Journaling our Adventure in Giving

Lesson #4657: India in June is a no-no. Travelers tried to dissuade us, Indians warned us, and our inexperience with the conditions that we were about to face led us to be overconfident in our level of preparedness... or lack thereof. While we ultimately experienced some of the most challenging and uncomfortable (to say the least) moments of our trip, we also left with having experienced an immense amount of beauty and personal connections with people we are confident will be our friends for many years ahead. Also, we had an opportunity to share some of the lessons we've learned with a grassroots organization that continues to aim for the heights of supporting the slum communities in Baljeet Nagar, New Delhi: Wahoe Commune.

These two weeks brought some of the most intense challenges of our trip so far: heat and humidity that would melt a candle factory (42-48C/108-118F), and actually led to heat rashes, exhaustion and pretty serious dehydration.

We were living simply, with wonderful caregivers/guides, and ultimately completed our original commitment of 2 weeks, because we humbly hoped that our time and experience could help their mission of empowering the women and children of the slum. 

*Slum school room*

We supported this NGO in a variety of ways, as they are fairly "new" and can benefit greatly from a variety of contributions; administrative, technical, and hands-on teaching of both the women and children are desperately needed: 

Susie created new graphics and posters, as well as lesson plans and curriculum.

We worked with the team to build a fundraising plan, to simplify their social media presence, develop and organize a volunteer program that will be most efficient and helpful to all involved, and suggestions for different teaching/discipline methods and tools for class organization.

We created the first step in developing a simple progress reporting system for the students, so they may personalize the lessons by each student and/or level.

We spent a few days in the classroom working with the teachers and other volunteers to teach basic English and Math... and at the end of class, shared in laughter and momentary joy through playing silly games.

The donations that we received covered the costs of school supplies, ie. pencils, sharpeners, notebooks, paper, crayons, erasers; they will be distributed, as needed, per child.

After our experience with the Cambodian orphanages (see our last journal entry), we decided not to plan any volunteer projects prior to exploring a place, talking to people, and seeing if there was anything responsible and legitimate that could be done to support the local community. We've even been unsure if volunteering (at all) is actually beneficial to anyone except ourselves... but that's a different topic for a different entry.

We ducked into patisseries to dry off during sudden rainfall, and visited densely tourist-populated waterfalls and a butterfly garden dreamt up by a Dutch expat couple.

Best of all, we kept seeing a logo for this Big Brother Mouse literacy project, and knew we needed to check it out!

From their website:

"Do you remember the excitement of rushing home to read a book that you hoped would never end?

Many Lao children have no such memories, because they've never seen a book that was fun or exciting to read. Some have shared textbooks; others have never seen a book at all. We sometimes have to explain how books work: "Look, if you turn the page, there's more!"

You can learn about the history here:  http://www.bigbrothermouse.com/download/storyofbbm.pdf

We were obviously curious, read reviews, researched the website... and knew we wanted to help if there was a way. We visited the office and realized that with the remainder of the donations in our "Giving Fund," we could sponsor a Book Party! :)  

"There's no system for getting books into rural villages, some of which involve a day or two of travel from the nearest road. That's why Big Brother Mouse invented book parties.

$350 U.S. will sponsor a daily reading program in an entire school, and book party to launch it. We'll go to a rural village, talk about books, and give 50 to 300 children the first book they've ever owned. Then we'll leave another 50 books with every classroom (average 250 books per school) so students can read every day."

Sounded like an awesome program to us... and because we experienced so much generosity from our supporters when donating towards the Elephant Nature Park project, we could help a new group of children to read! 

As the book party began, we were shown where we could sit and observe from the sidelines, and were quickly VERY impressed! These facilitators are highly skilled, had lots of positive and playful energy, and the kids were completely focused on what was being taught... whether it was a song or a silly game, a workbook lesson or reading time.

The book party was very well organized and the kids and teachers seemed to love it!

The children were so focused on finishing their workbooks, they helped each other solve the word problems, and sometimes they snuck a peek! :)

Even Moon and Pea got our own workbooks to complete!

VIDEO! http://youtu.be/9nyy2Rmm1cc (songs start around 3 mins)

Then, they got to go outside, play silly games, and laugh even more!

After all the fun and games, the best part was saved for last! The facilitators brought the books into the rooms, read a story to each class, and before giving the children their very own books, they taught them how to care for and share/exchange their books with their friends! They quickly learned that they could read even more books this way... and they were excited to share!

