Work trip to Siem Reap

Hey, its Laura!

While I’m working at Equitable Cambodia (EC) for the duration of the trip, I am going to be working with their Community Empowerment & Legal Awareness (CELA) team.  One of the major things that CELA does is organize and facilitate educational workshops around the country to educate citizens on their rights.  Since land grabbing is a massive issue in Cambodia right now, I think that while I am here most of their workshops will be on this topic.  As it turns out, I arrived just in time to be able to join them for one of these workshops in Siem Reap, which is about a 7 hour (if not longer) drive from Phnom Penh.  We slept, ate and held the workshop at the Metakarona Center for 5 days while in Siem Reap.  My job while at the workshop was to keep a record of the lessons, activities and relevant discussions.  Unfortunately my knowledge of Khmer is practically non-existent at this point, so that meant someone had to sit with me and translate the entire time.  Thankfully everyone with CELA was extremely patient and helpful the whole time! Besides the work, we played energizer games throughout the day to keep everyone engaged and alert, and played more fun and silly team games at night.  I really had a fantastic time and I’m looking forward to the next workshop!

These photos were taken on the way there when we had stopped for lunch.

The grounds of the Center were beautiful! In these pictures, there is the area where we ate all of our meals (which were provided for us), the field in the back where we played games, and the last one is our room– mosquito nets included!

 

The participants during a lesson and while working on their group presentations.

The first couple are of my CELA co-workers, and the last ones are of some of the youth participants!

This group of pictures is when some of the participants taught me how to pick mangos.  There are mango trees everywhere, so we’ve been eating quite a few since we got here.

Work – Tyler

Hey everyone, Tyler again.  Time for an update about the work I’m actually doing in Phnom Penh.  The organization I’m working for is called Chab Dai (an anti-human trafficking coalition) and the primary project I’m working on is called Freedom Collaborative.  Basically, Chab Dai is working to create an online community where anti-trafficking stakeholders can find other stakeholders across the world, share ideas and solutions, find anti-trafficking library resources, and view video interviews of key figures addressing human trafficking issues.  Additionally, countries will have their own national version of the platform that is fully contextualized.

To see the site, go to:  http://freedomcollaborative.org/organizations

To find out about Daniel, who is currently biking across Canada to raise the money necessary for the creation of the Canadian version of the site, visit: http://give.danielperrett.com/

My role in all of this is to create and implement a monitoring and evaluations framework for the site, which will be applicable both globally and nationally.  Both donors and organizations have a keen interest in ensuring programs are effectively reaching stated objectives, and this framework will allow all involved parties to have a clear picture of the role and impact of Freedom Collaborative.

My second project, which won’t begin until this summer, is strategic planning.  The Freedom Collaborative platform is in the process of being expanded to 14 countries globally, but I will be working with other Chab Dai employees to research and identify the next series of countries that will be targeted for expansion.  This will involve determining which countries 1 have a human trafficking problem (frankly, most if not all countries fit this to some extent) and 2 lack collaboration between anti-trafficking stakeholders.

Thus far, Chab Dai has been amazing to work with, all of its employees have been incredibly welcoming and supportive, and I’m really looking forward to contributing to their efforts in the global fight against human trafficking.

Weekend in Kep

Hey everyone, it’s Tyler.  Been a while since we’ve posted anything, big apology for that.  Needless to say, we’ve both been super busy.  Anyway, last weekend Laura was with her co-workers in Siam Reap (post coming as soon as I’m done), so I went with some new friends to Kep.  Kep is an amazing seaside town, really popular among ex pats but still kind of a hidden gem.

My hotel room.  First time with sleeping with air conditioning since Boston!  The group was split between this hotel and a second hotel, and we spent most of our time hanging out at the other hotel (The Veranda Natural Resort if you’re interested).

 

The first is the AWESOME infinity pool at the resort, where we spent all of our time when at the resort.  The second is the path connecting the resort rooms at the Veranda, and the third is the sunset from the resort room.

 

The first picture is us attempting to climb through the national park in Kep.  Essentially, there’s an oval track around the mini mountain, and a trail that cuts over top.  Half way through the track, we decided to cut across to get back to the start faster.  Clearly, a little steeper than we anticipated.  The second is a view of the water from the Sailing Club, a little restaurant/bar right on the water.  The third is a group picture.  It’s amazing how many different people you meet when you’re traveling.  From left to right, Canadian, Canadian, American, Brazilian, Australian, American.  The fourth is a picture of Kep from a lookout on the track.

