretty well. Karyn was kind enough to open her home to me for the week, share her evenings and time with her son and allow us the opportunity to get to know each other on a deeper level. And yes, I know what you’re thinking. We don’t have a typical employer-employee relationship but it works for us and it works for the business. I trust her implicitly and I hope she feels the same about me.

The unorthodox nature of our friendship continues. Only a few hours after I landed, I found myself in my first ever public yoga class; a three hour ‘urban retreat’ alongside Karyn followed by lunch. Feeling refreshed, relaxed and in touch with my inner zen, we returned to her apartment and continued to find our footing with one another in the same room, city, country and time-zone.

After a visit to Melbourne’s annual Moomba festival and a good night’s sleep, Karyn and I were back to doing what we do best: working. Except this time, I was able to interrupt her with a knock on her office door rather than the ping of a Skype message. I fell seamlessly into the routine of working at her dining room table, shouting questions down the corridor and discussing clients, strategies and the future of the business during our regular coffee breaks. The evenings involved more getting to know one another and various wines I’d brought from Margaret River, a memento of my roadtrip the week before.

Attending Karyn’s BNI meeting on Thursday was a definite trip highlight as it allowed me to show my face to about half of the company’s clients. I also got to meet one of our partners whom I’ve been exchanging emails with for the past six months. Another first-time experience was attending a book launch of client, coincidentally scheduled during my trip. The week was rounded off by a four-hour photoshoot with yet another client. This was somewhat sprung on me (Karyn, I’ll get you back for this) and while I accept that my LinkedIn profile was in desperate need of being updated, I was a little nervous, never having felt at home in front of the camera lens. The girls at Blush Creative were fantastic, however, and managed to make me feel relaxed and comfortable as they snapped away.

That evening I also had some time to spare so I popped into the city to meet up with a friend from Cambodia. Mel lived in Kampot for six months and it was great to catch up with her in one of Melbourne’s countless bars, reminisce over our time in the kingdom together, talk about our friends and update one another on our lives.

The weekend was downtime. Karyn and I aren’t known for taking time for ourselves but we managed to drag ourselves away from our screens, bundle her son, Corbin, into the car and hit the road. To the Twelve Apostles, to be precise. Majestic, iconic and thoroughly worth the 3-hour drive.

We then set off weaving our way back up Great Ocean Road, talking about our hopes and dreams for the future, life plans steadily mapped out in front of us and growing more defined the closer we got to the city.

I’ve never been a planner. Unlike Karyn, who has a ten-year plan. After my time in the city, however, I think I can see my future. For those of you in England reading this, I’m afraid it looks like I’m moving further away. Melbourne was an amazing city but more than that, this job and this company is presenting a great opportunity to me. I’ve always been lucky in my ability to do jobs I love but I have never enjoyed my work as much as I do with Digital Freak. It’s interesting, challenging and a constant learning curve, one I am yearning to travel further along. There’s no set time frame for this next step but I think it’s safe to say, at some point, it’s happening.

And on that note, for those of you who want to visit me in Cambodia, start booking your tickets (Karyn, that includes you!)

Here are some pics of my time in Melbourne and if you’re on Instagram, search #DigitalFreaksBecomeReality to see a few more.

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Fran And Ruth Drive SWA

For anyone who follows me on Instagram or is friends with me on Facebook, the revelation that I have been on a roadtrip around Western Australia will not be news. My older sister lives in Perth and this month I visited her for the fourth time since she emigrated. While Cambodia may be an inconvenient distance from the UK, flights to WA are surprisingly cheap and quick. So I landed back on the dusty planes of the Australian outback, already keeping my eyes peeled for snakes, and was reunited with my older sister, Fran.

Actually, before I dive in to the roadtrip, I should at first say that the reason for the entire holiday was a certain young man named Ed. For my birthday, Fran gifted me tickets to see the genius that is in the city. So before we set off down to the coast, we at first had a little partying to do and we couldn’t have been happier. I’ve seen Ed Sheeran before and he just gets better and better. In fact, I reckon he’s perfect. I don’t think anyone else in the world can command the stage quite as completely as he does and it was a truly epic evening with Fran and her friends Katherine and Tara. Even as someone who knows they can’t sing, I couldn’t help but belt out every one of his epic hits, in between taking this photograph and a few videos.

