SERVICE LEARNING TRIP IN CAMBODIA
The Cambodia Service Learning Trip opened my eyes to many different aspects of learning and volunteering. The whole well-organized flow of the program and workshops held helped me learn much about the communication of ideas, plans, and objectives, while the actual week of service in Cambodia made me realize more about myself and those around me, both near and far. In the technical perspective, I learned from the pre-trip workshops to be more structured and more objective in tackling an issue. I do this now by always setting the foundation of my goal and asking myself the simple yet essential question, “What is the objective?” as echoed from Daniel Lung. I have volunteered to be a Person In Charge of a gathering in the REDbird community, and there, I can apply this format of planning by paying more attention to the objective of the social event, which is to create closer relationships among our peers, and also by aligning the different details of the event to the objective.
Thorough planning was also a crucial factor to the success of the trip. We had diversity in our team, and by being open to different perspectives, we were able to thoroughly plan our teaching material for the Cambodian children. Throughout our brainstorming, I discovered more about the method of learning. Because of the language barrier between my team and the Cambodian children, we had to truly focus on giving clear definitions and clearly delivering our key concepts to the children, and by doing this, I became more keen at looking for the core concept in given messages. Additionally, we had to plan for the uncertainties, possibilities, and numerous outcomes. After careful analysis of the situation, planning ahead with backup plans in case the English proficiency of the children was not sufficient clearly was important to making the most of the time we had in Cambodia. We had to be flexible, as well, in handling situations to suit all the participants’ needs by making decisions on the spot during the teachings itself. From the progress of the trip, my team was able to make improvement out of chaos. Our first teaching session was not the most effective, but it taught us a lot about our expectations and helped us learn from experience to be flexible to the situation. The objective of an activity, the best and worst case scenarios, and flexibility to the uncertainties are all valuable details to consider in my own future pursuits.
In a personal aspect, learning about the history of Cambodia, its rise and fall, the suffering of the people there, and the situation of the children incites a deep, solemn reflection and change to my own life. Hearing about the history of Cambodia in a classroom does not suffice to give a clear understanding of the impact of the dreadful history. Seeing the many wide eyes in the pictures of those lost in time at the S-21 complex gives me a surreal, heavy feeling and really stimulates a kind of guilt and empathy, which humbles me and makes me all the more human. Seeing the impact of poverty on the children, the lack of nutrition in their food, and the fewer opportunities to pursue a good career also provokes a different perspective on life. Despite all of this, you might see more smiles in a remote village in Cambodia than in a busy populated city. The gratefulness and willingness of the children to receive help and to simply exchange smiles exemplifies the hopefulness of the children there. The children are content with what they have. They are more content with what they have than most people are who are better off. From my experience in CCF5 and Wat Opot, I took a moment to step back and appreciate the playfulness and joyfulness of the children and reflect on my own life. By doing this I become more grateful of the gifts I have and I learn not to take these for granted. Just as it is in my team’s lecture, I also take the moment to thank those who have helped me and gifted me and show my appreciation for them and their work. I also learnt from the trip what it really means to connect. I thought deeply and actively about the profound question from Daniel Lung, “what can I do to make the most of this trip?” At first I believed I just had to play my role in the teachings, then go home, and that would be all. However, from the team time sharings I realized I could go further than that. I understood, from the emotions in the team time sharings, that I can make deeper personal relationships with the groups of people I facilitate by being more involved and talking to them about things farther out of the scope of our teachings, their daily life, their feelings, and their aspirations. This really opened my eyes to the sincere bonds I could make with the people around me especially those even closer to me as in my own team. Even language barriers could be overcome, especially those involving the kids in Who Will Village. By paying more attention to body language, patting their backs and waving my arms in an inviting and friendly manner, I was able to communicate and make close friends that stuck with me throughout the hot sunny day. By paying attention to this and focusing on emotionally empowering the children with my support, I was able to cherish the time I had in Cambodia and make meaningful memories there as well.
One of the most memorable moments I recall involves a gift I received from the little boy I took care of in the one day my team spent at the rural village of Wat Opot. It is a small metal ring. It is so small that it does not really fit well even to my pinky finger. It looked larger in his hands, but in mine it was small. Perhaps this just shows how much of an elder brother I might have seemed to be to him at that time. The boy’s name is Jomran. At first, he was not the kid I was taking care of, but later on when he found me. He stuck to me. That showed me his quality of dependence and this helped me want to take more care of him. When we were making a kaleidoscope together. He was very eager to build it, and I was really touched when he wanted to make one for me too. He had that mindset of giving others a chance and sharing, which is something I wish to fully adopt without hesitation as well. Later on, while everyone was still making the kaleidoscope, he went outside, and after a while I followed. There, I saw him. He was sitting on a stone bench alone, placing ever the more stickers on his kaleidoscope. At that time he was really quiet, and in contrast to how playful, loud, and cheerful he was during other activities, that was when I realized how lonely he might be at times, especially because of only having the people at Wat Opot to look up to. I sat beside him and helped him get the stickers out to place them on his new toy. At that moment, I saw the quality of independence in him, and that brought me a sense of hopefulness.
The trip to Cambodia gave me better insight to volunteering work, as well as the function and positive impact of NGOs - that they give hope and opportunities to the children that they might otherwise not have. Coming from a developing country, I have always paid attention to donating my old articles and toys, but the service learning trip to Cambodia has definitely inspired me to do more charity and volunteer work.
