Charity Cambodia

I booked a ticket for Sweden today to be home a while over the summer. It will be great fun to see as many of you as possible. I am also looking forward to the wedding in Göteborg I am now able to visit.

I will be flying from here on June 27th and back to Cambodia on July 13th.

Sabine will be back in control at The Goodwill School when I am leaving for Sweden.

Since I ain't satisfied with my Khmer I have now started to force myself into learning by having a small test by the School everyday. I mean it is a School so why should I get away from learning there =) By the meeting I decide together with the staff what my homework for the next day shall be and the next day I am tested. Today I passed the test of counting from 1-10 and tomorrow I must know how to count up to 100.

Last week The Goodwill School received a bag full with stuff left by the guests at the backpackers place Monkey Republic here in Sihaoukville. It contained some hygiene products but mainly female clothes. Today we sorted everything out and the older children could pick a few things that suited them. However, when 12 years old Khmer children are trying clothes left by several years older backpackers everything might not fit perfectly =) But everyone looking today found something they liked and as you can see were they really happy to get some new clothes.

 

A big thank you to Monkey Republic as well as everyone who left/forgot their stuff!

 

Hey,

 

Another week is passing by and I can feel that I have adjusted well to my new routines. As mentioned, I have switched my routines this week since I am covering a bit for Sabine at The Goodwill School meaning I am there in the morning instead of the afternoon. Must say this suits me quite well actually and keeps the rest of the day more open. Should continue like this even when Sabine is back!

 

I am enjoying the daily meetings and it is interesting to take part in what happens at the school regularly. The number of children are shifting and this week it has been between 27 and 47 children at the same time.

 

There are a few children who has problems with reading and writing Khmer and therefore some extra focus is set on them to help them improve their skills. Unfortunately do the children sometimes need to help so much at home that they don't go to public school and therefore have this kind of problem. It is an important issue for The Goodwill School to identify these children and try help them. First to help them and the parents to understand how important the public school really is and then to help the children to catch up what they have missed.

 

Regarding the Khmer language am I not satisfied with myself. I must getting started to learn the language much better.

 

Apart from the school, the week has been quiet. A few friends and I were up at the local brewery, Angkor, Wednesday afternoon and had a look. There are a few pictures from there below along with some pictures of Sihanoukville as well as some from The Goodwill School.

 

Have a nice weekend everyone, I will do my best to have the same here!

 

Hello!

 

A few days ago a joined Sabine, the operation manager at The Goodwill School, to visit a project which she is supporting. We went to a fishing village called Steung Hav located 30 km north of Sihanoukville. The project is supporting the area with a day center during the day and several English classes in the afternoon. As Sabine took part in her planned meetings I was wandering around the village and got a look into the life on the countryside. These are some pictures I took during wandering around:

 

 

Sabine is now on vacation back home in Europe for the upcoming six weeks. This means I will assist the teachers on The Goodwill School until Sabine is back. I will join the daily meeting and will be around to help the teachers regarding situations coming up.

 

Have a nice weekend everyone!

Hello again!

 

It has been a few days since I visited my first Khmer Wedding. It seems people in Cambodia want as many guests as possible on their weddings (most probably since every guest donates a certain amount of money for the bride couple) otherwise I don´t know why I got invited. Actually I had never met the couple getting married before the ceremony. I got the invitation through The Goodwill School and of course I thought it would be interesting to experience so I accepted the invitation.

 

At 07.00 we met with the groom close to the brides house where everyone got a piece of fruit, food, drink, flower etc to carry to the brides house. Reaching the brides house the item was collected and a soup served as breakfast. Then the bridal couple and their close family spent the day and I went home. What kind of ceremony was taking part during the day, I unfortunately have no idea.

 

In the afternoon (always at least 2 hours after the official invitation time) I was picked up by Lungdy, who works at The Goodwill School and we went to the Hotel where the ceremony was taking place. We were shown to a table and once the table was full we were served several courses of different Khmer meals along with beers. Most of the time the music was so loud it wasn't possible to a have a conversation around the table, which in this case didn't make that much difference for me since most of the guests around the table only spoke Khmer. Instead we were eating, smiling and making toasts with the beers. During the dinner I wondered what happened with all the trash because I didn't see anyone collecting anything from the table but as you can see on one of the pictures below I figured it out.

 

After dinner a cake was of cut and thereafter a bit of dancing. Around 21.15, perhaps after 30 minutes of dancing, I noticed that a lot of people went out to the front yard of the place. I thought there were something happening out there and Lungdy told me we were going out. To my surprise it showed nothing special was happening but instead the people were leaving and so did we. A very abrupt and surprising end to the ceremony I must say. Well, I had a great time and a quite different wedding experience. Here are a some pictures from the day, enjoy!

 

The School started in 2004 for children in the area surrounding the school and is mainly funded by the English organization Help the Cambodian Children. Today everyone is welcome and approximately 110 children are attending the school altogether. Even if the name of the place is school I think day center might be a more correct description even if there are several classes as well. The center is a compliment to the public school where all children should be attending as well. When the children have public school in the morning they are welcome to the center in the afternoon and the other way around.

 

Responsible for the daily operation at The Goodwill School is Sabine from Germany. She has the overall responsibility for the activities, securing the quality of the education as well as making sure the available funds are used in the best possible way. Then there are also three Cambodian teachers working daytime leading activities such as painting, dancing classes, computer classes, health information, support with homework from public school etc. Most of the children have no possibility to do similar things at home since there is shortage of items to use as well as lack of support from the parents for such activities. These are some pictures from a regular day at the center taken Monday May 2^nd:

 

 

In the evening two English classes of different levels are held by a Cambodian English teacher, which are free for the children to attend. Saturday morning a teenager is class held which aim to help the participants to learn about their work situation, how they can plan their future etc.

 

Beyond the activities at the center children are supported with school uniforms for the public school, notebooks, pens and medical care along with similar needs. On special occasions, for example on Khmer New Year (where the pictures below are taken), the center makes a celebration for the children.

 

 

I hope this gives you an idea of the concept of The Goodwill School and how the center is supporting the community surrounding it.

 

Today I am invited to a wedding here and have already been to the morning ceremony, which started at 07.00 AM. In my opinion perhaps not the best time (you know I like to sleep in the morning) but tonight there will be a party and I am really looking forward to a good evening!