Success at Last! 16/12/2009

So far this week has been a series of up’s and down’s with work, starting badly and now going great! On Monday I had planned to have a meeting with the School Director of Pu Long School to discuss involving the community in creating a new school map for this year. However, when we turned up we were informed that he had in fact gone to a workshop in SM. Not great. Communication is limited at best here and in his defence he was probably informed of said workshop that morning. It would’ve been nice of him to give us a call though and save us the journey. Still, Jeltje was able to do a lesson observation with the grade one teacher whilst I headed back to SM with Sean (a volunteer with another project locally who offered to help us out for a couple of days doing whatever he could).
My Tuesday meeting at Pu Trom Cha was looking to go the same way when we arrived after a 45min gruelling off-road drive (including one painful spill on the way there and one VERY painful and scary one on the way back. And here was me thinking I might be bruise free in time for the beach!). The School Director was there but the community were not. He did dispatch several girls from the school to go inform the village chief that I was here and would like a meeting though, which is progress. The door which we had asked him to fix 8 weeks ago (in order to make the school secure, so we could give it some resources) was still leaning up against the outside wall. So we asked him if it would be possible for us to try and fix it now while we waited. The SD ummmed and ahhhhed for a while and eventually hopped on his bike to go get some tools from his home. He arrived back and immediately he, the teacher, Chak and Sean were all systems go creating new hinges and repairing the old ones. The door was back on again and working in about 10mins with all them sweating like mad in the sun! Still, the door was now fixed and several village elders hod now turned up so I went ahead with my community meeting whilst Sean and Jeltje re-painted the blackboards which were completely knackered.
The meeting was a great success with the SD having listed his issues and ideas for school improvements and the community giving their opinions about the school too. The one thing that was really highlighted was the amazing level of poverty in the community which was certainly reflected in the school. The children there are hardly dressed, have no paper, books or pens as their parents simply cannot afford these things. The school is very run down with hardly any resources, the class room walls are pretty much bare and there is nothing to fill them with. The school is also lacking a water supply which means there is nowhere for the children to wash, go to the toilet or drink. It is by far the worst school I have visited so far and it really pulls at the heart strings when you think about how little is actually needed to get it on the right track. It costs $200 to build a well, around $50 to provide it with resources such as paper, pens, card, chalk etc.
Still, although I have no funding to give them I am determined to help somehow to improve the school. It is the first one I’ve been to where the community has turned up so I am really keen to encourage continued partnership between school and community. During the meeting I suggested a ‘Community Open Day’ where everyone is invited to the school to see what happens there and also to see how it needs some support to make improvements. The community and SD were all really keen on this idea and have really flown with it. I have asked them to come up with some ideas and expectations for the day for our next meeting so we can set a suitable date and a list of activities.
So that was great, a very uplifting experience after weeks of feeling like I’m banging my head against a wall, not getting anywhere and being sick in Phnom Penh!
I have a meeting with Lauka School and the community there tomorrow morning which I really hope goes just as well!!
Just a quick update...I now have a kitten called Coco! She is very cute but still a little too small to catch mice and rats (sadly, as I am completely overridden with the buggers!).
Merry Christmas! I had almost forgotten...I do not feel even remotely Christmassy here as I am warm, it is sunny and everyone here is Buddhist!
Love xx