Swimming

Sua-sdey, sok sab baay dtee? Hello, how are you doing?

We had a great time on Saturday.  Juliet and I took 5 students from each dorm swimming. Hilarious.  Two of the girls in my group couldn't swim so we had great fun teaching them.  No one drowned thank goodness.  We all wore t-shirts and shorts for modesty which doesn't help when you are trying to swim!

Highlights last few days:

- I have found a driving range.  Picture below. Jon, Chris and Miki will be happy :)

- Pajamas as outer wear. Everyone is doing it. You heard it here first.

- They have a "2,500 rial shop". Everything is 2,500 rials (unsurprisingly). Same as the pound shop. Amazing how far a concept can spread.

- I thought it might be about time to top up my pay as you go Nokia yesterday but I had only used $1.20 over the past TWO WEEKS.  

- Being mistaken for Jennifer Lawrence on the red carpet in in Stylist Magazine. Awesome.  Hello my new BF.

- Handwashing your clothes is surprisingly therapeutic. Benefits include being able to spot which clothes have dye that runs, you are less inclined to spill food down yourself in the first place and it's not nearly as difficult as you think.  Some of the girls think it is much better than a washing machine...!

Leadership update:

Kimsreang and Sopanhchakpor won a national competition run by the BBC for funding (£2,500) for a project of their choice. They are currently filming in their province.

Satya won a national public speaking competition. The prize is a trip to London this July!

Siekmouy and Mala have been enjoying our individual listening and reading sessions.  Listening involves working out and writing down the lyrics to Taylor Swift songs :)

I helped Varony (Manager of TT dorm) interview six potential new English teachers on Saturday.  We have one vacancy at TT dorm and two at BT Dorm.  It emphasized to me how important sessions on "pre interview preparation" and "ethics in the work place" are for the girls.  Some of the candidates for the English teaching position at Harpswell had no idea what The Harpswell Foundation actually did.

Vechou is doing really well on her grammar sessions with me each week. I got stuck at one point because I didn't know why something was the correct answer, I just knew it was correct!

One of the Cambodia Daily discussion groups this week looked at the collaboration between the Thailand and Cambodia to create four new border check points (which is progress following on from the incident last year where 46 Cambodians were shot by Thai military for working in Thailand without visas).

The visit from the US Ambassador, William Todd, was very interesting. He has committed to  being involved with Harpswell and visiting the students each month.

Harpswell has just formed an alliance with the Cambodian Womens Entrepreneur Association. It currently has 150 members and will create even more opportunities for the girl to find placements and permanent jobs on leaving Harpswell.

I am taking 8 students to the Graduate Women of Cambodia event on Tuesday morning.  It is an opportunity to network with other graduates and businesses and have the opportunity to attend interesting lectures and workshops. It is an affiliate of the International Federation of University Women. http://www.ifuw.org/

Video

If you only watch one video this week, watch this one.

New Video: The Harpswell Story

http://www.harpswellfoundation.org/center/index.html
  

Bopha (whose aunty very kindly made my nails look amazing) is the niece of Vesna who is the inspiration for The Harpswell Foundation.

We are still taking donations via the Donate Page on the blog if you would like to help them at all and haven't already done so.  

Ciao for now.

Tomb Raiders

We're just back from the Harpswell annual weekend away to Siam Riep.  

All 80 girls on two buses, with 5 staff (which includes me somehow), 7 hours each way (with numerous toilet/snack stops), lots of karaoke, crisps, coca cola, insect snacks (comprising crickets, cockroaches, beetles and SPIDERS - no I didn't eat them) and moving about to adjust fans and aircon. Everyone was so excited. Lots of them had never been before.

It was a fantastic trip, one of the services stops was here. Utterly beautiful.

We visited three temples, Angor Wat, Ta Prom (which is famous for Angelina Jolie in Tomb Raider) and a third temple which I think was called Bayon....sure someone will correct me.

Shoes

Before we left Phnom Penh, the director of Harpswell, Alan, asked me to make sure that all the girls had sturdy shoes for walking and climbing around the temples.  I sent a group email to tell everyone and said to come find me if there were problems. 

