Final Bittersweet days in Cambodia

After a fantastic break in Siem Reap, everyone returned to Phnom Penh ready to complete the last week of clinic to the best of their ability. With only two days remaining at the PIO school and with many students feeling unwell or run down, we really had to come together as a team to complete as many students as possible in our short time. At the completion of our week at PIO, we had seen over 280 students.

It was incredible to see the fantastic effects of SDF (silver fluoride) during this time, with the students who were in year 3 or above, having minimal caries and evident areas of arrested caries as a result of their six monthly fluoride applications and regular screening. It was so encouraging to see that the efforts of the One2One charitable trust and Dr. Bethy’s PhD research was really benefiting the children in this area and those attending PIO.

To complete our placement at the school, each child was provided with a toothbrush, a tube of toothpaste and a bar of soap. As we handed these out through several classes, the children were overjoyed to be receiving something that they could call their own. It was a sad goodbye on this day, as we had all began really enjoying visiting the beautiful children who attended PIO.

The following day we began our three-day rural placement. Once again the Phnom Penh traffic was a huge shock to us, as it took 2 hours to travel just 40kms to ‘Le Refuge’ in Oudong. 

The bus arrived at a beautiful garden, where children were playing on the grass or on the playground. We were greeted by Dr Saram, the founder of ‘Le Refuge’, who gave us a tour and explained to us how the place began. Dr Saram lost his wife and children during the Khmer Rouge genocide in the 80’s, he was shot in the neck as he made his escape to the Thailand border. He miraculously survived and migrated to France, where he studied to become a heart surgeon. After living in France for some time, Dr Saram returned to his home nation to give back to his people. He moved to Phnom Penh and started working in a hospital, before noticing that many of his patients were from the region of Oudong. This motivated him to open an out-patient clinic in Oudong, so his patients did not have to stay in Phnom Penh far away from their families and homes during their recovery time.

With funding from his friends and colleagues in France, he continued expanding ‘Le Refuge’ to house up to 25 children who did not have parents or whose parents had moved for work. He provides these children with shelter, clothing, education and food. He also provides every child in Oudong lunch three times a week. 

Through the ten years of ‘Le Refuge’ it had expanded to also include a dental clinic and optometry clinic. As dentists from Phnom Penh only regularly visit on weekends to volunteer at ‘Le Refuge’ the children were rarely seen, as they would be working or helping their parents. Dr Saram’s story was truly inspirational, and we all felt motivated to see the children of Oudong as they had no access to dental care.

The next three days we screened 80 children at ‘Le Refuge’, providing fluoride applications and fissure sealants. It was quite challenging, with so many children to see in only three days, we really had to come together as a team to practice efficiently in this fast paced clinic with minimal supplies. 

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Days were long, having 11 hour days from the time we would leave the hotel to the time we would return home, and our energy levels were running low, however our motivation was high. Knowing these children’s access to care was rare, we all came together to help each other and work harder when students were unwell. It did become overwhelming at stages, when we couldn’t address the child’s immediate needs, such as pain. With the healing process being delayed due to the humidity, deciduous teeth would not be extracted unless it was necessary. While also focusing on long term preventive treatment, it did not provide us with that immediate reward. However, having applied over 200 fissure sealants and fluoride applications at Oudong, it was reassuring to know that we potentially saved 100’s of permanent teeth for the children in this area. 

After our final day at Oudong on Friday, we travelled to our Farewell dinner at FCC, a beautiful restaurant overlooking the Tonlé Sap and Mekong rivers. We shared a three course meal with three of the dental students that helped us throughout our Antipodeans placement and with our in-country partner Linda. We all exchanged gifts during our meals and exchanged stories of our experiences throughout the two and a half weeks together. It was a fantastic evening and a bittersweet end to an amazing trip.

We were all excited to head home to our families and friends but we were also very upset that the amazing experience was coming to an end. It was reassuring to know that we accomplished so much in our time in Cambodia and made a difference to almost 400 children’s lives. 18 days had flown past so quickly but it was incredible how many experiences we squeezed into our short time in Cambodia.
   

Welcome to Cambodia! Oral health placement

Walking out of the Phnom Penh International Airport at 6:30pm, a gush of 29°C heat and humidity swept over us! ‘Welcome to Cambodia’ our tour guide said as we climbed on the bus.

