A Day in the Life of a Volunteer English Teacher

I knew before coming to Southeast Asia that I wanted to do some volunteering at some point while I was there. When I realized that I would be 2 weeks ahead of my travel partner, Leah, getting there, I knew that would be the perfect time to do it. I had some friends, that were also teaching in Korea, that had come and done some volunteering at an orphanage in Cambodia after leaving Korea. So I got the information from them, got in touch with the orphanage, and I was ready to go the day after returning to Siem Reap. I would spend the next two weeks teaching English to children at the Chres Village Orphanage. 

Chres Village Orphanage

Classroom at the Orphanage

The Orphanage is about 15 km outside of the city of Siem Reap and also serves as a school for the poor. About 60 orphans live here all the time and about 150 students bike in from the neighboring villages to attend classes. To my surprise, the majority of the orphans were not true orphans in the sense that they had no parents. Most of them had parents and siblings living in the nearby villages, but the parents were just not able to provide enough food or shelter for them, so they sent them to live at the orphanage. 

I was lucky enough to meet a Scottish girl named Kirsty at my hostel that was also looking to volunteer and able to get a spot at Chres as well. So every morning we would meet at 6:15 AM, scarf down some breakfast at the hostel and hop on our bikes. We then had an hour long, 15km bike ride through crowded streets of the city, down a long national highway, and a couple of pot-hole filled dirt roads to get there. It was a long trek, in very hot and humid weather, but the faces that were waiting there to greet us made it much more bearable!

I then spent the next 3 hours teaching Continents, Countries, their food and sights, and Baby Animal names to these guys...

At the end of that class period, all of the village children headed home and there was a three hour break before the next classes. We passed this time playing with the orphans, having lunch, and taking a rest. I spent most of my time in the Girls dorm, listening to the older girls sing their favorite Pop songs and having the younger ones braid my hair!

Break time in the Girls' Dorm

At 1:30, the next round of village students started biking in and we had the second half of the teaching day. I had the youngest, lowest level class...very challenging. I did everything I could to teach the days, months, shapes, colors, weather, body parts, and clothes...with a few games of Simon Says and I Spy fitting in there...to these little guys...

At 3:30 the "bell" (aka someone beating a piece of metal onto a piece of metal) rang it was time for everyone to head home for the day...

The School "Bell"
It was then time for Kirsty and I to get back on the bikes and start the hour long trek back into town...getting caught in multiple storms along the way!! The constant waves and excited "Hellos!" from the villagers in the fields along our ride made it much more enjoyable though!

I really enjoyed my time at the orphanage. It was such a different experience teaching English here compared to teaching in South Korea. In Korea my students came from very wealthy families and I had tons of resources at my fingertips to help me out. Here, I depended completely on my creativity and experience from the last year. There were curriculum, no books for me or the students, no paper or colors...all I had was a white board, a marker, and my imagination! But the students' love of learning and giant effort is what kept me going. These kids have next to nothing to their names but they are some of the happiest kids I have ever seen. They are just happy to have someone there to teach them and will take in whatever you are willing to give! It was extremely rewarding and not an experience I will soon forget!

The orphanage is kept afloat by an Australian volunteer named Clare. She is an amazing young woman who has volunteered the last year and a half of her life and countless amounts of money to make sure these children are well taken care of. The money she raised is running out slowly and she is afraid she will have to leave if it does. I don't know what those kids would do without her. A handful of them have been in the hospital with viruses the last month and all of their hospital bills have come straight out of her wallet! If anyone would like to make any kind of donation, I am going to attach the link at the bottom of this blog where you can do so. Anything at all, including the smallest of donations, can make a huge difference! The money goes straight to Clare and you can be assured it will go directly to whatever the children need!  These kids are truly remarkable and I really hope they will be able to get out into the world and make a life of their own one day!

To make donations: http://www.cambodianorphanage.org.uk/donate.htm