Final moments in Cambodia

We are now approaching the end of our Cambodian experience with one full day left here. Phnom Penh is a much different city to Siem Reap, with our new hotel overlooking the river. Yesterday we had a chance to visit one of the markets in Phnom Penh, the Russian market, where we all took the chance to have another go at bartering and securing another bargain. After the markets we visited one of the universities in Phnom Penh to help students learning English. We had conversations with them to help them improve their English skills and in return we learnt more about what life is like in Cambodia for people close to our age. We got a tour of the university by the students and some of us gained new Facebook friends out of the experience.

We spent our second last night in Cambodia enjoying a buffet tea beside a swimming pool. We all welcomed a night swim to cool us down and to unwind and relax after a full on, eventful, insightful and enjoyable week and a half. We are now all ready to enjoy our final day and final moments in Cambodia ensuring to make memories that will last a lifetime.

Demi

Phnom Penh

Sunday started with a five thirty am wake up where we moved locations from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh via a seven hour boat ride across the Toenail Sap (Tonle Sap) lake. Arriving in PP (Phnom Penh) at around two pm, we moved into the Paragon hotel where you can conveniently sit on the toilet while showering at the same time! We then went to the FCC for wood fire pizza which was fabulous.

Monday started with a seven am wake up where we had breakfast at the chill cafe which is right next door to our hotel. This was a very emotional day as we learnt about the history of Cambodia at the genocide museum as well as the killing fields. After a difficult day we split into two groups where one group went to a traditional Khmer cooking class while the other had a relaxing night at the hotel. At the cooking class Lucky number 2 (teacher) taught us how to make spring rolls and fish amok.

Tuesday began with a 5.45 am wakeup call. We were off to build eleven houses in a remote village of PP. After traveling for approximately an hour and a half via mini bus we arrived at the village where we split into four groups to build the houses. This is when we began putting the floor into place by nailing at least a million nails into the bamboo flooring. We then helped to put up the walls with the help of the Cambodian villagers. After a fantastic team effort we finished a couple of hours ahead of schedule. We had a short ceremony to hand over the houses to the eleven families where we gave them a blanket as a house warming present. Arriving back at the hotel we had a short break and then swapped roles from the previous night with the other group attending the cooking class.

Wednesday began with possibly the first sleep in for the entire two weeks, however with the renovations going on downstairs, the alarm clock of several drills woke us up much earlier than planned. We headed to the Russian market where they had everything from car parts to toilet paper. After a few hours of looking around we boarded the Tuk tuks and headed off to Royal University of Phnom Penh. This is where we visited an English class. After getting to know the Cambodians we received a tour of the campus where Kerang David turned down a date from a lovely Cambodian boy. After returning to the hotel we had a short remembrance ceremony by the river before heading off to the pool for a buffet dinner where cheeky Craig thoroughly enjoyed the burgers and reading over my shoulder.

Catchyas, Tegan H, Ashton and Tiarnah. #cambodialyf

Words from Numbulwar

Numbulwar participants: Blog entry

Sunday 1st December
On Sunday we got up at 5:50am, hadbreakfast then we jumped in the bus to go to the boat. We caught the boat from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh which took 5hours along the river. It was interesting because we saw people living in the bush near the river and we saw houses floating in the river. People were fishing and we also saw the water plants that we never seen before floating along the river. Lyndell said “I thought the water plants were going to get caught up in the motor of the boat and I thought the boat was going to stop and break down in the middle of the inland ocean. The water made me think of our home townbillabong which we call ‘little creek’ in Numbulwar NT in East Arnhem Land”. We even think that most people live by the river because maybe they love going hunting everyday for fresh fish (like us!).

When we got to Phnom Penh at 3pm we were feeling really hungry because we didn’t eat on the boat and we didn’t want to talk to anyone in a friendly way because we didn’t eat anything since 6am! We got our bags and then we jumped in tuk tuks which were our little taxi. We went to our hotel dropped off our bags and went straight to eat some food to make us feel good. Doreen had a HUGE triple decker sandwich which was the biggest sandwich she ever had. When we were full and we finished eating and we had left over food we gave the poor kids some because we didn’t want to end up giving them money because we might make them come to us over and over again. When we see the street kids we feel sad that they are selling things to buy food for themselves or for their mum and dad because they think that most people might feel sorry for them (the kids) instead of theirmum and dad and give them money instead. In most communities we see children getting looked after by their own parents and others around them to feed them, clean them and play with them but here we see a lot of kids just walking around not going to school which they should be in school to have feed and some money from the government but it doesn’t happen here. Such a sad moment they have in this country.