As we began our slow journey, the incredible amount of vehicles, scooters and tuk-tuks on the roads was overwhelming. There are so many vehicles on Phnom Penh roads that a 10km trip from the airport to our hotel took us an hour! During this trip, our tour guide explained the culture and surroundings of Phnom Penh, she explained just how poor so many Cambodians are, with the average person surviving on only $1 a day. As we arrived to our home for the next 18 days and most of us were feeling quite miserable about the circumstances of the people here, feeling as though there wasn’t much hope. 

  

The following morning, we visited ‘Friends International’ a Non-Government Organisation (NGO) that is involved in keeping children safe and encouraging education and business within Cambodia, and preventing young and old from being involved in begging, drugs, sex trafficking and homelessness. It also supports businesses that hire marginalized youth and encourage education and employment within this sub-population. 

They provided us with an educational seminar on the ‘Child Safe Movement’ and how to prevent tourism that encourages the abuse of children. We then visited the public and private dental universities of Phnom Penh. It was incredible to see how similar both universities were to home! It was impressive to see how thorough the courses are in Cambodia. Both private and public universities had a dental clinic where the public could come receive dental treatment pricing from $1. The students also have the option to provide free treatment to individuals who seem incredibly poor and require treatment.

We all felt a lot more hope after this day, seeing how many NGO’s and individuals are motivated to encourage healthy safe environments for children and to encourage safe work for everyone within the community. The Universities provided hope, seeing how dedicated and motivated students were to make a change in their community and provide incredible, vital care in their home town. 

 The third day we had tours of the Palace, the genocide museum and the killing fields. This day was emotionally draining for everyone on the trip. It’s truly heartbreaking to see how much the people of Cambodia have faced with throughout the past 50 years, and how difficult it has been to rebuild from this. With so many fundamental issues still not having been resolved within the community, it seems difficult to address dental concerns.

Access to electricity, access to clean water, basic personal hygiene, rubbish collection and public bins are still not available throughout the whole of Cambodia. Issues such as water fluoridation and tooth brushing cannot be solved when basic human needs have not been met for everyone. On our tuk-tuk home, a few of us were waving to a child who was in the car next to us. When the cute boy broke into laughter, all his upper front teeth had decay.

This was quite a shock to us at the time as this would be a rare sight in Australia. However for a child in Cambodia, by the age of 6 the average DMFT score is 9. This means that on average, by the age of 6 a child will have 9 decayed, missing or filled teeth, being almost half the teeth that they would have by this age. 

We spent the next four days at PIO (People Improvement Organisation) School that was built along a rubbish dump to support families and educate children in this area, who had turned to picking rubbish out of the dump to support themselves. In conjunction with One2One Charitable Trust, we were providing silver diamond fluoride (SDF) to the deep pits and fissures of every child within the school, while also providing ART restorations and fissure seals to high risk patients.

There are 500 children within the school that require their 6 monthly SDF application, and we are trying to get through as many as we can within our 6 days at this clinic. Having four make-shift dental chairs, using tables and chairs to create our own clinic, it was quite demanding. With no triplex, suction, light or access to all our usual equipment or materials, working within these conditions really encourages team work and being versatile.

Making our own cotton pellets from cotton balls, creating our own autoclave with a pressure cooker for sterilising, manually writing down computer notes before entering them into the computer as quick as we can with the slow Wi-Fi access, working in teams of three with one person holding the flash-light and using bins for spit buckets are only a few of the changes to our usual luxurious dental clinics. Being within these clinics really makes you appreciate just how privileged we are, and after day one we were all wishing we had our dental chairs with suction and the triplex back!  

The children, however, make every hot day rewarding, and their beautiful personalities motivated us to complete each day. By the end of the week we were all ready for our three day trip to Siem Reap to explore more of Cambodia’s history.

Final update for University of Adelaide Education group in Peru

COUNTRY: Peru
PROGRAM: UniBreak Groups
PROJECT: Education
WRITTEN BY: Anna Henwood, Adelaide University

Hard to believe that the final week of teaching at Pumamarca School is complete! The past few weeks have flown by, yet when we think about all the things we have achieved and the friendships established, there is evidence of time well-spent and enjoyed.

Throughout the past week, we have had various challenges, such as an electricity blackout in the area of San Jeronimo, which meant not only eating by candlelight on Monday evening, but the absence of Wi-Fi for email and internet usage. This has been a challenge, especially for some student teachers, who have needed to research in preparation for teaching classes, and also for those who have been relying heavily on the internet to aid translation of instructions and key ideas for class.

However, with determination and courage, there have been ways to overcome the lack of Wi-Fi at the office – including finding new places around Cusco city which offer dinner or coffee and Wi-Fi. One such place is ‘The Meeting Place’, with arguably the best coffee in town!

