We came across this organization in Battambang and were lucky enough to volunteer with them for part of last week. They welcome drop ins, like us, but are also hoping to get longer term committments from individuals in the future. CAD is a non profit, non government organizationorganization (NGO) that was set up by Racky Thy in order to help disadvantaged rural children. They have 4 schools in villages around Battambang where they teach various subjects including English, Khmer, Science, Library, Math, Labor skills among others.
Once I mentioned Jamie worked with computers he was put strait to work at the head office in Battambang creating a program to manage their student profiles and grades. He said it was a few days of "cowboy coding" but he was happy with the results in the end. I worked with an administration worker to translate student profile information for Jamie's project, and then had the privilege to teach english to a group of kids in the village of Donteav.
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| Jamie hard at work |
When I arrived at the school, the kids were playing outside in the courtyard. Some of them were eating their breakfast noodles which are provided by the school, others were playing with a mini skateboard. They start class by welcoming me in unison and then we spent some time with words, looking at the map,(they couldn't get over how big Canada was compared to Cambodia), and playing word bingo as well as hangman. They showed off at the end of the class by singing "If your happy and you know it" and a few other English and Khmer songs.
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| The class |
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| Recess |
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| Melina and Nanaa |
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| Working at the white board |
An unexpected perk of our time with CAD was meeting Vannath San, also known as "William" by some. He spent some time telling us a bit about his family history and Cambodia during a break from his work, so I thought I'd share it with you as well.
His mother is Muslim and lived near Phnom Penh when the Khmer regime took over. She was made to be a soldier and moved up to Battambang where she met his father, (a buddhist), who was also made to be a soldier. William remembers carrying a gun when he was a child any time his family traveled in the car because robberies at gun point were frequent. He said that every family owned a gun or guns for protection until 1998 when the new government demanded that civilians voluntarily surrender them or face penalties. His father's car broke down one day, and he stepped on a land mine when he went into the forest to find a piece of wood to fix the car. After recovering from losing a leg, his father became a farmer and his mother a seamstress. When asked if there was a feeling of animosity among people in the country leftover from the Khmer Rouge Regime, he said something that shows why Cambodia is moving forward today, "if you can't make peace with the past, you can't move on".
Friday, January 10th was Williams birthday and when I asked him what he was going to do after work, he said that he was going to go to the market to buy his mother a gift, (some clothes maybe), as he will be going there for dinner.
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| Jamie and Vannath (AKA William) |
If anyone's interested in volunteering here in the future, there is no cost associated with this, although they do accept donations. If you can volunteer for 5 days or less, just drop by the office in Battambang (see website info below) or email Racky. For longer placements, he'll help you find accommodation if needed.
Here's a link to their website.
www.cadcambodia.org or email cad-cambodiaracky@gmail.com
