I have just returned from an amazing adventure. I have spent one week teaching my Writing Workshop to the children being supported by the French NGO Enfants du Mekong in the northern country village of Banteay Chmar. First, let’s talk about the trip there. They had told me that the roads were bad. That isn’t actually the case. The road is more non-existent. It is like driving through a construction site, with mountains of dirt and gravel on either side.

the view from the car window

the view from the car window


part of the road - we are on the other part

part of the road – we are on the other part


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
When we arrived, I was driven to the Enfants du Mekong Centre, which is a lovely campus of buildings that house the daily classes which the NGO provides to supplement what is offered by the local Khmer school. Enfants du Mekong has been around for 50 years, and over that time it has provided  educational support to over 60,000 children in 7 Southeast Asian countries. It is a program which has given these children the chance to learn and live better lives with better futures. But they had never seen anything like me before! There is very little opportunity for them to do creative work and they were quite petrified to begin with. Also, their English skills, unfortunately, were very small. About 90% of what I said had to be translated by the on-site Khmer teacher, and they could not believe that they would ever be able to do anything like write a poem in English. But of course, they did. The important element was to give them permission to think and express their thoughts, and if they needed to do that in Khmer, then we would teach them the English vocabulary they would need. Like the Anjali House program, it all culminated in the publication of a literary magazine, and a party where they read their work aloud to the entire school and local friends. It was a challenge for us all, but a real success. Here is one of their poems:

The Problems Are Happening in Cambodia

 By the Morning Class

Cambodia society is changing

Sometimes violent, sometimes not.
War – Cambodia fighting with Thailand
We are:   worried
concerned
afraid
not happy
difficult
tragic
carefully, soldiers may die
Will we die?
Maybe yes
Maybe no
The news –
I don’t watch it
I don’t read it
I don’t have a radio
But if I had a radio
I would listen
Then I would know people in Cambodia
Are not happy.
Knowledge.

Enfants du Mekong campus

Enfants du Mekong campus


And what did I do when I wasn’t teaching? Trying to deal with the incredible heat, while visiting the local temple ruins and chatting with my adorable host. I stayed in a “Home Stay” which is a traditional Khmer wooden house on stilts in the middle of a farming village. The only electricity was what was provided by the village between 6.30 and 10 pm. I had a room with a double bed covered by mosquito netting, and nothing else in it but a battery generated fan which I kept at the foot of the bed while I slept. The bathroom was a cinderblock room down below the house with a non-flushing western style toilet and a hose shower that was either cold in the morning or burning hot in the evening depending on whether the sun had been beating on the pipe. In the early evening I would swing in a hammock trying to keep cool, while stray chickens and dogs roamed around beneath me. And every night I was sound asleep by 8 because the roosters and the dogs and the loudspeakers playing blaring music from the endless wedding parties or announcements from the monks started at 4.30 am. If I could manage to stay in bed with my eyes closed until 6 I was doing well. Quite a change for a city girl like me. But you do get into a rhythm, and almost anything starts to feel normal. Not surprisingly, it even produced a poem. So here are some photos to give you an idea. The entire week was incredible, and hopefully I’ll be back next year.
on the hammock

on the hammock


the house

the house


the kitchen where my meals were prepared

the kitchen where my meals were prepared


The students of Enfants du Mekong, Banteay Chmar

The students of Enfants du Mekong, Banteay Chmar