Leadership Class

I wrote about one of our teachers Sokchea on a previous blog, and how we are so lucky to have him and what a great teacher he is. He was born to teach, and it is no surprise that by employing someone who found his calling in life things would work out well.

Early in the year he approached me and said he wanted to teach a Leadership class. I questioned him about whether he was really qualified, and could he really come up with 25 hours of material. I said I would think about it and asked him to help me do some research to see what already exists. A few days later he said he was ready to teach it and all he needed was my approval. He said I didn’t need to pay him, he would be a volunteer, and just wanted my approval. I couldn’t say no to that, and let him do his thing.

The class was packed on the first day, and a few weeks into it the students were telling me they loved it and were getting so much from it. They were finding ways to deal with their families and life challenges. He is loud and enthusiastic when he teaches, students are constantly engaged, and the students say they love his humor. I let Sokchea know he could be paid for his time.

To graduate from the Leadership class, and receive a lamented, color certificate with their picture, students had to have attended at least 20 classes (during their lunch hour) and pass the written exam. Several failed, but still attended the ceremony and party we threw at the end.

As soon as the first class ended he started a Level II class. Then we offered the Level I again, then level II, now level I again, but the class is too crowded even after turning some students away, so we need to divide the class. At this point, we have trained over 60 students in leadership, and the results are showing.

We rented a big tent ($12) and had a big outdoor graduation ceremony for all the community to see the proud new leaders, then rented a boat ($25, plus food) for the party. The party was all organized by the students with great care, food, games…and they danced like rock stars. It was unbelievably fun, and the difference from some of them was so inspiring. To see Chanta, a 14 year old girl who seemed so shy, get up and sing karaoke was inspiring.

Our biggest field trip was to the zoo/wildlife sanctuary (all animals were rescued from poachers) and the Leadership students created a Leadership Team that organized all the details and divided the students into manageable groups. They were completely amazing. There were 115 students, 8 moms, 10 foreigners, 3 buses, and a million laughs. We've never done anything with all the students outside of the school, and it was really a special day for them. After the zoo we went swimming in a mud-colored lake. They love to go swimming, and rarely get to. Most kids hardly ever leave the slum where they live, so the day had many impacts, and went like clockwork.

The best stories are on a personal level, such as Ly Thanh, who bought ‘teacher Sokchea’ a new shirt and wrote him a letter about how she was so much happier after taking his class. She explained that her family never encouraged her or took her side, but now she could deal with them and have compassion for their shortcomings. She later talked about how she was able to improve her business selling cooked duck eggs by being personable with customers and the police, who would ask her for money to sell in a public place.

I went to visit her and her family (I have tried to interview all the families), and later cried thinking about how terrible the conditions were at her house, the challenges she has overcome, and how great she turned out. Here is her letter, translated to English:

Dear Teacher,

My name is Ly Thanh, I am a student, and would like to give this [shirt] as a present to the my teacher. I would like to deeply express my appreciation to the teacher for teaching my sisters and me. Since I have come here to study, I understand a lot about the personal problems that I have had for years. The truth is that I am an unfortunate child. My parents mentally, emotionally and physically didn’t care much for me. What they have or bought, they have never given it to me; they give it to others. In addition, when other says that I am not a good child, my parents blame it on me with no reason. Because of this, it was hard for me to move forward even though I wanted to. These days only my grandma, my uncles, my aunts and others give me encouragement. When I needed help, it’s them who helped me.
Since I have come to study, I have had some relief from that sadness that I had for years. The lessons at Aziza school helped to me have control of my life. I am so thankful for the teachers who gave me encouragement that my parent didn’t.
Lastly, I wish teacher’s family to have happiness and good health in the family. I want to wish you to have success in work as you desired.

Ly Thanh
Phnom Penh 26th March, 2007

Stories From the School - Sept 07.

Pictures: 1.)boys playing in the dirt under umbrella, 2.)abandoned prosthetic leg was quite a find!, 3.)fried snake saleslady (her hair eerily resembles the food), 4.)standing room only for the pig dissection/anatomy class (with pig roast following).

And now a smorgasbord of short stories never to be told.

My hammock broke. It was the 4th time, and some falls were quite painful.

There is an epidemic of Dengue Fever, Grum Chean, this rainy season (ending in Sept). Small children are at the greatest risk, and while accurate figures are hard to come by, tens of thousands have got it so far this year, and over 200 have died from one hospital alone. Foreigners are much more susceptible, and a few of my friends have had it this year. It is a horrific sickness which I hope I never get, marked by fever, headache, and in severe cases, bleeding. At least one student got it, and we were very much a part of getting him quality medical care. He and his family thank you. Our team worked to train the students on how to minimize their risk of contraction and what symptoms to look for. In retrospect we didn’t do enough, but will be ready to do more next year.

My life here has changed constantly, and I now have a home-office complete with Internet. I also have a part time job with a human rights organization (http://www.licadho.org/) where I learn lots.

For a short period of time, I was able to say that all of the kids who wanted to go to the dentist had been (one kids said his mom didn’t believe in it).

On a positive note, Cambodia is a net-carbon sink, absorbing more global-warming carbon than it omits.

When I visited friends and family in the US I showed pictures of exotic Cambodia; kids eating tarantulas and other bugs… But I wish I could tell about how the kids at the school are so similar to kids in the US. Flatulence seems to be as funny to these kids as to my nieces and nephews.

There are 2 or more students who were gangsters who said they now use the school as a way to get out of that world by spending their evenings at the school. One student is considered quite cool, and recently went on to give a friend advice that he should stop the gang since he could wind up in prison, which the friend appreciated.

