Sponsoring a Cambodian girl through university

This post is all about you helping out some wonderful people I lived with in Cambodia. If you have any interest in helping others, whether through one-off donations, fundraising, or long-term sponsorships, please read on! If you’re after the rest of my blog, you’ll find it below, or using the categories to the right of this page.

Thank you so much to the who have so far offered to sponsor the wonderful girls at PAGE! You are amazing. And I can assure you the girls all truly deserve it.

Seven girls are still in dire need of sponsors though. If you, or anyone you know, thinks they might be able to spare £20/ month to give one of them the incredible gift of higher education, and all the life-chances it brings, please keep reading! You can email me for more information too- just leave a comment below and I’ll get back to you.

Sponsoring a Cambodian Girl’s University Education

The girls at PACE

The Background

I spent October, November and December 2008 volunteering for a charity in Cambodia. The charity was founded by Buddhist monks, and is called the Life and Hope Association (LHA). It manages five complimentary projects, all of which provide education, security and love to some of the most disadvantaged young people in Cambodia.

One project LHA manages is called PAGE- Program Advancing Girls’ Education.  This project allows the poorest girl-students to complete high school by providing free accommodation, food, care and extra lessons. 14 girls aged between 13 and 21 currently live at the “PAGE house”, and if it weren’t for LHA’s support each one would have to quit school immediately and find work. PAGE gives these girls the second chance they long for, and thoroughly deserve.

I lived in the “PAGE house” with these 14 girls for one month, and in all honestly, I was bowled over by them. They are extraordinary young women. Their disarming lovingness, openness, generosity, perseverance, and sense of fun would fill anyone with awe and inspiration.  These girls will grow to be incredible women, and I was thoroughly heartened (though in no way surprised) to learn how strongly they all wish to serve society in the future; pockets of Cambodia will flourish in their hands.

These girls clearly need to be armed with degrees! Without degrees, they’ve no chance of becoming the teachers, NGO workers, politicians, doctors and managers they work so hard to become.

However, I was saddened to witness their anxiety over their futures; they know they can’t pay the university fees, and they know equally that without degrees their hard work and great aspirations will come to nothing.

£600 is enough to guarantee one girl a university education.  That’s about £17/month over 3 years. If you think you can help, and thereby give a totally wonderful Cambodian girl the chance to go to university (and enjoy all the opportunities that a degree would open up for her), please contact me. (Leave a comment below and I’ll get back to you very soon)

Basic Logistical Information

It costs £600 to enable one girl to complete her degree, which can be paid in installments for your ease:

£25/month for 2 years,

£17/month for 3 years, or

£12.50/month for 4 years.

Every penny of your donation will go straight to the girl and her education. This is quite rare in the field of charitable giving. The charity and myself cover any additional costs, such as admin, transfer fees, extra living costs etc. But we do really need your donation for academic costs, to give one of these wonderful, deserving girl enough support to allow her to complete a degree. I hope you share my opinion that sponsoring a girl in such a way is truly wonderful opportunity for both you and the girl.

If you would like to and feel able to cover all costs for a girl (a full scholarship, including living costs) this can also be discussed. It is more expensive, but would of course give the girl much more stability and peace of mind. However,  this level of commitment is not essential; the girls can support themselves somewhat by finding work, and should be able to continue receiving food and accommodation from LHA (though sadly this cannot be guaranteed over so many years). One-off or general donations are also hugely welcome, as the girls’ income will undoubtedly need supplementing at times- living costs are hugely variable, unexpected medical expenses may arise, and their living conditions are already very basic. Cheques can be made payable to “Life and Hope Association” (please contact me for an address/ account details).

There are 12 school grades in Cambodia, and some of the girls are still in very low ones. For example, he youngest girl is 13, and is in grade 4. Promising sponsorship early means more time to save up the money, and more time to get to know the girl you’re sponsoring as she progresses through school.  However, if you would like to sponsor someone who is going to university sooner, many will be starting in the next year or so, and so are really urgent cases for sponsorships! We should be able to arrange for you to sponsor one of those girls. Of course, there’s nothing to stop you sponsoring two, or more, girls if you want! Alternatively, if you’d like to help but can’t afford the full £600, any extra financial help for the girls will always be gratefully received and put to good use, as the girls’ living conditions are very basic, while their true needs are personal and always fluctuating unpredictably.

