Kate in Cambodia @katespenceuk - Tumblr Blog

Final presentation to summarise work at Yeak Laom Lake

10 things: what doesn’t kill you..

· I haven’t used conditioner in 2 months and my hair is absolutely fine. Admittedly maybe a little dry, but it certainly isn’t noteworthy. It makes me question the money I spend on products at home.

· I literally go for days without looking in a mirror, and despite what you may think, when I do, nothing has changed. It’s actually very liberating and I have totally forgotten my usual concerns about my appearance.

· I love going to bed early at 10pm and waking up at 6am. The day seems so much longer and there is so much more to do in the morning when it is light, than at night when it is dark anyway.

· Not wearing makeup means I can literally wake up, shower and have left for work within 20 minutes. I hate to admit it but my skin undoubtedly looks better for it too.

· A smile goes a long way. Irrelevant of culture, lifestyle, and even the most sever language barrier.

· I don’t wear nail varnish on my fingers or toes, and I haven’t been socially rejected, yet.

· No wifi leaves A LOT of time for other things. I’m reading my third book already.

· I genuinely really like squat toilets. It feels more natural somehow!

· Rice three times a day really isn’t that bad. Admittedly it may not be great for your diet, but I’m really going to miss it when I’m back home!

· Hand washing your clothes isn’t as much of a nightmare as you would think. I actually find it very therapeutic!

10 things: struggles

· Cambodian coffee is absolutely disgusting. Iced, with sweet milk it is drinkable, but I really, truly miss my morning Nescafé!

· Diet Coke is non-existent except in the odd, upmarket, Western restaurant, and then it’s hard to justify spending the unreasonable price!

· No toilet paper. No explanation needed.

· Cold showers are generally well received after a long day thanks to the hot climate. However, there is the odd morning after a heavy rainfall when it feels chillier than usual, and that first bucket of water is a real struggle!

· I don’t mind the labour of hand washing my clothes. In fact, I find it quite therapeutic. However, trying to get a white t-shirt white again, after it has been inevitably stained red by the Cambodian dust, is impossible.

· Mosquitoes do not stop biting you if you stay here long enough. I tried to convince myself they would after a couple of weeks, but it hasn’t happened yet.

· Your feet are never really clean. Even if you do manage to make them look it, you only have to step back outside for them to be immediately red and muddy again.

· It is really difficult to eat healthily without spending a fortune in Western restaurants. The only alternative to rice three times a day is bread, which is probably worse.

· You will undoubtedly be overcharged for pretty much anything, anywhere, if you are white. The UK volunteers often ask a Khmer to go with them into a shop or to the market, just to ensure they won’t be ripped off.

Observations

· Whether or not it is a result of the rainy season, Cambodia is surprisingly green given the hot climate – it feels tropical. Unfortunately, it has one of the highest rates of deforestation in the world, therefore looks contrastingly barren at the same time. Houses vary depending on area and presumably wealth, however they are generally built on stilts, with animals roaming and bicycles or tractors underneath. Absolutely everything is built from wood, possibly explaining the deforestation! Roofs are made out of tin, or thatched in the more remote, poorer areas. “Villages” consist of merely a few houses in close proximity.

· Shops that sell almost exactly the same things line the streets, and I’m not sure how they can possibly compete with each other. Admittedly, these ‘shops’ are just set up at the front of people’s houses, so it’s not like they’re paying great rental fees, but still. The usual stock consists of sachets of shampoo and 3 in 1 instant coffee hanging from the ceiling, unusual flavoured packets of crisps (Cambodia certainly doesn’t win any prizes for snacks), cigarettes and a cool box full of drinks cans. Out the front is usually a tank of petrol for motos, and sometimes a table top of presumably whatever fruit they have come across that day.

· Restaurants follow a similar theme – a few tables also just set up in people’s homes. For many you can never be sure whether they are actually open to the public or you are intruding a family mealtime. Either way, I’m sure you’d be welcome. Most don’t have menus, and I suspect locals just eat whatever is on offer that day. The UK volunteers however live off “bai chaa” (fried rice), which is easy enough to get anywhere!

