Life Change Holiday Guests Steve and Stacey Are Making A Difference

Steven & Stacey (Life Coaching Holiday 2010) recently returned from a volunteering trip to an orphanage in Pursat, Cambodia. Steven, a Resources Manager for a small oil company in Aberdeen met Stacey, a Training Consultant for a leading IT based company in the UK, through ‘The Life Change People’. After many months of getting to know each other they found they had quite similar interests about getting out into the world to make a difference helping people, especially children, so they decided to volunteer together at an orphanage in Cambodia. This is their story.

After arriving in Pursat, we were taken to the ‘Orphans and Poor Children’ (OPC) where we were introduced to Borin, the house mother, and the children. Borin and her husband Searn, although having little money and 5 children of their own opened their home to orphaned and abandoned children in 1994, motivated by their Christian beliefs and a conviction that they should help as they are able. We would describe Borin as a remarkably strong and dedicated house mother. At first she came across as slightly stern and apprehensive to us two westerners. This perhaps is very understandable in what we now know of the love and care she has for her extended family.

The orphanage has 24 orphans and poor children between the ages of 5 – 18. The orphans have lost their parents to diseases or infections such as Malaria, HIV, or AIDS, whereas others have been abandoned. The poor children come from families who have very little or nothing at all. The orphanage provides basic needs for shelter, clothing, education, medical care, spiritual growth, love.

The main accommodation at the orphanage (funded by an Australian couple in 2006) is a very basic building which houses most of the orphans. It consists of 4 bedrooms, 2 toilets, and 2 shower blocks.  Outside there are three basic shelters, one is utilized as a makeshift ‘kitchen’ for cooking on open fires where the children prepare food and eat. The other two outdoor shelters form an extra sleeping area for some of the older boys and then the class room. They have had no aid, either practical or monetary since 2006, and they are in desperate need of a safe functioning kitchen and a proper dining area where they can sit down and eat.

On arrival at the orphanage after the three hour bus journey from hell, we discovered that the plan was for us to teach three classes a day. A morning and afternoon class for the two groups of children and an additional evening class for any adults that found out we were in town.

The reference to the bus journey is Steven’s outlook on sitting on Cambodian buses on roads that were not too drivable, listening to the Khmer music on the dvd (on repeat) and the sound of the driver beeping the horn. It appears that this signal by the driver replaces any change in road position, speed or even if he hadn’t done so for a minute or two. Funny for the first few kilometres! At least the locals were entertained by the sun starved couple on the bus though. Beep Beep.

So that was it. Can you teach three classes of English a day for us? Here are some of the text books that the previous volunteers had left there and, oh yes the first class starts in half and hour. It was time to think on our feet and get started. The first afternoon class was spent with the class of older children including some of our first stars. All the children seemed interested, very polite and keen to impress their new “teachers” with the correct answers. Their levels of learning seemed to be quite advanced and the afternoon passed quite quickly as we recapped on some of the work done by the previous teachers. Even though all went smoothly, it did dawn on us that we had a daunting few weeks ahead. We headed home to the host family had dinner and proceeded to plan the next days classes. This was the routine that we followed for the next 2 weeks.

In the morning we were up bright and early for the nice walk to the orphanage along the dusty track where the local children all liked to say “hello” along the way in a beep beep style. This time though we couldn’t help but raise a smile every day.

The morning class was a different group of children, mostly the younger of the group and the ones that seemed more open to being loved. Equally polite, slightly less interested in the book work but open to getting involved. Once again all were very keen to prove to “teacher” what they had learned before, or had learned parrot fashion from their text books (having not had teachers to help them progress from the limited resources).

In the younger children’s class sat two little people that were to become Steven’s stars. Sok and Mouy nhang. Mouy nhang is a little girl who arrived at the orphanage as an undernourished baby after losing  her mother & father to malaria. When she arrived here, she was nurtured and cared for by the OPC to help her grow into the beautiful little girl that she now is.

Sok, or “Socky” as we later named him was a great boy from a very poor family. He was a little slower than the others in class, but had an aura that is difficult to explain. He struggled at times but he never looked disturbed about it, just a rather cute un-perplexed face of innocence. Turns out in the end that having sat down with him one to one and talking him through it the knowledge was there, he just needs that little extra help.

Stacey also grew attached to 3 very special children. Kram who is aged 10 lost both her parents to Malaria was like Stacey’s little shadow never leaving her side. Hokta aged 11 who’s mother and father are very poor left him at the orphanage because they could no longer support him started off being quite reserved and after a few days was happy in her arms enjoying regular cuddles. Then there was Kangha aged 7 who liked hanging off Stacey as if like a human climbing frame.

Each day the classes continued with Stacey taking the lead on this one (Steven is more than happy to admit that she was far better at this). The climate in Cambodia is not greatly suited to us UK residents and it was difficult to sleep at night and at times challenging teaching the little people in the sweltering heat.

We both agree that Borin is an incredible person, having not only set up this orphanage but for her ongoing efforts. She not only plays “mother” to all the children making sure they are fed, washed, and clothed, but when there are no volunteers like us around, she takes on role of “teacher” as well. The two of us were at times feeling the pressure Borin was under when she would be in the kitchen helping the older children cook or wash up. The older children played a key part in caring for their “brothers and sisters” cooking, washing, & cleaning which was done without the aid of modern appliances or running water in the kitchen.

After a few days it became clear to us that we had become a part of the family being referred to as brother and sister by Borin. One afternoon Steven caught his head on a nail whilst under the floor looking at some bicycles to fix up which led to a cut on his head that may have needed stitches. In no time Borin came to his aid equip with first aid supplies pressing a dressing and copious amounts of iodine to his head.  All went quiet, and she proceeded to say a prayer. She had the look of concern in her eyes like he was one of her flock. There is no end to this woman’s compassion.

Two weeks went by fairly quickly, even though it felt like we had been at the orphanage for what seemed like an age, we now consider ourselves part of their family and have vowed to help improve the lives of our brothers, sisters and our house mother/father. We found it very hard walking out of the orphanage on the last day hand in hand with those little people knowing we wouldn’t hear their little voices shouting “teacher, teacher” the next day.

Returning to the UK, our first priority is on building a kitchen for the orphanage and looking into how we can further help them in the future and find lifetime sponsors for sustainable living and better education.

It has been a life changing experience for us and we hope to change the lives of those children that touched our lives at OPC.

Stacey and Steven.

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