Basic Profiles of the Girls

All the girls are from very difficult, poor backgrounds. All study very hard- until 10pm most nights, and also help around the house without complaint (even though it means waking at 5-5:30 each morning to do chores). The girls are all totally lovely people- disarmingly open, generous and loving, yet still fully aware of how to have some serious fun! The additional, personal, information below is really basic, and there are some gaps, but if you want more detail please just ask me.

First initial of first name (for privacy). Age. Grade. What she wants to do in the future. Background  /  From my experience…

2. P. 19. 11. Charity worker and guide for Temples of Angkor. Modest but wonderful! Always ready to laugh, help out, and study hard.

3. N. 18. 11. Teacher. Super-woman who really should be PM of Cambodia. So kind, so bright, so mature, and still so modest.

4. S. 19. 11. NGO worker. Winning smile, great laugh, and very big heart.

5. V. 19. 10. Bank Manager. Outgoing and welcoming to all.  Studies very hard.

6. S. 17. 10. Doctor. Very smart and focused. Lovely, with a great sense of humour.

7. S. 18. 9. Doctor. Very sweet-natured and great fun. Very kind-hearted.

8. S. 15. 8. Hotel Manager. Seems to always be happy! Outgoing and very loving.

9. K. 16. 8. Manager. Very responsible, very kind, beautiful smile, and great dancer.

10. S. 17. 8. Accountant. Sporty and sophisticated, yet always ready to have a laugh and help out.

11. S. 17. 6. Business woman. Very genuine, loving and quick to laugh.

12. M. 13. 6. Business woman. Bright, charming, and the most helpful 14-year-old in the world.

13. D. 13. 12. Khmer Teacher. Orphan from street children centre. Astonishingly good dancer, very bright, splendid confidence and sense of style, very kind-hearted.

Reflections on War

LAST POST
by Carol Ann Duffy
In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.
If poetry could tell it backwards, true, begin
that moment shrapnel scythed you to the stinking mud…
but you get up, amazed, watch bled bad blood
run upwards from the slime into its wounds;
see lines and lines of British boys rewind
back to their trenches, kiss the photographs from home –
mothers, sweethearts, sisters, younger brothers
not entering the story now
to die and die and die.
Dulce – No – Decorum – No – Pro patria mori.
You walk away.
You walk away; drop your gun (fixed bayonet)
like all your mates do too –
Harry, Tommy, Wilfred, Edward, Bert –
and light a cigarette.
There’s coffee in the square,
warm French bread
and all those thousands dead
are shaking dried mud from their hair
and queuing up for home. Freshly alive,
a lad plays Tipperary to the crowd, released
from History; the glistening, healthy horses fit for heroes, kings.
You lean against a wall,
your several million lives still possible
and crammed with love, work, children, talent, English beer, good food.
You see the poet tuck away his pocket-book and smile.
If poetry could truly tell it backwards,
then it would.

…………………..

War is a horrific, horrible thing. I want to say all should refuse to fight, always. “Drop your gun… there’s coffee in the square”. But at the same time, some injustices need to be stood up to. How could we have stopped Hitler without war? Can gross injustice always be stopped through non-militaristic means? If killing someone was the only way to stop them killing just two others, I expect I would do it. Aside from the setting of war, I would think it right to do so. But killing a man simply because he’s in the opposing army? Surely that’s a form of madness? By the time it gets to that point, something has gone horribly wrong, and are we not digging our pit of insanity deeper and deeper the more we fight and kill?

Climate Protestors

I love Climate Protestors. They epitomise active citizenship, love and creative genius. I’m not sure whether they’re totally right that breaking the law in beautiful, brilliant ways is the only way to save the planet… But I still feel an internal cheer when they do! And in the absence of a better solution, I kinda think, well, at least it’s SOMETHING.

