A New Day Cambodia

Hello readers,

 

As promised, here is a little bit more about the school where I work and the students that I’m teaching.  Even though I have only been with them for a week and I will only be with them for a week more I have grown fond of them.  They are very charismatic and easy to smile, even though they come from what I can only assume is a very hard family life.

 

The school that I am working at, New Day Cambodia, is actually an NGO sponsored in part by the Chicago Bulls.  This has resulted in some pretty funny conversations with the students as when we were learning about traveling arrangements they frequently answer the question “Where do you want to go on holiday,” by saying they wish to visit Chicago.  I have tried to explain that there are better places in the U.S. to visit, but they still insist that they want to visit The Windy City.

 

Perhaps the most difficult part of teaching these students, actually without a doubt the hardest part, has been learning their names.  I thought that the students in America had some difficult names, but teachers have it easy there.  It seems that every female student I have is named Srey Neat, Srey Neang, Srey Neath…etc.  Most of the boys’ names are easy enough (Nas, Barek, Chon), but I often get a laugh because of my pronunciation.

 

All of the students that I teach are children of families that work the local dump yard.  What I mean by this is that they shift through the garbage for anything useful.  Anything they can use themselves or that they can turn into a profit.  They, and the families like them, are actually the only form of recycling that this country has.  They search for anything that they can possibly fix and resell and it is common to see old bottles, both glass and plastic, refilled with gasoline being sold at roadside gas vendors.  During the week the children stay at the center (New Day Cambodia) but during the weekends they return to their families in the dump and many do not have an actual home.  Instead they have temporary shelters set up because the families are usually moving from dump-site to dump-site.  New Day Cambodia has helped some children escape this life, but there are still many more that live their lives shifting through garbage.

 

Despite this difficult living situation the students have a generally happy disposition.  Always laughing, poking fun and playing games they are a joy to teach.  Not a day goes by that I don’t marvel at the steps that they take in class.  They are dedicated to learning English and it shows in their devotion to studying the material, however limited it is, that they have.  I will miss these students and I can only hope that their behavior is reflective of what I will experience in China.

 

Thanks for checking in.  Keep your eye out for more posts.

 

            Henry (Hank) Young