First week at New Hope for Cambodia Children (NHCC)

corner of our building with grazing cow

I think we had mentally prepared for the worst. We were informed before our volunteering that the living quarters were basic with no running water, flushing loos or shower. All clothes washing was to be done by hand. So when we arrived we were all presently surprised and relieved! The village is clean and spacious with brightly coloured buildings, plenty of green open space, a playground, basketball court, football pitch and cows, dogs, chickens and pigs!

The village houses 250 orphans and around 50 staff and their children. The children are aged from 2 – 18 years old and either have HIV themselves or are here with a sibling who has HIV (though there are not many of them). Every child receives medication, food, access to full time education and most importantly a home provided by the charity. The kids have to take their medicine twice daily 12 hrs apart so a bell rings at 6am and 6pm and they all run to their house mothers for their dose!

red cluster where we eat with the children

The village is separated into clusters: blue, green, yellow, red, lavender, white, orange and purple. Here they live together about 30 children with a house mother and father, cook and support staff. They sleep, eat and live life based from their cluster just as a family would.

We are staying in the volunteer’s centre which comprises of 3 buildings with bedrooms or dorms and a covered area. Our dorm sleeps 30 people and so we have set up camp in the corner nearest the solar powered ceiling fan. We have two ‘bathrooms’ which contain a large tank of well water, a toilet base, a sink and the all important bucket/plastic ladle type thing. The ladle is used for flushing the loo and body washing, which basically means dip it in the tank of water and throw it over you, soap up and then repeat to rinse. It is fairly cool water but seems freezing as you are generally very hot.

The people here are so friendly and welcoming both staff and kids alike. We immediately felt at home and relaxed in this unfamiliar place. We have often discussed this quote from one travel writer…"When you travel, remember that a foreign country is not designed to make you comfortable. It is designed to make its own people comfortable." - Clifton Fadiman

So the uncomfortable moments have been 1) the HOT and humid weather - almost all day and night. The coolest times are early morning and after the rain during the day which so far comes every other day. 2) The many interesting creatures and insects, these are mostly just irritating rather than dangerous. Though the rains will bring scorpions and snakes but apparently these are fairly low risk so I am trying not to worry! 3) Being hungry, we have fruit and boiled egg for breakfast and then two meals of rice, vegetables and fried chicken every day. There are no snacks or treats available so we are eating a very healthy diet though we have sourced a local village shop that sells cold cans of Coke and Fanta for those days when we really want some sugar!

The village has a fantastic clinic with full time nursing staff and a doctor 2 days a week. They told us when we arrived that they can treat almost anything in their clinic and all medical care and medicines are free to volunteers. The staff in the clinic also speak English. I did breathe a sigh of relief when shown the clinic – not that I was too worried but of course always in the back of my mind are questions of what if!

A routine

The children’s day (are now ours) is fairly routine around the heat, sun rise, sun set, when there is electricity, meals, medication times and of course school. A typical week days runs a little like this:

5am                 get up (electricity comes on for 1 hr) Hayley gets a cup of tea!

5.45am            breakfast (eggs & fruit)

6am                 medicine for children

6.30am            children leave for school (under 6’s stay on site and go to nursery and pre-school)

7 – 10.30am    school

11am               lunch (rice, vegetables and fried meat followed by fruit)

11.30 – 1pm    rest (most people seem to nap or read in the shade)

1 – 4.30pm      afternoon classes on site for all (rotate around English, dance, music, computers, library, and sport classes)

5pm                 dinner (rice, vegetables and fried meat followed by fruit)

6pm                 medicine & electricity comes on, play time

7 – 8pm           sun goes down - bed (EVERYBODY!!)