· There is no concept of animal welfare in Cambodia. This is harder to ignore than you might think, particularly living in host homes. Animals are not pets. Even cats and dogs don’t have names and they are fed merely leftovers, which is normally just rice. The way they handle them is brutal, particularly the children. It’s easy to get angry, but I’m sure they don’t intentionally cause pain; they just have no understanding of animal cruelty.

· Absolutely everybody rides a moped. I’ve seen children who look no older than 8 years old driving down the main road. There appears to be no traffic laws – nobody wears helmets and it is more a case of how many people you can physically fit on the seat rather than how many passengers would be safe. Traffic flies down both sides of the road and the horn is used literally just to signal your presence, to everybody and everything, rather than a warning.

· It is not the law for children to go to school. I don’t know what age they are supposed to start and finish, and I’m not sure they know either. Cambodia is very traditional and many people still believe it is the woman’s job to stay at home rather than get an education. Furthermore, many families need extra help for example working on the farm, so can’t afford to let their children go to school.

· Families are generally large, with most having over 4 children. I find this strange as most families probably struggle to afford to sustain them. However I think it could possibly be a result of a lack of birth control.

#cambodia

Working at Yeak Laom Lake

I am working at one of three ICS placements in Ratanakiri – encouraging Ecotourism at Yeak Laom Lake. The lake is a stunning 50m deep volcanic crater lake. The lake is leased to the Yeak Laom indigenous community. The aim of volunteers is to ensure they are caring for the area correctly, and managing it successfully so they will be allowed to continue ownership. The lake is a huge part of the local indigenous peoples’ culture. It is sacred to them and used widely for gathering food.

A major part of our work has involved increasing safety around the lake. This is for the benefit of both local people and tourists. We have increased the admission fee for tourists from $1.50 to $2, which has enabled us to provide free life jackets to all visitors for swimming. Furthermore, we are improving signage around the lake to encourage safe swimming.

Unfortunately, the area around Yeak Laom has been hugely affected by deforestation, like much of northeast Cambodia. As a result, we are creating ‘rehabilitation zones’ around the lake to protect the flora and fauna. The tree planting Community Action Day was also important in tackling this.

The Yeak Laom team have also been busy marketing the lake as much as possible on order to raise awareness of it as a tourist destination. We have created a new leaflet in both English and Khmer to be distributes across Cambodia and we have translated the website created by previous volunteers into Khmer (www.yeaklaomlake.com). We have also created social media accounts (follow @yeaklaomlake on Instagram or ‘like’ www.facebook.com/yeaklaomlake on Facebook!). There are various stalls at the lake selling indigenous handicrafts and we have now designed a range of postcards to be sold, with all the proceeds going back to the Yeak Laom community.

One of the most important parts of our work has been facilitating training sessions with the local community and Yeak Laom staff. So far, we have given training on customer service, and plan to work with the youth to increase their knowledge about the Internet and social media.

#volunteering #ratanakiri #cambodia #ics #vso

#siemreap #cambodia #angkorwat

Siem Reap

We have just returned to Ratanakiri after 4 days in Siem Reap province for our ‘Mid-Phase Review’. The purpose of the trip was not only to allow us a break from work, but also to reflect on everything we have done so far, and share our goals for the remainder of our time in Cambodia. The first couple of days were spent training. The volunteers led the training ourselves, and everyone agreed that it was useful to discuss more relatable topics such as cultural issues and host homes, and share our experiences with each other.

Siem Reap was massively different to Ratanakiri. After seeing only a few tourists in the past couple of months, it was a shock to see so many at every turn. It was also greatly more expensive, presumably because of this reason. ‘Pub Street’ reminded me of the strip in Magaluf rather than anything else I’ve seen on Cambodia.

