Chi Phat 2011 - we need your help!

Mid June 2011, it's been a year and a half since we, the volunteers of the last delegation of the Israeli Backpacker Contribution project, left Cambodia. A year and a half, in which we have traveled, went back to our lives, missed, and... Yes, even forgot a little. all of us, Cambodia-veterans, have many moments in which we say "wish we were back there", but all in all we can say we have gone back to our former lives.

but still, something HAS changed. Deep in the Cambodian rainforest, there is our small and very loved village. In the heart of the village, on the main road, just between the little coffee shop and the primary school, stands a big white building. Pteha Sahakum they call it. The Community Center. in this building there s a big fundamental change. Some time ago there was a bunch of crazy Israeli volunteers here, that have brought computers and English lessons. They have gathered a group of teenagers from the village, and have trained them to become volunteers all on their on.

A year and a half has passed since, and the community center is more thriving than ever. On a daily basis, English and computer classes are held, movies are screened, books are borrowed at the library and more. All this is supervised by the English teacher of the village, who is now also the manager of the community center. With him, is a new generation of teenagers, volunteering to keep continuing what the Israeli volunteers have left behind. In fact, the Israelis don't even know most of these young volunteers - they are a generation that was trained by the same generation of young leaders trained by the Israeli volunteers. Out of a real desire to improve their lives, they chose to become a link in a chain, and become young leaders on their own, while at the same time training the next generation of young leaders.

The Israeli backpackers Project is therefore very successful. it is with only one thing that we have failed - with helping these young guys with fundraising. yes, we have tried to send them to fund raising courses, and tried introducing the to local and foreign NGOs, but it seems that from the great isolation that the rainforest provides, this task, that is never simple, is particularly hard.

so out of great belief in this project, in the teacher leading it (who himself asked for this help), in the amazing teenagers that are hopeful for its outcomes, and its importance to Israel’s reputation, we have decided to help them with this task. we are now trying to raise as much as we can, so we can help the center run for another year. Every donation that we receive will be sent in full to the community center.

if you are willing to contribute, we have two ways available (unfortunately, the banking system is yet to reach Chi Phat, so all the donations collections is done in Israel):

wire transfer:
from Israel:
Gil Chen, Leumi Bank, Gesher Hayarkon branch (no. 829), account no. 05846880.

from abroad:
swift code: LUMIILIT
IBAN: IL 74010829 000000 5846880

by check:
Gil Chen, Asirey tzion 19, app. 29, Tel Aviv, Israel.

I'll be happy to answer all your questions and provide further details through mail gil.chen78@gmail.com, or phone +972-52-2336873.
Thank you very much!!

Epilogue

It's been 4.5 months since the day we left Chi-Phat.
132 days since we marched down the village's only road, as every delegation did before us - but for the very last time. Everyone was crying and non of us wanted to be the first one to step his foot on the slow wooden-boat that was set to take us all away for good. Heart-breaking is not a a a strong-enough-word to describe...

Since then - we all had traveled half the world or so and had powerful experiences, we all got back home, and most of us even got a job by now :) A lot had happened since, but still - when we met for the first time in Israel - the conversation naturally tended to the subject of Chi-Phat.

Now I want to re-raise a question that I asked in my first blog, some 7 months ago.
I wondered whether it's good that an NGO is coming down on such a remote community in the middle of the jungle, teaching them English, exposing them to computers, and asking them to take part in the only alternative they had ever had for their regular daily life? wouldn't it spoil something of the uniqueness of those people?

Since Cambodia was the first Asian country I visited, only after traveling in Laos, Thailand, Myanmar and Nepal I could see that everywhere around Asia everyone are trying to westernize their way of living.
The style of music and the combination with English words in their songs and even in the Language.
The passion for the holy triad: cellphone-TV-computer, exists even in the poorest villages.
A way of dressing that totally contradicts the modest traditional dressing.

Once you have seen a different way of living you cannot avoid COMPARISON to it.
Once you have seen an alternative for your way of living - you might like or not like it.
You might want to change your life in some ways to be "like the other". and you know...the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.

So after playing the anthropologist I would just say that it doesn't matter.
Westernization is inevitable and "locals" cannot, and won't, ignore it.

