The journey of house building began on our second Tuesday. It was a day of working in the heat along side of the local people. It was very emotional to see the families smiling and laughing with us as we played with the children, knowing what they have all been through.
Amy Guest
Although the day was spent without technology, electricity, a flushing toilet or any signs of western influence, the house building project was possibly one of the best days of the whole trip. The satisfaction of knowing that your efforts are helping construct a house which will become a home when filled by the village families was incredible. Aside from a few throbbing thumbs, we really nailed it.
Joel Kennaway
The Tabitha program helps people in Cambodia. We assisted with completing some small houses in a small community. Before going there we were given some strict rules on how to act and speak to the people of the community. It was odd but an interesting and good experience meeting the people and helping them.
Morgan Andrews
House building out in the local Cambodian community was an incredible experience, it really threw the entire trip into perspective. While we were in the bus on the way out to the village, it was sobering to see the conditions the local people live in. I met a lovely woman while building the houses who, upon greeting her formally, came and sat silently next to me while we finished nailing down the floor. It was an awesome experience that made the trip even more worth it.
Elizabeth Abdoo
We spent the day hammering nails into bamboo floorboards. Some locals helped out, balancing precariously on wooden frames - the lack of OH&S is quite different to Australia. After completing 12 houses, we played "Duck Duck Goose" with the kids (taking care not to touch them on the head). It was a very rewarding experience to become involved in such a tightly knit community, and to work towards providing the people with a better quality of life.
Sarah Brown
Wednesday, December 7, 2016
Tuesday, December 6, 2016
House building with Tabitha
Yesterday we went and built 12 houses at a small village outside Phonm Penh called Kandal. The people in the village were very underprivileged and were most survivors of the Pol Pot era. Through the organisation of the Tabitha Foundation, the people of the village are able to break out of poverty into the middle class with our help. There are several stages to the process, the one of which we took part in was the third stage, building them a new home. Our work involved nailing bamboo flooring down and placing thin tin sheets around the edges to create walls. Our work started roughly around 9am and was completed at around 2:30pm. We spilt into six groups and started construction, each group completed two houses each with the help of the local builders. Some groups finished before others and they went and played duck duck goose with the children whose houses we were building. At the end of the day we presented each family their new home and a house warming gift which was a blanket donated by the Tabitha Foundation. After all the splinters, sore thumbs and blisters all of our hard was satisfying just to see how happy the village people were with their new home, the look on their faces were priceless and we will never forget this experience.
Olivia & Brandon
Monday, December 5, 2016
The real reason we are here
I was very pleased to be able to join the Group of 44 Students and leaders from Kerang, Cohuna, Darwin and the Tiwi Islands for their first week at Siem Reap in Cambodia.
For me, the positive, 'can do’ energy that our young people brought to whatever tasks they were set, was really impressive. Most had not picked up a paint brush before, much less painted a building or two as we did at Life and Hope. They also made the work fun, with the odd bit of paint going astray onto other students, and finished up on the last day with a mini concert. As a Rotarian, I was impressed to see how the Kerang Schoolies Alternative Group has undertaken different projects at Life and Hope each year - including a concreted bike shed, shade houses, fencing, land (ie jungle) clearing - which has made an enormous difference to the lives of the children and families of Life and Hope. Our young people were equally impressive with their efforts at Green Gecko this year. This time they learned some farming skills - using basic tools they formed beds, mulched, fertilised and planted by hand, on two sites. It is amazing the difference around 40 pairs of hands can make in a short time!
The second thing that really struck me was the interaction of our young people with the Khmer children, which was warm, genuine and heartwarming to see. The poverty, landmine injuries and tough lives of street kids and the people generally was truly confronting for our Group. We saw people missing arms or legs (landmine injuries) working at Green Gecko washing plastic bags to recycle into woven products; we saw one very proud young lad with only one leg of about 12 years old who won an award at Assembly then showed us how well he could kick a soccer ball, balancing on his crutches. One of my favourite sites was a swarm of young Khmer boys playing soccer with some of our students - the Khmer kids absolutely loved their football, they were fearless, highly skilled an unrelenting and gave our boys a very good work out between work sessions on the farm. And they laughed and cheered at every goal made on that dusty soccer field. In the meantime others from our Group played with a band of student drummers; some played guitar and sang with the Khmer kids or provided great entertainment when they joined in the children’s yoga class.
Again, as a Rotarian it was heartening to see the way the Kerang Rotary Club through the Schoolies project and through direct donation has built on the facilities at Green Gecko. The Club’s funding of two of the staff at Green Gecko to study agriculture has resulted in improvements in the running of the small farms; the Schoolies Group donations to the facility bought basic supplies, school books and writing materials for the students to use; and the labour of the Group has moved mountains (or in one year - a massive hen house, literally) which saves the centre a great deal of time and cost of employing external labour.
We also had a very successful visit to New Hope where we were served a lovely lunch at their Restaurant Training Centre (included some fried crickets - a particular delicacy tried by some) and saw their Medical Centre and School Classrooms where the children study in Khmer and in English each day. At every place we visited the Khmer children had little compared to their Australian counterparts but were joyful, happy, engaging and keen to practice their english.