Yes, I just shoved about 10 song titles into this paragraph: I regret nothing. What can I say? His music is in my bloodstream. Ok, I’ll stop now. Let’s take it back to what happened next and the content of my Instagram page for the subsequent week.

Hungover not from alcohol but euphoria, our trip down south began in earnest the next day. To be honest, I think this is where even my words (I’m humble) are not enough to sum up the amazing travels we shared together. So I’ll just offer you a brief review of our route and then let the photos tell the story. Needless to say, we had an amazing time and it was a real treat to spend some quality time with my big sister, eating and drinking out way through some remarkable landscapes.

We went from Perth to Denmark to Pemberton to Augusta to Dunsborough and finally back to Perth, all in the space of eight days. Sounds short? The reason for that will be coming up in another blog published in a couple of days time. For now, take in the sights of South Western Australia and feel that travel bug begin to itch once more. In that time we visited countless vineyards, walked amongst 50 metre high treetops, hiked to the top of a rock, graced several beaches with our presence, fed stingrays (well, Fran did), went caving, saw the biggest flag in Australia and ate our weight in free samples of just about every foodstuff you could possibly imagine.

Sister Selfies:

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Places and pretty things/food:

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For those of you who are interested, my digital marketing brain didn’t switch off entirely (this was the first full week off work I’d taken in 18 months), so if you want to see all of our photos, search #FranAndRuthDriveSWA on Instagram.

Calamity Ruth

In the spirit of my New Year’s Resolution to update this blog more frequently, I am now posting about even the most mundane events in my life. Feel free to duck out now …

 

This week saw my first moto crash, after riding for six months. To be fair, the word crash is a massive exaggeration. It was a bump, an incident, pathetically anticlimactic and barely worth the 700 words I’ve managed to pull from a few seconds of drama. I’ll first of all say that I am 100% completely ok and that there is no need to worry. Now I’ll go on to set the scene.

 

I was driving along, as I do every day, through the ‘centre’ of Kampot. Full face helmet on, as always. I was even wearing long yoga pants (a skin-saver, it turns out). I indicated to turn into a junction and slowed down to wait for some passing traffic. I was almost in the centre of the road, pootling along at about 2mph. Once the way was clear, I turned, as my indicator suggested was my next planned manoeuvre. At that exact same moment, two young local lads zoomed by, catching my front tire as they overtook me. There was really nothing I could do to stop the inevitable. Hello road!

 

It didn’t even hurt. I was moving so slowly that the impact was negligible. As I looked up from my new position (horizontal on a warm and dusty road), I saw the two guys looking over their shoulder before speeding off. The next sight was my friend’s partner running across the road towards me. I don’t know many people in Kampot but I happened to have toppled over outside his place of work, for which I am grateful. He lifted the bike off me and walked me and it to the side of the road. By this time, the policemen in their newly erected police station (a shipping container painted white and blue), had noticed the ‘foreigner in trouble’ and decided to get involved. You never know when you’re going to receive a cash ‘thank you’, after all.

 

Holding my broken wing mirror and the end of my brake handle, I had to then explain to the overly concerned cops that the scratch on my leg had come not from the accident they had just witnessed but from the day before when I had somehow walked into my own desk. It’s a wonder I am still alive, to be fair.

 

Reassuring a few bystanders that I was ok, Erwan and I got my bike running again (apparently the poor machine was more shocked by the collision than I was and had temporarily stopped working). The cops faded away, realising there was no money to be made from this particular barang (white person) mishap. The reckless driver who hit me was long gone and, frankly, there was no reason to chase after him. In the grand scheme of things, it was a non-event.

 

As a side note, the only reason for my trip into town on that not-so-fateful day was to buy salad. Eating healthy almost killed me! Except I didn’t nearly die: that was just a statement for dramatic effect. Seriously, Mum and Dad, I’m fine.