8.30pm            electricity goes off

So we are slowly getting used to an early start in the cool of the day and being trashed by 8pm. We have established an early morning routine of getting up at 5am, quick cup of tea (black tea as there is no milk) enjoying the cool of the morning and the gorgeous setting. Then one of the girls will help me with the clothes washing. This is done by hand in two large metal bowls on the ground. The water is pumped from a well (phew!) so it is cold and we have powder that we put into the water. After some scrubbing and swirling around in the soapy water we wring and transfer the item to the fresh water bowl for rinsing. We then rinse and wring out as hard as possible and finally hang out on the line to dry. I wish I was as good at this as my 93 year old nanny she manages to wring clothes out soooooooo dry…. I shall keep practising! The washing here only takes an hour or so to dry though so no problems with the inefficient wringing out! After the washing is done we have breakfast followed by washing up in a plastic bowl outside and leave dishes to dry in the sun. So far I have not seen one cloth. All washing and cleaning is done with hands and hosed water. 

From 7am to11am, KJ and Yas study with me in our lovely outdoor classroom. We are reading out loud Wuthering heights by Emily Bronte and discussing as we go. Both girls are working hard on their maths too. Asia, Mark and Jamie (when she was here) go and help out in the nursery or pre school classes in the morning. Mark also tried his hand at hedge trimming but after an hour with the team of farmers her managed to slice his finger on the cutting tool and has ended up with a bandaged up finger and on antibiotics. Our first use of the clinic facilities! (Mark says it was touch an go whether he would loose his finger completely!)

                                                          

The market

One morning Asia, Jamie and I went to the market with the cooks on the back of a truck. We left at 6am and arrived back to the village at 8am. The experience was fantastic and Asia was a bit of a celebrity there, but I think that our cook is really. She walked around bartering and buying food and we three white girls walked around after her carrying all the stuff she bought. People stopped her to ask about Asia, many stroked Asia’s hair, squeezed her or brought out their children to say hello to her. Our cook was so proud. She bought Asia a fresh flower hair garland which she and the stall seller placed around her hair very ceremoniously. Asia loved it, smiling at people as we worked hard to keep up with our cook!

Asia helping the barrow man at market

I am not sure how much money our cook spent but we bought a lot of fruit, veg and meat. As we walked around she kept picking stuff up from stalls and insisting we try. My favourite was a kind of pancake type thing that was flavoured with herbs, it was yum. I was so full by the time we had finished. The truck met us at an apparently agreed spot where all 8 cooks and the three of us loaded back on the truck – this time with produce galore and large canisters of drinking water. This trip occurs daily for each cluster cook to provide meals for around 50 people. On the way back to the village we knocked into some bushes alongside the road and as the truck is open sided, Jamie and Asia discovered a visitor on their backs…. A lizard had been knocked onto the truck. He was about 50cm long and moved VERY quickly…he was far more terrified than Asia and Jamie. The cooks in the truck with us thought it most hilarious!

Once back to the village the food is unloaded and stuff that needed to be kept cool is stored in large ice boxes. The ice man comes every day at 10am, saws off a chunk of ice from his cart and pops it into your orange box. Very simple but very efficient was of keeping things cool. We have one of these in our visitor’s centre where we store water, cans of drink and spare fruit.

More to follow….

Hayley XX

Killing Fields and S-21

This is a very short account of our visit to Cheong Ek Genocidal Centre (killing fields) and S21 Tuol Sleng Museum (Khmer Rouge secret detention and torture prison). Jamie, KJ and I went.

The ‘killing fields’ is now a very peaceful place with lots of greenery – grasses, trees, wild flowers, butterflies, hens and chicks and a lake. It is quiet and respectful. I walked through with an audio guide hung around my neck. I was so overwhelmed by the graves, torture implements and skulls. It was more than just a ‘museum’ but a very real reminder of what has happened here in Cambodia not so long ago. Bones and pieces of clothing still surface in the mass graves after periods of heavy rain which seems kind of spooky but also brings atrocity into sharp perspective.

fence around babies mass grave

 Many Cambodians I have spoken too has someone in their family who was killed or tortured by the Khmer Rouge. It is thought that around 1 in 4 people where killed across the whole country. I was most shocked by the graves of babies who were born 1972-73. I was born Nov’73 so these people are my peers – would have been my age if given the chance to live. Walking around with my daughter I felt so privileged to have life and to have family.

