Alrighties, I'm finally back from a 15-day community service learning trip to Cambodia, i had a great time there, but of course there were some "not so great" times, i'll elaborate...
Day 1
This was the day we left for cambodia. i woke up real early, at like 3am and headed of to Changi Airport. Flight was at 7am. Duration - 1h30mins. Flew on JetStar Asia. Mr Sonny, director of the first child care centre we were heading to, Full Gospel Assembly Centre (FGAC), met us at the airport, nice guy... Children at FGAC are quite nice, and warm... thank God, they speak english.. they greeted us with "Brother/Sister"... They are very appreciative for anything, anybody do for them...
Our mission here was to rebuild a footpath, and to paint a wall, i built the footpath... it was fun but tiring... and tough... its not easy to level the slabs of concrete... on another note, we had toget used to their timings, such as meal times, breakfast at 6am, lunch at 12, dinner at 6pm... 1 dish meals, always have rice... Electricity was also scheduled... we only got electricity at certain times of the day... and there were more than sufficient mosquitoes to share around, some of us were too greedy that we took more than our share of mosquitoes...
some of the roads there were in very bad condition, very rocky and bumpy... and i rarely see traffic lights...
Day 2
Got to know some of the kids there, the kids there ranged from 3 to 18 y/o... got to know Roth Chearn, Wuthy, John Smith, Chone Von...
Joined in their prayer service, which was before dinner(it was a christian centre), and i realised that they were so passionate and lively in worshipping God, something which i dun see as often in Singapore...
Our lecturer in charged asked us this question - Is it us who bring joy to the cambodian kids? or is it them who bring joy to us?
Day 3
We all went to Sunshine home, a place which houses orphans, and some has HIV and AIDs cause of their parents... After that went to see some war memorial, has to do with the Khmer Rouge killings... they kept the skulls and bones in a glass structure as memories...
i went to the market today, and ate some duck egg, it was actually a half grown duckling in the egg, and they cooked it... it had already grown feathers and small bones... It was quite gross at first... but i eventually ate it, and it was suprisingly quite nice... tasted like crab eggs... drank their "poot poot" shake... haha, thats our code for fruit shake... they mixed lots of fruits in it and made it into a shake... why poot poot? cause some of us were not able to "shit" those few days there, so we tried taking more fruits to help us...
Day 4
Nothing much interesting, just continued building the footpath, just like every other day...
Day 5
Got the chance to follow some of the kids to school... Sark, phiekadai, and paula held my hands tight, grabed my hands all the way to the school... they are so cute... they brought me to the playground... haha...i wont elaborate....
Day 6
It was the day we gave them a mini fun fair of games... they seemed very happy and contented...
This was also our last day in FGAC, we had our perfirmances at night, and after that, some of us cried, cause we were so sad we were leaving... i did not cry, i told myself not to... it was not good for guys to cry... haha... i almost did though... we gave our hugs at the end... it was... warm...
Day 7
Left FGAC... headed to phnom phen to do some sightseeing, with mr sonny as our tour guide... went to the russian market for some shopping, and after tt, lunch at a small shop... we had a dessert, coconut with 3 scoops of icecream inside, with sago and atapchi and raisins...went to see one of the "pol pot regime's" killing centres... freaky... it was an old school they used to kill and torture their own people... After that went for shopping at a shopping centre... it was said to be the largest in the whole Cambodia... comparable to Singapore's Tampines Mall, maybe a little smaller i think...
Soon after, had a 2h30mins ride to Kumpung Thom for our next community service place... Bright Arrows Child Care Centre (BAC)... at Tros villages... Barai District... We were supposed to build a basket ball court here... and paint a mural... The director was Dr Castro, a filipino doctor... The kids here could not speak english... haha... they were younger, probably around 2 to 16 years old... we had more mosquitoes here... haha...
Day 8 - 9
Read the book Ms Chew bought... about the pol pot regime, the survivor's stories... it was a dark time... people killed people of their own(thats kinda the worst thing)... children were brainwashed into killing their own parents, "Family" had a new definition... Families separated... Adults treated like children, children treated like adults... I thought to myself, wad was all my mosquito bites? wads all the politics going on in my team? wads all the blaming and problems going on in my team? wads all the splitting up in my team? wads all that compared to the regime? It reminded me of God's Love...and promise...
