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.