I also met a 71 year old man and one of only 7 survivors of S21 (the torture prison). I bought his biography and had a picture with him. He was a gentle and sweet man – too old for his age sadly due to his torture. He has partial hearing following torture by electrocution through the ears.

skeletons of boys aged 15 yrs

Why do humans destroy humans? Why do fellow countrymen kill each other?  Why does brother murder their own brother? It is not meant to be this way. Most of the day I was speechless and sad that this has happened here and in many other nations.

So we spend the next few weeks in a nation that is still rebuilding itself, that is still healing and finding its way. Yet the Cambodian people are so smiley, friendly, hospitable and seem soft hearted. I guess they appreciate life and the freedom they now have. Maybe I will learn a thing or two while I am here!

 

“That’s bollocks”

Towards the end of flight between Perth and Singapore after watching two movies (Warhorse and A few best men) I listened to some Coldplay, not music I would usually choose but being a person who finds inspiration from lyrics I can usually put aside musical taste... In the song ‘Every tear drop is a waterfall’ there is a line that goes something like “maybe I’m in the gap between the two trapeze” a lyric that probably best summed up how I was feeling leaving the relatively safe and comfortable life of Western Australia and onto the less comfortable part of our journey into SE Asia. In this moment I hang in the gap experiencing daily fears of falling sick and trying to concentrate on reaching to a different climate and culture yet in the same day find some exhilaration of flying as I see how a day unfolds, how random people come into our lives for moments that cause the heart to find courage and tells the mind we can survive in a strange land. We are in Cambodia.

Getting to Cambodia meant crossing a border, the procedure was like something out of the TV drama series ‘Hustle’. We arrived at the border town by train and were taken to the border crossing by tuk-tuk. I tried to emphasis to the driver that we had our visa so don’t bother with the scam (a widely known occurrence) so I wasn’t quite sure what would happen next. The tuk-tuk pulled up at Visa control and all looked official, they reassured us we wouldn’t pay anything, I thought this is was ok so far. After filling in the departure forms, they told us about the buses that ran to Siem Reap and ‘cheap’ ticket prices if we use the ‘government buses’. We didn’t want to buy tickets until we crossed so left and walked to the crossing. It wasn’t until we reached the Cambodia border that we saw the same forms being filled in there and realised the office we had visited was indeed ‘unofficial’ and the buses they tried to sell were not public transport and indeed over priced - these guys are good! As we lined up for the Cambodia passport and visa check a young man from London came in behind us – having realised that he had just paid $20 more for his visa he declared “That’s bollocks”. But for every scam that I heard other travellers moaning about I laughed inside at the countries that run the million dollar ‘scams’, putting it simply many products and services I buy in the UK are marked up at least 100% for profit of the company and to bless the shareholder. This is a widely known but generally excepted scam, but a scam none the less!

So a couple of evenings later at the youth hostel in Siem Reap we sit down after a tiring day visiting the temples of Ankor Wat and play the card game Uno. Hayley puts down the winning card and in response Yasmin throws her cards on the table and declares ‘That’s bollocks’. There was a short and silent pause as everyone looked at her and in turn she wondered what she had said for us to all stop what we were doing and look at her…followed by a great deal of laughter!

Mark

Bangkok..the city that really never sleeps....

So our 4 nights in Bangkok went very fast. We arrived on Monday after a short flight from Singapore. After shedding a few kilos of luggage weight in Singapore by sending afew bits home and ditching a lot of now 'non essential' items we were able to carry our bags and get on and off, in and out of various modes of transport to arrive at Nira Bankoc Cultural Hostel without breaking our backs! The youth hostel is in the centre of the old town, a very busy and bustling place. Mark did a fantastic but slightly stressful job of negotiating with and refusing a few taxis and tuk tuks that wanted to charge us far too much to take us 20 mins from the staion to the hostel. In the end we took a taxi whom the driver said he stopped and agreed to take us on a meter (the cheapest way of doing it) because he could see Mark is a family man.
So after snacks and showers we settled in our room to talk about the day and the time in Bangkok. We found that we were all slightly culture shocked and overwhelmed by the busyness and again working in a second language of which we speak none! Asia said the city seemed scary to her - such a manic new place for a child i think. After a good nights sleep and a walk around the streets the next day we relaxed (ish) into the bartering Bangkok way and Asia became more confident as the days went on.

