My Phnom Penh Tour

---

Went to visit Phnom Penh and my placement yesterday (monday) and today. Yesterday was the most unbelievably hot iv ever been without a doubt!my t shirt was sticking to me, twas lovely!
I didnt get out of bed monday morning so missed my guided tour of phnom penh as Sophan my project coordinator didnt want to disturb me!sik guy. Instead at about half 1ish i had a 25minute tuk tuk drive to my placement. I met three new people that day and when i told them i was from Manchester they all knew where it was. "ohhh reallllyyy Manchester...Manchester United no??very popular". Each was pretty much word for word what the other said. When i told Sophan my dad could build a computer iv never seen someone get so excited about something like that before, "ohhhh reallllyy noo...realllyyy he must be very clever at school"...haha i laughed and explained he spent more time falling out of trees...he laughed for a while but not sure if he understood!?

On the way there the main thing that stood out other than the immense heat was the fact that wealth is reallly mixed...there would be a huge house like you'd see on hilltop in hale barns or gorsey lane, but cambodian style, and then a small shack on the opposite side. Rich and poor live like neighbours...its really weird, there's no seperation of wealth!

I got to my placement, New Future for Children Orphanage, and at first i didnt notice anything that strange...there were kids, volunteers, teachers and a security guard. The director wasnt there so second in charge took me round and recruited me as the new football coach as the qualified brazilian coach who had taughgt them everything they know and who they';d never lost a match under had left to go home...so no pressure!!!
It wasn't till i got shown around that the conditions the kids live in hit me!In countries like ours kids in orphanages have nice living conditions and beds..here they sleep on the floor or on a towel or a thin piece of soft material!There are flies and mosquitoes everywhere!...The classroom is not a classroom. Theres a table at the top of some stairs outside thegirls bedroom doors and then some little red chairs that young kids use when they have fake tea parties!nothing like i expected. There are about 29kids not 89 and alot aren't properley dressed. The food is cooked outside and there are literallly thousands of ants crawling around near where food is made!its disgusting. They do have flat screen computers monitors on the pplus side but i think they would probably prefer nicer sleeping conditions. They really seem to be very short of funds...theyve had to stop hiring a football pitch as they cant afford it and the kids are always to tired to perform in the city to raise money so that has stopped.
They all look happy though which is what i found hard to understand...they play instruments and football and invent their own games...i saw two girls playing a game that involved throwing a rubber up in the air and picking up as many pens as possible before u had to catch the rubber.
The conditions are dreadful.
The kids do have the opportunity tough to go to lessons at skilled schools that teach mechanics or beauty treatment for example so they have a special skill for when they are old enough to leave the orphanage. Along with the fact that it keeps them off the streets thats the only plus i can see...but to them its home so i suppose there extremely happy and they dont know any better like i do so as far as theyre concerned theres nothing to complain about.

Anyway away from the depressing stuff i made it out of bed this morning at went on a tour of phnom penh at about 9am. First of all i went to the Projects Abroad office and met a man called Simon Petro whose the director in Cambodia. He doesnt have a degree or proper qualifications but his english is better than mine and he describes things as abstract etc...i was well surprised. We chatted for ages about criminology etc n he seemed save.
After that i headed off on my tour of phnom penh which was really good.Went everywhere got stook in loads of traffic jams saw the aftermath of the crash and got stared at alot by people hu apparantly according to sophan wished their skin was white!haha
Pollution is reallly bad...people drive motos etc wearing doctors masks to protect their mouth and nose etc but in hospitals they wear no gloves or masks whilst operating. A volunteer told me a story about a woman hu was having sugery on her stomach and there was a power cut (which are of the norm here) and they simply all got their fones out and used their fone lights, stitched her back up and started again the next day when they had power!!westtt!
The kings palace is huge!!!!absolutely massive but barely protected!there were about 2guards with guns and thats about it but when u go to the houses of parliament u get a full body search and the place is surrounded with dudes with machine guns!
Alot of the time i was staring in awe at buildings and Sophan and some intern guy were just chatting in Khmer....its sooo different to england its really hard to get used to but everyone here is proud to live here.No one calls it cambodia they call it ''my country''. UNfortunately the tour was on a moving tuk tuk wich made it impossible to take fotos so im going to walk back after iv finished this...get bugged by moto drivers to get a lift,get stared at, maybe robbed and/or run over and hopefully take some fotos!and u never know i might remember to bring my cable with me next time!haha

muchos love
xxx

---

Comments

[Marge]

Hiya!
Sounds like you're having an amazing experience - look forward to seeing lots of photos - if you survive the trip back into Phnom Penh alone!! Makes me feel quite guilty looking at all the non-essential luxuries we all take for granted when the children haven't even got proper beds to sleep in. Look forward to next instalment - will send email with all news. xxx