Then.... it was time for them to come up and choose a book! We have never experienced such excitement and joy for learning and reading, as we did this afternoon. Such an incredible gift. It truly was a win-win-win for everyone involved! :)

During their own free time, at the end of the Book Party, they were all engaged in reading their new books, and sharing in the stories their friends were reading. They stood in groups, or even by themselves, diving into their new books.

At the end of the party, the teachers were given their own package of teaching materials, lesson plans, and a box of new books to start their first reading library. One of the goals of Big Brother Mouse is to help the teachers to understand the importance of reading time in the school day, and hope to implement a reading program in each school in Laos. "Schools that had the program, and where we made an extra effort to be sure it was implemented, reading skills improved 26% more than at those without it." 

As we planned for our trip, we researched volunteer opportunities, NGOs, and service projects that were in need, in some of the first few countries we planned to visit. We were open to any type of mission, from organic farming to women's health, animal rescue to teaching English in schools and alternative programs. The web is loaded with volunteer search engines, organizations, blogs, and reference pages.... you can find anything you think you are looking for, whether legit, or not. 

If you are not well-versed in the dos and don'ts of global volunteerism, it may be easy to choose an organization that is glowing at first glance, but is rotten behind the scenes; and in some cities or even countries, taking advantage of those that desire to help can be an epidemic.

We learned, while researching opportunities in Cambodia, that orphanages are plentiful and are eager for volunteers to visit, donate time, and if possible, donate money. We also learned, early in our research, that it's important to make sure that the orphanage is government registered, so that you know it is legitimate. We followed suggested protocol, and followed our instincts to the Working for Children's Rainbow Orphanage in the Siem Reap Province.

Their website states (http://www.wfc-kh.org/):

"Who we are: Working for Children (WFC) is a registered, non-profit charity committed No190 to assisting orphans, poor, vulnerable children and to improve the school environment and to develop rural communities in Siem Reap Province. Vision: For these children to grow up healthy in a caring supportive environment and to receive an education , and skills that will enable them to develop into capable and contributing communities. Mission: To ensure that less fortunate children in the rural community are cared for and given educational opportunities which will enable them to break out of the cycle of poverty." We liked what we read, felt confident about it's legitimacy and registration, and based on the listed ways to provide service, we thought we could be of some help. So.... we contacted the director, scheduled our time, and planned to begin our Cambodian experience at the orphanage, Eco-farm, and possibly a local village school.  **************************************************************************** Flash to our late night arrival in Siem Reap... flying in from Chiang Mai, Thailand. We spent the night at a small "eco-resort" near the airport, and in the morning, hopped in a rickshaw on our way to the orphanage. The village was about 14k from the main town, and the dirt roads were bumpy, full of rocks, and sometimes missing.... with construction crews working on rebuilding.  VIDEO of our drive: http://youtu.be/RE-0PvOzNFU After asking many people on the road where the place was, we finally found the entrance.

We pulled in, asked for the Director (who wasn't there), and waited for someone to talk to us and confirm our visit before we emptied our bags from the rik, and let him leave us stranded... you won't find rickshaws picking up fares that far out of town. The boy who came to us grabbed our bags, told us to wait at the table, and then a woman brought us lunch.

We actually waited at the table for hours, wondering if the Director would be coming back, and weren't really able to communicate with the few people we saw. We walked around the main buildings in the courtyard, with structures built for housing the children dormitory-style...

a classroom...

a sewing trade center, kitchen and dining room...

computer room...

library...

office, and volunteer housing.

There were a few kids roaming around, a couple of ladies in the kitchen, who quickly prepared lunch for us, and a few pups and kittens.

After some time, a young man who spoke a bit of English came to let us know that the Director wouldn't be back until late, and asked that he take us on a tour of the farm. Time to go-with-the-flow again! We were impressed with the amount of land, crops, small lakes for fish farming, and the livestock they were learning to care for and manage. (While seeing the livestock was challenging for us, we chose to look at it objectively, and see how it was benefiting the children and local village community). They had plans to grow the farm, and further teach the children a farming/fishing trade. 

You may read more here: http://www.wfc-kh.org/what-we-do.php?web_id=6

Once we completed our tour, we were shown to our room, and told that the Director would talk to us tomorrow. ************************************************************************ As it turned out, there were few children at the orphanage at that time, because it was a holiday break; and the Director was absent, because he was heading a crew that was building a market/store on the main road that would donate a small percentage of it's funding to the orphanage. 

