We began our fourteenth day of the trip with an early start, quickly dressing and downing our buffet breakfast. A short bus trip took us past beautiful rice paddies and villages, until our arrival at the Tonle Sap lake. We boarded a colourful wooden boat, which chugged through the massive lake, revealing a whole community of floating houses, schools, a church, and even a police station. The houses on stilts provided for 750 families, whose main sources of income were fishing in the wet season and agriculture in the dry season. After experiencing these water villages we headed out to the main section of the lake. At first we thought it was the ocean! Since the lake connects to 6 major rivers in Cambodia, the expansive waters reached the edge of the horizon. We found it hard to believe that in the dry season the water level reduced to only a few centimetres. During the boat trip back to our starting spot, we began to understand the way of life on the lake. We could see the methods people utilised to get fish out of the nets and also the type of boats they used to travel around the lake. All in all it was a very interesting journey and also gave us a greater appreciation of the impact that unchecked development can have on an eco-system.
Our second part of the day was a stop at the orphanage, Kampuchea house. We grasped new knowledge of the lives of orphans through a speech performed by one of the students who lived at the orphanage and had graduated from school and had proceeded to become a third year medical student. We heard about many other success stories from orphans who had been nurtured there, from talented chefs, to original jewellery designers. Soon we were set free to mingle with the kids! We all immediately got involved with activities and began to develop connections to the children. We played universal games such as soccer as well as discovering new games, like hackey sack with a shuttlecock. It was such great fun to just play games and put a smile on everyone’s faces. We were shown that our fundraising money was put to good use in order to buy school books, backpacks and pencils. It was life changing to experience their lifestyle as well as knowing that we had contributed to make it better.
We arrived at the school approximately 45 minutes after saying goodbye to the gorgeous orphans at Kampuchea house. The local school welcomed us with excited smiles and high fives as we walked down the drive to the main centre. To begin, the school’s founder gave a heartfelt speech about how the school differed from others such as ours, explaining that the students came from quite poor families who usually have a minimum of 5 children! He then continued to discuss how the children within these families rarely get to attend school as they cannot afford the costs. In addition, they were very thankful for the supplies that we had brought the previous day as it made it much easier for the parents and the teachers. Directly after this, we had the opportunity to further connect with some of the students by reading them books in English, teaching them the English language and playing many fun games. When it was time to say goodbye it was profoundly emotional for many, as close relationships had been formed with the children. However, the bonds made will stay with us forever and never be broken.
Upon our return to the hotel, we had half an hour to refresh before heading out for dinner. After sharing a delicious meal together we finished up the evening with an hour at the night markets. It was another memorable day and tomorrow we will be catching a bus to Phnom Penh.
Ella and Emma
