Cambodia 2023

June - July 2023
My second trip to Cambodia with UniSQ as the supervising academic for a group of pre service teachers to experience cross cultural teaching in Treak Community School. Read more
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  • Day 16

    A glorious end to the program

    June 30, 2023 in Cambodia ⋅ 🌧 32 °C

    Our program officially ended on Friday with a farewell lunch at Treak Community Centre with the teaching staff, and a dinner at Haven Restaurant, our favourite place to dine after not only sampling the wonderful food, but hearing about the wonderful work they do to educate and train local young adults to give them a positive future. I developed an award for each of the students, based upon their demonstrated skills and strengths and had a lovely little award ceremony to honour their achievements over the last two weeks. There may have been a few tears shed! Saturday was a free day, with one student leaving at 8am, and the rest with a 2pm departure. Most of them used the day to quietly stroll around the city buying a few bits and bobs before departing. At farewell time, some more tears were shed, and I made sure the students got a grand send-off, running alongside their bus waving. What a laugh. I am utterly proud of the way our UniSQ students have conducted themselves and persevered through the challenges presented during their time in Cambodia. They openly admit that the sense of achievement and transformation they feel is in no small part because they faced and overcame obstacles. While they're all very excited about going home, they felt a sense of wistfulness in leaving the peole and place they've come to love.Read more

  • Day 17

    My own trip comes to an end

    July 1, 2023 in Cambodia ⋅ ☁️ 31 °C

    I was privileged to be invited (along with Kirsty, my offsider from CIS) on a bike ride with the staff from Treak through Angkor Park. It was a sensational day that left my heart full, and even though it was physically demanding, I felt refreshed and alive. This bike ride is a monthly tradition that the staff enjoy, and an honour to join. We left in the morning from Victory Guest House, our accomodation for the two weeks, and made our way in a convoy through the city and out to Angkor park. One good outcome from Covid is that the Cambodian government had the opportunity to resurface the roads both in the city and the Angkor park, meaning we had beautiful smooth surfaces to ride upon through this incredible shady jungle into which were nestled soooooo many ancient temples (about 40). We stopped for breakfast as a truly local restaurant (no menu here - but locals seem to know what to order!) and then a second pit stop at the bridge to Neak Pean, another ancient ruin on an artificial island. We didn't have time to view the temple, but on the long bridge over the water to this, Salin decided she was hot, and promptly launched herself into the water to cool off. What a gal! I love her free spirit! The convoy then worked its way back to Victory guest house for lunch. It was the most wonderful way to celebrate our time as co-workers in education and new friendships.Read more