The afternoon English classes at Pumamarca and Quilla hauta have both been well-attended, and it is especially encouraging to see members of the community continue to enjoy classes and learn new things. Last week, the focus was on learning the body parts in English, which has been great fun. Students were introduced to the game ‘battleships’, using body parts as the ‘ships’ – and this was a new concept, which surprisingly took all lesson, and was greatly enjoyed by the students and teachers!

There have been several new concepts introduced to the students at Pumamarca school this week, as postcards and letters were written by grade 5 and 6 students, in reply to letters from students at Christ the King School, in Adelaide, South Australia. The idea of addressing a letter to someone you have never met, and signing it from yourself – even the concept of what a stamp is and where it is purchased – all these new ideas were well-received by the students, and may be skills that can be drawn upon in the future. Other classes this week have included ‘The Hungry Caterpillar’ in Grade 2 English, which was well received by the students who have previously learnt the days of the week, numbers 1 to 10 and various fruits and foods.

The students got involved with acting out the story of the hungry caterpillar turning into a butterfly. Many other classes have been just as engaging, and the relationships formed cross-culturally will continue to be remembered well beyond the time that the Adelaide University team is in Pumamarca.

The construction work at Pumamarca continued well, with the focus the past week on concreting a new sink for the students, near the bathroom area. Hygiene and nutrition are a big part of the recess time at Pumamarca school – as is handing out vitamins and fruit. The children wash their hands and face with soap at the sink, adding moisturising cream as protection from the harsh sun, and then collect fruit and vitamins.

On our last weekend in Peru, some decided to take a quick weekend trip to the Amazon, or to Lake Titicaca, while others have stayed in town to continue exploring, shopping, meandering, visiting favourite places and people.

One such example is Señora Rosa, a shop owner of well-made and well-priced knitted goods; her smile is infectious and she always has something kind and interesting to say. It meant a lot to her that some of our team continue to visit her (not only to purchase the softest alpaca jumpers imaginable)! Another favourite place has been the restaurant in San Blas, ‘Pachapapa’, which has been visited often this past week for Wi-Fi and coca tea.

On our last day at Pumamarca school on Wednesday, we treated the staff and students to pizza, cooked in the wood oven at the school. It was a treat for everyone and very tasty! Also, aside from the various resources brought from home, as a team from Adelaide University, we decided to donate newly-made soccer goals to the school and a bed for a sick bay area. The kind donations from friends and family have ensured that these large purchases will help the school community.

The warm and loving farewell we all received from the students and staff on our last day brought a few tears and tugs to heartstrings. We all feel like we have gained new friends and we know the memories we carry will bring smiles for many days to come. As the sign on the side of a Cusco mountain says, ‘¡Viva el Peru!’

Three from the team will continue travels throughout Peru and/or Bolivia, postponing return to Australia by around 10 days. The rest of the team will make the long journey home, via Lima and Santiago, with many treasured moments and kind faces standing strong in our hearts.

University of Adelaide: Flute and piccolo lessons in Peru

COUNTRY: Peru
PROGRAM: UniBreak Groups
PROJECT: Education
WRITTEN BY: Anna Henwood, Adelaide University

Where is the time going?! Our third week has passed by so quickly, yet when we stop to think of all the things packed into seven days, it’s no wonder that time is moving on.

The week began with more exciting classes at Pumamarca School. We usually travel to Pumamarca in what has been called the ‘Golden Gizmo’ in the past, but we reverently refer to as the ‘Dustbus’ – for good reason! The roads up and around the mountains are very dusty because they are continuously under construction. Wednesday morning this week our Maths teacher was due to start at 9am and the Dustbus hadn’t arrived on time; Tom had a ride on the back of Nico’s motorbike up to Pumamarca, so he could start classes in time. It has been said that there was less dust on a motorbike!

Speaking of dust, there was a lot of extra movement on Monday at Pumamarca school, when a tractor was brought in the remove dirt and level the playground area. This means that PE classes, games at recess and general use of the area has improved because of the levelled ground.

The afternoon English classes at both Pumamarca and Quilla Huata have continued on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons this week; they are both well-attended, and it’s encouraging to see a good turn out from the community who are keen to learn. On Thursday, the teaching team had an interesting experience returning from the afternoon English classes, when an extra 3 adults from the community were piled into the already filled taxi for most of the ride back into town. It was a taste of travelling Peruvian-style!