 Tuesday morning Jamie arrived as a suprise for the girls. It was soooo much fun and such a big relief as we had kept it a secret for nearly 5 months. The girls were completely shocked into silence, then "JAMIEEEE", then tears...it was wonderful!
We spent the next 3 days wandering the streets of Bangkok, eating yummy pad thai noodles, shopping, took the river boat to see the city from a different view and visited Wat Arun - tall pointy shrine decorated in sea shells and broken pieces of porcelin.

The city is a colourful, vibrant place that never sleeps with many people groups living our their culture and beliefs. Bright pink, green, red and yellow taxis and tuk tuks fill every street. Whereever you look there are men, women and children busy working and making a living. The smells of the streets food markets and stalls along side the temples and shrines inscense were a wonderful sensory experience. Bangkok is a very cheap place to eat, shop, buy clothes and get Thai massage.
We only learnt two words during our stay: 'was dee ka' - hello and 'cob khun ka' - thank you. It took us two days to pronounce them correctly but people seemed appreciative when we attempted to use them in the appropriate place!
So we hope to return to Bangkok on our way back through... we hardly touch the surface of this amazing city and i especially want to eat pad thia noodles again...

Love to you all who read this... Hayley x

Walking the back streets of Singapore

A few days ago we where walking the back streets to the train station and I thought… ‘Do other families stay in youth hostels like we are?’ I asked Mum and she thought for a while then and said, ‘No, youth hostels are usually for single travellers or young adults that are travelling together’.

Some times I get nervous walking to the train or to the shops because I don’t know what could happen and at the same time I was thinking about the youth hostel, I thought it may be scary at times. But it’s all amazing, all at the same time. You see things you would never thought you would have ever seen in your lifetime and you can see a little of how people live and work. People stop and ask where you come from or where you are heading and its cool. I have seen lots of lovely Chinese letters which I like, colourful buildings, men fixing roads, motorbikes and cars, lots of Hindu statues, many food courts, locals cycling, shopping and talking, loads of palm trees and fruit stalls…

I do miss my friends and family but I just think that I’ll see them soon and I might not see what I’m seeing again!!!

What I love and have experienced so far:

1. Eating with chopsticks.
2. Walking far in the heat.
3. Hearing other peoples travelling stories.
4. Locals looking at us like we are complete ‘weirdos’
5. Trying new foods.
6. Sitting around and being patient.
7. Living out of a rucksack for a long time.
8. Lot’s of train and bus travelling.
9. Reading.
10. Reading more.
11. Reading even more.
12. Reading lot’s.
13. Skyping people.
14. Meeting new people.

Love Yasmin X

Our night safari adventure

Whoa… so I realised the other day that the last blog I wrote was the very first one in Argentina but I reckon my dad has made up for that with his funny stories that make me cry with laughter every time! Anyway here we are 8 months later on are adventure to South East Asia!

Last night we went to the Singapore Night Safari. It is the only zoo in the world that has been designed for night time so you can see some of those creatures you don’t see in the day at a daytime zoo.

We started our night time adventure by getting the MRT (Mass Rapid Transport or the train) and the 138 bus to Singapore Zoo (which is right next to the Night Safari).

When we got off the bus we walked to the entrance and took a few photo’s, saw two men dressed up in giraffe suits that looked like something out of The Lion King musical, watched the fountains, watched Yas being jumped by the fountains (hee hee), all before heading into a massive queue that looked like the M25 after an accident (obviously with people instead of cars!). The first thing we did was the Forest Giant Trail, we sat down and ate tea and got freaked out by the bat that kept appearing but got our first experience of trekking through the rainforest! We then went to the next trail called the East Lodge Trail. On this trail we saw a Malayan tiger that was sleeping, a gigantic hippopotamus standing up having a wander and a spotted hyenas crouched down looking for food (which was so cool!!!!). The third trail was called the Leopard Trail. As we walked through this trail we saw baby otters make a cute screechy noise like they were hungry, a clouded leopard hanging out in a tree, we saw a lion eating a huge piece of meat while the lionesses waited to be fed and a spotted mousedeer that really did look like a mouse and a deer. The 4^th and final trail was called the Fishing Cat Trail this time we saw striped hyena’s, a Indian gharial (crocodile look a like), scary looking pelicans with huge beak and a fishing cat which funnily enough is… a cat…. that likes fishing! After all the walking we went to queue for the Creatures of the Night Show…. but unfortunately the 9:30pm one was cancelled due to thunder and lightening so we jumped on a tram that was covered in a tiger pattern and saw some absolutely amazing creatures... We saw bright pink flamingos standing on one leg to preserve their energy, 4 giraffes lying down, zebra’s and oryx (goat like things) all in one massive enclosure. We also saw 5 huge Asian elephants really close up which was amazing, and lots of different types of deer! (These are all the animals that stood out for me... there were many more!)

