Koh Kong

Saying Goodbye to Ruth was made easier by the fact that straight after our holiday in Sihanoukville, I was thrust into a 2-day VSO conference in the beautiful corner of the country that is Koh Kong. A mere 4 hour boat trip from Sihanoukville, I buried myself in my book so as not to dwell on the fact that my holiday with Ruth had come to an end.

Koh Kong is a fairly sleepy border town, serving as a stop-over for travellers coming from or going to Thailand. Compared to the Banteay Meanchey province, I thought it was absolutely beautiful and although the volunteers there have a tough time, it must be somewhat helped by the choice of Western owned bars and restaurants, not to mention the swimming pools!
VSO education volunteers were in Koh Kong to have their EST (Education Sector Team) meeting. The budget is dwindling for such extravagance so this may’ve been the last nd good practice, to provide a forum for discussion or introduce new ideas and training. To be honest I’m still not sure of the purpose although it felt a lot clearer than the first EST I attended back in November which went completely over my head. In those days I was ignorant, along with all the other newbies, of all the VSO Cambodia acmeeting of its kind. I think the idea is for it is for education volunteers to share their activities aronyms (DOE, POE, MIE, PO, PEA, DEA, VA, PF, VP, CESSP, etc) which proved to be quite limiting. This time I felt the new newbies frustrations but was able to follow what on earth was being talked about. In fact, the whole thing was more than enjoyable and was also a great opportunity to catch up with other volunteers who are normally working in far flung corners of the country.

One of the highlights of the trip (other than playing Werewolves again) was the visit to an exceptionally perfect model school on a small island. We arrived by boat and were applauded by a welcome committee of school children as we entered the school grounds. The success of the school is hugely down to the community commitment and to the vision of the school director – two things a school really can’t do without! We watched some of the children perform some traditional Apsara dancing, observed the school breakfast club in action, wandered around the classrooms, saw the mangroves planted by the school and then sat in the outdoor library for a Q&A session with the school director. It was amazing and inspiring to be there and was a really good example of what can be achieved by Khmer school directors and Khmer communities without much outside NGO assistance. It can be done! It also reminded me that the schools in my district really didn’t stand a chance of developing quickly or effectively without a director with vision and a community with some sense of responsibility for its children.

After EST and with time to kill before work started again on Monday (yes it was only Wednesday but we had yet another public holiday to make use of), some of us stayed for a boat trip round the islands nearby and mangroves off the coast. Beautiful, yet pricey, with an 80% chance of spotting dolphins (yeah, whatever!) and waterfalls, we spent a day on board boats exploring the surrounding area. Ok, it already sounds much more impressive than it was! Needless to say, we saw no dolphins or fish of any kind and the waterfalls were there but slightly disappointing as it was the wrong time of year to see massive amounts of water cascading over rocks. We did marvel however at the amazing agility of the one-legged boat man who managed to climb up rickety ladders and over slippery rocks with ease and grace while we huffed and puffed and slipped and broke several rungs of the ladder in our oversized, Western manner!

So sorry for the lack of photos of the beautiful Koh Kong islands, mangroves and water devoid of dolphin activity. My camera memory card seems to have developed an aversion to working properly so until I sort it out, no pictorial evidence to match the text of this entry!

Goodbye Ruth!

After a stint in Phnom Penh, what better way to round off the holiday with my big sister than a few days at the seaside!? So with bags packed and craving air-con, we headed to Sihanoukville for the weekend with Elizabeth and Michael. The plan was to get there in time to see the sunset whilst sipping cocktails and eating freshly caught seafood on the beach and we remained optimistic about this plan as we drove towards a very grey looking sky.

To continue our luck with capturing beautifully coloured skies on camera there was of course no sunset to be seen. BUT, we did manage to: drink a large measure of gin, spend over $10 on chocolate, laugh at Michael for trying to use his room key to open the car door, laugh harder at Michael for locking the car keys in the boot of the car (although we promptly stopped laughing when we realised the chocolate was also still inside!), eat a delicious Japanese meal and meet a dog called Nigel! So despite the lack of pink and orange hues on the horizon (again!), the evening was not without entertainment.