23 out of the 46 students came to find me to say that they didn't have any form of walking shoe, trainers or plimsoles. One of the girl's only pair of shoes were the plastic flip flops she was wearing.  It totally floored me.  I subsequently spent the majority of Friday at the market with a small group of the students (and a long list of shoe sizes) and spent $206 on 23 pairs of trainers and socks.  Works out at $8.90 per student.  

When we got back, we dished out the new shoes to those that needed them. They were ever so grateful.  You could really see it in the faces and by what they said in thanks. Two of the girls were overwhelmed.  I completely lost it at that point and shooed them out of my room and sobbed.



Highlights of the last week include:

1  A misunderstanding about "fish cheese" (a Cambodian delicacy which they all eat).  It is not cheese. It is dried, salted fish which is yummy but definitely not cheese and more like salted anchovies.

2  Boyfriend/girlfriend "play play" means pretend boyfriend and girlfriend.  Alternative example being "I really like eating insects play play".

3   Numkong are wonderful doughnuts with palm sugar melted over the top with sesame seeds. Served at the markets in the morning (from 5am).

4  "Free Steam" - a term used a lot at the temples and means feeling very hot. So hot that you might be mistaken for being in a sauna. But you are outside. Which is free.

5  Fixing the electricity switchboard when my adaptor flew out of the plug socket.

6  Leaving the window open when it rains (we are in monsoon season so it soaked the mattress). Well done Rach.

7  Riding SIDESADDLE on the back of a moto while holding two bags, a coffee (they have a very cool place called Browns) and a large bunch of flowers for the dormitory. I am amazing.


Thank you

To all those who gave so generously to the fundraising pot.  In addition to the new trainers and socks, we have been able to help the girls and Harpswell with the following:

1  A much needed film projector and tablet.  

Varony (Senior Manager at The Harpswell Foundation) is responsible for traveling to and interviewing approximately 200 applicants from provinces all across Cambodia to fill 19 places next year. As well as trying to identify the brightest students, she has to ensure that the students are ready and capable of living and thriving at one of the two Harpswell dormitories.  There are between 34 and 46 girls in each dorm and they live in close quarters with each other.  Whilst luxurious by Cambodian standards, a lot of them are still very far from home and do not have family nearby or much financial support to help them integrate into their new environment in Phnom Penh. 

Varony also has to communicate to the families of the girls that this is a real and legitimate opportunity for them.  There are numerous horror stories of intelligent girls being convinced to leave home and move to Phnom Penh for the promise of education and a job, only to find that they are sold into a brothel or other forms of degrading treatment. 

The tablet enables Varony to show the families and the potential students a video about The Harpswell Foundation and their incredible work.

2  Two shiny new fridges in the TT Dorm which the girls are all using and really appreciate.  They love milk! 

3  A large number of educational books.

Whilst there is a small library, the girl are studying serious topics at university including  economics, pharmacology, agriculture, chemistry, midwifery, Khmer literature, mathematics, media management, food technology and chemical engineering, engineering, architecture and banking and finance.   The universities are not well resourced and the internet will only tell you so much. I put up a notice asking if they needed any books for pleasure or work and within a few days had a full list of 21 books, all of which related directly to their studies. They couldn't believe we were willing to get them the resources they needed and we're so pleased.  

4  Plae Pakaa - Cambodian Living Arts

We are also taking all 80 girls to their choice of theatre production at The National Museum as part of their Cambodian cultural education.  It is all very well having incredibly bright students but they need to understand about their culture.  I negotiated a price of $260 for all 80 students and 4 staff to attend the performance (it is usually $10 for tourists).

5 Epic in 3D

More just about having some fun.  Vast majority do not have any money to do activities outside of the dormitory which can be tough when you work eat and sleep there all day and night every day of the week.  Again some of them explained that they had never even been to the cinema, let alone one in 3D!!! Epic was a wonderful story of adventure.  Well done Disney.

As you can imagine, I receive numerous emails, texts and facebook messages telling me how grateful they all are for our generosity and support.

Work 

Just to give you an idea.  In addition to the job skills unit (including CV cover letters, interviews and ethics in the workplace) and leading Cambodia Daily discussions, I have helped:

Nat and Soriya with English reading (thank you BBC News website) and preparing for job interviews and applications

Sreypov reviewing her Cambodia Life Blog

Sodalin with English listening (Jane Austen Persuasion)..I had to stop after an hour so she could finish her exam prep but she didn't want to stop!

