Update from Newcastle Uni students in Cambodia

COUNTRY: Cambodia
PROGRAM: UniBreak Groups
PROJECT: University of Newcastle Nursing Placement
WRITTEN BY: Justine Nicholson and Nikki Smith

After a long hard week last week we all enjoyed a weekend relaxing and going on tours and of course doing some shopping. It was back to work on Monday though, we were eager to continue the health checks on the children at the school.

During the afternoon we needed to collect the data and put it into the database the school had provided for us to analyse. We all enjoyed the afternoon sitting around the pool and entering data for a few hours (Cambodian time). Not all the data was able to be entered in one go as we had already seen over 800 students, but we planned to finish it the following day as we only had one more class to visit.

Tuesday was our last day at the school. It was bitter sweet. Our last class were kindergarten, the kids of which were incredibly cute, sweet and trusting. After this we enjoyed walking around and playing with the children and discovering more places around the school. During the afternoon we were able to enter the rest of the data and enjoy a dinner out together at a Japanese buffet (with a Cambodian twist!). This dinner has left quite an impression on us all and we would love to find them in Australia.

On Wednesday we were able to enjoy a day off to regroup and relax before going to the Russian hospital on Thursday. We had a tour around the hospital which really made us appreciate the health care system we have at home. In saying this, it was also good to see the difference between the health care systems and even be slightly surprised at their level of cleanliness and professionalism. After this we were privileged enough to visit the Technical School of Medical Science which is one of our interpreters previous schools. We got to meet current students and teachers to discuss the difference between education in Cambodia and Australia.

Tomorrow we are all very excited to be heading to Siem Reap for our long weekend to enjoy the historical sight of Angkor Wat and its surroundings.

This week has been much more relaxed but we are all still learning and developing skills and knowledge of health abroad everyday, enjoying the experiences of Cambodia.