The fun continued on Saturday, as did the crap beach weather, and in the confusion of being on a beautiful white sandy beach in the pouring rain, I unwittingly agreed to undergo the torturous treatment of having my leg and eyebrow hair plucked out by a twisted piece of string in a process called threading. I found out the correct term for this hair removal technique from Ruth after asking her "what was that string torture called?". (Initially she thought I was referring to the blind busker who'd just passed by minutes earlier creating noise with an unrecognisable stringed instrument.) As I writhed on my sun lounger in pain all in the name of beauty, Ruth giggled her way through a massage on her sun lounger - it's supposed to be relaxing Ruth!

We gave the sunset and cocktails a final chance before deciding whether we were jinxed and, not impressed but not surprised, we watched another dismally cloudy sky grow inevitably darker but enjoyed the cocktails anyway!

And that was the end of our holiday. The end of Ruth's visit. We said our goodbyes the following morning as I boarded a boat to Koh Kong and she headed back to Phnom Penh.

Goodbye Ruth!!

Bloody Tourists!

tourist: noun
a person who travels for pleasure (that's us that is!)



We arrived at the Day Inn Angkor Hotel absolutely covered in browny-orangey dust following our eventful journey from Phnom Srok. But, not more than 1/2 hour later, we were clean and successfully disguised as rich tourists!

I didn't realise how much I was in need of a proper holiday and I have absolutely revelled in the novelty of the anonymity of being just another Western guest at the hotel in Siem Reap. It was a beautiful hotel; perfect actually and Ruth's treat which made it even better! We happily grazed on the complimentary breakfast each morning, treating the buffet a little more like an 'all-you-can-eat' opportunity! While I have been reacquainted with my hair-straighteners, we have also made the most of the air-con room and hot shower as well as the wonderful swimming pool in the garden surroundings! Lush!

We enjoyed 5 days of relaxed sight-seeing, doing what tourists do best and all just 2 hours drive from my dusty hot village. It continually amazed us that this very developed city was even in the same country as Phnom Srok!

As well as visiting the infamous temples of Angkor, we took part in other touristy activities including a night of traditional Apsara dancing at the theatre, shopping at the very tourist-friendly night-market and succumbing to a $30 (oops!) advertised sunset boat trip on the Tonle Sap which became a complete disappointment. Granted, we got to see the amazing floating village of Chong Kneas, but we learnt the hard way that money can't buy a sunset (see picture below!) and that what's described as a 2-course meal isn't always what we would recognise as a 2-course meal! In fact, we didn't do too well with sunsets or sunrise at all while in Siam Reap. We hiked up Phnom Bakheng (very steep hill with temple on the top), following a trillion (approximately) other tourists with the same, less than original idea, got a great view but another cloudy sunset!

We also got up at a ridiculously early hour the following morning to witness an equally disappointing sunrise over Angkor Wat! We amused ourselves taking photos for a while and managed to get back to the hotel before breakfast finished! Result! There are lots more photos on Facebook and even more on disk (oh imagine the slide show I could give on my return to England...).

The temples of Angkor Wat were breathtaking. We had a day ticket and a friendly tuk-tuk driver and got round to see all the main ones. Being Khmer New Year meant that we joined hundreds of Khmers at the temples' busiest time of year which made for an excellent atmosphere. The photos really don't do it (or me) much justice. The fact that they were all built between the 9th and 14th century, are all so well preserved and many hidden amongst forest just as explorers would've discovered them really was awe-inspiring. Some of the temple ruins would even make exceptionally iconic film sets for the right script!