Vatey with her application to become an eco-leader as part of a short internship in Malaysia with an NGO

Vechou with English grammar exercises downloaded from IELTS/TOEFL

I had to hold this little puppy dog at Angkor Wat.  The soft fuzzy ball far outweighed any risk of rabies.

Tomorrow...

...is a big day.  I am meeting the US ambassador at 9.30am,  He is visiting the TT Dormitory and intends to speak to some of the students about their lives before Harpswell and what they intend to afterwards.  

Salin (chemistry undergraduate at Royal University of Phnom Penh) has booked me in for a session from 730am to 8am to go through the short speech which she plans to give to the ambassador.  

I am helping Lina (food tech and chemical engineering) between 8am and 9am with her online visa application for post graduate study in the USA next year.  

After the ambassador's visit I will be helping the students prepare 6 short videos in response to questions posed by students at Missouri University about the Harpswell daily life and experience of studying in a  developing country.  It is part of a programme called The Cambodia Connection which aims to educate students about (and for them to share) their very different expectations and experiences of life and education. 

From 8.45pm to 9.45pm I will be running a Cambodia Daily Newspaper discussion group. Last week's topics included the Phnom Penh land grabbing and associated protests (occurring in three central zones within Phnom Penh) and the reasons for Japan's recent financial support of Burma.  The girls get points for contributing towards the discussion and debate...so I basically "encourage" (i.e. make) them all say something and then back up their reason for saying something.  Two of the girls have, independently of each other, said how much they enjoy the way I run this class and that it pushes people to think about why they might ay something or have a point of view.

Have a really good week everyone.  Next update in a few days.

I'm here!

It's been emotional.  

My first night was spent in a dizzy haze of sweat.  There is no aircon or running water for part of the day.  Picture of my bathroom below...If I'm really honest I completely freaked out when I first got here but thankfully Weeze is only in HK and picked up on wassap.  It all felt very far away from London.

What's weird is that although I'm only on day 2 I now feel so much more at ease here.  The shower isn't nearly as daunting (the cold water buckets are a welcome relief to the heat), I managed to sleep with a cover and my PJs last night and I've eaten Khmer lunch and dinner with the girls without any repercussions (it's delicious food). 

Om Malis, the house mum, brought me mini bananas and the girls are so friendly and tonnes of fun. I'm desperately trying to remember everyone's names, there are 46 girls in TT dorm. 

They all work really hard.  I was having a conversation about going to the cinema this Saturday (which proved difficult on two grounds, the first because they didn't understand the word for cinema, not ever having been to one before, and secondly because they have classes well into the evening).  I was tutoring a couple of girls at 10pm last night, one just wanted to talk in English and the other wanted me to review a grammar lesson plan she had prepared.  

I had a lovely lunch with Juliet in BT dorm (who also arrived on Wednesday).  We had arranged on email to meet on the corner of Street 111 and Street 182 at Orosay Market, all very organised we thought.  When I got there I realised how ridiculous a plan it was.  The place was packed with motos, tuk tuks, shops, street vendors and everyone's goods all over the pavement busy will shoppers.  I saw a blonde girl on the opposite side of the road and after a nervous glance we almost fell into each others arms.  

Had my first experience of monsoon last night. The sky goes really dark, the rain chucks it down and there's lots of crashing, thunder and lighting. It clears up as quickly as it arrives and only lasted 20 minutes. 

I'm off to prepare my first Cambodia Daily Discussion Group, we'll be discussing Japan's recent support of Burma.  

Inji Won

Well done to Inji Maher who won the Cupcake Competition with Crumbs Couture.  She said she never wins anything so now she has.

Harpswell Foundation is also now arranging for new fridges to be installed in both dormitories in Phnom Penh thanks to the kind contributions which we have raised and their own funding.

The Careers Skills Unit which I will now be leading over June and July for the 19 third year students will cover how to send professional emails, draft cover letters and CVs, interview preparation, interview skills and what to expect in the work place.  The "what to expect in the work place" session will include discussion on the basic principles of employment contracts, job descriptions, hours of work, sick and holiday leave, complaints, equality/discrimination and salary discussions.   

