Travel to Teach: Cambodia Volunteer Story

Philip, Germany

Seametrey Children's Village is sited south of Phnom Penh's city center opposite the Russian Embassy in a rather small side street. By Moto or Tuk-Tuk every corner of the city can be reached in just a couple of minutes. All volunteers are accommodated on school grounds and live together with the director and her husband as well as some of the school staff as one big family. This makes it quite convenient in terms of getting to and from work and learning more on the Khmer culture and way of life. Nevertheless there is enough privacy and spare time which you can spend on your own exploring the city and on weekends the country, or just napping and reading.

As a volunteer one is together with the Cambodian staff responsible for the children and the progress they make. It is not just being an intern or beholder of what someone else is doing rather than being the person acting and teaching. Still the style of teaching in a Montessori school is different to what is happening within a "normal" school. Lessons are not conducted with one person standing in front of a bored crowd of tired children rather than individual work. The children are free to move and to sit where they like and are mostly working on their own with the teachers to talk to and helping them to find creative solutions to the problems they encounter. Parts of the time table are English, Maths, science and culture as well as handcrafts, drawing and music. The typical school day starts at 8 a.m. and lasts with a lunch break from 12 to 2 p.m. until 4 p.m. before and afterwards the volunteers are completely free to do whatever they like.

Besides the everyday life at the school Phnom Penh offers a lot. Whether one wants to explore the cultural sites of the city, the sites of the Khmer Rouge regime or the nightlife at the Riverfront or the Heart of Darkness... there is plenty you can do!

In general I can say that volunteering itself is an experience that everyone doing it gains from. Seeing how people are living in other parts of the world, who might not worry about the color of their next convertible, and to truly experience their culture definitely broadens your horizons. At Seametrey especially the company of the people and their efforts to make you as a volunteer feel at home and learn about their country, custom's and lives makes it especially desirable to experience Cambodia from this point of view. Using the slogan of a big apparel company... Just do it!