Monday 2nd December
This morning we didn’t feel like getting up because it was too early for us which we always get up between 7-8am in the morning for school….not 6am!? We had our breakfast next door to the hotel and we jumped in a private bus. First we visited ‘Tabitha’ house which is the place we are working with tomorrow for the second building project. After the talk there we bought some things in the shop which the profits go towards ladies who make the products to support themselves and their families. Next we jumped back in the buses which took us to the history place called S-21 Office which was at the old Tuol Svay Pray High School which used in the Khmer Rougue civil war under Pol Pot. When we got there we didn’t know what we were going to go through until we went into the classroom seen a mattress and some old photos that made us feel sad because it wasn’t a good picture of them that they were sick, skinny and some weredead. We learned that Cambodian people were forced to kill their own kind because they were living in fear. There were four buildings at the old school which were used for imprisoning their own kind to ‘dob’ their own families or relations in because they were maybe hungry and wanted to go hunting or stole food from the soldiers so they got locked up. The soldiers had to beaggressive and did a lot of bad things in the past that you would never imagine, even us didn’t imagine that in our own way. We thought that the Cambodian people were more polite to themselves in the old days until we read the histories and saw pictures of what happened to them.

After lunch we went to a history place called Toul Sleng Genocide Museum (also known as the ‘Killing Fields’). We got a headphone and recorder each and listened to a man talk about what’s happened in the area and how they discovered it and how it became a ‘killing field’ to a museum for many people to remember what happened in the past to lots of children and families as well. We felt sad walking around because we didn’t imagine that a man found lots of dead people and seen blood everywhere when he went to collect some food to feed his family. The touching story that hurt us the most is when they killed little innocent children, even ones that weren’t even walking, just because they felt guilty they (the kids) might get revenge (against the KhmerRougue soldiers) in the future. They didn’t even let any of them children survive because they were grabbing them from the feet and smashing them against the ‘killing tree’ smashing their brains and cracking their skulls. It is very important to keep the memories of those who had the bad times in the past because we needed to know what happened to them so that the historykeeps passing on and on so many people will feel sad that they might donate anything to the museum or feel sad because we had a good life this year and they didn’t. It’s very hard for most people who survived the tragedy in their country. Lyndell: “I think most people want to spread the news about what happened in the past but maybe some didn’t want to talk about it because it was hard for them to spread the news because they are hurt inside and they lost the ones they love”.

Final thoughts half way through the trip:
It has been a very harsh week because we had to get up early in the morning and have had very long days. But in the meantime it has been a very good experience for us Indigenous participants because we have never been so far away from our families this long and in another country where we didn’t even know the history or language so it is a good moment for us Indigenous students plus our teacher to come to this lovely country and try different sort of food that we never tried before and met some of the most kind and good students and teachers. We have eaten lots of mardiya (which means ‘food’ in our language Wubuy) and we look forward to what happens along the way for the last week (expect for waking up really early – we don’t like doing that!). Thank you for reading blog and we hope you can imagine the good times and the bad times we are having in this wonderful country Cambodia that we have been to.

Spoken by: Lyndell and Doreen
Typed by: Selena

Busy Phnom Penh!

We have arrived safely in Phnom Penh and it really takes a bit of getting used to.  We apologise for a few quiet days on the blog, but long days and a few technical hitches have meant it has been difficult to get onto the site. We will attempt to add more entries today.
Sharon C.

