It has always been a dream of mine to volunteer in some rural village in a 3rd world country. I can teach! I am a professional early childhood educator, what better way to give than through the gift of education? Teach them English – it’s the best way to broaden their opportunities. I shall touch their lives and they will get better jobs; break out of poverty, break free from their destiny. I shall live a simple village life, away from modern day comforts. Bring on fetching water from a distant well, candles at night, no electricity, and every hardship I am not used to. Fortunate, privileged, enthusiastic me wants to give give give.
Well. That’s nice of me. Really nice.
Here is the reality I saw after a few days at a little village in Cambodia – their lives are the way their lives are, and there is a teeny excruciatingly tiny chance my presence will change their lives for the better, and a larger chance my presence will interfere with their routine and reinforce inconsistency in their lives.
Sure, I might be wrong. The above might have been horrible, even disgusting for me to think. How can anyone say that? How can anyone think they can’t make a difference or worse, make things worse by wanting to help?
It’s disillusioning, and pretty painful to accept, but allow me to explain.
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I arrived in kampong cham, 4 hours away from phnom penh on a sunny afternoon. A volunteer from Belgium was waiting for me at the bus station. She drove me to Chiro Village on her motorbike. It was about 6km away. As we moved away from the town and entered the dirt road, I relaxed.
As we rode past bamboo huts on stilts, naked children waving hello, chickens running amok, I looked out at the crops of corn, the beautiful calm wide mekong river, smiling villagers, and was absolutely utterly charmed.
Upon arrival at OBT (organisation for basic training) I met Sophal, the in charge. He welcomed me with a warm smile and happy demeanour. I saw the school, a simple wooden hut on stilts, and looked forward to contributing. How lucky I was to have this chance to give! The children were out and about. Tattered clothing, dirty dusty faces, massive smiles on their faces.
I was shown the home stay – it belonged to a lively family of 12. 8 children! There were 6 other volunteers living in the house too. It’s a large house on stilts, sectioned by curtains and wooden walls. Floor is made of bamboo.
My room (it has a door and walls. Lucky me. Other volunteers just have a curtain drawn around a bed)
The food was incredibly tasty. We were cooked lunch and dinner every day. The host was generous with the dishes and we ate like kings and queens. We often had fresh fish or some meat with lots of vegetables. It cost 5 usd a day (4 usd to the host family and 1 usd to OBT).
I got fabulous local coffee for 25 cents every morning. It was all very happy and idyllic.
Sophal said there is no fixed time for volunteers to ‘work’ and we were free to do as little or as much as we wanted. Mornings – free time.
Afternoons – 2-5pm: classes with children
5-6pm: teaching the local teachers
Evenings – dinner and more free time.
There are 5 classes running at the same time between 2-5pm, each class a different level of english capability. There are 5 khmer teachers. One for each class. The volunteers insert themselves in whichever classroom they liked. They can assist or take over the teaching. Anything they wish.
After 2 days of teaching and lots of questions, a few facts became clear to me:
1. The children haven’t been progressing in their learning. Every batch of volunteers who come in, change the curriculum to suit what they think is workable. They take some time to assess what the children can do, then take more time to write a new curriculum, then leave. The process then repeats itself. The ‘you can do anything you wish’ attitude towards volunteers isn’t nice, it is random and therefore useless.
2. At maximum 15 or 16 their families will need them to work. They will be sent to the borders in ‘unskilled’ jobs – factories or construction. No need for English there.
3. Even if they possessed a superb level of working English AND had the money to go to university, it will be very hard to find a job anywhere in Cambodia.
4. Since OBT started in 2009 only 8 from the program have moved on to tourist jobs in another NGO. 8.
The rest are either staying to work in farms or gone to work in factories, construction (and most probably Ktv bars).
5. My teaching in the classroom only gives the khmer teacher time to check Facebook on her phone. I come in, amuse myself with the children for a month or so then leave. It is not only inconsistent, it is also not helping. I was naive to think one month (that’s what the website recommended) was enough to make a meaningful difference.
6. What this organisation needs is direction. It is only with direction and effective leadership that anyone’s donations will be put to good use. If and only IF there is enough money, it will be needed to pay for good local teachers (to teach them English), to pay for every child’s bribes in their schools (local teachers withhold necessary teaching content because they don’t get paid enough by the government. It’s about 5 usd per subject. Then maybe the children will have enough knowledge to sit for exams. Maybe they will pass), for the children to go to university, then money to bribe employers to hire them. That sounds like a lot of money and a lot of maybes and ifs.
A dream shatters. Very dramatic.
So I leave.
I could stay and enjoy the village. It was very enjoyable. Idyllic. But this is not a holiday. Volunteering isn’t volun-tourism.
I created a few documents for the volunteers who were staying till the end of June/July. They have never taught so I gave them all I knew. It had to be adapted to the village and situation. I created a simple record for each child – it assesses their language proficiency so each batch of volunteers who came along just needed a glance at this document to know what the child already knows. I gave them and the khmer teachers a lesson in teaching. How to command a class, how to structure an hour’s lesson into purposeful chunks that target different objectives, ideas for games and activities, how to make it all worthwhile and interesting. I’ll put this up in my next post for helps and tips from other teachers out there!
Those organisations that truly make a difference are sustainable and provide jobs for the community they are helping.
Example: Epic Arts Café
http://www.epicarts.org.uk/cambodia
Her name is Song Nop, she’s 22, walks with a limp and has a beautiful smile. I am wearing a shirt I bought, designed by one of the many disabled children the organisation is helping.
Epic Arts Café employs deaf and disabled Cambodians. They provide 3 areas of help – inclusive education, community arts, social enterprise.
Here is a website for ‘true’ NGOs
http://www.canbypublications.com/cambodia/cambodiavolunteer.htm
Here is an example of what a volunteering page should look say
So…
Yes they are very cute. Children will be lovely and appealing wherever they are. This little girl was one of my secret favourites. I love children, but I never so much as hugged her.
If I gave her all my affection, picked her up all the time, squeezed her, hugged her for a month, then left. Another volunteer comes along, cuddles her to bits, then leaves. Will she feel sad? Yes. Will she feel hurt? Yes. Will she understand? No. Might she develop strategies to harden herself to hurt? Probably.
We all want to give. Might be guilt at being so fortunate, might be a true blue desire to help. Nothing wrong with that!
In my honest and humble opinion, we don’t have to seek where to give to really give. We live our lives and give as and when the opportunity arises. Being kind to a seemingly annoying colleague at work, showing a supportive smile and thanking a cleaner/rubbish collector, holding the door open even though you are in a hurry…everyone is suffering in their own way. Kindness starts here, in our hearts, towards ourselves, and then to those closest to us and then beyond, to the world out there.
Cherry Red Shoes 