Cometh the day

So the big day finally arrived.
Woke up....4 am
Got up.....4-45.
Went for regular morning walk 5am
Breakfast of bread, mango and banana, 6 am
Listened to BBC World Service
Had a shave and a shower (and not the other)..6-30
Arrived at Resource centre 7 am.

                                   

Was told that some teachers had already left although starting time was 7-30 am

I think they went for their breakfast

Eventually started after 8 am with 13 clients (a few less than expected) and 3 kids who came with their parent.

What a strange experience not knowing the language , so most of the morning I didn't know what they were saying but they were childlike in their enthusiasm to participate and that was great.

Most of them would not have done any practical work at any stage of their education careers.

I got some pics but my battery wasn' t up to the job so hopefully I will have more at a later stage.


All teachers in Cambodia are young (Kymer Rouge killed most of the previous generation of teachers) and given the low salaries teachers get out of teaching as quickly as possible and get into government admin jobs.

Yet I was taken by surprise by the age of some of them such as the one holding the pink balloon.

It's hard to get away from top English soccer teams as you can see below

At 9-15 we had our break where VSO (me) bought them all a bottle of water and a bread with meat and veg roll. !6 rolls just cost $12 from a mobile food stall attached to the ubiquitous Honda Dream.

Did a game to get them to rank themselves by height as a prelude to asking them to test if taller people are heavier people. 

And here I am giving the best guess a prize of circular playing cards (cards are very popular in Cambodia)

Even though it was all over by 11-30 I was physically wrecked. But We're off the mark. And often it takes volunteers to get anywhere so I'm relieved to have broken the ice (ice..what's dat).

At the end they signed the attendance record and then they all got $ 0.75 towards petrol money irrespective of whether they travelled or not. Next week they will also get $4 for attending a full day workshop. Not bad given that salaries range from only $ 50 to $150 a month. (a litre of petrol costs $ 1.25)