Reflections

"What happens in Cambodia stays in Cambodia", but what we've brought back with us is truckloads of memories; of happy/ sad/ frightening (like the stupid frog incident)/ alarming (Divya!!!) etc. moments. But I'm proud to say that I've managed to survive through everything and I'm sure that everyone else feels the same way :D

I wouldn't say that I've learnt anything in particular during this trip, because what I've learnt is bits and pieces of everything. Of course, what's most memorable would be to overcome my greatest fear (Little Terror and the stupid frogs) and to forge an unforgettable friendship with Little Terror. To teach her how to use my camera, to braid her hair, to play with her in school, to teach her the birthday song and all.

And then there's the part where everyone realises how fortunate we are to have running water (warm one at that), air-con, comfortable beds etc. I still remember vividly how I felt when I 1st saw the room we would be staying in during the 1st R&R. We were all so thankful for the electricity. If we were to stay in that guesthouse/ hotel/ motel before we went to the village, I'm quite certain that we'd have complained till the sky falls down. We even spotted a big fat rat outside a room at night. But nevertheless, we were still grateful for whatever we could enjoy during that R&R.

Oh, how can I forget about the bridging sessions at night... A big Thank You to Chi Xiao for teaching us German bridge, otherwise known as Cambodia bridge, haha. I just thought that life over in Cambodia was really great. It's carefree and we didn't have to worry much about life. Except maybe whether we have enough Oyster sauce for dinner or whether the bugs will get into our mosquito nets. Other than that, the daily routine of waking up, working, eating, bridging, bathing, and sleeping was really relaxing and enjoyable.

Up till now, I still keep talking about what had happened in Cambodia. And I'm really glad that we're still meeting up. The 16 days in Cambodia has really brought all of us really close together, and I've made friends with people whom I'll otherwise be strangers with. We're still making jokes about things that we did in Cambodia (tons of jokes about Rachel), and I guess this will be a special something that we'll all share, cause only those who were in Cambodia knows what had happened in Cambodia (since everything's supposed to stay in Cambodia) :D

Left Singapore as a BOY came back as a MAN

“We passed our first hurdle with flying colours”

Many things happened in this trip but 10, 20 or even 60 years down the road (hopefully I’m still alive by then) I would remember this trip fondly with how we dealt with the many hurdles that came our way. The many incidents in many ways made us more of a team and this trip has been somewhat a rite of passage for a few of us. One thing that all of us should never forget about this trip is the friendships we have made. “Friends come and go but it is the true friends that stick with us through the thick and thin that will last forever”.

I am a man of few words so I would end off my reflection with this

Team Work

Is the ability to

Work together

Here I would like to take the chance to comment and thank each and every one of you that has made the project a success! There goes…in no order of merit…..

Yanting - For being a “Friend in Need, Is a Friend Indeed”. You have sacrificed your R&R to take care of your friend who wasn’t feeling well. You’ve cared for others selflessly. Also, I really wanna comment on your resourcefulness in getting our team tees done and getting the Dtou Dtou Dtou song for Cheng Tng’s Photo Essay. Good Job! :)

Felix – For working hard at the construction site. Your relentlessness and determination to work hard for the end product can be seen from the way you’ve continued mixing the cement and laying the bricks when most took five, painting the fence when most got smeared with green paint, etc….A hardworking ant who remained strong and healthy till the last day of the trip! :)

En Quan – For believing in yourself that you can do it, overcoming all odds…You’ve tried to give the team directions in times of need, during debriefs, when conducting English lessons and balloon sculpturing in the village school…You are one who can endure the discomforts during the times you were not feeling well…You’ve let the power within you to fight a winning battle…That could be reflected in your academic studies too…A strong, persevering boy! :)

Divya – For leading the Programme Team, doing up the itinerary and groupings. Good job! You stayed strong throughout the project, fighting your own fears. You were flexible to make changes and learn new things. I enjoyed the times when we talked. I am glad that the trip has given you a new perspective. :)

Thaddeus – For being responsible for whatever duties entrusted to you. You’ve made KK’s job simpler too, standing by your friends… Btw, I never knew you are one with a bank of cheesy lines, apart from Wilson. Also, you did work hard constructing the toilets and wells. Great Job! :)

Wilson – For being who you are! Interesting. You worked hard and can cook well too. You did volunteer to cook and take care of those unwell which I’m impressed. Keep on learning :)