 

The next morning, I dropped by my mechanic who reattached my wing mirror free of charge. I’ve decided to live with my snapped brake handle for a little longer as it still works perfectly well. My blue kneecap will be covered by long trousers or leggings for a few days.

 

That’s it. That is the story of my rite of passage: becoming a moto crash victim in Cambodia. Considering I’ve been here for three and a half years, the fact that I’ve never been robbed and, until this week, hadn’t been involved in any traffic collisions was something which made me rather unusual. Perhaps now I can truly be considered a local. When, in fact, I think I could more accurately be described as a careless barang who forgot to check her mirrors before turning. I should have known that indicating wasn’t enough!

 

Lesson learned, I’m back on the road. Getting back in the saddle wasn’t even a psychological hurdle. After all, I had salad ingredients to buy. And the cover image for this blog was taken after a 30km moto ride with my former flatmate, Fanny, to meet some climbing friends of hers. Confidence unaffected, I drive onwards.

Nugget’s a wannabe biker kitty!

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.

Motor Up Bokor

I’ve always loved Kampot, as regular readers of my blog will know, so when I was invited to join a motorbike trip down to the province for the Buddhist festival, Pchum Ben, I could hardly say no, much to my parents’ horror (sorry parentals!) The roads in Cambodia aren’t exactly known for their impeccable safety record but I was riding with a Khmer friend who’s been driving motorbikes for half his life so I knew I was in safe hands.

There was a group of ten of us in total, riding down on six bikes: myself, Vanny, Emily, Veasna, Jacinta, Ehud, Jenna, Pov, Serai, and Yuri. The ride took about four hours, including a relaxed breakfast stop and the occasional break to ease our aching butts. We arrived completely unharmed, despite a slightly close call between my kneecap and a white van. But we made it: look!

And because the whole point of this holiday was motorbiking, after we settled into our accommodation we rode up to Ta Da Waterfall (yes, that is actually its name). A new attraction for tourists in Kampot, I’m sure this would have been an incredible site if half of Phnom Penh hadn’t decided to visit at the same time. We still had fun and the scenery was stunning but it was rather overcrowded. And the water was freezing cold!

The next day was the focal point of our trip: a drive up Bokor Mountain. This national park is one of Cambodia’s treasures and significant (Chinese) investment means the road up to the top is in great condition. We visited a second waterfall which was much quieter than the one from the previous day, thank goodness! And then, after literally driving through a cloud and getting rather wet, we arrived at the old casino, one of my favourite places in Cambodia. This old building was built by the French colonists but later used as a Khmer Rouge stronghold and stripped of its former glory. The result is an eery yet beautiful building, succumbing to the elements and perched on a cliff edge overlooking the sea. At least, it would be overlooking the sea if there hadn’t been a cloud there …

After meandering safely down Bokor’s jungle-covered sides, we headed to Kep, the small seaside town/province just half an hour from Kampot. Once again the beach was heaving with holidaying Khmers so our swim in the sea was undertaken semi-clothed (bikinis would have been wildly inappropriate). We then sat on the sand, played frisbee, and ate copious amounts of delicious squid. Kep is well known for its seafood so that evening saw feasts of crab, shrimp, and fish at one of the seafront restaurants. Crab is more hassle than it’s worth, in my opinion.

The following day it was back to Kampot for sunbathing, reading, and drinking coffee. Vanny and I went for a ride through the country and took in a little of the local lifestyle in the area, as well as visiting a pagoda. It was Pchum Ben, after all. The green of the paddy fields during the rainy season is just out of this world: it’s my favourite ever colour.