Indeed, there was problems in my team... which team wont have problems? Forgive, although u cant forget...The most important thing is that you learn... therefore, its better that you dont forget... so you can learn from it, and let the lesson stick with you...Blaming each other is just a process... it doesnt matter much... wad matters most is you learn from it... These were some of my thoughts during those few days...
I learnt that someone wasnt too happy with me, even till now, as i am blogging, i can say she still isnt too happy with me... i was said to be insensitive toward her with my words... My friend who told me this told me that i should go apologise and talk it out with her... I said that indeed, i will and i should go talk it out with her...else things will get worse... so i decided to talk to her the next day, cause it was already late at night...
Day 10 - 11
While washing the laundry, and i went to her and asked her for a brush for the clothing, she simply just threw it on the floor, with a black face, not saying anything, as if i owed her something...Of course, that act made me pissed... so i decided, that was not the right time to talk to her... else things might get worse... i was thinking, "things could have almost been solved, but tt happened...", Pride took over me, pride took over her... I wanted to take the initiative... i guess its not the right time...
Although there are many thoughts going on in my mind right now, i guess i wont say it... not here... my thoughts would only be meant for "special" people...
Things happen...and i am absolutely disappointed...
Days 12
Had our celebration for the kids on this day, and also our performances... it was almost the same as the first place... no crying at this place... haha...
Day 13 - Day 14
We left for Siem Reap... and stayed at Angkor lion hotel... nice hotel, i think about 3 stars... at siem reap, went to visit angkor wat and angkor thom, and had more shopping, had a small outreach here too... it was a fun time here at siem reap, more relaxed...
at night on day 14, i followed P Council to do massage... haha... my first time... but it was not that shiok... the massage place was just opposite the hotel... i felt molested la... haha!
Day 15
Woke up real early again, 3am, to leave for airport... home sweet home...
Through this trip, i made many friends... i love my P Council... i hope and pray, we will not split...
Day 1
This was the day we left for cambodia. i woke up real early, at like 3am and headed of to Changi Airport. Flight was at 7am. Duration - 1h30mins. Flew on JetStar Asia. Mr Sonny, director of the first child care centre we were heading to, Full Gospel Assembly Centre (FGAC), met us at the airport, nice guy... Children at FGAC are quite nice, and warm... thank God, they speak english.. they greeted us with "Brother/Sister"... They are very appreciative for anything, anybody do for them...
Our mission here was to rebuild a footpath, and to paint a wall, i built the footpath... it was fun but tiring... and tough... its not easy to level the slabs of concrete... on another note, we had toget used to their timings, such as meal times, breakfast at 6am, lunch at 12, dinner at 6pm... 1 dish meals, always have rice... Electricity was also scheduled... we only got electricity at certain times of the day... and there were more than sufficient mosquitoes to share around, some of us were too greedy that we took more than our share of mosquitoes...
some of the roads there were in very bad condition, very rocky and bumpy... and i rarely see traffic lights...
Day 2
Got to know some of the kids there, the kids there ranged from 3 to 18 y/o... got to know Roth Chearn, Wuthy, John Smith, Chone Von...
Joined in their prayer service, which was before dinner(it was a christian centre), and i realised that they were so passionate and lively in worshipping God, something which i dun see as often in Singapore...
Our lecturer in charged asked us this question - Is it us who bring joy to the cambodian kids? or is it them who bring joy to us?
Day 3
We all went to Sunshine home, a place which houses orphans, and some has HIV and AIDs cause of their parents... After that went to see some war memorial, has to do with the Khmer Rouge killings... they kept the skulls and bones in a glass structure as memories...
i went to the market today, and ate some duck egg, it was actually a half grown duckling in the egg, and they cooked it... it had already grown feathers and small bones... It was quite gross at first... but i eventually ate it, and it was suprisingly quite nice... tasted like crab eggs... drank their "poot poot" shake... haha, thats our code for fruit shake... they mixed lots of fruits in it and made it into a shake... why poot poot? cause some of us were not able to "shit" those few days there, so we tried taking more fruits to help us...
