For March 25th – 30th
On our first day of this leadership week, Vey brought the group out for a fun touristy day before starting our next work project. We started off by going to ACCB (Angkor Center for Conservation of Biodiversity) in the morning, which is an animal sanctuary where we were able to see some endangered species and animals going through rehabilitation there. One of the veterinarians, Maria, kindly showed us around and taught us about the different enclosures and the work they were doing. Next, we went to a land mine museum and explored its tons of facts and equipment from the civil war that occurred after the Khmer Rouges’ fall of power in 1979. Before we headed back to the hotel and after a quick lunch, we stopped at a butterfly garden, getting to see tons of different native butterflies, moths, caterpillars, and much more. Walking through the beautiful flower gardens and learning about their life cycles
This week we started our volunteer work at New Hope School, a program for 6-18 year-olds in the rural area outside of Siem Reap for those who can’t afford school.
The group started the day with an early breakfast and jumping onto a bus with Vey. The bus ride is about 30 minutes from our hotel and led off onto a bumpy one-lane dirt road where the school is. We started off by talking to the principal and going over a little game plan for splitting up into groups, learning the schedule, and engaging and teaching with easy and fun games for basic English levels. We played some fun guessing games, sang songs, danced, and even played some games outdoors. After 2 hours at the school, we got out for lunch. The second half of the day was different students, and we did a lot of outdoor time with them and used some things that worked with the last group. When the school day was all over, we headed back to the hotel, got some nice swimming/relaxing time. Ending off our day getting burgers and mac and cheese.
The next day the group got some breakfast and got on the bus, and headed off for our second day at the school. We spent the first hour at the school picking up trash and sweeping. The other hour we just played some games and sang songs with the kids until lunch. Coming back to the other group for the second half, we did a lot of the same activities. Ending the day, checking out the student store where kids are selling their arts and crafts and saying goodbye to the kids.
A cloudy morning with a late breakfast is how we started the next day. We then jumped on a tuk-tuk (a carriage attached to a bike), heading to a water park doing some slides and obstacle courses with an occasional launch off of the blob. Some of the group even went wakeboarding, kneeboarding, and wake skiing at the cable park they had! Lots of fun and sore bodies the next few days. Later we went to go get Mexican food, and on the walk, we got caught in a little storm; the grey clouds above opened up, we were soaked! Ending off the last day in Siem Riep, we went to watch a circus performance called Phare Circus about Cambodia’s tourism and telling stories about interactions between locals and tourists. The next day was just a travel day getting back to the capital of Cambodia, Phnom Penh, for our flight to Thailand the next day!
-Bodonkulis the III (Bodhi!)
