I am now back in Singapore and have finally gone through all my photos. But, before I get to that, I am going to write my first big Cambodia post about my reflections on the lives of the people in Cambodia. (Note: All prices I mention in this post will be in US dollars as this is one of the two currencies used in Cambodia.)
So for a bit of background, the average person in Cambodia makes US$1 per day. That's $365 a year. On an income of that size obvioulsy most things are out of reach. Public education is free to all children, but most towns only have a primary school and secondary school are only located in the larger cities. For most children to attend secondary school they have to move away from home and rent a room or live with a relative for many years. To pay for their child to board in another town and attend secondary school will cost a family on average $50. For a family that is making maybe $60 per month (considering both parents are working) this is not something they can afford - espically if they have more than one child, or have any other expensises besides this, which they obviously would have. So this being said, if a child does not grow up in a larger city in Cambodia, this likely will only attend school through primary school, and only if the parents choose to send their kids. It is not mandatory and the government does not punish parents who do not send their children to school, although they do campaigns in rural areas to encourage parents to educate their children as long as possible.
My driver, who likely makes good money compared to the average Cambodia, currenlty has his 3 year old daughter enrolled in a private pre-school as pre-school is not offered in Cambodia free of charge (much like America). When his daugher turns 6 she will begin to attend the local public schools, which, according to my driver, are not very good. They recieve minimal English language instruction, 2 hours per week, and it is taught by local Cambodians who do not have a very desirable accent so the kids do not learn the proper pronunciation of the English language. I asked my driver if he was planning to send his daughter on to private school later as well but he said it is too expensive. He mentioned there is a good international school in town, but at $500 per year he cannot afford it. Can you imagine being able to give your child a good education for $500 per year? That is like one semester of books during college in America, not an entire year of good education.
Taking all this into consideration, the thing I found the hardest about being in Cambodia was the idea that there is no real way for a child to have a better life. If they are lucky they will go to school through high school, or if really lucky college, but then what? There is almost no industry in Cambodia outside of rice farming and tourism Their English language education will have been very poor and their speaking skills will not be anything exceptional. No other countries in the world speak Cambodian so they can't take their native language anywhere. And I can't imagine that the standard education they would receive in school is all that spectacular either. Looking at their situation, at the hand these kids have been dealt in life, it is hard to imagine that they will ever have an opporutnity for a much better life. It is hard to imagine many of them will ever leave Cambodia, and most of them won't. Most people in Cambodia will never leave. Many of them can't even afford to travel across their state as many people can't afford a motorbike or car - many people simply ride pedal bikes.
One additional thing working against these children is that many of their parents are not literate. During the reign of the Khmer Rouge from 1975-1979 all education was stopped in Cambodia. Any children who should have been in school during these years did not recieve an educaiton, missing out on critical years of learning. Because these people have not seen the positive benefits of a good educaiton many of them cannot see the value and thus do not prioritize it for their own children.
This brings me to my conclusion that the only chance many of these kids have would be to learn English as best they can so they have the skills needed to move out of the country. The better their english, as well as the rest of their educaiton, the greater their opportunities will be in life. I have thought before about how lucky I am to speak english, especially with a mid-west American accent (the most desirable accent), and how I could possibly use this gift I have been given to give back. I have thought that once I am settled somewhere I could teach english for free on the side, helping people improve their skills and improve their accents. Although I don't know anything about teaching, having lived in Spain and having had exchagne students, I am great at correcting people, working on their pronunciation, and explaining what words mean, when to use them, when not to use them, and how to similar words are different. I often corrected my co-workers at Ortolana and they appreciated my help. They knew they could ask me about the intricacies of English words and I would help explain why a word is used the the way it is. I enjoy helping others, I am not shy to correct someone's english (when it is appropriate, of course), I understand how helpful it is to have someone correcting you when you are trying ot learn a new language, and feel that this is probably the best skill I have to offer to people less fortunate than myself at this time in my life.
So, if I don't get a job here in Singapore in the next 2 weeks I will leave. And my next step will be trying to find a place to volunteer (and hopefully make a bit of money to offset my living costs) in Cambodia and teach English - as this is the bes thing I can offer these kids so they have the opportunity to have a better life.
Doing this would be a net negative activity. I will have to pay for some, if not all, of my own expenses - rent, food, everything else. I may be able to make a bit of money teaching to those more well off in my free time but they already have the money to learn English so they are in a much better position already than the majority of the population. I have contacted one school outside Siem Reap about possibly doing a long term volunteer project with them and am waiting ot hear back. This is a huge change from my original plan, but it would do much more for the world than waiting tables of event planning here in Singapore.
I am still going to leave both options open for now, as I am waiting to hear back from both the school and the jobs, but I expanding my horizons as Singapore isn't happening as fast as I would have hoped.
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