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Amazing as it was to be riding around for the entire weekend, Vanny and I decided against slogging back up the inevitably busy road on the final day of Pchum Ben. So we took the train. Yes, Cambodia now has a fully functioning railway. Ok, not fully functioning … it runs from Phnom Penh to Sihanoukville via Takeo and Kampot. And it was over an hour later arriving. But strangely it got to Phnom Penh bang on time, passing completely stationary traffic jams, much to the amusement of the train passengers! The journey itself was fine: very Khmer (karaoke videos, loud music, children wandering up and down the aisle talking to strangers, people snacking on baby birds etc) but it was cheap and hassle-free. Oh yeah and for an extra five bucks we got the moto back too …

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All in all I had an awesome Pchum Ben, spending time with a great new group of people and seeing more of Cambodia than ever before from the saddle of a bike.

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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

Chumkriel Language School: A SKOPE donation day in Kampot

On Sunday 1st May, SKOPE visited Chumkriel Language School in Kampot. I first heard about this NGO in November from Sokha Phin, one of the waitresses at the guest house where I was staying and a former student at the school. Very briefly, Chumkriel Language School (CLS) provides free education to children living on the salt fields just outside Kampot town. They have two buildings and support over 150 children every day, helping them to get a quality education which can lift them and their families out of the poverty cycle.

The children from CLS and Sovann Komar walking to the salt fields

SKOPE’s donations to CLS were classroom based: posters, speakers, flashcards, reading comprehension books, and lesson materials. Many of the children who attend CLS bring younger brothers and sisters to school with them because there is no one else to care for them during the day. Therefore we also bought toys and balls for them to play with whilst their older siblings are learning.

Children and staff from CLS and Sovann Komar along with me and a few friends. The donations are laid out in front of us

Some children came from Sovann Komar for the day to see the school and meet some of the kids SKOPE is helping. They had a great talk from the headteacher, Mr Thy, about the important work CLS does and how SKOPE has contributed and then the local children gave ours a tour of the salt fields. It was the first time they had seen where salt comes from and they were very interested in the white basins of crystals and how they are gathered.

Salt fields tour

Afterwards a game of football started up with children from Sovann Komar and CLS playing wonderfully together.

Football time

We also put up some posters in one of the classrooms which were then admired by some of the students.

Children look up at the Khmer vowel poster. On the left is the Khmer consonant poster

This day was yet another confirmation for me that charity work is definitely what I want to do with my life. I had a wonderful time with the local children whilst we waited for the delayed bus from Phnom Penh (I was already in Kampot for the long weekend with two friends, Jordan and Rachel), and the project felt really worthwhile. CLS is dedicated to providing these children with an education and without their work, the kids I chatted and played with on Sunday would have been out in the salt fields under a boiling hot sun, piling up the grains and carrying heavy basketfuls to the storage barns for the measly wages of $2-$3 every day. It is a hand-to-mouth existence and, with a turbulent salt market, an unstable one. By giving these children a chance to study Khmer, maths, science, computers, and English, CLS offers these children and their families a way out of poverty.

SKOPE hopes to continue to work with CLS and is keen to get involved in some wider, community-based work such as their shelter housing project, the community vegetable garden, and building a hydroponics system. If you are interested in supporting any of these innovative initiatives (two words which should be used side by side more often because it’s just fun), please comment on this blog or email me at SKOPE@sovannkomar.org.

CLS children wait for the donations

Sovann Komar children and staff learn about CLS and the salt fields

Lucy helps to put up some posters in the classroom

Someone’s little sister tags along for the salt fields tour

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!

Beaches, boats, and booze: The Sihanoukville Edition

Cambodia’s calendar has been woefully lacking in public holidays for the past couple of months. Thankfully that changed this week when we were granted a day off on Monday because of the Buddhist festival Meak Bochea. It had been over a year since I had been to Sihanoukville, the biggest coastal town in Cambodia so a group of friends and I decided to plan a trip there.

Party bus! (Photo credit to Rachel and my iPhone torch)

We hired a van and left on Friday night, driving through the dark roads at much faster speeds than the congested day time traffic would allow. There were lots of us going down: me, Rachel, Gloria, Robin, Shelby, Phaline, Varsha, Liz, Hayley, and Tom. We reached the beach by 11:30pm and gratefully breathed in lungfuls of warm salty air. As someone who grew up near the coast, I miss it greatly.

