Yesterday we went to two Cambodian schools and had a special tour around Siem Reap. It was an incredible experience to teach and talk to a few of the fortunate enough children who had been offered an education.

On the way to the first school we stopped at a stationery shop to buy a white board, some pens, acme books, a couple of maps and some games for their playground. We then drove to a small market and we bought some rice and banana wrapped in banana leaves and roasted on the outside. It was really sweet but I didn’t really like it. We then stopped at another place that sold rice and beans stuffed into bamboo and cooked on an open fire. That was a lot more savoury but sticky and tasted really nice.

 After that we drove along a dirt road past some very basic houses to the first school. When we arrived the children were just leaving lessons so we had a look around until they came back for lessons after lunch. It was very different to an English classroom because they had no posters on the wall, they had wooden benches and tables, they had to take their shoes off when they came in, the walls and roof were made of wood, they only had a whiteboard and pen and only two classrooms. 

When the children got back we gave them books but unfortunately we ran out of books so we gave the rest of them pens. It was amazing to see them so happy to get a present of which we think of as just a book or pen. We then gave them an English lesson and I played a geme where I said “my name is fin” the passed them a ball and they said their name. I asked some other questions and helped them with their pronunciation. After that we sang head shoulders knees and toes. I was really surprised by how good their English was and I was impressed by how much they all wanted to learn.  

Then we went to a floating village but we didn’t realise that unfortunately it’s only a floating village in the wet season where it floods tremendously. We got a boat down the river to the town centre and went to another school there. I found the boat trip very interesting because you could see all the wood holding the houses about 7 meters above us. 

When we arrived at the school, which was a space underneath the headteachers mother in laws house, all the children started asking us questions like how many brothers and sisters do you have, what is your favourite colour/ animal/ vegetable/ football team, where are you from and how long are you staying in Cambodia. Their English was amazing and we spent about 30 minutes just talking to everyone before we remembered we had bought them a football to share as a school.

After that we got back on the boat and went to a water forest where we changed boats to a smaller one. The captain used a stick to push us off the river bed and around the forest. It was beautiful, there were tall green trees growing out of the dark murky water. She then pushed us over to a floating restaurant on the lake to watch the sun set. It was a bit scary because when a big boat came past the whole restaurant would rock because of its wake.

After the sun fell behind the huge lake and it’s raze had finished climbing the side of the restaurant we got a boat back to the village and drove home. We all love loved it and it was an amazing experience to meet the children.