This guy above, Danny Chivers, is terrific

Another poem

Actually, I’ll stick this one up too. It needs a proper title, and more importantly, I think it needs a beginning. I thought it up while enjoying (honestly) a ramble across the Lake District with my Pa. Very basic with no real form, punctuation, yada yada yada! But it just made me chuckle as the words assembled into my head, so maybe with later work it’ll be alright:

Ramblers’ poem

Unexpected undulation

En route to our destination

Grows our grumbling frustration

And when then precipitation-

Unforecasted, most unwelcome-

Starts to fall,

It’s clear this expedition,

Which started well,

Will not

End well

At all.

Poem Draft

This isn’t a good poem, but hey- no one reads this anyway. If you ARE reading this (which I presume you are), please give me some pointers and constructive criticism. Ta muchly!

ps. Mum- Constructive criticism does not include- stop writing stupid poems and get on with your work. Although that would be a valid suggestion right now… *Dashes off in a flash of light.

Simple Goodness- Sally, 1^st April 2008. Edited 17^th Oct 2009

Acting properly

Isn’t hard;

Just do what’s right and

Be on your guard.

Follow your conscience!

Follow your heart!

Follow yer ‘ead, lass

(the sensible part)-

The part that’s for others.

The part that’s for pleasure.

The part for the “now”.

That part that’s forever.

Then it ought to be clear

What’s to do and what’s not.

But now you’re fumbling.

What haven’t you got?!

Look:

If it hurts other people,

Or if it hurts you,

Or the dear bless’d creatures,

It ain’t right to do!

If it violates Jesus,

Or the law o’ the land,

Or that of commonsense,

Or it’s otherwise banned,

Or it just doesn’t feel right,

Or you’re told it’s a sin,

Or your duty’s in question,

You just shouldn’t have been

Even giving it thought!

You’ll know if it’s right;

There are books to instruct you.

Reading them might

Have helped your dilemma!

But no, you moved wrong.

(“In moving at all?”)

Well, it shouldn’t be long

Before your soul grabs you

And blasts out your sentence:

“Eternity outcast;

No chance for repentance”

…

And torn from your soul,

You’ll find, somehow…

You Are Loved!

You’re imperfect. Equal.

Equal. Good Enough.

Change to blog

Hello! I have finished my gap year now, so won’t need to keep letting you know I’m alive and volunteering sufficiently hard to justify all the fundraising you helped me with anymore. But, I would like to keep blogging every so often, because it’s basically the most fun and lazy way of writing, and it makes me feel popular.

So if there’s anybody out there, I hope you enjoy the following random bits of brain dribble. Mmmm… dribble….

Haiku, etc.

Is this Sapitwa?
Hand in hand we seized each step
To descend alone

I wrote this little haiku this morning. I’d forgotten to leave time for my contributiont to the last ever GX newsletter, but really wanted to have omething in it- surely I had something to say after 6 months of volunteering together. And this little poem came out, making me a little sad actually!

I was really looking forward to being home again- there’s so much I’ve missed, and it’ll be lovely to be back with people from home, and walking the dog through the lovely woods and moors

But let’s not kid ourselves- leaving is a sad thing. As a team of 18 very different but equally lovely young people, we really have gone through it all together therse past 6 months. I feel like I’m just settling into my host home and I really love it, and now it’s time to go, and not really come back. I’m loving my placement too, and I’ll miss spending the day with my wonderfully fun and sweet supervisor. And I will miss my counterpart very dearly. We’ve had a strong six months together, supporting each other and enjoying each other’s company.

There’s so much to enjoy still, that no onereally feels like moping about. The sun has been hovering over Norfolk for nearly the whole stint here. There are trips, celebrations and meals out every day until we leave. We’re surrounded by people we love! And we’ve achieved and grown so much, and have so many happy memories.

