Mondul 3 Village

New Hope Community Centre is set in a village fifteen minutes away from central Siem Reap, and yet when you arrive it is like stepping into a different world, a world that for me, would be extremely hard to say goodbye to. When I arrived on my first day, after a rocky journey through puddles with naked children bathing in them, potholes, and children screaming ’cha ‘cha, I was greeted by two children who climbed on me straight away. The two girls would be later nicknamed: Beanie Girl because she refuses to take off her red woolen beanie and red velvet dress, despite it being almost 40 degrees, and Monkey girl, for her ability to climb up your leg and onto your back like you’re a tree. It wasn’t until a few days later that I learned more about these children, and was amazed at their ability to smile everyday, and be joyful and so loving towards all these new faces. One of the girls had no parents, lives with her grandmother who is 73 years old, and is battling HIV at only 7 years of age. This is a typical profile of the children that I would be teaching at New Hope.

I taught 4 classes, starting with the babies at 2pm which was always interesting. The aim with the little ones is literally to keep them entertained for an hour each day, which sounds easy but is extremely challenging, especially under a Cambodian sky. We sang songs with the class, and had the children screaming the likes of ‘the wheels on the bus’ and óld McDonald’, before calming them down with some basic colouring activities, which they seemed to love, and never grew tired of. The little ones are so enthusiastic and energetic, and they constantly want your recognition and attention, which is really nice. They often grab hold of your hand, or give you hugs, it’s wonderful.

The second class is ‘lets go 1’ which is level one English. In this class you can have people from 5 up until 35 years of age, all at the same level. One of the women I taught was 35 years old and was completely illiterate, to the extent that she struggled to even hold a pencil. She also suffered from HIV and had a 10 month year old baby with the same prognosis. It was devastating to see, and as much as she tried, I could tell she felt ashamed as she sat next to children a quarter of her age. She was such a brave lady.

My last two classes were with Mr. Soh who is a Khmer teacher. The first group being level one and the last being level 4. Level one is really difficult, as the children are of all different abilities and half the class tends to carry the other half, so when you think you’re making progress with them, you slowly realise that half the class still do not know the days of the week, despite it being you’re tenth attempt at teaching them. I found that slow small steps was the best thing for this class, and encouraged Mr. Soh to interact more with them, getting them to speak more often, rather than follow the traditional Khmer methods of copying everything off the board. This class was definitely a challenge, however, I think I finally developed a good relationship with Mr. Soh and encouraged him to trust himself more, relying less on the books.

The last class was by far my favourite, not that you’re suppose to have favourites. However, the level 4 group were really eager to learn, had personalities which they freely expressed in all of our lessons. They were also really good at speaking English, and appreciated my being there. I definitely got to know the older ones better than the other classes, and was extremely sad when it came to saying goodbye. One of the girls who turned up to every lesson, always making time to say hello and ask how I was, I found out was a Karaoke Girl. This completely devastated me, as she is so funny and bright. I could not believe what a waste that was, and how horrible it must be to make a choice like that. On my last day I gave her a make-up bag, as she is trying to break away from the lifestyle she has by learning English as well as Beauty at New Hope; she was so appreciative. The following day she wrote me a letter and gave me a Buddhist statue for good luck. I could not believe it. I had not expected I would make an impression on these children’s lives the way they had on mine, but her words (in English) Í will never forget you’ and Í love you’ meant the world to me.

My time at New Hope has exceeded every expectation imaginable. It just saddens me that I have to leave. You really do develop relationships with the children and the families, and once you learn their stories, it just makes you love them even more. Some of the children have no parents, some have TB, HIV, Malaria some are starving, but all of them come to school smiling and all playing together, and each day it amazes me. One boy died a few weeks before I arrived, he was seven year old. He died because he was so hungry he ate poisonous frogs. Here is a poem written by one of the volunteers called Lachlan McRae which is in memory of his life. The poem epitomizes New Hope Community Centre.

To The Children of New Hope

Do not thank us for what we do
for we are not the heroes – it is you.

