Charismatic Cambodia

The atmosphere here is so relaxed. I don't feel the emphasis people seem to place on timing and speed here as I do in Australia. The roads are always busy, and motorbikes frequently drive along the footpath to beat the remaining traffic, but I feel perfectly at ease. School has been exhausting on everyone though, and I think waking up at 5:30am every morning is beginning to take it's toll on the alertness levels of all the Jay's school and SHCC volunteers. Regardless, we've all still managed to make the most out of our weekends off - from seeing sunrise at Angkor Wat last weekend (or, in Jenny and Olivia's case, flying to Thailand!), to driving 10 hours on a bus to Sihanoukville this weekend. I think everyone is enjoying teaching so far, as well. At least, no one has complained about it too much to the group at large if they're not enjoying it.

The children here are all so beautiful, and so charismatic! I suppose I think that of most children, but these ones have been through so much more than the middle-class Australian children I'm used to. They all wear the same clothes day-in, day-out here due to the extra expenses clothes would place on the parents. At first this didn't phase me much, as it was what I had anticipated. However, after thinking about it it seems ridiculous that I had overlooked it, or just shrugged it off. With my constant change in my wardrobe over here, I feel a terrible amount of guilt whenever I complain about any of my trivial problems as these children have nothing. Other than their lack of clothes, they have sporadic electricity use while at home, are excited at the prospect of having 200 riel at their disposal (around 5 cents in US dollars) on the rare occasion they are given money, and big, beautiful constant smiles on their faces. I think I'm just too hypersensitive for a third world country, maybe the idea of poverty is finally beginning to set in.

On our first night in Cambodia, Jo and Thomas (in-country agents) explained to us that a large proportion of the population earn around $350 annually, and many people are living below that line.

That's how much I earn a week, working 25 hours. Not to mention that I paid four and a half thousand to do this program, a sum I earned in a few months, which would take them over 12 years to earn! And these gorgeous, fresh-faced children have to live with the knowledge that these white-skinned westerners are given all the opportunities the world has to offer, while they have been robbed of this privlege due to circumstances they cannot change and did not choose.

Still, I'm enjoying teaching them (even if Morgan is a much better teacher than I am, she appears to be quite a natural), and I think everyone else is too. Though the Sangkheum Centre girls haven't started teaching yet (their term starts on October 2nd) they are still enjoying the company of the students who live at the centre, and their fellow teachers. They were given the chance to show the teachers new games to play this week, and Sally got to teach them her favourite childhood game - Fruit Salad. She seemed quite excited at this prospect, and Hannah, Olivia and Jenny seem to be enjoying their placement there just as much. Beckett and Alana have bravely taken up their job as the sole teachers at Jay's school, with only a student to translate, as the former teacher has stepped down into the role of a student in one of their more advanced English classes. Being helped only by the previously stated student in their less advanced classes, and given additional classes they were not aware they would be teaching, their placement appears to be quite difficult at times. No one ever said it was supposed to be easy, i guess - but it is absolutely, without a doubt worth every minute of it. I'm still having difficulty believing I've been here almost a month, but I'm loving every moment in this fantastically surreal, poverty-ridden country.

Alexandra x