As well as being a tourist for a while and spending some quality time with my ghd's, it is a great treat being with my big sister! Not only has she brought me some new underwear, she also packed very lightly so that she could fit in my wish list of things I'd left behind. I have a 'new' pile of clothes from the bags I left behind (although 2 white tops now have a delightful raspberry ripple effect after being washed with a pair of new pink pants - doh!), some gifts from family (THANK YOU!!!) and without saying a word, she acts as constant reassurance that I have in fact developed something resembling a tan! - oh, and did I mention my hair-straighteners?

Baby Ducks!

Another Maton in Phnom Srok! Ruth and I made it to Phnom Srok after a quick but emotional pit stop in Sisaphon (my lil' brother had a baby girl so I found out I'd become an auntie again, I spoke to my mum for the first time since Christmas, also spoke to the new 'dad' himself and my big sister arrived, practically all on the same day!).

We spent a very hot 3 days and 4 nights in my home. That was plenty for Ruth and I think she was impressed by how well adjusted I am to constantly dripping with sweat, needing to take 4 showers a day, having to sleep through more noise than an 18-30s campsite could produce at the height of season, not to mention the seemingly endless (and often quite annoying!) misunderstandings with my landlady and family!

I was so fantastic to see her in my little bit of world- not only because of the new M&S underwear she had brought me! We filled many an hour chatting, catching up and discussing the delights of Phnom Srok. I, of course, took her to all the best places in the village and we were generously invited to dinner by various colleagues of mine!

We also managed to invite ourselves on a tour of the district's silk sericulture and witnessed the whole production line of traditional Khmer silk, from growing mulberry bushes (which silk worms are a tad partial to), breeding silk worms, spinning the bright yellow silk, dying it with natural dyes and then weaving it into the final beautiful silk products! It was amazing!

A lazy day by the lake was enjoyed too and we slept in hammocks, ate Bok Lahong and swam with the locals!

Ruth has not been shy at sampling the local delicacies either (you can tell she's a Maton!). As well as eating not one but two whole duck foetuses on her bus journey up the country (apparently she switched into denial and they were actually quite tasty - I refuse to comment further!) she also downed a boiled silk worm during our silk tour of the district.

Ruth lived in Cambodia 10 years ago when she worked for a Christian NGO just outside Phnom Penh. She says that Phnom Penh is unrecognisable and she loved experiencing 'village life' in Phnom Srok (despite the heat and noise!) as it was so different from her own experience a decade ago. Her highlights were:

• drinking coffee in the breakfast restaurants each morning. The sweet caffeine taste is a small but necessary reminder of the civilization we are more used to.







• spending a lazy day at the lake. Beautiful scenery, fresh fish to eat and friendly food stall owners (even if some do stare a little too much to be polite!).







• meeting the many children I have befriended through visiting the English class down the road. We didn't get to a lesson as the teacher has been in Phnom Penh and everyone's busy preparing for Khmer New Year but we did bump into most of them around the village who all greeted us with "Hello Anna!"and tried to practice their English on us.


• meeting Mr Sophan, who first presented himself drunk and shirtless on our first evening in the district (I personally think he was almost as excited as I was to meet my big sister!). Ruth saw many different sides to him in many different situations over her few days visit, creating a picture of the man who has become my Khmer counterpart here, someone I hold in high regard and who, despite the obvious language differences, I have found some connection with! I think she liked him too!
  

However, as well as experiencing the highs of village life, Ruth also experienced the lows. She suffers the same skin type as me, burning quickly in the sun and attracting mosquitoes like bees to honey. At the last count, she was furiously rubbing Tiger Balm into more than 12 bites on her bum which understandably caused her some discomfort! Added to this was her inability to sleep through village heat and noise (a skill I am developing).

As well as finding it hard to get to sleep while Khmer kareoke was blasted down her eardrums, she was quite perturbed by the early morning alarm, starting with the dogs howling at 5am, followed by the cockerels cock-a-doodle-doing, then hundreds of sparrows sitting in the tree outside following suit with loud chirping, then plinky-plonky-monk-music from the local pagoda and to top it all off, a Khmer male voice chanting down a microphone. In the UK it would be enough to serve at least an ASBO or 2! On the last morning, kareoke, plinky-plonky-monk-music and a man with a microphone could all be heard at the same time, same loud volume from different directions. Torture in stereo! Looking on the bright side, it did mean that Ruth got to see some beautiful sunrises from my roof though!