Day 4
Nothing much interesting, just continued building the footpath, just like every other day...
Day 5
Got the chance to follow some of the kids to school... Sark, phiekadai, and paula held my hands tight, grabed my hands all the way to the school... they are so cute... they brought me to the playground... haha...i wont elaborate....
Day 6
It was the day we gave them a mini fun fair of games... they seemed very happy and contented...
This was also our last day in FGAC, we had our perfirmances at night, and after that, some of us cried, cause we were so sad we were leaving... i did not cry, i told myself not to... it was not good for guys to cry... haha... i almost did though... we gave our hugs at the end... it was... warm...
Day 7
Left FGAC... headed to phnom phen to do some sightseeing, with mr sonny as our tour guide... went to the russian market for some shopping, and after tt, lunch at a small shop... we had a dessert, coconut with 3 scoops of icecream inside, with sago and atapchi and raisins...went to see one of the "pol pot regime's" killing centres... freaky... it was an old school they used to kill and torture their own people... After that went for shopping at a shopping centre... it was said to be the largest in the whole Cambodia... comparable to Singapore's Tampines Mall, maybe a little smaller i think...
Soon after, had a 2h30mins ride to Kumpung Thom for our next community service place... Bright Arrows Child Care Centre (BAC)... at Tros villages... Barai District... We were supposed to build a basket ball court here... and paint a mural... The director was Dr Castro, a filipino doctor... The kids here could not speak english... haha... they were younger, probably around 2 to 16 years old... we had more mosquitoes here... haha...
Day 8 - 9
Read the book Ms Chew bought... about the pol pot regime, the survivor's stories... it was a dark time... people killed people of their own(thats kinda the worst thing)... children were brainwashed into killing their own parents, "Family" had a new definition... Families separated... Adults treated like children, children treated like adults... I thought to myself, wad was all my mosquito bites? wads all the politics going on in my team? wads all the blaming and problems going on in my team? wads all the splitting up in my team? wads all that compared to the regime? It reminded me of God's Love...and promise...
Indeed, there was problems in my team... which team wont have problems? Forgive, although u cant forget...The most important thing is that you learn... therefore, its better that you dont forget... so you can learn from it, and let the lesson stick with you...Blaming each other is just a process... it doesnt matter much... wad matters most is you learn from it... These were some of my thoughts during those few days...
I learnt that someone wasnt too happy with me, even till now, as i am blogging, i can say she still isnt too happy with me... i was said to be insensitive toward her with my words... My friend who told me this told me that i should go apologise and talk it out with her... I said that indeed, i will and i should go talk it out with her...else things will get worse... so i decided to talk to her the next day, cause it was already late at night...
Day 10 - 11
While washing the laundry, and i went to her and asked her for a brush for the clothing, she simply just threw it on the floor, with a black face, not saying anything, as if i owed her something...Of course, that act made me pissed... so i decided, that was not the right time to talk to her... else things might get worse... i was thinking, "things could have almost been solved, but tt happened...", Pride took over me, pride took over her... I wanted to take the initiative... i guess its not the right time...
Although there are many thoughts going on in my mind right now, i guess i wont say it... not here... my thoughts would only be meant for "special" people...
Things happen...and i am absolutely disappointed...
Days 12
Had our celebration for the kids on this day, and also our performances... it was almost the same as the first place... no crying at this place... haha...
Day 13 - Day 14
We left for Siem Reap... and stayed at Angkor lion hotel... nice hotel, i think about 3 stars... at siem reap, went to visit angkor wat and angkor thom, and had more shopping, had a small outreach here too... it was a fun time here at siem reap, more relaxed...
at night on day 14, i followed P Council to do massage... haha... my first time... but it was not that shiok... the massage place was just opposite the hotel... i felt molested la... haha!
Day 15
Woke up real early again, 3am, to leave for airport... home sweet home...
Through this trip, i made many friends... i love my P Council... i hope and pray, we will not split...
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