Meeting the locals

To say I stuck out like a sore thumb in Phnom Srok would be quite an understatement. Being a white westerner made me a very interesting sight indeed and while walking around the village I had to quickly get used to being stared at, laughed at and pointed at. Sometimes, adults even fetched their children to the front door to see the ‘barang’ walk past! ‘Barang’ actually means ‘French’ in Khmer and was used to describe the French colonists who lived in Cambodia many moons ago. Even with the French long gone, it the term by which they relate to any white person they see and I am definitely the only ‘barang’ in the village! Until the novelty wears off (which I’m sure it will), I have decided to enjoy the attention!

While up in the village, the Deputy Director introduced me to a whole bunch of different people including other District of Education (DOE) staff, the community chief, and some teachers and school directors of some of the local schools. I learnt that their main priorities were to ensure that 16 of the primary schools in the district passed the Ministry’s guidelines for being a Child Friendly School by the end of 2008 – so guess what I’ll be doing for the next 12 months? I visited a few schools and met with staff, each time being expected to make a speech (which was translated by Sokwin) and answer their questions! Daunting or what?! The schools tend to teach in a very Victorian style: children sit in rows, teacher dictates the lesson from text books from the front of the room on a blackboard and if the children don’t pass the test at the end of each year, they have to repeat the year. Many children don’t bother and lots leave as soon as they are 10 or 11 years old to go and work in Thailand to make money for their families.

Meeting the Community chief was another interesting experience. The conversation lasted about 10 minutes and started with us saying hello and thanking each other for coming and spending the time talking to one another, and ended with saying goodbye and thanking each other for coming and spending the time talking to one another, with not a lot in-between! It was very amusing but something tells me this sort of meeting and networking is very important!