I think it's safe to say we were both ready and relieved to leave Phnom Srok when the time came, although our adventures were far from over as we hopped on the back of a pick-up truck to take us to the main road. We got absolutely covered in dust on the 20 minute journey and shared the experience with a convict, arrested in Phnom Srok and on his way to Sisaphon! We successfully met our taxi to take us the rest of the journey to Siam Reap where an air-conditioned dust-free bedroom and swimming pool awaits us! Can't wait!

Effective Teaching and Learning

Phnom Srok’s first VSO sponsored event took place over 6 days in the form of ETL training. The training was produced by UNICEF and the Ministry of Education (MoEYS) as part of the government’s aim (in line with the millennium goal) to provide all children with an inclusive quality basic education. It really is very valuable training, explaining child-centred, effective teaching methodology through a participatory approach, including sessions on ‘how children learn’, ‘ learning games’ and ‘creating a rich learning environment’. The training even uses Bloom’s taxonomy of questioning simplified into 3 main types of question that teachers should ask, memory, understanding and critical thinking, which is a far cry from the ‘chalk n talk’, ‘I say, you do’ mentality. The training has been conducted in Khmer by Khmer trainers in a classroom in Phnom Srok High School which we have shared with 2 families of nesting sparrows. We had just over 30 participants, a mix of teachers, school directors and cluster heads. My involvement was minimal really – logistics and finance (in other words I confirmed the dates with the trainers and held the purse strings!) although I did have to give another speech at the opening ceremony.

What I have found fascinating is that the government cannot afford to provide this basic training for its own teachers in the provinces. However they seem to be able to afford to send all school teachers to Sihanoukville for a holiday just before the elections! Hmmmm – interesting priorities!

Anyway, the training was not without interruption; some welcome and some not! And I have experienced a plethora of emotions over the last 8 days or so!

Interruption 1: One school director asked me at the beginning of the training if he could bring 2 more participants from his school that were really keen to learn from the training. He assured me that they would not expect to be paid (participants receive money for their transport costs and food when they attend training outside their normal work) but he put me in a very difficult position! I tried to explain, with lots of smiling, that every teacher in the district wanted to attend the training and that to say yes to him would be unfair on all the rest. He seemed to understand, but brought 1 extra participant anyway! It was quite annoying but actually became the least of my worries!

Interruption 2: The prime minister himself, Mr Hun Sen, decided to officially open the new university in Banteay Meanchey on day 4 of the training which meant a 2 day delay in the middle of the originally planned 6 days as every education staff member in the province was invited to attend. There doesn’t seem to be any concept of forward planning!

Interruption No.3: Two of the four trainers from the Provincial Office of Education were summoned to attend some other training in Phnom Penh in the middle of ETL. And why does no-one forward plan in this country?!?! Oh, the air was certainly blue that day! Thankfully we managed to find two more trainers who could take over otherwise half the ETL training would’ve been postponed until goodness knows when! (or never!). Infuriating!! What was so frustrating was that I seemed to be the only person bothered by this catastrophic turn of events. However, with hindsight I know the trainers were also really disappointed not to be able to finish the training but Khmers are much better at hiding their feelings. While I stomped my feet (well, as much as I could in flip flops!), muttered swear words and moaned and whinged about MoEYS (while instructing Soroth not to translate!) and despaired down the phone to the Provincial Facilitator, the Khmer trainers remained perfectly calm with no more than a slightly furrowed brow betraying their true feelings!

Interruption No. 4: A welcome interruption! A phone call from my big brother all the way in UK and the extra special treat of speaking to my nieces! Aaaahhhhh! I’ve been spoilt a few times this week with phone calls from home!! Thanks everyone!!

