The group! At the school L-R (in ROV shirts) Caitlin, Katherine, Emily, Sarah (in black), Mel, Sarah, Natasha, Heather, Saritha, Michael, Josh
Today was our first big day on the project. We woke up bright and early and had a breakfast of eggs, toast and fresh tropical fruit.
We got to know each other a bit better over breakfast; this week in Siem Reap we have volunteers on three different programs; the elephant program, the Siem Reap program and the teaching program – it’s great to find out why everyone chose the programs they did.
Then we headed off to the school we’ll be working with. We had a tour of the school, which has over 1000 students. Families in Cambodia have to pay to send their children to government school, so the non-government school we work with doesn’t charge families and allows students to focus on curriculum areas they find most interesting.
Sambath explaining the village surrounding the school. There are 12 small villages within Kro Be Riel, the house we’re working on has been selected as the family is the most in-need of all the villages.
After a tour of the school, we went to see some of the houses built on previous ROV programs. The families were so excited to see us back again!
Then, enough of sight-seeing and time for work! We went to our project site; a house with a very over-grown front yard, no kitchen and no plumbing. In just one day we managed to clear the entire front yard, plant trees, a big vegetable and herb garden, dig a gutter system; a massive job as it was through concrete, start on the extensions for the kitchen and build a front fence! We’re powering through the work and are loving joking around with the locals who are helping us out!
Josh and Micheal move away the cleared grass they’ve cut
Mel working with local labourers on the extension for the kitchen
Natasha uses a machete to chop a groove into a plank to use as a cross beam for the kitchen extension
We had a great lunch, which some of us helped to prepare, and sat down to eat it Khmer style in a big picnic circle. It tasted soo good!
Even though we were tired and sweaty after a big day’s work, we still had time to play some games with the village kids. We learned a Cambodian version of duck-duck-goose, a few different versions of tag and even some Khmer dance moves!
The kids were so impressed with Saritha and Mel’s hand tracing, they returned the favour!
Michael surprises everyone with his amazing limbo skills! He put everyone to shame including the locals who were at least a foot shorter!
We’re really getting used to the culture here! The people are so welcoming and appreciative of the hard work we’re doing for the poorest families in the village.
Now we’re home and clean (very needed!) and about to go for a tuk tuk tour of Seim Reap city. Then we’ll go for dinner at a local restaurant and maybe if we’re lucky have some famous banana pancakes!
What a great day, we worked hard, we played hard and we’re ready for it all over again tomorrow!