Chi-Phat had televisions and cellphones before we came. they knew computers exist.
So yes - we have sinned for teaching some of them how to use the internet (and even noticed that the village's genius Googled the word F***), and we have sinned for exciting them to join us in our activities, and we had definitely sinned for teaching them another language and exposing them to different manners of behavior, teaching them how to teach younger kids and so and so...
We changed something in the way of living of some people in the village, but we gave them a whole year of fun and experiences, and by the way we strengthened their friendships . that's all.

We offered an alternative. Some decided to join and some did not.
But if you had only seen the smiles on the faces of those who did...

So now we are all here, feeling proud for them, for our\their community center is full with learning, friendship and laughter. But there's a hole. The same hole that they have back there.
We learned different manners, different language and songs, and ate new foods.
They also gave us an alternative, and we decided to join...

Our beloved friends in Chi-Phat! we think about you every day and miss you very much...

a little village in Cambodia needs your help!

Hi dear friends!

A few months after we finished our volunteering period in Cambodia, in a project that became a great success, the community center we built is facing a financial problem. Due to some trouble in a local NGO that promised to support the center, we are now in need of some money. Since we hold this center very deep in our hearts, although we are already back in Israel, we are trying to do all we can - and we need your help!

We would very much appreciate it if you could forward the attached document to your friends, and help us help others.

please click the picture to open the document.

for a full profile of the Chi Phat Community Center please click here

what is different about Chi-Phat?

מאנט היא מהאנשים האלה שקשה לספר עליהם במלים. כששאלתי אותה אם היא רוצה לכתוב משהו לבלוג של הפרויקט היא ענתה לי במבוכה ש"כן, אבל האנגלית שלי לא טובה". זה שקר כמובן כי יש לה את האנגלית הכי טובה בכל הכפר אבל הבנתי שזה מלחיץ אותה קצת. כל פעם ששאלתי אותה מה קורה עם זה היא אמרה שהיא רוצה אבל עסוקה, רוצה אבל אחר כך, רוצה אבל לא בטוחה. לפני 3 ימים היא פתאום באה ואמרה לי שהיא כתבה משהו והיא רוצה לפרסם אותו. אז קבלו את הפוסט של מאנט, הבחורה הכי מדהימה בצ'י-פאט:

My name is Marnet. I am 22 years old. I was born and raised in chi-phat. I am a young leader in my community. i want to say something about the place i live in:

Chi-Phat is a small village located in rural area of Koh-Kong province of Cambodia. Because of its location and small amount of population as well as its isolation from town center, it is the reason that chi-phat is not developed area to economy and education. most of the people are very poor ,some of them live by depending on the nature, aboriginal leaving, some are workers at the nursery. Fortunately, this village is so lucky because there is Israel backpacker contribution organization that came here for one year to help the people. By joining from the local authorities and the people in the village co-operate with IBC project include many volunteers, we have achieved new center call "Pa-ta Sahakum".
"Pa-ta Sahakum" , community center, is a place where people in the village have been educated English and computer. on the other hand, they can enjoy with music , dance, sport, news class and other activities every Sunday for kids and adults as well. otherwise we have movies for kids and adults every Sunday.
Most of the courses start at evening from 5 p.m. to 8 or 9 p.m.. it should be convenient for the people in the village to choose whatever and whenever they would like because it is the rest time as well.

Until now most of them can use computer and speak English . they can be guides for the foreign and tourists who come to chi-phat for trekking, biking and spending a few night in the forest to visit the natural resorts.
All the results that we have today is the kind-hearted efforts of Israel by IBC project. we, people of chi-phat village are very happy and great-full for the invaluable actions. everyone will never forget the perfect time and we still remember in the heart for ever and ever.

אני אוהבת את ישראל

let go, grandpa!

It has been six months to the day since I got to Chi Phat. So many things I have learnt, so many things are now obvious to me that were never obvious before. And yet, these last few days have taught me the most important lesson of all.

For months now we have been working on what we consider the most important aspect if our project – the handing over of our work to the local community. If have taken endless steps toward this: appointing a local (and very beloved) manager to the community center, creating a group of young (and very beloved) guides that would continue the teaching in the community center, building the reputation of the community center as a fun, educational (and very beloved) place, and much more.