I think the end of the program is hardest for the Malawians. A lot of them joined the program from homes where, materially-speaking, they have nothing. And that is where they are going back to. There’s no use pretending otherwise.

Those of us who are more privelidged can see GX as a springboard to a really fullfilling future brim-full of opportunities. I’ve always chased my dreams-even the most ridiculous ones- because I can believe that “The dreamers of the day are dangerous people, for they dream their dreams with open eyes, and make them come true”. For a young person from a family that is reasonably economically-comfortable, I believe that’s true.

But when you’re trapped in a poor rural village, one of many children of poor parents, in one of the worlds poorest countries, sometimes dreams have to stay just that. That’s reality. I hate to admit it; hope and optimism can take a person far. But only so far, according to their means.

Everyone can go home after GX and live fulfilling lives. But it’s hard to be satisfied with a simple life after you’ve seen and learnt so much. You want to go far,  make a difference, use the talents you know you have. And I just hope really hard that some of the wonderful, talented young Malawians on the program are able to fulfill their brilliant potentials.

Interview with my Host Dad

Another of my newsletter contributions pilferred for blogging purposes:

Clive stepped in to rescue Sally and Wanangwa from GX homelessness a couple of weeks ago, and they were lucky to find him! On the practical front, he has two spare rooms and was willing to host the only mixed-sex counterpart pair. But more importantly, he is an awesome, down-to-earth, kind guy who any volunteer would feel lucky to live with. His living room overlooks King’s Lynn’s beautiful park, so the pair have easy access to all the delights that King’s Lynn has to offer (!). A 45 year-old fireman and born-again Christian with four teenage sons not living at home, he may not match the typical profile of a GX host parent. Still, Clive has quickly become the favourite with Team 88. So let’s find out what Clive has to say about the “GX-perience” (sorry- *groans) after two weeks of hosting:

Welcome Clive! Can we start by finding out why you decided to be a host parent?

Well, I think my answer to that is one people might find interesting. I imagine most people host because of a wish to help out the volunteers, but it wasn’t like that for me. I was having a conversation about the program with Lindie at a church barbeque, and although my house has always been available when people in the church have needed rooms, I’ve never felt I wanted to offer it to them before. But as soon as Lindie talked about the students, I felt I had to give the spare rooms to them. To say it clearly, I thought it was a calling from God saying, “Open your house to these people”. I bet that’s different from the other answers you’ve had isn’t it?!

So what were your expectations or worries before hosting?

My only worry was obviously going from having the freedom of my own house to having other people there. I didn’t have any conceptions or worries about what you’d be like.

So you weren’t scared by the thought of having two unknown teenagers in your house?

Well, I’ve got the bonus of having four sons in their teens, so the idea of having two young people in my house didn’t phase me at all.

And what challenges have you faced so far?

“Challenges” is a strange word to use. I’d say more “adaptations”: adapting to thinking about people again in my own home environment; having to think more about food, like how to cater for the two of you. In terms of challenges, one is communicating to you both equally. Obviously when Wanangwa is here, it’s not so easy to talk to him.

What have you enjoyed about hosting so far?

At the moment it’s nice to have company and just talk to people about things I don’t usually get chance to talk about, like Wanangwa’s home and work, how the day’s been… And it’s been nice to be able to take you out to things like the judo we’ve started going to.

We’ve not been here long, but is there anything you’ve learnt yet from being a host parent?

I’ve learnt how to play some guitar chords! (Should I write that?!) Yeah, put it down! And I can say I’ve learnt something about Malawi, which I knew absolutely nothing about before.

Really? So, what did you know about Malawi before?

No, really nothing. I mean, I would have probably guessed it was in Africa. Another thing I’ve learnt, which is really just confirmation of what I’ve learnt before from interacting with lots of different people, is that we’re all the same, no matter what country you’re from. Meeting Wanangwa, for example- he’s not like a different being! He’s just a person like everyone else.

I think that’ll do. Thanks a lot Clive!

Thank you!

