Finally, we were ready, and flew to Phnom Penh on Sunday, June 26, 2010. On Monday morning, we sent out 3 teams, one to each of the 3 community centres run by Village Earth. One went to Lakeside School, in the middle of a slum on the western shore of 90 hectare Boeng Kak Lake in the middle of the city. (One hectare is roughly the size of a football field.) When we got there in 2010, the lake was already 2/3 filled up. By the following year, it was completely filled up. Gradually buildings and roads appeared on it. By now (2020) there is no trace of Boeng Kak Lake. Most people who lived in the slums have also been driven away, to give way to the more affluent new tenants.
A second team went to the Youth School, one kilometre north of Lakeside. The community centres offer mainly English lessons and computer lessons. Our task was to help them set up or improve their computer and networks, and to run workshops on digital storying and other needed skills. From a distance, the houses on stilts looked idyllic. Upon closer look, many of the “houses” were no more than sheds barely bigger than a bed.
Many little kids run around completely naked, with no shoes, and no clothes. A man swayed tranquilly in a hammock - above a carpet of trash. It was surreal. Perhaps, one could get used to even really bad situations.
Many little kids run around completely naked, with no shoes, and no clothes. A man swayed tranquilly in a hammock - above a carpet of trash. It was surreal. Perhaps, one could get used to even really bad situations.
We taught the youths image theatre, and asked them to look for real life stories to tell. And we taught them how to take photos, edit the photos, and to use the photos to tell their story.
One of the stories ran like this: a man drinks, beats his wife, the children cry, …, they make up, …, a happy family again. We saw different versions of the same story - an indication of its pervasiveness.
One of the stories ran like this: a man drinks, beats his wife, the children cry, …, they make up, …, a happy family again. We saw different versions of the same story - an indication of its pervasiveness.
A third team went to Aziza, another community learning centre at the back of the notorious White Building near the Independence Monument. The White Building was built in the 1960s, originally known as the Municipal Apartments, with an innovative design that attracted many artists. Tenants fled during the Genocide in the 1970s, when an estimated 2 million perished - in horrible circumstances.
Since then it went into decline and became known for poverty, drug use and prostitution. I wouldn’t have dared to walk through the slum to the centre by myself had I not been led by our friends. But subsequently I came through numerous times without incident. The tenants there were actually quite friendly. Most of the kids attend public schools for half a day. They then come to these community centres to spend the rest of the day. They seemed to genuinely like the centers, and some practically and literally lived in the center. Whenever we can, we taught them to take photographs with digital cameras, edit the photos, and put together stories with the photos. Kids love computers and cameras, just like kids elsewhere.
Since then it went into decline and became known for poverty, drug use and prostitution. I wouldn’t have dared to walk through the slum to the centre by myself had I not been led by our friends. But subsequently I came through numerous times without incident. The tenants there were actually quite friendly. Most of the kids attend public schools for half a day. They then come to these community centres to spend the rest of the day. They seemed to genuinely like the centers, and some practically and literally lived in the center. Whenever we can, we taught them to take photographs with digital cameras, edit the photos, and put together stories with the photos. Kids love computers and cameras, just like kids elsewhere.
White Lotus
One team went to a very special ministry, White Lotus. It was run by two American lady missionaries, Sherry Lile and Debbie Tetsch. They reached out to abused girls, many of whom young girls forced to become sex workers, subsequently rescued. Some of the girls had been sold by their mothers multiple times. White Lotus set up a place for the girls to live, taught them practical skills, and set up small businesses so that they can make a proper living. It is very challenging work, with a not insignificant amount of risk. They demonstrated tremendous courage, enduring dedication, infinite patience, and abundant love. Our team tried to help them with some computer work, and taught the girls some crafts. The girls were very smart, and learned fast. The organization could also use some help in making use of the Internet - to promote their cause and events, and to distribute the handicrafts made by the girls, for example. We helped whatever we could.
A side story. On Sunday, 4th July, we were on a 6-hour bus ride returning from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh. Two of our students have gotten sick, running fevers, with diarrhoea. The girl was vomiting, very weak, and seemed to be getting worse. By 6 PM, and still 2 hours away from Phnom Penh, we felt we need to take them to see a doctor. But we were really not sure where to go, not being familiar with the Cambodia medical system, and at such a late hour on a Sunday. Stephen called Sherry. She referred us to the SOS, a clinic run by Americans, which happens to be just 2 blocks away from our hotel. So I took the 2 students to the clinic as soon as we arrived at Phnom Penh at 8 PM, with help from 3 other students, and sent the other students to have dinner. The clinic was clean and tidy, and very well-equipped. The doctor was very professional. He felt, as we did, that the students had food-poisoning. He ordered a series of tests, and prescribed anti-biotic for both of them. The girl had to be re-hydrated through intravenous drip. Later that evening, my colleague Vincent came with 3 other students to take our place, so that Stephen can go back to the hotel to rest. Eventually, after about 5 hours, we all came back to the hotel. Both students recovered and came back to Hong Kong safely. We were all very grateful to Sherry and Debbie for the much needed and just-in-time help. And we told them so. We have since became good friends and collaborated on many projects.
Emmanuel Christian School
The Emmanuel Christian School in Phnom Penh was a primary school for 150 underprivileged children who used to make their living on the garbage mountain. The school was housed in an old former leather factory with gaping holes in the roof, in a village right next to the Stung Meancheay Garbage Dump. It was then run by a Hong Kong NGO, the International Christian Concern. The school charged no fees, and even provided the children with uniforms. Even then, many kids missed out. Some had to work on the garbage dump.