There will be national elections in Cambodia on 28 July 2013. It will be really interesting to follow what happens and how it works.

I fly Monday. How exciting. 
  

Cupcakes

Crumbs Couture is kindly offering you and a friend the opportunity to win a one day cupcake workshop at their cake parlour and kitchen at Park Royal near Westfield Shopping Centre, London. 

You will be able to learn how to bake different types of sponges, layer cakes, make the intricate fondant decorations, pipe the butter cream icing and watch orders being processed by the professionals! If you want to focus on a particular area of the cupcake business they will tailor the day to your specific requirements so far as possible.

To enter the raffle, just click on the Donate tab above and donate a minimum of £5 between now and 5pm on Wednesday 22 May 2013.
 

The day usually costs £250 per person.The winner will be selected at random, notified by email and announced on The Cambodia Project blog on 23 May 2013
All donations go towards The Harpswell Foundation and my work with them this summer

Please feel free to share this with your friends and family

It's a fantastic prize and very generous of Crumbs Couture (thank you so much guys).

 

As seen in Vogue, Glamour, TimeOut and Conde Nast Brides Magazines

Clients including Hermes, Mulberrry, Rita Ora, The Saturdays, Linklaters and Herbert Smith

www.cupcakeslondon.com

Final Countdown

Only two weeks to go!

Remy (the Leadership Resident in TT Dorm) has just finished a series of nutrition classes with the 19 Third Year students. 

 

Its been a big part of the programme this year and helps prepare the students for living on their own once they secure jobs and leave the dormitory.

Remy also mentioned this week that she's been enjoying lovely morning bicycle rides around Phnom Penh with some of the students.  You get to see different parts of the city which sounds great.      Hopefully no lycra required...eek.

Northwest Missouri State University has also been in touch.  They want to set up a project where small groups of students in Phnom Penh and Missouri make and share short videos with each other about life, food, culture and experiences of education.   The aim is to broaden both sets of students' awareness of every day life in another country, improve confidence with English speaking and have a bit of fun putting the movies together. Some of the students in Missouri will be the first in their families to have gone to university may well have similar experiences to share.  My friends Steph and Jo know all about movies and documentaries. I'll definitely be emailing them for help.  ...maybe we'll even be able to have a wrap party after the first "series".  

By the way, we've raised an enormous £4,040. It means we may even reach the original £5,000 target by the time I leave. Thank you so much everyone.

 

Sunny Spring Hike (and a quest for fridges)

 

Thank you so much to all the ladies (as well as the two honorary boys and three dogs) who came on the Spring Hike this Saturday!  

The weather at The Devil's Punchbowl, Hindhead was glorious and everyone survived the first leg of 2.8 miles around the yellow route.  We stopped for lunch (kindly provided by the National Trust café). Those that were up for it then carried on to complete the second leg, a 3.1m walk along the red route through the forest.

 

We raised over £500 on the day for The Harpswell Foundation and my work there this summer which is an enormous amount and brings the total up to £2,200 (with a few more donations still on the way!). 

 

If you have not yet donated and would like to just click on the DONATE HERE button below (it's really easy and takes no time at all):

 

 

  Donate Here now

 

 

 More pictures of the walk are on the Gallery Page.

 

Fridges - Urgently Needed

 

The current Leadership Resident in the BT Dorm (Kristen) has been in touch today.  

 

Here's what she said:

The two dorms only have "…one small mini fridge which makes it nearly impossible for all the food that we eat to stay fresh, resulting in the girls and LR's getting sick pretty often. I think a second mini fridge for both dorms would be a huge help! This has been a problem at Harpswell for a few years, as I have learned from previous LR's..."

 

Can't believe that no one has thought to mention it already.  One mini fridge for 40 people? Makes being allocated a specific shelf at uni look luxurious (and ours were really grotty).  If transport wasn't an issue I'd seriously consider taking my fridge from home.  It's only really used for coffee and the odd bag of salad (which goes off anyway)...Poor Jon. He's going to come home one day and find I've given everything away. 

