It is 5.40am and I finally get the chance to sit by the lovely hotel pool. Enough dawn sunlight to see the surrounding without drowning out the warm glow from the tree lamps. There is a lovely morning breeze rustling the leaves. I hear the occasional clicking of the house lizards. A beautiful way to spend the early morning before catching my flight home.
I've spent the last two days here in Phnom Penh together with a group of colleagues. We volunteered with a charity organisation that focuses on helping communities that are at high risk of child-trafficking. I had volunteered with this charity a year ago and it was good to be back again. I like second times. Although I can't say that I am sufficiently familiar with Phnom Penh, there are visual ques that reminds me of the previous trip. Yet there were opportunities to experience new things. I think this describes me quite well, a creature of habit that enjoys a little bit of variety.
Last year I came to Phnom Penh with my teenage son. It was our first time in Cambodia and I wasn't quite sure what to expect. Together with three colleagues, we were tasked to conduct two surveys. One survey was to better understand the needs of the slump community that the charity works in and to what extent the community's needs were being met by the NGOs. The other survey was to understand what the kids were up to after school when they are not at the charity's day care. At first the thought of 24 interviews for each survey didn't seem that much of a challenge. After the first interview, I quickly realised that it wasn't going to be easy digesting what the interviewees had to tell us. I recall interviewing housewives, sex-workers, domestic helpers, and a tuk-tuk driver amongst others. I also remember mistaking a beggar for a baker because I had not listened carefully to the interpreter. The stories were tough-going - basic needs not available to human beings, how a little bit of help could have made a big difference, how each parent have hopes for their children even if they don't have enough hope for themselves.
Each volunteer is encouraged to sign up for the Advocacy Walk before they start on the volunteer work. The Walk brings relevance and context to the volunteers as they get to see first-hand the community which they are trying to help. We visited a slump community located next to the Tonlé Sap river. The sights and sounds of this slump reminded of scenes from Slumpdog Millionaire. I also vividly remember a little girl, who wore only a pair of shorts, holding the hands of my female colleague as the team explored that river community. It made me think about my little girl at home and how different these two children's lives were. The Advocacy Walk also includes an interview with a sex-worker. My son found that session particularly difficult as he felt that it wasn't a child's position to listen to this motherly figure explaining what she does for a living.
My son and I visited the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum and the Killing Fields on that trip last year. Yet another raw experience but I will leave that for another blog post.
The trip this time around was slightly different. My son is at home preparing for his exams and I was here with a slightly larger group of colleagues. Our task was to distribute school necessities to the kids including a new school bag, books, stationeries and a set of uniform. Most kids looked like they really needed the uniform. It is amazing how their faces lit up with such simple gifts. Probably not aware of it themselves but they are all fighters with a smile.
The next day we took the older kids for an excursion to the zoo. The zoo was two hours away from Phnom Penh so I got a chance see the Cambodian countryside. I remember last year I resorted to taking a picture of my son in front of a giant telecoms advertisement with a scene of the countryside. The bus ride was good conversation time with the kids. They were encouraged to put their English into practice. The boy sitting next to me on the way there told me that they would refer to adult volunteers as sir or "cher", short for teacher. So I was their "cher" for the day. I showed them pictures of Singapore as they wanted to know what it was like.
The drive from the main road into the smaller lane that took us to the zoo was sobering. On both sides of the lane were people begging. Every 50 metres or so you would see either an elderly man or elderly woman or children holding out their hands begging for money. What they got most of the time instead was the dust thrown up by the passing vehicles.
The kids were thrilled to be at the zoo. But so were the volunteers as we've all not seen a tiger close-up, within a metre from where we were standing. Some of the kids hand-fed bananas to the the monkeys but none of us were savvy enough to feed the tiger. Didn't think it was allowed either. Although the zoo infrastructure was basic we had personalised service from the ice - cream man, and the fruit and water seller who followed the group around the zoo on their motorbikes.
After lunch, the volunteers ran a couple of games stations for the 40 kids. We had initially planned games for younger kids. When we found out that the kids were from an older age group the night before the zoo trip, one of the volunteers went out to buy two footballs. Made sense that kids would enjoy chasing balls around for hours. The games that we had initially planned didn't go to waste either as the kids did enjoy them after all. The volunteers had to think up two or three more games on the spot to keep the kids entertained for the remainder of the time. Common amongst all the games were the much prized chocolate gifts. The most hilarious game was "dog and the bone". The kids were split into three groups and within each group the kids had an assigned number. When the volunteer called out a number, the kids whose number got called had to run to the centre to snatch the chocolate without being tabbed by another kid from a competing team. Otherwise the kid who made the tab would get the chocolate.
The bus ride back to Phnom Penh was quieter. It had been a very hot afternoon and many of the kids were tired after the games. I sat next to a different boy on the way back. This boy spoke very good English and asked me lots of questions about education in Singapore and about different career choices. He also asked me how he could further improve his English. In our conversation I found out that he does not have access to computer or a mobile phone, and the libraries did not cater for English books that would interests kids his age. We spoke about many other things which again helped me better understand the challenges that kids in this community face. Although I know he does not have access to email, I left him my email address anyway and asked him to contact me if he ever needed some specific advice.
I am missing my family and can't wait to get home later today but this trip has been very rewarding for me. I have learnt more about this community through the interaction with the kids rather than interviewing their parents. These kids have hopes and dreams and it is important to help them believe. Kids also need fun days out. I used to wonder how the little things we do can ever make a difference in the lives of children who are so poor. I asked the boy who sat next to me on the way back from the zoo what makes him happy. He said getting the necessary books for his education makes him very happy. It took me two trips here but I got the answer to silence my doubts. It has been a blessing to be able to show kindness to these wonderful kids.
I have since checked out of the hotel, got onto the flight and on my way home. I was looking through the Singapore newspapers on the plane and there was an article about the Khmer Rogue "first lady" Ieng Thirith who had just passed away at the age of 83. She was put on trial for genocide by Cambodia's UN-backed war crimes court but the trials were suspended in 2012 as she was suffering from progressive dementia. Both my trips to Phnom Penh have left me with mixed feeling about this country. Sadness for the cruelty and miseries of the past, and the sheer poverty of the multitudes today. Hope because there are children who try their best with whatever life throws at them. May God bless this land.
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