So it’s been a while since our last post and a lot has
happened since then! Sorry for the time lag on the updates, but we've been pretty busy!
We’ve been spending
time at Seametrey School here in Phnom Penh, which has been a great way to
really find out what we are working towards in Tonle Bati. All the children
were a bit shy at first but the ice was quickly broken as they helped us make our
name badges. We even learnt how to write
the phonetics of our names in Khmer! Before we knew it Charlotte had four children
hanging off her and Kat was giving piggy back rides all over the place.
Football was a massive cause of excitement –the children came in extra early,
some in Chelsea football colours, ready to walk to a nearby park as the school doesn’t
have a lot of space. The number of volunteers
at the school decides how many children can safely go, so we were a very welcome
addition. Football under the sweltering
sun was a challenge for all, but everyone came away happy with a strict rule of
no crying if your team loses, and very ready for nap time!
It’s the end of term here, which means one thing – the school
play! As if English and Khmer aren’t enough,
the children are also learning French so this term the play was ‘Astrix and
Obelix’. Rehearsals have been going on
intensely since we got here, often with us in the background making props
(newfound team skill: beard making).
Friday was the big day, and the kids seemed mostly more excited than
nervous and with good reason – their performance was great. Muoy spoke at the end, reintroducing some of
her staff and students who had recently won sponsorship to study abroad. One of the focuses of Seametrey is to qualify
Khmer staff, and so we were able to welcome one teacher back from gaining a Montessori
qualification in America and wish another good luck. We were also able to
congratulate a student on being talent spotted for guitar playing and being
sent to study in Paris for the summer, with another studying in America!
Everyone got pretty emotional, as all the kids cheered each of their teachers
and peers successes; team leader Sophie failing spectacularly at keeping it
together and crying at the happiness of it all. All a little humbling, and a
good reminder at how lucky we are at the relative ease of our trip to Cambodia.
The reverse, Cambodians working in the UK and elsewhere, is a genuinely life
changing experience and a rare one at that. All in all, a very proud moment for
Seametrey and a testimony to Muoy’s excellent work.
This weekend some of us have been a bit unwell, so we’ve
been taking it easy but most of the group are currently Tonle Bati helping set
up the new school! More info soon!
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