 

I've told Kristen we'll fix it AND that we can do better than a couple of extra mini fridges.  Soo the mission for this week is to find out where you buy two large fridges in Phnom Penh (or buy and ship from London).  If anyone has any ideas that would fantastic. I may need to sort it out when I get there next month.  I know Raffles Hotel Le Royal, Phnom Penh must have one (they managed cappuccinos and pancakes without difficulty)...  

 

If anyone would like to donate money specifically towards the cost of a fridge (or two) then please do donate via the DONATE HERE button above or on the main page of the blog.  Write "fridge money" in the description and I'll make sure it goes towards the cost!

The Weekly Programme

I now have a pretty good idea of what my average week will look like which is great.  Here goes...

Monday:

10am to 3pm Class and Mentoring Preparation (for me!).  Lunch at the dormitory with the girls (they come back from university to the dormitory each day for food because the budget is so low that it is more cost effective for them to eat together) 

3pm to 9pm Individual Mentoring (this will involve grammar workshops, CV writing, helping with coursework, assisting with applications for work placements and jobs, teaching basic IT skills (some can't use a computer when they first arrive), helping them with personal issues and concerns (they are all living a very long way away from home without family or friends other than those at The Harpswell Foundation), connecting the girls with mentors in the UK, talking to them about my experiences about working in a city law firm, how to work in a team, helping them with preparation for international English qualifications and talking to them about the concept of working to help others)

9pm to 11pm Intermediate English Lessons (2 classes of 1 hour each)

Tuesday:

10am to 3pm Preparation and Lunch 

3pm to 9pm Individual Mentoring

9pm to 11pm Intermediate English Lessons (2 classes of 1 hour each) 

Wednesday:

10am to 3pm Preparation and Lunch

3pm to 9pm Individual Mentoring

9pm to 10pm Intermediate English Lesson (1 class of 1 hour)

10pm to 11pm Cambodian Daily Discussion (which involves the class of 36 girls reviewing, analysing and discussing issues raised in a minmum of two articles written in The Cambodia Daily newspaper). The aim of these sessions is to develop their critical thinking, team work, analytical skills, develop presentation skills and build confidence with public speaking.  

Thursday:

10am to 3pm Preparation and Lunch
 
3pm to 9pm Individual Mentoring

9pm to 10pm Cambodian Daily Discussion

 Friday:

10am to 3pm Preparation and Lunch

3pm to 9pm Individual Mentoring

9pm to 11pm Movie Night!! I will be making the popcorn.  My aim is to show a film with some sort of positive female role model and allow time for a short discussion afterwards.  Suggestions so far include Erin Brockovich, all the Jane Austins, Matilda, Chocolat, Legally Blonde, Sister Act, The Queen, Coco Before Chanel, The Iron Lady.  Not sure about First Wives Club although it is very funny...

Saturday: Day off or time for excursions with the girls.

Sunday: Day off with a Leadership Seminar for all 80 girls (every other Sunday in the TT Dorm). It's in Khmer so I don't need to go to this.

EXTRA CURRICULAR

As and when I have a moment, I plan to squeeeeeze in the following:

Hosting a networking drinks/lunch with local businesses at Raffles
Organising new work placements
Connecting Harpswell with UK Trade and Investment Office in PP (opened 2013)
Connecting Harpswell with The Cambodia Business Forum
Working with The Cambodian Daily to see if we can arrange for the girls to contribute
Suit shopping (or formal wear) is going to be necessary if the girls are going to have a chance of getting decent jobs. They can't wear school uniform!
Looking at move on accommodation opportunities for once they graduate

JUST FOR FUN

In my view this is important. It looks like the girls work solidly for pretty much the entire week from waking to sleeping (lights out is between 11pm and 6am). It is important to be able to unwind and relax if you are going to be working hard long term.  Something which I have learnt from experience. Current plans as follows:

Picnics along the river - you can hire mats and buy food from street vendors
Cambodian Living Arts - There are shows every other night of Cambodian dancing, singing and other arts
Cambodia Kick Boxing - Bit scary and I'm not sure if it's a boys only event but it's one of the nation's favourite sports and is on every Saturday night
Coffee or Afternoon Tea - There are a couple of places and Costa has just opened up.  the girls won't have any money for these types of things.
Visits to the Countryside to meet the girls families and take them back.

So much to do and so little time. Can't wait to get started.  The trip starts in 5 weeks.