Flute lessons have also started this week at Pumamarca, offered to the students in Grade 2. The class of seven are incredibly keen, and some of them are already naturals at making a sound. A flute and piccolo were kindly donated by the music department of a school in Adelaide, and are greatly appreciated here!
Spanish lessons are going well, and we appreciate the opportunity to use the new language we are learning in the classrooms and as we move about Cusco. New words and phrases are added daily, as we need to order taxis, give directions, make purchases and communicate with the locals.

The absolute highlight of the week was our weekend trip to Machu Picchu! This is the official site for the Inca rulers, which was only recently discovered and is now known to the world beyond Peru. It was incredible to see the history of the area and to climb the nearby mountain of Huayna Picchu, towering above the ruins of Machu Picchu. The view was wonderful from the peak of the mountain, and an unforgettable experience. We stayed in Aguas Calientes, the town near Machu Picchu, known for the hot springs in the area.

The only downside to the weekend was the extremely short tour of the ruins, due to the early onset of rain, which continued while we waited for the buses to take us back to the hotel. Hopefully it was the last of rain for a while!

University of Adelaide get creative with water games in Peru

COUNTRY: Peru
PROGRAM: UniBreak Groups
PROJECT: Education
WRITTEN BY: Anna Henwood, Adelaide University

Our second week in Peru has flown by, which is a great sign that things are going well here. We have already had one week teaching at Pumamarca School, and enjoying each new experience. The class sizes at the school vary (from 7 to 20 students per class), and it is a challenge for both students and teachers to have lessons presented in English.

However, we are enjoying the challenge! The grade 6 class at Pumamarca school has also experienced their first Italian lesson, which was enjoyed by the students. Some exciting science practical experiments have also happened outdoors, testing air pressure using a bike pump and a water bottle! Great fun!

Afternoon English lessons have also started to be offered to the community at Pumamarca, which involves two afternoon lessons each week for grade 6 students and above. It was also encouraging to see senior school students join in with the classes, even though they are graduates from Pumamarca and attend a senior school elsewhere.

At the same time as the English classes at Pumamarca school, some of the team visited the nearby town of Quilla Huata (pronounced Kia Wata), where there is a school which is also supported by Peru’s Challenge; there is also community interest for English classes at Quilla Huata, which may be a possibility in the weeks to come.

Tuesday evening involved a welcome dinner at ‘Tanupa’ restaurant in Plaza de Armas. It was a buffet dinner with traditional Peruvian food and a very talented group of Peruvian musicians and dancers.

There was an unexpected public holiday on Thursday, which meant that Pumamarca School was closed for a day. Some members of the team went paragliding over the Sacred Valley, while others chose to take the opportunity to rest or to explore more of Cusco city.

Spanish lessons for the Adelaide University team have commenced during the second week, which take place at a school in the historical area of San Blas, in Cusco city. The language we are picking up is supporting us with being able to converse with locals and also giving us skills that are being used in the classroom.

As to be expected, there have been a few sicknesses during the second week in Peru, ranging from simple colds and sniffles to stays at the tourist clinic near Peru’s Challenge office in San Jeronimo. Although no one has been seriously ill, admittance to a clinic can feel isolating, so it must have been encouraging to have other members of the team visit, and helpful that the location of the clinic is near homes and the office.

For some, the highlight of the week was the weekend trip to the Sacred Valley, including a visit to the town of Chincero, the Inca ruins at Ollantaymbo and Pisac, and a hotel stay in Pisac on the Saturday night. The following day, there was time to visit the exciting Pisac market, where many purchases were made of local goods and products. It was incredible to walk the paths of history among the Inca ruin, especially at Pisac and Ollantaymbo – the views were incredible!

We are having long days and very full and interesting weekends, but we are enjoying new experiences and meeting new people. Again, it’s hard to believe how quickly time is passing by.

University of Adelaide arrive at Pumamarca School, Peru

COUNTRY: Peru
PROGRAM: UniBreak Groups
PROJECT: Education
WRITTEN BY: Anna Henwood, Adelaide University

What a wonderful first week it has been! We arrived in South America the same day and time that we left Sydney on Monday morning – following a 12.5 hour flight that took us across the international time line. It was incredible to catch glimpses of the Andes mountains from the plane, as we arrived in Chile, on transit to Lima. We stayed a night in ‘El Faro Inn’, in Mileflores, Lima, before heading on to Cusco Tuesday morning. What an achievement – so far, no people or luggage lost!