Kah Kee – For leading the Logistics Team….preparing the packing list for the team, coming up with the relay system, setting the hut ready for us to live in for 16 days…whatever we need, the Logistics would try to get it for us. Also, I’m surprised to see that you really do take good care of your health – lots of water, fruits, etc…Guys, Kah Kee has set an example :)

Sze Wan – For overcoming your fears (of the one that hops and croaks) and bringing joy to the village kids, esp Terror. You’ve taught her how to use your camera and she indeed can take wonderful pictures of us! Your effort, together with the rest of the gals in our team except Jessica, put into teaching the kids sing “Happy Birthday” cannot be forgotten. The kids will miss you :)

Dyanna – A pleasant, sweet gal who isn’t afraid to get dirty at work. I was impressed to see you roughing out - walking on mud, getting your hands dirty while digging the well, etc…You know what I mean…You also stand up at times of need – calling your doctor friend to check on Divya’s condition. Thanks Dyanna for being there for our friends :)

Sophia – Thank you for quietly supporting the team and providing friends with the much needed comfort and encouragement. Although I did not really have the chance to really talk to you, various incidents and the sharing sessions made me realize that you are an emotionally strong individual. I’m proud of you :)

Jessica – You are a sweet gal who adds joy to our meals with the “Happy Eating!” said together with Vibhu. You’ve made our meals extra delicious…except that buffet night where you and Vibhu were not with us…dinner didn’t taste as good… I didn’t really have the chance to really talk to you except for that time at the hospital…A strong individual :)

Vibhu – For adding joy to the team. Your occasional “cheesy lines” sessions in the evening with the rest which aimed to help KK, and your “Happy Eating!” said together with Jessica before every meal, are some of the things I’ll remember…apart from the times you’ve tried to correct our grammar, vocab, etc :)

Chi Xiao – For making an effort to blend in so well with the team and also blend in so well to the new environment. You’ve made good friends with Tola and Li Meng. The team has learnt more about you and you’ve shared a lot with the team. We were glad that you’ve made us keep you as A.C.Eians :)

Li Meng – You were the first one who fell ill but recovered quickly. Guess staying fit helps. I would like to commend you for standing up in times of need. I was impressed to hear that you and Felix got off the van, without second thoughts, to push it when it got stuck in the potholes on the way out to Prey Veng on that night. In such a tight time, you did what was right. And how could we forget the kaya incident! :)

Melissa – Was trying her best to nurse her cough. Due to the cough, you seemed a bit quiet during the trip. I was quite worried initially about how you can blend into the group. But I am glad that you’ve discovered yourself, know yourself better through the trip and have made new friends :)

Chin Hwee – I see you as an obedient, sensible and thoughtful gal. You are one who constantly reflects on the things you see and the pictures you took. You have an inquiring mind. Your thoughtfulness for our friend who wasn’t with us during the trip exudes warmth. A simple sms to her made a difference :)

Sarena – IT savy gal who helped the team in getting our blog ready and maintaining it. Good job! During the trip, you had diarrhoea but that did not impede you from work at the site and the school. I believed you have learnt and enjoyed every moments of the experience. Three words to describe you, “You are Awesome!” Believe in yourself :)

Zhanhui – A much treasured first-aider with a hint of humour. With you around, you’ve assured the team that things will turn out fine. Thank you so much for attending to different cases even when you were taking five or having bridging sessions. You’ve put our safety as the top priority :)

Ivan – For enduring the discomfort of your fever at times, trying to recover quickly and sometimes slipped into temptations (the tins of peanuts…). What was commendable was the lack of hesitation to return back to the school to help out with the fencing right after you’ve recovered. I got to know you better too, after a few games of “Hundreds” with you and Felix on our way back to S’pore :)

Rachel – A creative and innovative individual who had suggested a helicopter to the rescue. One who is able to think calmly on the bumpy road to town. Btw, there’s such a thing called emergency air-lift via helicopter to transport a casualty to seek medical help :)

Cherie – A cheerful, strong gal till the end. Also a wonderful cook who can’t believe she can cook. Innate talent gal! Interesting to come up with “Survival of the Fittest”. Full of wits. I am glad I’ve known you better through the trip and I’m really proud of you…you did make me panic during the last day of our stay in Siem Reap though :)

Elizabeth – Who is indeed a very thoughtful and sensible gal. You feel for others. You thought of how lonely Divya would be at Bee Ngoh’s place and suggested to look for her to bring her to the market with us. You also taught the village kids how to sing “Happy Birthday” to Jessica. You are task-oriented, getting the members down to clear up after the cultural night celebration, forgoing the fun they were having at the “disco”. I was really impressed. You are different from what people thought you were initially :)