Poems

Here’s a poem I wrot for our newsletter:

Scandalous Youths Getting Rich from Voluntary Work

The press cry that, “Youths are all thugs,
Who scare grannies, form gangs and take drugs!”
If they opened their eyes,
To our lifestyles worldwide,
Would they see they’re being taken for mugs?!

Would they recognise Global XChange?
A program no doubt they’d find strange!
“Youths who work overseas?
Then back home (if they squeeze
In the 18-25 age range)?!”

In both countries volunteers live,
With host parents willing to give,
Their hearts (and a room),
To young volunteers whom
The Sun warns you just CAN’T live with.

But our team, Team 88,
Will never give way to such hate.
We care for each other,
Like sisters and brothers,
And, frankly, I think we’re all great!

So for six months we don’t earn a penny,
But find we grow richer than many,
‘Cos though work for yourself,
May bring masses of wealth,
You’ll find your mind won’t amass any.
…………………………………………

And here’s a poem by Michael Rosen that I just found and thought was beautiful:

Today; One Day

Today
The rain has died
My shoes have died
The sun has died
My coat has died
The earth has died
Today.

One day
The rain will flower
My shoes will laugh
The sun will sing
My coat will fly
The earth will dance
One day.

Photo time!

Cooking porridge at the primary school

Making paint at the nursery

Me planting one of 80 fruit trees at the nursery where I worked

View over Lake Malawi

Inside the nursery (after we decorated it!)

SETEMWA FairTrade tea plantaion

One month to go!

Hello all!

I have yet again been a very bad blogger. Things seem less exciting and worth blogging about when I’m in the UK, and I’ve been able to phone most of you.  But this site does need updating, so here are the stories of the past few weeks.

After 2 weeks in Ealing YMCA, we finally moved to our host community in King’s Lynn. Still, I was one of 8 volunteers who still didn’t have their own host homes! After a week or so staying in a travel lodge with my counterpart, about 30 minutes out of king’s lynn, (fun fun fun) 6 of us moved into “The House”! And it was lovely. It was a large, old, terraced house near the centre of town, with an enourmous kitchen, light spacious rooms, a patio and barbeque area and a big double bed all for me! I couldn’t really complain, and it was great to be able to cook and choose my meals for myself after so many weeks of being catered for.

Still, it wasn’t a home, and the novelty of house-training 5 messy boys wears off surprisingly quickly, so I was extremely happy when about two weeks ago I learnt that I finally had a host home. I’m now living with a single dad and firefighter Clive, who is in my view undoubtedly the best host parent . We’re also a little jammy with the location, as we’re in a lovely terraced house overlooking the park, and on the same road as the volunteer house I lived in previously. This means that unlike the other volunteers, who are all trapped in their villages by terrible public transport, 1 minutes walk takes me to the town centre, and 15 minutes gets me to my work placement.

Ah, work placement! I am again a lucky girly. Why am I always lucky?! I’m working in  Development Education Centre called NEAD, and it is really great work. Before the summer holidays began, we were going into schools to help with a program aimed improving community cohesion by increasing children’s understanding of and enthusiasm for other countries. The children were loads of fun, and the teachers all seemed worthy of knighthoods, if not sainthood (lots of religious schools, ha ha ha), and it almost made me want to be a primary teacher.

Now the schools have closed, my work counterpart and I are creating catalogues of the cultural artefacts in NEAD’s “Artefact Boxes”. The research is really interesting, and although it’s hard to focus all day,my sister tells me that’s great practise for university (yipee…). I think this job is another one I’d seriously consider for the future.

Other things we’ve been involved in include a weekend break/ mid-phase review at the seaside, an upcoming African night at an eco “hideaway”, fundraising on the street for the local homeless shelter,planning fundraising for the malawian volunteers to use for community projects back home, making steps for the Queen’s sandringham estate, enjoying the king’s Lynn music festival (SClub 3 and Beverly night, yes!) and probably all manner of thing’s I’ve tragically forgotten.

Andnow for fear of droningon, on, AND on, I’ll go and eat my lentil and spinach soup. Yum.

Lots of love,

Sally

xxx