Back in Siem Reap!

I have had a great first week back in Siem Reap, switching back and forth between my work with Writing Through and my work at Anjali House.
For Writing Through, this week has been about seeing old friends, making new ones, setting up repeat workshops for last year’s partners, and exploring possibilities with potential new clients. 2016 looks like it will be even busier for us than 2015 with the likely addition of a few new Cambodian NGO’s plus the possible expansion into one or two new countries. Again, this all seems to be by word of mouth and connections, which is the way I prefer. It’s important that we know each of the NGO’s or schools which we work with. Just as we want them to be proud of joining with us, we need to be proud of joining with them. Not all NGO’s are good fits for what we do or how we envision working with these populations. The vetting process does go both ways. But this process has been a fascinating one for me as I learn about so many different organisations and how they work. Each one is like a family, with its own strengths and challenges, and I am learning so much by observing them and getting to know the unbelievably dedicated people who run them.
My work this week at Anjali House has been not in my capacity as a Writing Through Facilitator, but rather as a member of the Board of Directors. I spent the week talking with the staff, helping solve problems, planning for the new year and generally, hanging out with these people who have become my second family. I love the kids, of course, and love seeing their faces when I surprise them by walking in the door. The school year begins next week, so the place was full of kids all day long, kids of all ages playing and working together. Two of my students whom, over the years, I have gotten to know especially well have finished Grade 12 and are settling into the possibilities of what comes next. Lots of hard decisions need to be made. What are their real goals for their futures? Who do they want to try to be and what are the next steps to get there? The timing of what is done and when/how, especially when University is concerned, is certainly different from what I am used to,and I need not to impose my time frame on theirs. All of us who work here need to remember that we are here to help them do what they do in the way that they do it, and not impose a system foreign to their own way of thinking. This causes frustration for many Westerners, including me sometimes of course. But it is an absolutely key truth to remember.
Over the years, I have come to love the teachers and staff as much as the kids. Sadly, this week Anjali is saying goodbye to its teacher, Sarouert who, for three years has taught English and guitar and brought music and laughter to every day. He goes off to Phnom Penh for a year of further teacher training. So on Friday we had a going away party for him which happily coincided with Halloween. There was face painting, a costume fashion show and then, because everyone sings in Cambodia all the time, Anjali House’s version of The Voice. And while the judges were deliberating, the teachers themselves got up on stage and belted out their own versions of the latest Khmer pop songs, all of which seem to be about broken hearts and misunderstanding, parents tearing young lovers apart, unrequited love — so much misery. But such fun to watch and, it seems, to sing. (I did a bit of it myself last night at the teachers’ own going away party for Sarouert, which ended up at my first ever Karaoke experience — but that’s another story).
Next week is all about running two workshops for 2 different schools supported by Caring for Cambodia. This will be my second time teaching these kids, and I can’t wait to see how they have changed and grown over the year.
But first, a weekend of relaxing, seeing friends, trying not to be swept away by the Halloween insanity that will definitely take place tonight on Pub Street (yes — it really is called that). And preparing myself for all that next week will bring.