Congratulations to the Kerang Rotary Club for organising this magnificent opportunity for our school-leavers each year. Congratulations also to the schools and participating students and the leaders from Kerang, Cohuna and Tiwi and to the distance eduction students around Darwin. And last of all a big thanks to Sharon Champion, Gerardine Prendergast and Dave Armstrong for the outstanding work you do each year in organising this fantastic opportunity for Year 12 students and their leaders to enjoy and learn about different cultures and different ways of living. It was a privilege to be a part of the Group. Thank you.
Warm Regards
Rosanne Kava
For me, the positive, 'can do’ energy that our young people brought to whatever tasks they were set, was really impressive. Most had not picked up a paint brush before, much less painted a building or two as we did at Life and Hope. They also made the work fun, with the odd bit of paint going astray onto other students, and finished up on the last day with a mini concert. As a Rotarian, I was impressed to see how the Kerang Schoolies Alternative Group has undertaken different projects at Life and Hope each year - including a concreted bike shed, shade houses, fencing, land (ie jungle) clearing - which has made an enormous difference to the lives of the children and families of Life and Hope. Our young people were equally impressive with their efforts at Green Gecko this year. This time they learned some farming skills - using basic tools they formed beds, mulched, fertilised and planted by hand, on two sites. It is amazing the difference around 40 pairs of hands can make in a short time!
The second thing that really struck me was the interaction of our young people with the Khmer children, which was warm, genuine and heartwarming to see. The poverty, landmine injuries and tough lives of street kids and the people generally was truly confronting for our Group. We saw people missing arms or legs (landmine injuries) working at Green Gecko washing plastic bags to recycle into woven products; we saw one very proud young lad with only one leg of about 12 years old who won an award at Assembly then showed us how well he could kick a soccer ball, balancing on his crutches. One of my favourite sites was a swarm of young Khmer boys playing soccer with some of our students - the Khmer kids absolutely loved their football, they were fearless, highly skilled an unrelenting and gave our boys a very good work out between work sessions on the farm. And they laughed and cheered at every goal made on that dusty soccer field. In the meantime others from our Group played with a band of student drummers; some played guitar and sang with the Khmer kids or provided great entertainment when they joined in the children’s yoga class.
Again, as a Rotarian it was heartening to see the way the Kerang Rotary Club through the Schoolies project and through direct donation has built on the facilities at Green Gecko. The Club’s funding of two of the staff at Green Gecko to study agriculture has resulted in improvements in the running of the small farms; the Schoolies Group donations to the facility bought basic supplies, school books and writing materials for the students to use; and the labour of the Group has moved mountains (or in one year - a massive hen house, literally) which saves the centre a great deal of time and cost of employing external labour.
We also had a very successful visit to New Hope where we were served a lovely lunch at their Restaurant Training Centre (included some fried crickets - a particular delicacy tried by some) and saw their Medical Centre and School Classrooms where the children study in Khmer and in English each day. At every place we visited the Khmer children had little compared to their Australian counterparts but were joyful, happy, engaging and keen to practice their english.
Congratulations to the Kerang Rotary Club for organising this magnificent opportunity for our school-leavers each year. Congratulations also to the schools and participating students and the leaders from Kerang, Cohuna and Tiwi and to the distance eduction students around Darwin. And last of all a big thanks to Sharon Champion, Gerardine Prendergast and Dave Armstrong for the outstanding work you do each year in organising this fantastic opportunity for Year 12 students and their leaders to enjoy and learn about different cultures and different ways of living. It was a privilege to be a part of the Group. Thank you.
Warm Regards
Rosanne Kava
Wednesday, November 30, 2016
Life and Hope project
Painting, now it has a different meaning. It's messy, that leads to a lot of paint fights. Before this all happened, the adventure began before. We were driving peacefully along the road, all of a sudden there was a loud BANG!!!! The tyre blew, which left us stranded on the side of the road, whilst half the team continued on. The rest of us were left standing in a jungle for about an hour, hungry and hot, laughing at the silly games we were playing. We got to the Children's Development Building and the painting began. A large two-story building inside and out, a small one-story building, filled our one and a half days of work. 3 coats of paint later and the shopping adventures began, where we got rid of most of our money. We all very exhausted from the hard work and the extreme humidity. That was the journey of the last two days.
-Amy Guest and Tamlyn Robinson
-Amy Guest and Tamlyn Robinson
Khmer language lesson
Our teacher for the day was Nen. He not only taught us Khmer phrases, but was also happy to chat about Buddhism and being a monk. Heincluded role plays for greetings and no one chickened out. Everyone has a go and participated to their best.
Question time saw questions being asked from all directions.....
Can women become monks?
Can monks marry?
How do you become a monk?
Can you explain mindfulness?
The lesson was amazing.
First impressions
Day 3 on our Cambodian trip and I feel the group is adjusting to the Cambodian status quo. The locals are inherently friendly and polite, kind and hard-working- but the level of impoverishment in which they live in does not seem to match their sorroundings. The streets are paved with rubble, loose paving slabs and half-finished construction, but despite this they remain optimistic and push forward: this is their life. For us foreign westerners so used to a cleaner, less hostile society- it is quite something. Pity is not the emotion I would convey towards these honest people but, truly, humanity- in its richest form. Love and hope for a future shared between all members of the world. Even in this environment, there is beauty in the chaos. The rushing of cars on wrong sides of the road, laboriously bartering for a good deal at restaurants, public transport and the unwritten law of Cambodian society: life goes on. Today we're finishing the painting we started yesterday for the Life and Hope Association, a boarding house for children affected by violence within their home, under the supervision of Buddhist Monks.
Sam B
Sam B
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