After the 40 minute tram ride with a commentator with a funny twang to her English, we headed to the 10:30pm Creatures of the Night Show…

This was one of the almost Disney but amazing zoo shows I have ever seen! There was a binturong that walk on a tight rope across the audience, otters that picked up litter and put in the recycling bins and a gigantic snake that was sitting under some peoples bench (and they didn’t even realise!!) and many more!! I’m not lying… it was incredible!!

Once it was finished we ran to catch the bus and headed back to our hostel. By the time we walked back from the bus stop, went through the shower and tucked up in bed it was 00:27 according to my iPod! We were all asleep within in the 10 minutes!

One of the best experiences I have ever had and one I will never forget!

Love Kaela-J Xx

4th day of using chop sticks….

Saying goodbye to our Auzzie family and friends was very sad, we will miss them as we move on but are so glad we had such a special time with them. Our journey from Perth to Singapore was great with a 5hr flight where we squeezed in 2 movies and a meal. We then managed to get ourselves on public transport and foot from the airport to the youth hostel. The girls did brilliantly as we all had to carry our own rucksacks (KJ - 10kg, Yas - 7kg, Asia towing 13kg, Mark - 14kg and me - 11kg) plus hand luggage bags each. The final walk of about 15mins in 30 degree tropical heat tested our fitness and spirits but we all managed it and were so glad to have done it. Our staying fit this year plan definately paid off! After we were all showered and tucked up in a 6 bed room (3 sets of bunks) we began discussions of what else we can off load to reduce the carrying weight before our next trip at the end of the week. Fun!! 

We have been in Singapore for 4 days and still I am rubbish with chopsticks! We have been eating daily in Lavender food court which sells an amazing array and choice of Chinese, Singapore or Thai dishes for around £2 per person. I have tried something different every day from Wanton noodles, Green Thai curry, Bejing Zha Jiang Lamian (fried sauce knife shredded noodles) to Shanghai Xiao Long Bao (basket steamed filled dumplings) – the latter being my favourite so far. All so yummy and in my case very messy!

Singapore is a buzzing city with so much to do. So far we have visited Sentosa Isalnd, had Starbucks at Vivo City, taken pictures outside Raffles Hotel, taken in views from the Tiger Sky Tower, picked up English snacks in M&S at Raffles Shopping City (home sick moment!), shopped and eaten in China Town, driven down Orchard Road and spent 7 hrs at the amazing Singapore Zoo. That was all in 3 days so today we are resting, reading, writing and catching our breath before doing a night safari this evening.

We all love youth hostelling so much – sharing a bunk bedded room as a family is a lot of fun. Meeting other fellow travellers from all over the world and sharing stories, books and experiences is enlightening. The staff at youth hostels are usually lovely passionate people who love to hang out, chat and give top tips of the place you are visiting. So far we have been the only family in any of the places we have stayed so people are always interested on our journey/home education/values etc.

For us Singapore is a stepping stone out of the ‘western’ world and onto the ‘eastern’. We are very grateful for this time to acclimatise and learn to live in the humid heat, chopstick eating, Asian cultures while still having the respite in of air conditioned bedroom, coffee shops and public transport. We are encouraging each other to enjoy each day and embrace its challenges…the girls are fantastic at this and adapting so well!

I will let the girls tell you about their specific highlights later so from me that’s a quick taster of us so far….. love Hayley x