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.

More Good Deeds

Over the past few months I have started working as a freelance writer and my newest employer perfectly aligns my two passions – writing and charity work. More Good Deeds is an Australian-based initiative whose sole aim is to promote acts of kindness around the world. I began as a blogger for this kindness platform and thanks to the generosity and, yes, kindness of my new boss, have been able to use this work to support SKOPE. Let me tell you a little bit more about More Good Deeds.

Established in 2013, More Good Deeds believes everyone has not only the ability to do good but also the power to spread kindness. There is a psychological term, the law of reciprocity, which basically proves that humans are innately programmed to do something nice when they themselves have experienced or witnessed a kind act. It’s the simple ‘give and take’ theory. So if we help someone carry their shopping bags at the train station, that person is more likely to do something else kind for someone in the future, inspired by our own kindness.

More Good Deeds have an app, on which users can post their own good deeds, give thanks to people who showed kindness to them, gain followers, start chains of kindness, and generally put a smile on their faces. Because in today’s world it can be hard to remember there are still good people in the world. With the news being so, frankly, awful every single day, a little ray of sunshine such as the one More Good Deeds shone into my life is a blessed, wonderful, relief!

But More Good Deeds go a step further. For every ‘good deed’ their users do, businesses and companies donate $1 to the user’s chosen charity. Cool, right? What’s even cooler is they’ve put SKOPE on their charity list. So it’s now easier than ever for you to support SKOPE! Simply download the app, select SKOPE as your chosen charity, and then post every time you do a good deed. An example of a good deed might be: giving up your seat for a person on the bus, helping someone cross the road, donating to a charity yourself, or giving someone your parking ticket which still has time left on it. Each time you do something good, SKOPE will get $1 and you’ll get a warm and fuzzy feeling from being nice. Everyone wins.

So please spread the word, share the kindness, and support SKOPE and, theoretically, the other charities which More Good Deeds promote! Download their app here: iTunes – more good deeds

Go, do, experience. More Good Deeds.

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.

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

Happy-Go-Lucky

I’m a generally happy person, always have been I suppose. But over the last couple of weeks I’ve started thinking more about happiness: what it is, where it comes from, and how we can achieve it. Which is an interesting thing to be thinking about in a Buddhist country where the local belief system teaches us not to focus on emotions, which are fleeting and ever-changing, but to concentrate instead on clearing our minds of any and all desires, hopes, and fears. Only then will we know true peace.

These thoughts were kickstarted by an article sent to me by my godmother, illustrating the findings of the World Happiness Report 2016. You didn’t read it? Here’s a summary of what is found to make people and countries happy:

1. Social support so that you have friends and family to count on in times of trouble
2. Freedom to choose what you do in life
3. Generosity and how much people donate to charity
4. Absence of corruption in business and government
5. GDP
6. Healthy life expectancy

The reason this article was sent to me was because of the third point. You see, supporting SKOPE by clicking on our Crowdfunder page now and donating some money will make you happy … Sorry, I digress. But yes, giving to charity makes people happy so I like to think that a significant part of why I’m happy out here in Cambodia is because I work for a charity I truly believe to be making a difference. I also have an amazing group of friends, both in Cambodia, the UK, and now around the world (expats move a lot). Thanks to Skype, Whats App and Facebook the distance hardly matters and I know I can rely on them when things get tough. As for choosing what I want to do in life? I’d say I was doing exactly what I want to do right now with no thought about how my choice will affect anyone but me. And I have the freedom to be selfish like this because of my abundance of point number one. But what about the last three points?

Cambodia ranked 140th out of 157 countries for the World Happiness Rankings 2013-15. Obviously it’s impossible to know exactly why Cambodians scored so poorly but let’s take a look at points 4, 5, and 6 in relation to this country I currently call home.

Corruption. Every year Transparency International publishes corruption indexes and every year there is some politician in Cambodia complaining that the figures are bias and incorrect. In 2013, Cambodian came 160th out of 177 countries. The UK came 14th. In 2014, Cambodia came 156th out of 175 countries. The UK came 14th again. In 2015, Cambodia came 150th out of 168 countries. The UK came 10th. Cambodia is one of the most corrupt countries in the world. Millions of dollars of aid flood into the country every year and significant portions of that money is unaccounted for. Well, unless you happen to drive past the Independence Monument and glance at the house on the corner of Norodom Boulevard and Sihanouk Boulevard. I’ll say no more here in case I’m deported but those of you who know Phnom Penh will know exactly whose house I’m talking about.

The current Gross Domestic Product of Cambodia is $16.78 billion. The population is 15.33 million. Imagine this product was divided fairly: each Cambodian would receive $1094.59 per annum. The current GDP of the UK is $2.989 trillion. The population is 64.51 million. If this product was divided fairly, each Brit would receive $46,333.90. And people say money can’t buy happiness.

Finally let’s take a look at the average life expectancy. Cambodia’s health care system is … limited. The average life expectancy in Cambodia is 71 years. In Vietnam it’s 75 and in Thailand it’s 74. And the UK races ahead with 81 years. Well it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to work out you’re more likely to be happy if you’re not anticipating your life coming to an end earlier than modern science should allow.

So in conclusion, if your country’s government is full of greedy, selfish, soulless men (yes, it is mostly men), grasping desperately to their power and killing (literally) potential political rivals, if you’re a policeman getting paid $70 per month or a salt-fields worker paid just a couple of dollars per day, and if you’re quite likely to meet an untimely end when you fall sick with a curable illness but don’t have the money to pay your poorly trained local doctor to cure you, you’re quite likely to be unhappy.

As a side note, when the word ‘happy’ first entered the English language towards the end of the 14th century, it meant lucky. Perhaps it still does today: from the facts and figures above and if we want to make a sweeping generalisation we are happy if we are lucky enough to be born in the right country. I’d describe myself as a happy-go-lucky person but would that be the case if I had been born in Cambodia? I’d like to think so: I love this country! But the figures suggest otherwise.

But I don’t want this to be a depressive blog entry, so I’m going to end with some comments from my Grade 5 class. For their journal activity this week, I asked them: “What makes you happy?” Their simple answers will warm your hearts.

• I was happy when I went to see a fox at the zoo – David
• I am happy when I am watching Cartoon Network – Mony
• I was happy when I got a new helmet because I don’t want my head to be broken – Sak
• I am happy when I have a lot of friends who like to play with me because they are very funny – Sasda
• I am happy when I don’t have spellings – Piseth
• I am happy when Teacher Ruth says my point is good – Sokheng
• I am happy when I am eating pizza and listening to music – Bush
• I am happy when I am reading my storybook – Sovannary
• I am happy when I have lots of noodles to eat – Davy

Sometimes, you just need to remember that children make up about 27 per cent of the world’s population and those in Cambodia have some of the brightest smiles.

Oh and in case you’re interested the UK came 23rd out of 157 countries in the world happiness rankings 2013-15.

To read more about the reports and articles mentioned above, click on these links.

http://whatworkswellbeing.org

http://worldhappiness.report/ed/2016/

https://www.transparency.org