Adventurous Living. Responsible Giving.
August in Chanleas Dai
One month on from the August trip to Chanleas Dai and the memories are still as fresh as ever - although thankfully the mosquito bites have now healed!
We were a small group of volunteers – four women in total, accompanied by two fabulous staff from PEPY – Katy and Rithy.
Our challenge was to learn about development work in Cambodia and to renovate three classrooms at the Chanleas Dai primary school. It was a big job. The classrooms are huge, very dirty, and in a state of poor repair. However, with the help of many teachers, and even more pupils, we set to work sanding, plastering, sweeping, painting and cleaning. The end result saw a total transformation of the classrooms from dull and uninviting to warm and welcoming havens of education.
As school was closed for the rainy season break, we stayed on-site, in a stilted wooden house, with limited electricity and some rather unique sanitation facilities. Pumping water up to the header tank for the shower each day proved better than any gym workout! But despite the house's limitations it was a lovely home and one we all appreciated.
The open area below our house accommodated two goats, numerous stray dogs, chicken and ducks, while the attic above our heads was home to at least one rather large and noisy rat. We certainly got close to nature!
Our daily routine saw us waking with the birds and taking an early breakfast of bread and jam. By 6.30am a band of little helpers would have gathered ready to get busy with a paintbrush.
The days passed so quickly. The teachers and pupils were a lot of fun to work with, and with the help of an ipod or two in the school yard, we made light work of the renovation.
We’d work through until 5pm, have a quick (and cold) shower, before a dinner of rice or noodles (Yum!). Night would descend by 7.30pm and we would often be in bed by 8.30pm – exhausted but proud of our day’s achievements.
We got through the renovations at a breakneck speed, thanks to all our little helpers, which left us with time to join the community’s English class on the last night of our stay in the village.
After that, the whole community came out for a movie night, and we hunkered down for a finale of Tom and Jerry, projected onto the school wall, the evening awash with many little voices laughing at the cat and mouse antics. Some things truly are universal in their language.
The community of Chanleas Dai welcomed us with open arms and truly made us feel like we belonged. The work we did gave a new lease of life to the school and provided a much improved environment for the children and teachers of Chanleas Dai.
More importantly, the money we raised is being ploughed back into more substantial educational programmes, such as literacy camps, funding school libraries, bike to school programmes and the ‘One Laptop Per Child’ initiative.
Many thanks to all of you for your donations and your support! I couldn’t have got through my adventure without all the encouragement that came from my family and friends and I know that the children of Chanleas Dai truly appreciate every investment made in their education.
We were a small group of volunteers – four women in total, accompanied by two fabulous staff from PEPY – Katy and Rithy.
Our challenge was to learn about development work in Cambodia and to renovate three classrooms at the Chanleas Dai primary school. It was a big job. The classrooms are huge, very dirty, and in a state of poor repair. However, with the help of many teachers, and even more pupils, we set to work sanding, plastering, sweeping, painting and cleaning. The end result saw a total transformation of the classrooms from dull and uninviting to warm and welcoming havens of education.
As school was closed for the rainy season break, we stayed on-site, in a stilted wooden house, with limited electricity and some rather unique sanitation facilities. Pumping water up to the header tank for the shower each day proved better than any gym workout! But despite the house's limitations it was a lovely home and one we all appreciated.
The open area below our house accommodated two goats, numerous stray dogs, chicken and ducks, while the attic above our heads was home to at least one rather large and noisy rat. We certainly got close to nature!
Our daily routine saw us waking with the birds and taking an early breakfast of bread and jam. By 6.30am a band of little helpers would have gathered ready to get busy with a paintbrush.
The days passed so quickly. The teachers and pupils were a lot of fun to work with, and with the help of an ipod or two in the school yard, we made light work of the renovation.
We’d work through until 5pm, have a quick (and cold) shower, before a dinner of rice or noodles (Yum!). Night would descend by 7.30pm and we would often be in bed by 8.30pm – exhausted but proud of our day’s achievements.
We got through the renovations at a breakneck speed, thanks to all our little helpers, which left us with time to join the community’s English class on the last night of our stay in the village.
After that, the whole community came out for a movie night, and we hunkered down for a finale of Tom and Jerry, projected onto the school wall, the evening awash with many little voices laughing at the cat and mouse antics. Some things truly are universal in their language.
The community of Chanleas Dai welcomed us with open arms and truly made us feel like we belonged. The work we did gave a new lease of life to the school and provided a much improved environment for the children and teachers of Chanleas Dai.
More importantly, the money we raised is being ploughed back into more substantial educational programmes, such as literacy camps, funding school libraries, bike to school programmes and the ‘One Laptop Per Child’ initiative.
Many thanks to all of you for your donations and your support! I couldn’t have got through my adventure without all the encouragement that came from my family and friends and I know that the children of Chanleas Dai truly appreciate every investment made in their education.
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