Saturday 30th November - Angkor Wat

For half of the Group, it was a very early start, meeting in the foyer at 4.45am to see the sunrise over Angkor Wat, an ancient Budhist Temple. We got onto Tuk Tuks, to travel to Angkor Wat, at short trip. Once arriving we had to buy day passes, which the rest of the group would do later. We got back into the Tuk Tuks to go to the bridge across the river to Angkor Wat. Walking ac

ross this bridge was very scary as we did not know that there was a five metre drop into water, with no side rails. Around a thousand people were lined up to see the spectacular sight of the sunrise. At around 5.40am the sun started to rise above the Temple, and the cameras went crazy. We did a short walk around the front of the Temple, before heading back to the hotel for a quick shower and breakfast, ready to travel once again to Angkor Wat, this time with the whole group. Everyone else then had to buy their day passes before we were given two hours free time to explore the Angkor Wat Temple. It was an impressive sight and great fun to climb in and around the Temples. The Temples were covered in stone carvings which were just amazing to see. Lunch was our choice of the small cafes at Angkor Wat. We then moved onto a another Temple at the site. This one was very fragile and colapsing in many places, but had a maze of small tunnels and stairways for us to explore. A few of us participated in a goodluck blessing, where we placed a stick of incense into a pot of sand, knelt before a Buddah and were given wool braclets which are the symbol of goodluck, we are ment to leave these on until they fall off. Then back onto the busses to move to the final Temple. This one was again falling apart in many places but was Temple in which the movie Tomb Raider was filmed. The Temple was covered in trees which had grown in strange places due to the droppings of birds containing tree seeds. Some trees had grown over both sides of stone walls while others had grown from the roof. It was then back to hotel once again for a shower, and free time for tea in the few blocks around the hotel. We are all going to bed early tonight as we have a very early start tomorrow to board the boat to Phnom Pehn. We are all very sadly saying goodbye to the receptionists at the hotel, as we have all got to know them very well and have had many fun jokes with them. Esther Thomson, Murray Van der Drift.

Friday 29th November- Green Gecko.

This morning after our final day of building in Seim Reap, we finally got a small sleep in of an extra half hour! Breakfast as usual on the Rooftop, and ready for the busses at 9am, to head to the Green Gecko Project. Green Gecko as we called it, was set up by an Australian woman and her Cambodian partner to get street kids off the dangerous streets and into a safe environment. These kids were nicknamed the "Gecko Kids" and were a huge inspiration to all of us! These kids range from five years old to twenty years old and spend anywhere from just weekdays to their whole life at the Gecko Project depending on family situations. The students are welcome to stay at Green Gecko for as long as they need to, to secure a job and a safe future. On arrival we were taken into the visitor centre, where we could read some stories of the children, and were welcomed by an Australian Volunteer, Doug, who was our tour guide for the morning. Doug took us on a short tour of the property, before returning to the visitor centre. He talked about the history of Green Gecko and told us about the mornings activities. Nicky, a 14 Year old Gecko Student, was leader of the activities and gave us more detail about what we would be doing. We had three classes run by the older students, as the younger kids were at school in the morning. We were taught to Count in Khmer, Write our Names in Khmer, and perform Bokator (Khmer Martial arts). We were split in to three groups and rotated around the activities every twenty minutes. We started at Counting in Khmer. We each had a gecko kid to teach us, we practiced our already learnt counting skills with the good instruction of the students, who also taught us how to write these numbers in their language. We then chatted with the students and each one of us formed some really nice relationships. Next we moved to Bokator. We had three male instructors, who firsty told all the guys to remove their shirts as part of the Khmer Culture. We were then paired up with a student, who would personally teach us the art. We were taught basic punching and blocking moves, and then mock faught with our partners. Finally we were headed up the libaray where we were taught to write our names in Khmer. Again we each had a Gecko kid to teach us our names, we practiced writing them on paper, and then finally onto a Green Gecko bookmark which was laminated and given to us as a present. we each once again formed a great relationship with our teachers who we all had so much fun talking and joking with. each gecko kid speaks great english, but are very reluctant to speak at first. we then moved to assembly where we were thanked by Nicky for coming to their lesson and were invited to lunch with the students. before lunch each student had to go a have a shower before lunch and get changed into school uniform, while the younger kids who had returned from school, had to change into their team shirts. The Gecko Kids are split into teams depending on gender, and were spread between ages. each team had a lunch hut where we spread out and enjoyed some fresh fruit with the kids, while helping them with their english over lunch. they educated us on life at green gecko and kept us smiling and laughing the whole time. after lunch we were taken back to assembly where all the gecko kids lined up in their teams. they were spoken to in khmer, before Liz a Volunteer at green gecko presented our health packs to the students. earlier in the week we had been set a mission to buy things in the markets to make these health packs. Glen stood up on behalf on the group of thank Green Gecko for having us for the morning, and for entertaining us with the classes. Nick and Tiarnah, then presented Green Gecko with a singing kangaroo, which sang and danced to "Land Down Under", we dont think the kids really understood the song, but we all laughed! After we had thanked everyone over and over again, brought a few gifts from the shop, and waved the older students off to school, it was back into the busses to head to the hotel. We had a cake and celebration on the roof top for Becs 18th Birthday before being allowed to head into the few blocks around the hotel to get lunch and relax in our rooms for the afternoon. 5pm we met in the foyer before heading into town, to the Markets and Pub street. We were given free time in this area to shop, eat and have a drink. We all explored the Markets, practiced our haggling and still spent too much money! Back to the hotel at nine, after an eventful evening, for a early night before Angkor Wat the next morning. Murray Van der Drift, Esther Thomson.