Miaohui - For being a very supportive partner in whatever decisions I’ve chose to take. We’ve taken the tests together….What are the results?? :)

And not forgetting…Denise who has helped us so much before our trip. You were there with us during the trip…In our hearts :)

And not forgetting to thank the others who have lent us a helping hand. ..Back at home, we have: Seng Sykeath with his Khmer lessons, FAU members for the First Aid course, Ms Grace Koh with her facilitation sessions, Yunnan Team for working hand-in-hand for fund-raising, fellow TJCians for their kind support towards our project, family and friends! In Cambodia, we have: Bee Ngoh, Phereak, Tola and his driver friend, the villagers, the kids, "Jie Lun", etc...for all the wonderful experiences and help.

Kudos to all!

-Aileen-

This trip has been a very awesome and unforgettable one for me! All my friends are annoyed by me now because no matter what we do I keep cutting in and say "omg you know, in Cambodia....." Hahaha. (:

After spending several days in the village, I realized how lucky and fortunate I was. For a place merely a one and a half hours plane ride away from Singapore, Cambodia really is a totally different place. I realized how many things I take for granted back home, even something as simple as having warm water to bathe with. For us, when we fall sick we immediately just go to the doctor's which is very near our homes, but for them, the hospital is so far away, and with their minimal income, I believe it is very hard for them to seek treatment anyway.

It was also a very good experience building the wells, even though I didn't really help as much as I thought I would, doing the littlest things like mixing cement and laying bricks was also an eye-opener and quite fun(well at the start at least). Going around looking at the final product was very satisfying as well, because it really feels good to have been able to contribute something to them. Oh, and who can forget their awesome goreng pisang? :D Hahaha.

For me, one of the most memorable things was my birthday. This was the first time I spent my birthday apart from my sister, and this was one of the reasons why I dreaded the trip. One day before my birthday, we went to the school and Elizabeth and some of the other girls actually taught the children how to sing Happy Birthday, and it was very very touching. (: That night was also the very eventful Divya Incident, and seeing how all of us managed to come together during an emergency made me realize the importance of teamwork and I think all of us are really awesome.

I miss Cambodia really really much, I had a wonderful time and also because of all you wonderful people! I miss having people around 24/7, from sleeping to eating to working to bathing, haha. I'm very glad that this trip happened!

Now that i have became semi-Cambodia, I am proud to say that i have learnt a lot from this trip and it has been nothing but exciting and eventful. It is eventful in both senses - positive and negative. However it is fruitful in only the positive way , at least for me, i have grown to be more mature and definitely more responsible. Most importantly i immerse myself in a completely alien culture and emerging out this culture with a more dynamic personnality.

I can still vividly remember the anxiety that overwhelmed me in the airport. And also my desire to get my hands on the remote control in a movie called "The Click" and all i wanted to do is to fast forward the 16 days. For the first time in my life i actually enjoyed my Burger King meal....

Looking back the 16 days in Cambodia, I really tried my best to appreciate everything in Cambodia and keep a open mind to try out any new stuff.(apparently i keep my mind a bit too open and that cost me 35USD) I am really fortunate to be one of those lucky people to really do the well. It was an enormous joy. In the first week, i thought i get accustomed to the enviroment quite well. I have this innate confidence in my immunity system.(it failed me in the last 2 days though) The team also went on with its programme and functioned efficiently. Everything seems to be working out. We are able to help the villagers built WELL and toilet. We managed to cook some decent food with the help from oyster sauce. We bathed with all kinds of insects above our head. We fought sandflies with all the courage we could muster. Even though it maybe the first time doing a lot of things for many of us, we pull it off in the first week.

Of coz than comes the R&R, which is pretty much like heaven to me. The visit to the museum gives me a new perspective to Cambodian history and culture. It also answers my doubt as to why Cambodia is so under-developed.

When we go back to the village in the second week, thats when all hell break loose, people start to fall sick. The real test came when divya was down. Like Meng said, we pass the test with flying colours and not forgetting a little reward of kaya for him. On that night, I did not appreciate the gravity of the situation until i realise she is unconcious. I am really sorry that i laughed when i heard the "she is an indian" line. However i am juz glad that nothing happened to divya. The next big incident which i must reflect on is my little motorbike accident. It is very lucky that the situation did not exacerbate into some serious trouble. One thing i learn dearly from this incident is that one must always think of the consequences. I have always knew abt it but i guess i learnt it the hard way this time.

