Thursday 11 July 2013

New recruits and Spring News from Thailand

Looking for New Recruits in Kampot Province

Last week I joined Varony (Senior Manager at Harpswell), Rachana and Om Malis on the final stage of a 10 day trip across the cambodian countryside to interview 136 potential new Harpswell students.


It is a difficult job. There are only 19 places. Here are some pictures of the schools the students come from.  The students have a 15 minute interview and a 15 minute written test. Varony is now shortlisting.


Highlights this week:

1 Finding Wimbledon on the Star Sports Channel in the dorm. I stayed awake all night watching Murray.

2 The Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC).  Fascinating trials of senior Khmer Rouge officials.  Added bonus is that the Defence Counsel for one of those being prosecuted looks very much like Mr Darcy in the only true adaptation of Pride and Prejudice (produced by the BBC with Colin Firth of course).  Makes me want to sit there all day!

3 Taking the girls to see Phnom Penh Crown FC play its latest fixture at the Olympic Stadium.  Great crowd, roasted corn and pretty average football but thoroughly enjoyable.







4 The girls are amazing at hair braiding. Vechou needed a volunteer so I offered of course. She was amazing!  Photo below.




5  Running with Bopha. I went again this morning. We leave by 6am while its still cool and do laps of the road leading up to a beautiful Pagoda.


Por is FAMOUS!

Following on from Por's work with BBC Media Action to build a community hall in her province, another film crew have been in touch.  This time it was Spring News from Thailand and they came to the dorm!

Por is doing an incredible job to promote her project and share news about the life of people in her village. I even got interviewed. Watch this space. Eek.

Dinna in Burma

Dinna leaves at the end of the month for an exchange programme with Burmese, Thai and Cambodian students which aims to promote joint working between the three nations.  There are currently a number of border disputes between various parts of these countries and this project aims to alleviate some of the tension. It's a 2 DAY bus ride to Burma. Flights are too expensive.

Reaksa and Soriya in Japan

Reaksa and Soriya are waiting to see if they have secured a place on another exchange programme this time to Japan.  

Dormitory Leadership Teams

Busy week here in the dormitory. This was a meeting to vote for the new team leaders for each dormitory (which includes an overall head, a head of accounting and head of discipline).  All good experience.

 Rach x