Village House Building: Second Day

Again the day stared with the long bumpy ride out  from Siem Reap to the small farming village, about 1 and a 1/2 hours drive. A few kilometers from our village we split into two groups (including the second group cramming into the one bus). The village roads are so narrow and don't seem designed for vehicle usage, rather more suited to the backwards tractors, cattle and cattle dawn carts.

Overnight the villagers had hosted the three wooden frames up onto the concrete foundations. How they managed to lift and brace into place remains a mystery to me. After the hard work of nailing down the floor boards, we were able to spend time getting to know the kids and families. Because they remembered us from the day before, they seemed so much more comfortable with us, some of the older ones even practicing their limited English speaking skills with us.

By this stage the house is really starting to take shape and resemble more of a house then a pile of wood stuck together. It was such an opportunity to be able to help in the construction of the house, and with the Monks as interpreters both our group and the villages were able to work together to achieve our goal. The villagers were so grateful and it showed through their acceptance of us in the village, showing us around and letting us explore. The weather held out for us, though some booming thunder after lunch had us a wary of a down pour! 

The builders seemed to accomplish a lot more in a shorter time in our absence but it was great that we had a chance at hitting in some nails and sawing wooden planks. There were enough builders that some of the group were building and some were playing skipping with the children. During this time the women had returned from the rice fields and started separating the skins from the rice. This was done using a motor and a machine where the woman pours the rice into a part at the top of the machine that is funnel shaped. I (Benita) tried to ask what happens to the rice in the machine but neither the village woman or the monk knew how to say what was occurring in English. Jackie and I helped scoop the rice into the bags and then I had a go at separating the rice without the skins from those with the skins by shaking them in a particular way inside large round woven pan. It looked quite easy as I was watching the village woman but as soon as I tried to have a go I began to appreciate the skill in separating the rice. By the time I had finished trying to get it right, which I still can't, I had quite a crowd watching me with a few village men and women laughing at my poor attempts although I was laughing with them just as much!

Once the house had been completed with the steps leading up and the roof over the steps some of us had the privilege to be counted in the ceremony for the house. People were chosen particularly so there were something like five elders needed and so forth but I can't recall exactly who was required because sometimes it is hard to understand the monks accent when they talk quickly. We walked around the house three times following a man who had the incense sticks which he placed at each of the corners as we went by. Then we stood at the foot of the stairs where a bit of a comedy play was put on representing a man removing the bad spirit from the house. This was pretty funny although we could not understand the Khmer language and it had the whole village laughing as well.

Inside the house the monks sat along the wall and in this particular part of the ceremony only those chosen were allowed to sit inside the house. The guys had to sit at the front facing the monks and the girls behind them. Words were exchanged between the monk and the family and Geraldine had to speak a bit about what she wanted for the family, so a good future ect. and then the monks sang although I have no idea what about because we were not told anything except to just be a part of the ceremony. It was a really unique experience and I am sure there will be more to come!

By Kristy Janssen & Benita Bauer