We also had the opportunity to visit Angkor Wat, the largest religious monument in the world. We visited three of the other temples, before visiting Angkor Wat itself. The previous temples were amazing but seeing Angkor Wat for the first time was breath taking. I thoroughly the whole day but would love to go back one day for a guided tour to learn more about the history of the temples.

We were all sad to leave and would have loved a couple more days to enjoy the luxuries of Western food and drink, and hotel pool, however I felt content returning to my host home and the realities of life in Cambodia! I can’t believe that we are half way through already and unfortunately I feel that the remainder of my time here will fly by even more quickly. I hope I continue to enjoy it as much as I have done so far.

#cambodia #volunteering #ics #vso #siemreap

Indigenous living

It has now been two weeks since we moved into our host homes and I can’t believe how quickly the time has passed! Life at home is still good and as I am learning and experiencing more of the Tampeun culture, the more I love it! This I witnessed the scarification of two chickens in the village for the spirits as a neighbour’s brother was visiting. The women of the house cooked the chickens immediately and we were all invited to eat and drink rice wine to welcome him home. There was also an occasion where one villagers’ son had fallen over and hit his head, so we also had to drink rice wine in order to help him heal! Although it seems they make any excuse to drink, eating and drinking rice wine is actually an act of praying to ‘the Spirit’, who decides life and death in their culture.

On Friday, a lady who lives in the house opposite mine gave birth. That evening, the whole village came out in celebration. However, the following day she was taken to hospital and tragically passed away. It was shocking to be so close to such a tragedy and very upsetting. The Tampeun people celebrate death in a very different way to we are used to in the UK. They began the funeral immediately, playing loud music and drinking rice wine through the night with the body laid out for everyone to pay their respects. The funeral usually lasts for 3-5 days depending on how rich the family is. This one lasted for 3 days. Every night there seemed to be more guests as the news spread. Guests can give a donation to the family; in this case the money was going to the Father to help him buy milk for the new-born baby. I learnt that people stay up all night in order to prevent and protect from the Spirit returning. On the fourth day, the body was buried. If a female (wife) has died, single women cannot go to the burial, and if it was a male (husband), single men cannot go. I am assuming this is so that the newly widowed spouse is not approached by any other men/women. The evening after the burial all the village prayed for the spirit not to return and to live a long and happy life. Of course, there was more rice wine.

I am thoroughly enjoying being part of this community temporarily and have decided the simple life is definitely for me! With no money for fancy toys and no Wi-Fi, the children play outside with stones and mud and read books. They are absolutely desperate to study English and I teach almost every night. We go to bed early – around 9-10pm and wake up at 6am when it gets light again. My family are farmers and so everything we eat is grown on their farm and picked daily. The only thing I am NOT enjoying is spending hours washing my clothes by hand, to find that they have either fallen off the line into the mud, ending up dirtier than before, or they have been chewed by the cows who seem to have taken a liking to the taste of washing powder! Highlight of the week however was that our dog had puppies! They are absolutely adorable and I am desperate to sneak one home. Animals in Cambodia are not given anywhere near as much affection as I am used to and aren’t even given names, so we will have to name them ourselves!

I find it interesting to think about what my host family or any of the other indigenous people in the region would do if they suddenly acquired a huge sum of money. I can’t imagine what they would spend it on. Why would they need a modern fitted kitchen with big, shiny work surfaces when they can cook perfectly well over a fire? Where would they go if they had a car? And I’m sure they would be shocked to hear that people use machines to wash their clothes and dishes! This life is all they have known and they seem perfectly happy with it, which is something that unfortunately cannot be said for everyone.

Week One in Ratanakiri

I am so happy to finally be in Ratanakiri! It was a 12-hour bus journey from Pnomh Penh, during which I didn’t sleep whatsoever, but the beautiful scenes out of the window kept me occupied!

