Cambodia; Fulfilling and Fruitful

The experience I have accumulated in the June OCIP trip was indeed a great help for my end of year OCIP trip. The experience from June OCIP trip allowed me to be more familiarize with the preparation for the trip, having more knowledge about the purpose and aim of an OCIP and last but not least, to be prepared to deal with unforeseen circumstances – expecting the unexpected.  Knowing what to expect, I was also able to adapt to the village’s living conditions without much difficulty. In short, I felt that the first trip serves as a stepping stone towards doing greater community work.

As the Nov/Dec OCIP trip was much longer than the June OCIP trip, it was indeed more challenging, both mentally and physically – from building a kitchen (June OCIP) to constructing a library, building water pumps, preparing local dishes and putting up a cultural performance (Dec OCIP).  However, because of all these, the nov/dec OCIP was much fulfilling and more fruitful as I had more interactions with the local people and children there.

As a participant in the June trip, most of the arrangements were more or less planned by the ex-co then and I was simply had to follow their directions. It was rather easy then.  However, as an ex-co for the recent trip, much more planning has to be done by us and it was not as easy as it seemed. Greater role comes with greater responsibility, Being an ex co was not simple but after seeing how did things go on smoothly (team members are bonded, sufficient items were brought and etc), the feeling was definitely rewarding.

-          Louis

Cambodia 2011 ; Touching lives

Having gone for the June trip with advocates earlier this year prepared me for the trip to Cambodia.  It taught me the importance of looking out for one another (simple stuff like, does everyone have enough food?) and ensuring we do our best to serve the community.

However this trip was still very much different from the June Trip. Being an exco, I was given greater responsibility to ensure that the team was bonded, happy and able to work efficiently.

Also the trip to Cambodia was more physically demanding compared to the June trip to Vietnam, as we need to build many things. In total the team completed 4 water pumps and 1 library.

Building the library

Getting sand to build the library

Inside the completed library

We also had more classes of students to teach. The June trip gave me some insight of what to teach the students , what logistics to bring so as to give the programmes committee a better idea of how they should carry out their lessons.

Teaching the students

One of the major difficulties faced was the language barrier as there were less translators to help us. Thankfully, the children knew a bit of English already and we were still able to continue teaching them.

The best memories I have of Cambodia would be the times we played with the children. They were extremely friendly people and warmed up to us very quickly. :D

Games

One of the people there I met was the principal of the primary school. The pre trip Local CIP gave me some exposure to interviewing people and taught me to prepare more before interviewing a person.  He is an extremely hardworking person, having work in the school for many years. He was the one that helped to turn the school from a few wooden classrooms to the concrete classrooms we saw. The effort and dedication he put into the school really touched my heart.

Principal of the primary school

 It made me feel thankful that I went for the December trip as this trip gave me more opportunities to interact with the locals and do more things for them, like put up a performance for them

Yet despite the fact that it might have been tiring, everyone still put in a lot of effort and, the end result was awesome. I felt a sense of satisfaction, regardless of whether they appreciated or not, that our efforts had impacted their lives in a good way.

-Christina