The last few days of R&R is not as fun as i expected it to be. Afterall i fell sick on the last 2 days was a big blow for me. It is also a pity that we were not able to better understand Angkor Wat which could help us to understand Cambodia culture better.

This trip is totally mind blowing and wonderful. And i am so thrilled to get to know all the people in team. I will treasure the friendship forged through 16 days of hardship in cambodia.

Well I’m in india now and I just showed my whole family all the photos we’ve taken and really it brought back a whole lot of memories.

So really first week was hard for me and I was still wondering how I’m gonna make it through totally out of my comfort zone and with no particularly close friends but I made it through! And enjoyed it as well.

Firstly, I learnt to take initiative to get things started especially since I was expected to lead the programme committee. Previously, I was quite laid back and waited for instructions to get things done but I learnt from others in the team how sometimes you have to take the first step in getting started. I really learnt how to be a better leader, not to be afraid to designate and I think my committee came together quite well and we managed to do our individual part to come up with the programme. So thank you to my wonderful committee!

Then I think a lot of us leant how to appreciate what we have cause like Elizabeth said it was also my first time going to the market, washing clothes and definitely building toilets and wells! Secondly, after we learnt to accept that we weren’t able to teach the children much English, I think it was good that we changed our plan. The joy on the children’s faces as they played with us and did the origami activities indeed made it worth it. So that comes to the lesson of “expecting the unexpected” since all plans were changed but we managed to fit our plans into the time we had! However, I really found this a rather hard concept since I like things to be clearly planned before setting off but this trip forced me to move away from that.

Of course I have to say something about being the one with the “condition”! It was quite the event of our trip, but skipping details it really taught me a lot. I think it was truly admirable of our team that everyone came through for me when I needed it the most. I guess I can never be grateful enough for what everyone did cause no one knows what would have happened if the guys didn’t push the van, no one realised how I was breathing or if the people at “home” weren’t praying and the list continues! So one last big THANK YOU to the 23 people who have made it possible for me to be happily typing this in india!

There are a million things I’m gonna miss so I feel the need to list some so here goes: Little terror/Miss Cambodia!/BRIDGE!/ washing clothes/pumping water/walking through the cesspool/ the sunset/sunrise (that I can only imagine thanks to the clouds)/ LUCKY supermarket/ cooking and taking photos after that/ market trips to buy Taurus slippers/ the ultra friendly school teacher/ the welcoming villagers/ the pre-trip colouring sessions/ my glamorous hospital/the regular HAPPY EATING! and since everyone is waiting expectantly- the wonderful friends I’ve made on this trip! I miss you all since waking up alone still needs time to get used to!

Anyway since I’m going to be back rather late, I'll miss the gathering on the 26th but I hope you all have a great time and also enjoy the rest of the holidays!

This sixteen days in Cambodia was really an eventful and unforgettable trip. I would most certainly treasure these sixteen days in Cambodia and the friendship forged with new friends. Before the trip i was actually quite skeptical and was questioning myself on why i am so stupid to choose to step out of my comfortable life in Singapore to experience a god-knows-what kind of life. I almost wanted to feign some kind of illness so that i can be excused from the trip. Fast forward to today, i am glad i did not do so as i have gained a lot from this trip.

One of the things i have learnt from this trip is the true meaning of service learning. Throughout the trip, I was quite humbled by the villagers. With only simple tools and the resources from their surroundings they can actually do wonders. Through interactions with the villagers and the children I realised that we have lots to learn from them. Just because we have the science and technology to help in our daily lives and we are from a developed country does not mean that we are more superior than the villagers and it is rational that we help them and we have nothing to learn. On the contrary, the peserverance and the determination of the villagers as they go about they daily lives despite earning only USD30 a month is something worth learning.

I have also learnt to appreciate what we have here in Singapore. Children in Singapore are ungrateful for their comfortable lives and take them for granted. We have a proper education system here in singapore but there are still many children skipping school and not appreciating the teacher's efforts. Children in Cambodia have no proper educaitonal facilities but they are still eager to learn as can be seen from the English lessons we have given. We are just too sheltered in Singapore and most of the time we tend to forget how fortunate we are until we really try out their lifestyle which is why i am thankful to be able to go on this trip.

What was really disappointing about this trip was the lack of a guide during our trip to Angkor Wat. Angkor Wat is a symbol of cambodia and carries a large part of Cambodia heritage and culture. Sad to say, without a guide all we see are just bricks and bricks and more bricks.

Nevertheless this trip was really a fruitful one and i enjoyed every part of it. =)