Banlung is the largest town in the Ratanakiri province and where we will be situated for the next three months. It is bigger than I imagined, with a busy centre and large market, and surprisingly touristic. I am delighted to have gotten my first choice of placement - promoting Ecotourism and the conservation of Yeak Laom sacred lake. The lake is absolutely stunning and I can’t believe I am able to call it my office!

On Sunday, I moved into my host home. I had been so busy the first week that I had forgotten everything I had to come! This week has been a massive culture shock to say the least. My host family consists of a mother and father with four young children. They seem really nice but can’t speak a word of English. They are indigenous people so their culture is different again to everything I have learnt so far about the Khmer. On the first night, the village through a small welcome party for myself and the other volunteers staying there, also known as a ‘purification ceremony’. We had to drink rice wine and be blessed as new members of the community.

The village is just a group of around 7 houses, with none of the amenities you would associate with a village in the UK! The house is made solely of wood and built high on stilts. There is a room downstairs with a fire in the corner used for cooking, and every night we sit in a circle on the floor to eat our dinner of rice. I actually prefer the food our host mother has been cooking than that I have had in restaurants. There are cows, pigs, chickens, dogs and a tiny kitten roaming around outside freely! The ‘bathroom’ is a communal brick outbuilding separate from the house. There is a hole in the ground, which is the toilet, and next door, a tap with a bucket used to scoop water to wash yourself!

Despite the basic conditions and arguable lack of luxury, I am actually enjoying this simple way of life and have settled in a lot more easily than I expected. At first I found the language barrier difficult and it saddened me because I am unable to communicate with the family whatsoever unless Khley, my counterpart volunteer, is there to translate. As the week has gone on however I have got used to it and I feel more comfortable. I have also started to teach the oldest daughter English in the evenings, and the parents sometimes sit and listen too which is really touching.

I am excited to get stuck in to my work placement at the lake and really hope I continue to have such a positive experience living with my host family.

#ratanakiri #cambodia #ICS #volunteer

Cambodia vs. Afghanistan World Cup 2018 Qualifier match

#worldcup cambodia football

Pnomh Penh

Finally arrived in Pnomh Penh excited but exhausted after a 24-hour journey. The Cambodian volunteers were waiting for us very excited at the guesthouse and all UK volunteers were assigned a Khmer (Cambodian) roommate. We had a long week of training 9-5 however we did have chance to explore the city in the evenings, which was an added bonus for me, as I wasn’t expecting to see anything other than a conference room! On day 1 VSO provided us with Tuk Tuk’s to visit the sights including the Royal Palace and the central market. We also visited the night market for some bargains! It was an eye opener however to be with the Khmer volunteers and realize that actually, although everything is incredibly cheap for the UK volunteers, it is not for them, so we must be considerate choosing restaurants etc. that they can afford. My roommate is hilarious and probably the most inspiring people I’ve ever met in my life. Her family is very poor and she has gained a scholarship to university but has only enough extra money to eat and buy books, yet she is still donating three months of her time doing voluntary work! Despite this, I don’t pity her, I am just completely in awe and am so grateful to have met her.

I have also found out who my counterpart volunteer will be. (Who I will be living with at our host home.) I actually have two – one Khmer, Khley, and one UK, Aneesh, because there are an uneven number of volunteers. I am actually quite happy to have two boys because it means that I get my own room! I can imagine I will be grateful to have my own space at times.

We finally found out some specific information about the Ratanakiri project! There are three different placements. The first one involves the conservation on the Yeak Loam Sacred Lake and encouraging EcoTourism. The second, is working to protect the rights of the indigenous Tampeun people, and working with youths. The third is agriculture, which would involve working with the poorest people in the community to ensure they have the skills to ensure a reliable income from agriculture. We will each find out which placement we will be part of when we arrive in Ratanakiri.

I am surprised by how little English the Khmer volunteers speak. Of course, any level is impressive and it is certainly a lot better than our Khmer, but it has made me realize that it is going to be hard working with a language barrier. There are also many cultural differences that we must be aware of. For example, Khmer people do not speak whilst eating, they dress conservatively, they do not drink alcohol often or stay out late at night, and you cannot touch their heads as it is a sacred part of the body.