Obviously, Kep is awesome (and a fraction of the price of any similar Caribbean resort!). Laura and I are already making plans to go there together soon!

The Killing Fields

The Killing Field we visited was a 45 minute tuk-tuk ride from our apartment.  It’s one of over 300 mass graves that have been located around Cambodia, a result of the brutal genocide perpetrated by the Khmer Rouge regime.

The front gate of the center.  Headsets were provided to all visitors in virtually any language, providing an audio guide as we walked around the area.  Each station had a number which we could then press on our audio device.  A mixture of historical facts, personal stories and testimonies were included.

 

Main memorial for the victims of the genocide.  Several excavations were done throughout the late 1980s and 1990s, utilizing the assistance of forensic analysts.  The middle of this memorial contains several levels, each level containing skulls of victims executed in a particular manner (e.g. hammer, knife, bamboo rod, etc.).  Many of the graves were left undisturbed as they were covered with water, while others are slowly filling with soil and plants (the graves were originally 16 feet deep).  Clothing, bone shards, and teeth are still emerging from the ground, especially during rainy season.

Street View and the Russian Market

These initial three pictures were taken from our front balcony.

 

Inside the massive Russian Market.  It’s covered by corrugated metal panels and PACKED with clothing, food, accessories, electronics, and people.  This is one of the most open areas within the market.

 

Street view of the area surrounding the Russian Market.  The “sidewalks” are always packed with vehicles, street vendors, motos, and people.  A surprising number of high-end vehicles are seen around the city (e.g. Lexus, Rolls Royce, Range Rover, BMW, etc.).  The tuk-tuks (moto with a carriage on the back) are essentially taxis and are seen all around.

Pictures of Our Apartment

Outreach continually rents two apartments in Phnom Penh that are used by the volunteers.  Each apartment has the same layout, but one has a fully equipped kitchen and a living area with a tv while the other uses the living area space as a second bedroom.  All the volunteers have access to both apartments, so everyone shares the kitchen and living area.

This is the shared living area.  We have access to both Cambodian and western channels and shows (e.g. Discovery channel, American Idol, etc.).

 

The shared kitchen, with fridge/freezer and stove top.

 

Our bedroom, with multiple life saving fans.

 

Our bedroom, looking out from the far bed.

 

One of the bathrooms.

 

General layout of the first apartment (the second is immediately to the right), courtesy of Tyler’s extraordinary Microsoft Paint skills.

 

Pictures from the Journey to Cambodia

Our last picture in Boston before we got onto the plane.

 

A few mountains on the way to San Fran.

 

We were super excited to be half way through 27 hours of flying!

 

FINALLY landing in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

First Impressions

It’s been a crazy first few days in Phnom Penh.  We made it here and through customs with all luggage accounted for and documents properly stamped, met up with Nimol (the AMAZING in-country co-ordinator for Outreach International), and we’ve been on the go ever since.  We’ve settled into our apartment (separate post to follow with pics), met the two other volunteers we will be sharing the apartment with, toured the city with Nimol, explored the nearby Russian Market, and visited the infamous Killing Fields.  Tomorrow we’re planning on stocking up on groceries and relaxing all day before things get going again on Monday.  We’ll be visiting our respective projects on Tuesday and officially start on Wednesday.

A special shout out to Nimol, who has taken care of every possible need, answered every question, and generally made us feel extremely welcome in Cambodia.  So glad she’s been here to help us get on our feet!

Biggest adjustment so far:  the heat (Laura) and the traffic (Tyler).  It was a cool 34 degrees Celsius today (44 with the humidity), a slight difference from the snow and freezing rain in New Brunswick.  As for the traffic, people are supposed to drive on the right side of the road, but most intersections don’t have lights and people generally drive wherever they please.  Little bit nerve wracking the first time you see a tuk-tuk driving head on before veering off down a side road.  Sidewalks = non-existant, so pedestrians walk on the shoulder of the road.  Also, up to four people routinely squeeze onto motorcycles and it doesn’t slow them down at all.  So glad we don’t have to drive anywhere ourselves!  The tuk-tuks we use are very familiar with the program and drive extremely carefully, nothing for us to worry about.

Made it!

Made it safe, absolutely no problems, bigger update to follow!

Almost There…

Made it safe to Taiwan, one more flight in a few hours and we’ll be in Phnom Penh.  We’ll be in touch as soon as we land/get settled!