You have struggled so much yet never
shed a tear
It is your strength that brings us
here

Your smiles make us strong
you warm our hearts with your song

You have taught us what matters
in life
is that human spirit prevails in
times of strife

We are here to provide you with the
means with which to cope
the means with which to realise your
dreams and give you –New Hope.

By Lachlan McRae.

New Hope is not only a school, it is a community centre, bringing families together to socialize, providing free health care for those who cannot afford, in addition to providing food and sponsorship for those who are hungry. When you are teaching there you often see women walking past the classrooms carting a drip behind them. I had the privilege of taking part in their monthly rice drop a few weeks ago. There were a hundred people sat for a few hours waiting for their monthly supply of rice, most of them with babies, most of them sick or malnourished. It was so shocking to see the extent of the poverty in the community, yet it was so good to see how much New Hope was doing to help all the families. This encouraged me to go out and visit some families in the local community. All I had seen of the villages was the some of the 400 karaoke girls who line the street at 6pm waiting for their customers, and some of the few houses dotted around New Hope one morning when we had to paddle to work, due to such bad monsoon weather. I had not really had the chance to see the houses and to see how theses people live, and how the children live.

I went on the back of a motorbike with Kerry (the director of New Hope who has put everything she owns into the project and has also adopted 9 children who were in need in the village, she is an amazing woman) to visit some families; the first being a Vietnamese woman who literally had nothing. We got caught up in the rain and had to take shelter in her house, but she literally did not have one. Everyday she lived in bamboo frame with a tarp over the top that was leaking through. Kerry wanted to build her a new house, but the land is privately owned and she is used to stop people squatting on the land. She can be kicked off the land at any moment, and the landowner could take the house and anything else he found. This woman lives in constant fear of becoming homeless, and it is the Cambodian authorities keeping her like this. Despite New Hope offering her a house, her own people are stopping her from living in safety. This is the story of so many Cambodia people, yet there is literally nothing anyone can do except pay bribes, but will these bribes ever end?

The next house was much better, because the family living there had been sponsored. She actually had 4 walls and a roof, a place for blankets and she actually had a window, which is extremely luxury in these villages. The house was built of grass, but it was a safe environment for her 4 children, and a dry place to keep what food she had. It was amazing to see the difference between the two.

The final house was of my favourtie little boy called Ry Tem, who up until 3 weeks ago would not even smile, but now runs around with his little brother and is enjoying every minute of school. He is 6, he has a brother 3, a sister 9, and a sister 1. His mother and father both lived through the Khmer Rouge, and were brought up by their mothers after losing their fathers to the Pol Pot Regime. His father now fights on the border for $30 a month, $20 of which makes it home. He saw his best friend blown up just a few months ago, and works 6 months at a time away from his family, and one day may not return. The mother gets up at 6am every morning to pick spinach of the roadside before selling it for a few cents at the market. She lives on 15 kg of rice per month from the rice drop (which would last the average family 6 days max). They do have four walls but they have barely enough food to live, and unless sponsored the 9 year old would not be able to start school. After seeing their house, which is literally four walls and a roof made of grass, hearing their story, and spending so much time with the children I decided to sponsor them. They will be given rice and food every month, will have cash to spend and will be helped with their medical needs and educational needs, all for $35 per month.
Yesterday, I took the family some groceries and bought them all new clothes, and they were overwhelmed. I told them I was going to be their sponsors, and it was like they had won the lottery. I am just so glad I took the time out to visit them, and learn more about the people behind New Hope. Although to many, they are just people who are suffering in Cambodia, like all the others across the globe. To me there are part of one of the best experiences I will ever have, and are an important family who mean the world to me.
It is hard to put into words the impact being here has made, especially without wanting to sound too clichéd. I think people these days are desensitized to images of poverty, and people in need, I think you need to meet these people and have a personal connection to them, before you can even begin to understand their pain. And despite being here for 6 weeks, I cannot begin to understand, and do not claim to have all the answers or to know everything, however I can help one family, and I have helped individual children and that is all I could ever have hoped for.

www.justgiving.com/new-hope