If anyone has any ideas or experiences from Phnom Penh which they would like to share or suggest, do get in contact.

The Handover

Kristen currently works in the South dorm and will be handing over to me in May.  We'll get two weeks to hang out together before she goes back to the USA and I'm left on my own (eek!!) so I will need to make sure she tells me everything she's learnt... 

...important things like the fact that there is a Khmer massage place right next to the dormitory (cheap and not as painful as Chinese massage apparently) and Costa coffee has just opened its first branch in Cambodia, yippee.

Here's a picture of the grand opening...

 

International Women's Day

Kristen recently held a movie night for International Women's Day (she showed a film called Frida) and all the girls enjoyed it. She's also run creative writing classes and and will be starting a politics and geography unit shortly.  Better brush up on geography??! 

Other Leadership Residents have helped the girls put together a Khmer cook book  and even performances of Shakespeare (which helps with public speaking and presentation skills). Not sure I'm any good at any of that.  Might have to read the cook book so I know what to do when I get to the food market though.

One Leadership Resident raised enough money to put together a library in each dormitory, complete with a catalogue system which sounds pretty amazing.

Here's a picture from the rally in Phnom Penh on International Women's Day.

Leadership Seminars
 

Two Sundays a month, there is a Leadership Seminar in the Teuk Thla dorm, where all 80 students from both dorms get together. The purpose of the Leadership Seminar is to talk about profiles of great women leaders of the past, the qualities that make a great leader, the special challenges that women have and the history of Cambodia.  It's in Khmer so the girls can follow it (I think we have Sunday off).
 

Facilities at the dormitory

There is a computer room where I will teach (Kristen says it's nice and big) with about 8 computers, bookshelves, couches, a white board and a pretty big flatscreen TV with a DVD player.  It sounds like a really good base for working individually with the girls and as a group.   

School's out

During the period between 1975-1979, the Khmer Rouge killed approximately 2 million people.  

A quarter of the population at the time.  That means 1 in 4 people...people who, if my age in 1979, would now be only 65 years old.  It was so recent.

Tuol Sleng 
This picture is taken from an ordinary school in Phnom Penh which Jon and I saw 3 months ago in January. The school was turned into a prison and torture centre by the Khmer Rouge and is now a museum. 

When the Vietnamese broke into the prison towards the end of the Khmer Rouge reign they found someone tied to this exact bed, in this exact room. Nothing has been moved. The item hanging on the left wall in the above photo is a blown up photograph showing the person the Vietnamese found in this exact room when they entered. It's gruesome.

No need for packed lunch

The Khmer Rouge specifically targeted and killed almost 90% of the educated population.  That means anyone that went to school (at primary school, secondary school or university), teachers, doctors, university professors, lawyers, architects, engineers.

It means an entire nation now struggles to learn the skills necessary to develop infrastructure like roads and bridges, establish sewerage and drainage systems, combat disease, stimulate business, build and provide affordable housing or protect its environment.  

The result distinguishes Cambodia from almost all modern countries. The Khmer Rouge destroyed the medical, legal and economic infrastructure of the country and traumatised those left behind. Cambodia has not recovered from that destruction.


By educating and empowering the brightest young women in Cambodia, there is a real chance that they will be able stimulate growth and development across the entire country.  



PS They really do drive motos like this. 

Houng and Sithat

Kristen is handing over the South dorm to me in May.  She's given me very good tips on what to expect like  "pack all the soap or lotion you will need during your time here as it is very hard to find soap or lotion that isn't a whitening or skin bleaching product."  Useful to know!

Kristen has also told me who I will be living with!  They will be two girls called Houng and Sithat.  Sithat is a 4th year law major (and I understand very busy with school and volunteering).  Sithat will be graduating and moving out of Harpswell in August and talks lots about getting a flat in the city and a job. So I will definitely need to help her with job applications, writing cover letters and editing her CV. Houng is a 2nd year International Relations major and is very interested in world affairs and journalism. Kristen says she is sometimes very loud and likes to sing...sounds like they are great fun!

Just realised I will be missing Royal Ascot in June this year.   Maybe I should organise Ladies Day in Phnom Penh (without the gambling but with hats and lots of dressing up!)


This was last years Ascot outfit.

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