When we finally met with the Director, we learned of all of the upcoming and future projects he has envisioned for WFC, how they could benefit the children, and how much money each would cost. We learned of past volunteers, or groups that come regularly, and that we just happened to be there during "off-season." He suggested we explore the campus and see how we could contribute, as he was working with a tight deadline, and didn't have spare time to guide us. His hope was that the store would also provide a place for the children to learn about business, money exchange, and sales. And, he was clear about how modestly he lived with his family, in order to support WFC. Even though things felt a bit disorganized and concerning from the start, we made the best of our time, and jumped right into finding a project that we felt we could support... the Computer Room!

We felt we were computer savvy enough to teach some basic skills, and possibly some graphic design elements to the young people that were currently staying at the orphanage during the holiday break. When we opened the door to the room, we could tell that it hadn't been opened or used for two years, because of a lack of electrical power.  The computers were in pieces, and covered with spider webs, nests, and large living spiders. We spent two days pulling everything out of the room, cleaning the computers inside and out, and preparing the room to rebuild this computer center.

Ultimately, out of 12 computers, we managed to get 2 computers to semi work.... sometimes. So we began to brainstorm solutions. We reached out to techie friends who gave us tips for repairs..... we listed some options for requesting donations from local business centers (if there were any)... and even had friends/supporters back home ready and excited to start a computer collection-drive to send across the seas to recreate this space with functional computers, even if they were old or refurbished.

The problem, at that point, was that we didn't have access to internet or Wi-Fi, and had minimal phone service, so we couldn't research or help much more from the village. We had to move back into town, so we could try to help further. So we packed up, let everyone know our plan, while making sure that it was something we would research, and not a for-sure thing. We had some doubts, and truly did not want to disappoint. 

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We learned A LOT that week in town, especially regarding the orphanage-culture that has been created and perpetuated throughout Cambodia. Some may have been derived from opinion, but all are based on current or historical facts. We learned.....

Most of the children were not actually orphans, which we knew about "our orphanage," but didn't know how wide-spread this was. Many children come from poor families that can't afford to care for their children, so they send them away; some are even sent to the homes, because they have behavioral issues that their parents want help managing.

Most orphanages have been created as a front to bring in money from worldwide volunteerism, and other countries' generosity and support.

Acquiring a government registration is VERY easy.

In general, a cycle of expectation has been created and perpetuated. Historically, when Cambodia needed support to rebuild, restructure, and heal from the atrocities and genocide of the Khmer Rouge, they received help from neighboring countries and world-wide communities. Unfortunately, the legacy that has been created, is a culture that asks and expects support, as opposed to learning to support themselves by their own means.

The legitimate orphanages, will generally not allow in volunteers or visitors, and if they do, they expect a thorough background check and/or to complete an application process, and will often not allow photography.

The tourism-focused orphanages will advertise with posters and billboards, inviting people to come visit, make friends with the children, and take photos for their photo albums. We saw this multiple times in town.

At 18, all of the children are required to leave, regardless of their familial, job, or financial stability. 

The legitimate orphanages would really prefer to close their doors.... shut down operation. They would prefer that instead of the children being separated from their homes, that the families receive the support that they need to stay together.

This is a short video report, about this subject, by the NYTimes: http://www.nytimes.com/video/world/europe/100000002921793/bringing-back-europes-bison.html?playlistId=1194811622205

And, if you Google Search "Cambodian Orphanage," before you even hit enter, you will see the option to choose "scams and scandals" above "volunteer."

We obviously didn't do enough homework, because there are pages of information to be found: https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=cambodian+organization+against+orphanages&start=0

Some of our information came from a deep discussion with the founder of this restaurant and social venture, HAVEN:  http://www.havencambodia.com/en/about-haven/

They serve incredible food, while simultaneously supporting the present and future of many of these young people who have been turned to the street, because of their age. Like them, visit them, and enjoy! It truly is a "Haven." And, in support of other organizations that are creating change in this way, please visit these sites, and support them if you feel moved:

ConCERT- http://www.concertcambodia.org/

TREE Alliance- http://tree-alliance.org/index.asp

Think! ChildSafe: http://www.thinkchildsafe.org/thinkbeforevisiting/

Phare, The Cambodian Circus:  http://www.pharecambodiancircus.org/circus/

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