Day Three of the inaugural Project Happy Feet Volunteer Leadership Experience saw the 12 volunteers head out to This Life Cambodia.
This Life Cambodia is a developmental organisation set up since 2007 to improve the quality of and access to education in Cambodia by listening to, engaging with and advocating alongside communities.
The volunteers were warmly greeted by Billy Gorter, director and founder; Se Sen, Assistant Director; and Chea Borany, School Programme Co-ordinator and invited to a meeting room upstairs where they met other members of This Life Cambodia and also learnt more about what the organisation does.
Before heading out to a school supported by This Life Cambodia, Stefanie represented Project Happy Feet and presented Billy with a mock-cheque for the amount of SGD10,670.07 raised through Project Happy Feet Slipper Race held on 4 November 2011.
After two hours on a bumpy road, the volunteers arrived at Chub Ta Trav Secondary School, which was built in 2010, and serves 70 students who live in the village of the same name.
The group was welcomed by Sin Sokong, a 21-year-old Principal and teacher, the village chief, and members of the school committee made up of villagers. After a short self-introduction (thanks to Borany for translating!), the volunteers helped move the supplies into the school office store: 750 notebooks, 375 pens, 75 ruler sets, and 75 school bags – all purchased the day before in a local market in Siem Reap with the money pooled together by the volunteers and their friends and family.
Through sharing, the group came to learn about how Sin Sokong, who lives in Siem Reap city, decided to travel to and fro each week to the school because she wanted to make a difference to the students, and also because the community asked her to stay. When asked what she hoped for the children, she simply replied “I just want them to have a chance in education.”
After bidding farewell to Sin Sokong and the school committee, and after a very late lunch, the volunteers met with Danny and Thea from PEPY’s, a NGO that is rooted in a belief that education is the key to sustainable change, and offers programs focusing on Khmer literacy and broader improvements in the quality of education offered in government schools in rural Cambodia.
During dinner, the team discussed at length what to do with the remaining money they pooled together. Over the last two days, they had met, interviewed, and seen with their own eyes several organisations, their people, and their work, and came to realise that every cause is equally deserving and worthy of their support.
The day ended with a reflection on their observations, and lessons learnt. While most were inspired by Sin Sokong and admired the volunteers and staff who committed time and effort to make a difference to the local community, everyone discovered that there are many ways to help, and experienced first-hand that dilemma that Project Happy Feet face as an organisation each time, and every time, it receives a call for support.
Want to see pictures of PHFVLX in action? Click here!