I have struggled a little with the food. It’s true that you really do eat rice three times a day in Asia! Some dishes have been delicious but a lot are unidentifiable, especially the meat, which I am not comfortable with. I have actually started to enjoy plain rice!

I have enjoyed my week in Pnomh Penh, meeting the national volunteers and getting to know better the UK volunteers, but the training has been intense and I am really looking forward to getting to Ratanakiri and starting work.

#pnomhpenh #cambodia

Yeak Loam lake in Ratanakiri Province, Cambodia

#ratanakiri #cambodia

Cambodia - Ratanakiri Province

Cambodia is a small country in south-east Asia bordered in the west by Thailand. It is a country of incredible beauty with famous breathtaking temples, and home to Angkor Wat - one of the Seven Wonders of the World. Cambodia has suffered from a turbulent past which saw the brutal Khmer Rouge regime, in power in the late 1970’s, claim the lives of up to 2 million people. Economically the country is growing quickly, however an estimated third of the population lives on less than $1 a day.

Ratanakiri province is in the far northeast of Cambodia. Approximately 50% of the population are under 19 years old. All ICS volunteers in Ratanakiri will be living in Yeak Loam community, which is formed of 6 villages and is home to Tampoun people. The Tampoun are an indigenous ethnic group. They are animists and believe that spirits inhabit all things. Spirits, and especially evil spirits, must be appeased through animal sacrifices.

The ICS project in Ratanakiri has been running since October 2013 and has hosted 5 teams of ICS volunteers to date. In total 6 ICS teams are expected to work in the community, with the project ending August 2015, therefore I will be part of the last team!

The overall aim of the ICS project in Ratanakiri is to increase secure livelihoods for the poorest and most marginalised people in the community. Ratanakiri is among the least developed provinces in Cambodia, with three quarters of the population illiterate and an under five mortality rate of nearly 25%. The project focuses on 3 main areas; waste management and tourism, financial management and life skills and agriculture.

#ratanakiri #cambodia #vsoics

Cambodia crew at Pre-Placement training!

#training #vsoics

My journey so far

I applied for the ICS programme back in February. Since coming into the new year I had been wondering what I was going to do for my first ridiculously long summer break from uni. Since returning from Australia last year, my first solo trip, I have been suffering from the travel bug and knew I wanted to take advantage of the four months of freedom to travel. However, my student loan was hardly breaking the bank and any money from my part time job was being spent keeping up with the demands of being a fresher! So, in a sense of desperation, I found myself Googling “free travel”. Unsurprisingly, that proved to be fruitless. I then began researching volunteering programs, however I found it hard to understand the logic of paying thousands of pounds, to volunteer. I was not convinced (and am still not) that my money would be going to any great cause, and rather a profitable company probably not even based in the country itself. Desperate times call for desperate measures so I finally resorted to searching “free volunteering”, and there I found ICS! A government funded 12 week development programme available to all 18-25 year olds to fight poverty overseas.

The first stage of application was online so I spent about half an hour filling out the form, sent it off, then didn’t think much more about it. A couple of weeks later I received an email inviting me down to London for an assessment day as I was through to the next stage of selection! At this point, I had to break the news to my poor parents who were probably just looking forward to me returning home from uni for the summer! The assessment day was a little intense but there were other applicants there in the same boat and the staff were friendly. Luckily, it was only a few days after this that I found out I had been successful, so the wait wasn’t too painful, and I was offered a placement in Cambodia!

The next stage was the Pre-Placement Training which was aimed at preparing us for living and working in our host country. We explored ideas about experiencing a new culture, discussed international development issues and practiced effective team work. Again, the training was three long days and pretty exhausting but I was able to meet some of the other volunteers in my team which was so good! It made me a lot more excited for going away too as we learnt more about the placement.

#travel #volunteering #vso

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