For those of you who don’t know what I’m doing, why I’m doing it or even where I am, then this post is for you. I study anthropology at university, anthropology is the study of culture and it aims to understand why people do things. It makes the strange familiar and the familiar strange. As part of my university degree I get to go on two placements. The first is now (first term of second year) and the second placement is in the second term of my third year. I chose to go to Cambodia for my placement because I wanted to experience South East Asian culture and because people said that Cambodia is the best place to volunteer as the people are amazing and it isn’t as touristy as Thailand or Vietnam. After many hours of research, I came across this organisation called ‘Hope Agency’ through Original Volunteers. Hope Agency’s aim is to teach children English so that they can go onto further education in order to get better jobs which in turn brings in better money. They also run other projects to help the local area. As well as working as a ‘teacher’ in Cambodia I also have to write an anthropological report on something that I find interesting. This will involve me taking interviews and collecting my own primary data. I’m really excited for this and can’t wait to get to know the country and its people more.
Hope Agency was founded in 2009 by Jason. Jason ran away to Phnom Pehn when he was a child in search for a better life and a better job. He was picked up by an orphanage who looked after him. There he was sponsored by an American couple which meant that he could learn English. He went onto university and was able to get a great job to support himself and his family. Because of this he decided to set up a school in his local village to teach kids English. 9 years later and its become known as ‘Hope Agency’. Its received hundreds of volunteers and seen many more kids attend classes and gone on to further education. As well as teaching, Hope Agency is linked to a local orphanage, they provide classes to kids there as well as basic hygiene such as teeth brushes and nit combing. It also runs a food bank which helps the most in need families around the area.
The campus is made up of 3 female dorms and 1 male dorm. It has a kitchen and dinning area for volunteers as well as two toilet and shower blocks. Most classes are outside which makes it almost impossible to teach when it is pouring down with rain. My room has 8 bunkbeds in it, 6 fans and mosquito nets. Instead of a mattress there are thicker blankets to lie on and there isn’t really a lot of storage space so I keep everything in my suitcase. Each morning everyone does chores, this includes litter picking, weeding, toilet cleaning and washing up. Breakfast is at 9:30am and its usual bread with fried eggs or an omelette and salad. Then in the mornings we can choose to go to the orphanage or food bank or lesson plan. Lessons start at 1pm as the kids have normal school in the morning. Each lesson is an hour and we get a break in the middle, my last lesson finished at 6:30pm. I have 4 lessons to teach, all of which are different levels. Complete beginners learn phonics and their ABCs. Beginners learn about colour’s, shapes, transport etc. The older classes learn about sentence structure and how to hold a conversation.
Dinner is then at 6:30pm and then in the evenings volunteers socialise together, sometimes there is an opportunity to play football with the orphanage kids. I played football yesterday and managed to score a goal!
I plan on teaching for 3 months so will be here for a while. Below are some photos of the school:
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