The children at the school were very well disciplined. They were having their regular classes in their classrooms when we arrived. They quickly took their own chairs, filed out of their classrooms, set their chair down, and in just a few minutes, all 150 children were seated in very neat rows. Amazing.
The children learned very quickly the songs and the movements that our students taught them. They learned to play the games we taught them in very little time, and follow the instructions very well - even when they were enjoying themselves, laughing and screaming loudly. They had obviously been taught well. Not just in discipline, but also in English, and in Christian principles. The ICC also ran an international school in the city. Some of the teachers at Emmanuel are seconded from the international school. And when the kids graduate from Emmanuel Primary School, they could enrol for free at the secondary section at the international school. The school had since been returned to its original sponsor, who greatly improved the building and expanded the ministry. We are continuing to work with the school.
The children at the school were very well disciplined. They were having their regular classes in their classrooms when we arrived. They quickly took their own chairs, filed out of their classrooms, set their chair down, and in just a few minutes, all 150 children were seated in very neat rows. Amazing.
The children learned very quickly the songs and the movements that our students taught them. They learned to play the games we taught them in very little time, and follow the instructions very well - even when they were enjoying themselves, laughing and screaming loudly. They had obviously been taught well. Not just in discipline, but also in English, and in Christian principles. The ICC also ran an international school in the city. Some of the teachers at Emmanuel are seconded from the international school. And when the kids graduate from Emmanuel Primary School, they could enrol for free at the secondary section at the international school. The school had since been returned to its original sponsor, who greatly improved the building and expanded the ministry. We are continuing to work with the school.
Rhenish School
A team of us spent 2 days in Rhenish School, an orphanage then ran also by the International Christian Concern about an hour and a half’s drive outside of Phnom Penh. The last stretch of the road was unpaved, and full of potholes. The school was in a village of rice fields. The rainy season has just started, the fields were filled with rain water, and the young shoots of the rice were being planted. It made very pretty pictures.
Rice is the staple food here. Our meals consisted of rice in soup. The food was simple, fresh, and tasty. I was told an extra meat dish has been added because we were guests. And the kids let us get our food first. The kids could eat a lot, and very quickly. Our hosts were afraid we might not have enough if we did not go first - we could believe that. All our food were cooked using big pots on these 4 charcoal-fired stoves. They remind me of the orphanage in DingXi, Gansu. There they used coal, because coal is plentiful in China. Here charcoal was the cheapest fuel. Another reason was that there was no electricity supplied. This orphanage ran a generator for lighting purpose. And the generator was shut down in the evening after 8:30PM, when the kids went to bed. There was also no piped water. The villagers collected rain water using huge water pots under the roof. They also drew their water from the local water hole behind the orphanage - it was essentially also rain water. Collecting rain water was far from sufficient for an orphanage with 90 kids. So the orphanage dug 2 wells, costing several hundred US dollars each. Fortunately, because it rains a lot here, they did not have to dig very deep to reach the water table. Such was the primitive situation in which the kids live. But, for them, this was paradise compared to what they were used to. Many used to make their living picking trash from the infamous garbage mountain. Some had stolen. There were 4 brothers here whose father ran away, whose sister died, and whose mother sold fruits in Phnom Penh but was often sick and could not make enough money to feed them. Here they had a warm bed, clean clothes, nutritious food, caring teachers, an education, a future, and God - all for free.
Anjali House
One team was sent as far away from Phnom Penh as Siem Reap, near Ankor Wat. The team served at Anjali House, a charity serving vulnerable children. Anjali House specialises in using photography and gardening to nurture creativity, telling the story of the children through photos taken by the children and entering contests.
Ankor Wat and What It Means
When the service projects were completed, we took the whole team to visit Ankor Wat. It is a temple complex, said to be the largest religious monument in the world. In the 12th century it was the capital of the Khmer Empire, which was then the dominant political entity in the region. With a population estimated at over 1 million, it was thought to be the largest city in the world until the industrial revolution. The architecture, the art, the history and the culture represented is very impressive. It also causes you to ponder many questions. The Khmer Empire was obviously very powerful, rich and cultured, in the 12th century. Fast forward to the modern day. At one point after the Genocide in the 1970s, the country could not find enough books in the Khmer language to stock a small national library. How and why did the great Khmer Empire decline to such an extent, in just a few hundred years, in so many aspects - political power, economic vitality, and cultural richness? Fortunately, there are on-going indications of recovery in many aspects recently.
Building a Foundation and an Offshore Base
This time in Cambodia we ran our most ambitious range of projects, in terms of diversity, up to that point in time. In the past, in Hong Kong, Hubei and Gansu, we targeted a specific community each time, and most projects were directly related to IT: programming, robotics, etc. In Cambodia we found so much need among so many diverse groups - we felt compelled to do as much as we could. We ended up serving multiple groups at the same time, or one after another, in so many different ways. In the process we learned to be adaptable, and trust our students to work and solve problems on their own. We learned to take calculated risks. Our experience from this first trip to Cambodia became the foundation for so many international projects.
Little did we know at the time, but soon after we returned to Hong Kong, we had a chance to present to our management the Cambodia project in the form of a syllabus for an academic subject - and found that it compared favourably to a regular 3-credit academic subject in terms of time, effort, and rigour. It then became one of the key pieces of evidence that gave confidence to our management to decide to make service-learning a required academic subject for all undergraduate students at PolyU.
Gradually Cambodia became an offshore base for us. Satisfied partners introduced us to more partners and needs. We have since developed many more projects, collaborated with many more NGOs, and brought along many other teams from PolyU. None of these could have been envisioned at the time.
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