Following a lot of confusion at check in, and flight delay, we arrived at Alejandro Velasco Astete International Airport, in Cusco, where Gerry from Peru’s Challenge was at the airport to meet us. He kindly helped with luggage that had not arrived on the flight, but was to arrive at the office a few days later. We were then driven to Peru’s Challenge office in La Rapa, which is an area near two universities in Cusco, not far from the airport. Gerry went through some housekeeping and soon afterwards, someone from our host families arrived to take us to our new homes. It was an honour to meet with our families, and a welcome surprise to realise that all ten of the student teachers from Adelaide university are living on the same street, which is within a 15 minute walk of the office.


The following day, we went into the city on the ‘Batman’ – which is a local transport van, stopping regularly to let locals off and pick up new passengers. Following lunch, we walked around Cusco, taking in some of the city and learning about some local habits, such as drinking coca tea, or chewing leaves to avoid altitude sickness. Thankfully, although some of us have felt severe effects of the change in altitude, we are now well and adapting to the 3,500m above sea level. The views of the surrounding mountains are incredible, and the people warm and welcoming.

Thursday morning we were driven to Pumamarca School, to meet with the students and staff. There have been recent upgrades on the road leading to the school, although work is still continuing, and road blocks slow down the passing traffic. However, it is around a 20 minute ride to the school, with intimate views of the town of Pumamarca on the way. There is a lot of construction and building, as houses are erected from local materials of mud and straw. The bright colours of the school are unmistakeable from a distance, and are a cheerful welcome. As the front gate was opened to us, it was humbling and overwhelming to walk through a path the children had created for us, hearing the words ‘Bienvenutos, los amigos’.

Arriving at recess time meant that we had duties to hand out fruit and vitamins to the children, following with a tour of the school. We meet all the classes and their teachers in the classrooms, and were introduced to each class, often with a song presented by each class. We also enjoyed hearing of the work of previous volunteers, in particular the presence of 6 greenhouses (one garden space for each class) and the indoor wood oven for bread and pizza making. There is abundant space for wheat growing, which has been a source of bread ingredients in the past, although there are currently no crops.

The following day we had a flat tyre in the ‘Golden Gizmo’ (our van of transport to Pumamarca), so we left later than planned. We were able to offer hands in the garden and a grade 6 PE class, as well as talk with the teachers about the curriculum and classes we will be teaching next week.

After a busy week, some decided to take it easy over the weekend, with a visit to a market and a slow day of preparation for teaching. Others in the group have gone on a horse-riding trek, around the area of Cusco, to take in the sights at a more leisurely pace. Signing off, with quote of the week from the students at Pumamarca School, “Machu Picchu, nice to meet you!”

Hard word pays off for Adelaide Uni

A group of ten education students from the University of Adelaide are now in their third week working on a community education placement high up in the mountains of Peru.

Students have had their work cut out for them, teaching for four hours in the morning and then getting their hands dirty with some construction work in the afternoon.

However, it looks like the hard work is paying off. Project supervisor, Jane Gavel, has already noticed a positive change in how the students are teaching.

“They are really improving with their lessons, how they plan and their confidence and methods with the local kids.”

The local teachers have also been very impressed with the quality of the lessons and the subjects students are teaching.

Adelaide University students have also learned a lot from the local Peruvian teachers.

“Local staff have been providing students with some great advice as to how to work more closely with the kids and gain their respect so they are all concentrating throughout the whole lesson.”

As well as teaching, students are working on a construction project to build a greenhouse for the local community.

The project was originally supposed to take five weeks. However, the group has been working so well, it may be finished one or two weeks ahead of schedule. 

This has left the group plenty of extra time to make the most the surrounding area.

Four members of the group went paragliding over the Sacred Valley last week and they are all off to Machu Picchu for two days over next weekend. 

Adelaide University use their teaching skills in Peru

In May this year, a group of nine education students from the University of Adelaide are venturing to Peru for five weeks to carry out a community education project as part of their degree.

While on placement, students will have the chance to teach social sciences, sport, English and other languages to students in local primary and secondary schools.

The team will also try their hand at some construction work aiming to improve educational facilities in local schools and provide additional incentive for children to continue their education.

This trip is proving particularly exciting for student Eliza Box who hasn’t previously travelled overseas.

“I can’t wait to experiencing another culture and be immersed in their language, foods, rituals and traditions,” Eliza said.

Eliza also said she’s feeling a little bit anxious about travelling overseas without her family.

“This will be my first overseas trip, and I'm nervous about doing it without any of my close friends or family,” Eliza said.

“However, I know that the more challenging the trip is, the more I will have to gain from it.”

So best of luck to our Adelaide University students. We can’t wait to hear all about it once you get back!