Interruption No. 5: Another unexpected but welcome one, breakfast with a ‘real’ barang! Enfant du Mekong is another NGO working in the province and one of their volunteers was passing through Phnom Srok and happened to have my phone number! I escaped the training for an hour for a quick breakfast meeting and he ended up staying for a party in the evening where he completely upstaged me on the dance floor (but I’m the only barang in the village!), absolutely shamed my Khmer with his fluent language ability and instantly won over my colleagues and friends! Soroth thought he had found his kindred spirit and did not stop going on about how great he was! (Humph! Note to self: must dust off my Khmer books and get studying!)

Interruption No. 6: I have been looking forward to this interruption since I got here in September... On Tuesday afternoon (during the last day of ETL) I will travel to Sisaphon and sit at the bus station with my tail wagging, waiting for my sister to arrive!! I can’t wait!!

Fun and Games

Monday 31st March

Like most other weeks, this week started on Monday. As a general rule, I’ve never been a huge fan of Mondays or mornings and this particular Monday morning was no exception. My translator was not at work until 9am so I spent the first hour and a half trying to understand what my Deputy Director was saying (in Khmer) about a meeting with school directors planned for the afternoon and what I wanted to say in this meeting. Not being 100% sure of what was being said, and becoming more and more frustrated, I waited until Soroth arrived and sure enough I had unfortunately pretty much understood the gist quite accurately. So I had a few hours to prepare something to present to about 40 male School Directors that afternoon...!

I’m not sure whether it’s safe to admit, but personally I think that I work best under some pressure. After a small rant and rave (to myself of course!) about the lack of forward planning, being given no preparation time, being given no meeting agenda etc etc, I began to have an idea. I mean, what would any primary school teacher do with a class of children in the same situation? Well, depending on my mood at the time, I’d either play a game (educational of course!) or give a dictation (to keep them quiet and kill some time!). I quickly decided that the latter idea would be a lot less fun and a lot more problematic given the language barrier, so opted for an educational game. Luckily for me I had got hold of some planning beforehand and noticed that student-centred methodology was on the list of things to implement in 2008 (just like that!), so at least the focus of the game could be in some way related to the district priorities... blah blah blah!


And oh what fun we had! We played a team game whereby a sentence was read out in Khmer and each team had to decide whether it was student-centred or teacher-centred. (For example, ‘students copy the lesson from the board or a textbook’, ‘ students make up their own stories’, ‘the teacher stand/sits at the front of the class’, ‘the teacher circulates the classroom, helping students’). They wrote their answer with a reason onto a post-it note and stuck it on what they thought was the correct side of the board. There were prizes, of course, and the most chaotic part of the game was sorting all these men into equal sized teams! It was just like playing a team game with a bunch of Year 5s at home! I don’t mean to patronize my Khmer colleagues, but the similarities were uncanny! They copied each other, tried to stop their opponents being faster to the board by holding onto each others trousers and talked over each other incessantly! I even started giving bonus points to the teams who got their answers to the board the quickest and the team who listened the best to the other teams as well as giving minus points to any team who hadn’t switched off their mobile phones!

It was fantastic fun and gave me quite an insight into their understanding of student centred teaching methodology. I was pleasantly surprised by how accurate their answers were and how well thought out their reasons were. They were fiercely competitive but also really good at working together and discussing their ideas. I think that part of the problem is that they are not given these kinds of opportunities very often. More often than not, meetings that I have experienced have been much like the lessons I have observed: one person speaks from the front of the room and everyone else writes down every word spoken. There is little opportunity for discussion, sharing ideas, disagreeing with one another without losing face. You are told, and so you do! You never question why? Or how could this be better?
So, I’m hoping they all had fun, experienced a participatory approach to meetings, were introduced to inclusive loop training as well as clarifying the differences between student centred and teacher centred learning, know which one benefits the children most and why and have an active training tool and game which they can all take back to play again with their own school staff in order to cascade knowledge and understanding. Yeah... and who am I kidding! One step at a time!