This year, SeeBeyondBorders’ (SBB) Connect to Cambodia Programme is taking place between July 26th and August 16th. A total of eleven Irish teachers traveled to Siem Reap, seven of whom will be taking part in the programme with SBB.
Orla Birmingham is from Clontarf in Dublin. She teaches in Broombridge Educate Together National School and wrote about her experience of volunteering in Cambodia.
“The Irish visitors arrived in the days leading up to July 26th, which allowed us all some time to explore the city before the beginning of the Connect programme. We are now 10 days into the Connect programme and we have had so many wonderful opportunities to experience some of the amazing culture that Cambodia has to offer, as well as getting to visit schools that are working with See Beyond Borders in Srei Snam and Kralanh Districts.”
Learning About Cambodia’s History and Culture
“All participants met and enjoyed a dinner in New Leaf on the first night of Connect, along with some staff from both SBB and PEPY Empowering Youth.”
“After our busy day of getting to experience some of the culture and history of Cambodia we headed into the SBB office to meet all of the staff, and to learn further about the educational context in Cambodia.”
“For our first activity, we had the opportunity to try our hands at learning some Khmer in our Khmer language class at Be Like Khmer School before we headed to see the famous Angkor Wat, Ta Prom and Bayon temples the following day. We had a wonderful tour guide, named Pollin, who looked after us all and really made our experience so special with all of the knowledge that he shared with us.”
“Our busy day of exploring the temples with Pollin concluded within a visit to the APOPO Visitor Center and the Wat Thmey Killing Fields, to learn about more of Cambodia’s recent history of conflict. I can easily say without any doubt that we all learnt a lot over the course of this day, and we even met a HERO-Rat named Glen, who finds and alerts his human demining expert-colleagues about the locations of landmines.”
Meeting the SeeBeyondBorders Team
“After our busy day of getting to experience some of the culture and history of Cambodia we headed into the SBB office to meet all of the staff, and to learn further about the educational context in Cambodia.”
“Some staff members were even kind enough to share their personal stories about growing up in Cambodia. We all enjoyed a fabulous dinner in Tevy’s Place with the SBB staff that evening, followed by another day of familiarising ourselves with the office and the plans for the Connect Programme.”
“The following day we met the staff and students in PEPY Empowering Youth – a partner organisation of SeeBeyondBorders, and traveled together to Varin District in the north of Siem Reap Provincewith some of them. While there,in Varin we visited the homes of three PEPY students and met their wonderful families. We also visited the high school in Varin and had the chance to visit the PEPY Dream class. We got to talked with the students about what they would like to do with their futures, sang some songs together, with them and fellow Connect visitor Mícheál even showed off his Irish dancing skills.”
Learning About Primary Schools in Cambodia
“On Thursday morning, we were back on the road again, travelling to Kralanh District to visit Yosimasa Tonlep and Pham Komru Primary Schools. This was my first experience of visiting a class in a Cambodian primary school and meeting with school and community leadership. It was so wonderful to meet educators who were so passionate about the futures of their students and about working with SeeBeyondBorders. We also met the District Governor and the village chief in Phom Komru.”
"This was my first experience of visiting a class in a Cambodian primary school and meeting with school and community leadership. It was so wonderful to meet educators who were so passionate about the futures of their students and about working with SeeBeyondBorders."
“On Friday, we visited Romdeng and Kork Prech primary schools in Srei Snam District, where we saw more wonderful maths lessons, a beautiful school garden and even some Irish flags. We were so grateful for the warm welcomes that we received in all of the schools and are looking forward to meeting the school leaders and the teachers again next week at the Community of Practice sessions in both districts.”
““We closed off a busy week with a visit to Phare Circus in Siem Reap on Saturday which blew us away. The weekend, and was topped off with watching Rhys McClenaghan win gold for Ireland at the Paris Olympics! Go Rhys!”
“It has been a brilliant and busy trip so far, but one that we are thoroughly enjoying. We are looking forward now to a week of Community of Practice Workshops and our visit to Battambang next weekend.”
