Laughter Sounds The Same, World Over!

“Beep Beep Mazomba Bussy”. This is how we’re greeted by the children of the compound, every time the bus drives in to our community development project. Translation very roughly is white person bus.

Woohoo! I’ve landed in the adventure capital of Africa, Livingstone Zambia, and what a stunning landing it was, flying in straight over Victoria falls.

After a brief introduction to the country which mainly consisted of “don’t attempt to fight the baboons, you will lose” (of course I plan to test this) they put me right to work.

First Job on the list was to build a soak away for a new toilet block being built in a small farming community. Followed by teaching maths in what I now believe to be the class room with the most spectacular view in the world. From this classroom you can see the smoke that thunders (or as you know it the mist rising off Victoria falls.

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As always Canada you have my heart!

Guess who just qualified as a CSIA ski instructor?

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So I’ve hung up my “teacher Benjamin” name tag, for now! On Friday I taught my last lesson, a games lesson where I had all the students doing a routine to Shakira’s Wakka Wakka, anyone who has seen me dance will now be feeling sorry for my poor students who had to try and copy me.

They thought it was hilarious, watching there respected teacher prepared to make a complete tit of him self, but I think it is important to help build a more colligate relationship with the students and actually I find this joking behaviour, in moderation of course, can help build respect and make the classroom a better learning environment, children learn best when they’re having fun! I know it's a cliché but it's true.

Today I’ve had my last cycle along the riverside and my last barter in the markets, now as I sit by the pool in an blissful 32 degrees waiting for my flight, I think back over my time here in Cambodia the Kingdom of Wonder and dust! All the friends I’ve made all the good things we’ve been through.

I found myself torn between wanting to stay in this magical place, and wanting to move on, see something new and do it all over again!

One person alone cannot change the world but when people work together that is where the magic happens.

B x

31OCT16

Art class on Thursays is always fun, this week we made bats using handprints for the wings. However I quickly learnt that allowing six year olds to paint their hands wasn’t as good an idea as I had first thought, when they start running at me with these painty hands, no idea how my shirt survived this venture.

This was followed by English, now many things can happen in a lesson but a solo singing performance by yours truly wasn’t what I was expecting!

In the text book was a song using the words we have been learning over the last couple of lessons, and the teacher begins by just reading it! I thought I would be a bit of fun if I asked them to sing, I mean I’ve watched Gareth Malone turn all types of groups into expert choirs, how had can it be!

So there I am singing this really annoying tune, as loud as I can dancing and doing actions about putting on sun cream and nothing other than to laugh at me the students didn’t make a noise. It appeared to be such an abnormal thing to ask them to do, they were just in stunned silence staring at me!

This reaction seemed odd to me as I’m in a country where even the bus I’m riding as I write this has Karaoke on it! So I can only imagine they can’t sing in English, challenge accepted!

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I’ve spent a particularly difficult two days touring the killing fields and S-21 prison here in Phnom Penh in an attempt to try and understand what happened to this beautiful country between 1975 and 1979 as the Khmer Rouge tried to in force a communist regime.

The Khmer Rouge believed that everyone should work on the farms and started by throwing everyone out of cities into rural areas, done through trickery, people were told it was for their own safety and people left willingly, as they believed more American bombs were coming, what Ronald Reagan called the secret war, I side piece to the Cold War in Vietnam.

They believed that anyone of an educated back ground was no longer needed, and was seen as a threat to the new regime and was killed! Not before they had been tortured and made to confess to crimes against the state such as stealing fruit etc, a crime punishable by death, they also were made to give a list of names of people they had been conspiring with in the Russian KGB or the American CIA organisation most prisoners had never heard of.

After being tortured at S-21 prison a converted secondary school, where play equipment was used to create pain rather than the sound of laugher that once echoed these halls.

They were transported to the killing fields where they would sign their own death warrants and then be beaten with blunt instruments and then buried half dead in mass graves.

Children of those killed were also dispatched, because as the Khmer rouge saying goes you can’t kill a weed without digging up the roots. The tree above was used to hit children under two against to kill them, the friendship bracelets now hang from the once blood splattered bark as a sign of respect.

Another distressing saying was, it is better to kill an innocent than to let an enemy walk free.

These 4 years lead to the death of 4 million people plus up to another 3 million though lack of nutrition and being over worked all slaves to the regime, this was up to 70% of the population!

To add salt to the wounds this country struggling to grieve and rebuild itself, after over throwing the Khmer Rouge was not accepted as a new state by most western powers, and Pol Pot, leader of Khmer Rouge maintained seats in and funding from the United Nations!

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Just one or two photos from my day at the Phnom Penh zoological park

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After meeting my tuk tuk driver for the day, we set off on an adventure to silk island, whilst on the ferry over the Mekong river I got chatting to a Khmer lady who invited me back to her home to meet her family and see how they weave the silk into scarfs and dresses. She showed me how they make the intricate patterns and the very impressive but time consuming job she does, 8 days work for a 2m scarf, using over 40 separate jigs/patters to create the detailed art work.

I then continued on to the farm where they grow the moths and spin the silk, I happened to mention to my guide who is trying to improve his English that I’m a volunteer teacher, that was a mistake because I then sat for 40 minutes on the side of the very muddy looking river swimming pool talking to him about compound nouns and other such grammar techniques, testing every little bit of knowledge I could remember form GCSE English classes, give me back my 6 year olds please!

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Khmer royal palace and other monkey business here in Phnom Penh