Our students are very special, and possibly the best of the slum. All of them are poor, but perhaps many of them are different from other kids in the neighborhood because they have the discipline, self esteem, intelligence, and support to come to school everyday. Many, unfortunately, have dropped out of public school, usually because of money, and only attend English classes.

We've been doing more fun activities outside the slum, especially with the teenagers, and one student said that before our school came they never did things like go for a walk around the city. We have a great relationship with the families and they have told us that they trust their children with us.

One field trip, at the request of the students, was to Tuol Slang, a former high school converted to a prison during the Khmer Rouge where prisoners underwent systematic torture until they were killed. All the inmates were photographed prior to their death, and the photos are displayed creating a harrowing experience. One sensitive young girl threw up.

In March we took 26 students (all the students between 12 and 18 years old) for 3 days to Angkor Wat, Cambodia’s unrivaled temples from the 9th to 14th century. It was the best weekend of my life. I wish I could say that I have grown up and was behaving as a proper adult, but I was having too much fun (when I wasn’t needed to organize), and we did things like shout out the windows “hello barang (foreigner)” whenever we saw a tourist. I also raced kids to the top of a temple and won! One of the many highlights was sunset and jungle noises from on top of a temple. The kids were so sweet and interested to even experience a silent sunset, per my suggestion.

Another highlight of the weekend was when we first arrived at the guest house. We booked most of the rooms on the second floor, and between the running water in the bathrooms and tiled floors in the rooms and on the veranda, the kids were so excited and amazed. Many live in houses with dirt floors and often just have water that they carry into their homes for bathing, so it was a real treat. For everything all weekend, the cost per person was only about $20 (thanks much to our partners Sam and Anne/Chibodia for your support)!

As a whole, the kids are very happy. Come to the school and you would never suspect that kids had any problems. But as I look deeper, when I see one child at a time, I know many of their challenges, of the unfair game they are left to play. Happy and sad, that is the school.

I think about how I wound up here. I first came as a tourist, and was struck by how precious and playful the children were. After 18 months, I still feel this way about them.

After I returned from my trip home last April-May, when people here asked me ‘how was America?’ and ‘what did you do while you were home?’ I mostly answer that everyone was great to me, and I had a colonoscopy (looking for parasites – they didn’t find any). My colonoscopy is analogous to my trip home in many ways. It was uncomfortable at times, a little weird, I was treated well, and a there was a lot going on. Unlike my colonoscopy, my trip was too short.

We have placed 5 students into quality jobs, and 5 are currently in training programs/internships. Others have gone on to find their own jobs, some utilizing the English they learned.

Ultimately we are accountable to the donors, and you don’t want to hear stories of making kids happy so they can go on to make the same mistakes of the generation before. I believe if we all disappeared tomorrow, many of the kids will do pretty well with their lives (many in the slum will not break the cycle of poverty). Change is happening quickly for some in Cambodia, but not quickly enough.

Aziza Schoolhouse has many friends and we appreciate you all. If we had one less friend, we would do less. If we had one more, we’d do more.

Currently we spend about $1,000 per month, and in an ideal world we’d be able to spend…, about $1,000 per month. The challenge now is to keep the funding coming so we can continue with all we do; 11 hours of class each day, medical, dental, soccer, field trips, computer lab, movies, women’s group, books…

People work hard for their money, so it is understandable that they want accountability. Let me or Christine from Village Earth know if you’d like a copy of the financials; Christine@villageearth.org drewmcdo@msn.com I do not receive any compensation, and no one makes more than $1.50 per hour. Our greatest asset is we work smart, have almost no beaurocracy, empower employees, motivation is high... Like I said, it is going well.

You can look at the project as you are the donors and I am the manager, or you can see it as you are the directors and I am the facilitator.

We are making a documentary, and I will mail one over to anyone who donates. In fact, I will do a lot of things for anyone who donates if that is what it takes. We need funding! Consider being a monthly donor.

We are starting a computer lab, and it will deliver hard skills at a very low cost. Mostly it will be staffed by volunteer students who have taken classes previously, and used computers are very cheap here ($150). The room we are renting is $20 per month. One of the teachers, Sambath, immediately offered $20 to get more computers in there. A sizable donation from someone earning $1.50 per hour (he teachers 2 hours per evening after his day job, so he will have to work for almost 7 nights to earn the $20 he has donated). Most of the jobs I mentioned where students were placed were through a non-profit/for-profit, DDD; http://www.digitaldividedata.com/ where they work doing data entry. English + computers = job opportunities.

Check out my friend’s art project with the kids at the school:
http://peace-art-cambodia.blogspot.com/2007/07/peace-day-3-aziza-schoolhouse-window.html
or, check out all of their recent projects: www.peace-art-cambodia.blogspot.com Our beloved long-term volunteer art teacher Setareh left us ) : Check out her awesome blog of kids photography, http://cambodian-kids.blogspot.com/

We were recognized by the UN:
http://villageearth.org/VE_BLOG/2007/03/undp-takes-notice-of-education-project.html

Going back to the US for a visit was tough and the culture shock was severe. Since I returned I have had a lot of mixed feelings on what I want, or accepting what I am missing out on back home. I rarely get out of the city when I am here, so seeing the natural beauty of the open space on the outskirts of Denver I was in awe. Mostly it doesn't do me much good to think about it too much since I am certain I want to be here for now, even if Phnom Penh was just rated as one of the worst cities to live in (125th out of 132 – even below Tehran). I love Cambodia because of the poverty. Everyone’s life is a story of triumph, tragedy, challenge, and struggle.

I would love to hear from you. Send me an e-mail – they keep me going. It may take me a while to get back to you.

Many thanks to all the committed volunteers!