I’m currently on Phu Quoc Island, reminiscing about my two-week volunteering experience teaching English at the Prey Chrouk Primary and Secondary Schools, which are located about 40 km from Siem Reap.
Surprisingly, most opportunities to volunteer in Southeast Asia come with a price tag, some costing thousands of dollars. I was able to volunteer for free through Iamcambodia.org; I just had to pay for transportation, accomodation and food which averaged to about $8-10/day.
There was a group of four volunteers during my two weeks there; me, Katrina from Canada, Tara from USA and Charlie from the UK. During the week, we slept on the top floor of our host’s house, whom we affectionately called ‘Grandma’, and during the weekend, we returned to Siem Reap to recharge.
Grandma is a lively, quirky woman who is also a Buddhist nun. She seemed buzzed for the majority of the time, thanks to her betelnut-chewing habit. She was not afraid to show her disapproval of the way we dressed for hot weather with exposed shoulders and knees; a gentle slap on the exposed body part by her let you know that she was not pleased. At the same time, she sometimes grabbed our arms and told us in Khmer how beautiful we were while smiling glowingly. She often carried her Khmer-English Dictionary and pointed out words to us to communicate. Most words she pointed out related to the house and food (she cooked delicious homemade Khmer lunches for us everyday) but occasionally, she pointed out unexpected words, like the time she pointed out the word ‘explode’ and the house across the street to Katrina.
I spent my first week teaching at the secondary school and my second week at the primary school. Coming from the West, I was initially astounded by the respect the students have for the school and their teachers. Students at the secondary school stand up when a teacher walks into the classroom, and don’t sit back on their chairs until the teacher instructs them to do so. Students at the primary school wait outside the classroom until the teacher walks in, then they greet him/her by joining the palms of their hands together in front of their chests and bowing before walking to their desks. Between classes, they clean the classrooms. Prey Chrouk is a poor farming village, and some students borrow uniforms from their friends/siblings in order to attend classes, which they wear with pride.
I felt very honored and humbled to have taught English to my students, who are very eager to learn. I can tell that some of the past volunteers were British by the students’ identification of pants as ‘trousers’ and eggplant as ‘aubergine’. I realize that English is a difficult language for non-native speakers, because there are so many exceptions to rules, the grammar can get complicated and the pronounciation of certain syllables in English are not used in other languages. There were some very bright students who understood the material immediately, but most struggle. I couldn’t help but feel a little sad that almost all of them won’t have the opportunity to further their education, even if they wanted to.
As this is Cambodia, there are some accepted practices at the school that initially shocked us coming from the West. For example, it is not uncommon for teachers to walk into the classroom 10-15 minutes after the bell rings to start teaching class. Sometimes teachers don’t show up for class at all. On my last day teaching, one of the teachers attended a wedding during lunch, and returned to the school telling one of the volunteers, “I’m a little drunk; can you smell alcohol in my breath?”
At times, being a volunteer in Prey Chrouk felt like being a celebrity. I was constantly greeted with ‘Hellos!’ by kids and adults during my walks to and from school. Vanak, the teacher responsible for the volunteers, knew every move we made by constant reports by villagers (I sometimes felt that we were being watched by the CIA by Vanak’s accurate reports with where I’ve been, what I bought in a particular store, what dishes that Grandma made I liked, etc.) I suppose that we do stand out. I’ll never forget the reaction and expression of shock from a very small boy when all four volunteers explored the village by bicycle on a free afternoon. The boy took one look at Charlie, who is very fair-skinned with long blonde hair, and literally fell off the bicycle he was on with his mother, and started screaming and crying hysterically into his mother’s arms. He cried for about 10 minutes while we couldn’t help but laugh at his reaction to Charlie. We think it was because it was the first time he’s ever seen a Caucasian and her features must have frightened him.
The two weeks at Prey Chrouk was such an enriching experience for me. The most memorable part was the students; their enthusiasm, smiles and appreciation were pure joy. The warmth and friendliness of the villagers is such a contrast to what I experience in my everyday life at home. Being happy yet having so little is a lesson from them that I hope to carry with me and never forget. At the same time, I feel grateful and lucky to be in that tiny percentage of the human population that has wealth, food, education and opportunity.
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- Prey Chrouk Village
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- Our beloved host, “Grandma”
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- Entrance to the Primary School
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- Me and My Students
Tags: Cambodia, Prey Chrouk