I was sharing a bungalow with Rachel (bestie for the restie) and once we had checked in, we returned to the beach and grabbed a few beers to celebrate our arrival. The beach we had chosen to stay at is called Otres and is a little further down the coast than the main drag, Ocheteaul or Serendipity. The area is generally quieter, cleaner and the atmosphere more relaxed which is exactly what we were looking for.

Besties for the resties

Saturday morning saw us sunbathing on the beach, swimming in the warm, clear waters and drinking coconut shakes. It was topped off by a wonderful back massage, the oil of which led to me getting rather badly sunburnt but shhhh, don’t tell my mum!

In the afternoon, I took a tuk tuk over to Ocheteaul beach which, by perfect coincidence, was where Sovann Komar were enjoying their annual holiday. I met up with all the parents and children and played with them in the water for a couple of hours. I also took a frisbee over and had great fun in the surf with some of the children. As always, I managed to capture a few candid shots of their happiness.

Lily, Lucy and Veasa laughing in the surf

High five Kanya!

Saturday evening saw Rachel and I passing out on our bed. Let’s blame the sun for our pathetic attempt to go out and party. We made it as far as the corner store to buy Oreos and Haribo and then returned to our balcony and drank vodka and pomegranate juice we had bought from home. Frankly, we needed to recuperate after several long weeks at work and the early night was exactly what the doctor ordered.

Besties for the resties

Sunday was … interesting. Jordan and Sophorn had travelled down to join us on Saturday afternoon and we had all decided to book a boat trip. I, however, had momentarily forgotten I hate boats. I do that sometimes. This was an unfortunate time to forget however as the crossing to the first island was by far the worst boat journey I have ever been on. We were close to capsizing several times and the boat took on so much water our driver was bailing it out for about twenty minutes once we arrived at our destination. The swell and the waves crashed around us, soaking everything on the boat. Luckily Shelby had a dry bag so our phones and my camera was safe. My heart rate however, was not.

Our cool and collected boat driver before the waves got completely mental!

As soon as we reached the calm water by a cliff jump, I dived off the boat. It might sound irrational to be afraid of boats as someone who is such a strong swimmer but I guess irrationality is the hallmark of a phobia. Anyway, as soon as I was in the clear, deep water, I felt a million times better. I didn’t do the cliff jumping because I’m also afraid of heights. At this point I was wondering why I’d agreed to go on the boat trip at all.

The boat from hell … pre-hell

Our next stop was just around the corner on the same island and was far more to my liking. It was a beautiful beach, and we spent the afternoon there. Sunbathing, swimming, frisbee-ing, eating dinner prepared on the boat, playing drinking games and being interrupted by a grotesquely fat cow, and generally having an awesome time.

A frisbee, Phaline, Shelby, Rachel, Varsha, and me (Photo credit to Rachel)

What? The cow wanted some Jim Beam and Coke too!

Even the dreaded journey back to Otres couldn’t take away from the wonderful afternoon. And, in fact, the trip back was much calmer, the wind having died down and the sea flattering out immeasurably. Sunday evening saw us eating at a beach barbecue place I had first visited in 2009. Ah memories. Oh and I also broke my toe tripping over a rock sticking out of the sand. And before you ask, I’d drunk one beer.

L.O.V.E.

Monday morning involved yet more sunbathing. Rachel and I walked down to the far end of Otres which is even quieter. We found a beach side restaurant that served Pimms and settled on our sun loungers with bags of freshly cut mango, pineapple, and watermelon. Leaving to go back to the hustle and bustle of Phnom Penh was certainly done with some reluctance. I love this city and I love my job but the relaxing, laid-back, and carefree lifestyle at the beach is something I already miss. Ah well, I guess I’ll just have to go back again soon!

The island beach

Fresh mango

A small island off the coast of Otres

When your boat’s battery doesn’t work …

3, 2, 1, Jump!

Sunset!

Waves are scary

Frisbee

Jim playing in the surf

Jumping

Ava knows how to stay safe

Anne, Gabriel and Angie

More frisbee fun

Rachana is keeping cool …

Angie being cute

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