But when it came to the last two months, I was under the impression it would be a great thing for this village if we built here an international volunteers program to take it to the next stage: to make sure the presence of English is permanent here, that the emphasis on education remains etc. it all made sense to me, and I didn’t think that anyone can change my mind. But they did: the first was the manager of our project, Yuval Limon. We have been talking about this project for a while now, and I knew he had many reservations, but this week he took it upon himself to give the financial backing for the mechanism we are building to continue our work, which meant that building an international program is no longer a financial must. Second was Einam, a volunteer in our delegation. When we were talking about this, she told me that she thought it was time we butt out, and allow the people to take over what we have started, just like we planned in the beginning. Third, and was Mr. Sen, the manager of the community center we appointed less than 5 months ago. With him too I talked about it for a long time, but unlike yuval, he was very much for the idea. But this week, when I talked to him again, he told me that he likes the idea, but that if won’t happen, he thinks the community center can manage just fine.

What else could I ask for? I changed my mind.

It is a lesson about trusting my counterparts here, which I always thought I did, but only now I realize that this trust would have to show itself in a painful leaving. I guess it’s kinda like when the kids leave home. You have to breath deep, hope you did a good job so far, and let go.

Maybe this family realization is why everyone in this village has started calling me Ta Gil (Grandpa Gil) lately?

About a week ago I decided to join Yael, my good friend and the teacher of the Tak-lao’ kids, in her lessons.

For those of you who do not remember, Tak-Lao’ is the poorest village in the Chi-Phat commune, and is located over the river.
The reason that we go there (Yael for the kids and me for the monks) is that most of the kids, and people in general, does not have any access to formal education.
Only a few are going to school, so what about the rest? Passing their time between helping at home and playing on the fields.
I know you might think that Chi-Phat is a god-forsaken village and that we live on mud huts, but it’s actually pretty comfortable. Tak-Lao’, though, is that real deal.
Just like on the books – those kids are so small and thin, so dirty, so happy, and so heartbreaking…

I think it was on the first lesson. I was just joining to look from the side. Yael was teaching them about WH questions: “________ you eat lunch?”
“just fill in the blanks…When! Very good Vi! Very good Lerm”
So…Viball when you do eat lunch?
“Moung pram-pal prek!”
“Seven in the morning?....lunch is the meal in the middle of the day – you were talking about breakfast!”
“Moung pram-pal prek”
Did you get it?
There is no lunch. Seven in the morning is he time for eating. For the whole day. And they’re just fine with that. Or maybe they aren't? guess I will never know.

On the next lesson we decided to do a thing that was never done before – show them a whole full length movie. And not just a movie – “The Lion King”.
We came with two computers – because we cannot charge the battery, for there’s not even a hint of electricity on that village.
Do you remember the song that opens that movie? It always get me excited. Even on regular occasions today. So can you think of watching that scene in a pagoda in a distant village, with 25 kids who had never seen a film in their 8-15 years of age, whispering in excitement and getting so close to the screen they were almost joined Simba.
Some of them were standing the whole movie, because they did not want to miss anything.
I really was on the verge of tears for the first time in months.

On the way back Yael always gives a ride on her bike to the sweet and beautiful 9 years old Kmau (“Black”).
That time Kmau was running back home, and we got her in the middle of the way. She did not want a ride today.
She just ran home, waving us goodbye from time to time.
Nothing special happened in that moment. Still, it will be one of the memorable moments of my staying here.
“Goodbye Kmau!”. She was running home with such a smile, “like a deer in the fields” like they write in those books. Some moments are a real treasure, and cannot be conveyed by the written word. I’m just so glad I had the chance to be there.

That green and always cloudy field in Tak-Lao', passing by the lives of so many amazing and happy kids. You want to be more than a passer by, but you cannot.
Even though, if you're lucky enough you'll get those rare glances to it. I think that day was a one.

The day i was asked "why"

We love our students dearly, we really do. but when ever we try to think of something that they do not do - it is to ask questions.

When I try to end a lesson by making them laugh I always ask them "min somnoua? hout min" which means "any questions? There aren't any"- they know I am making fun of them for not asking any questions. Sometimes when a questions is asked I get so excited I forget to answer it. But today a question was asked, and not once, but twice, and not just any question, but the most difficult one of all - "why".

It was during our young guides course, the one in which we prepare our young students to become guides after we leave. For the last few weeks we have been teaching them teaching methods. We do it in a way that we teach the same subject again and again - comparing village life with city life - by using different methods.

After today's lesson, which included a "court" session, where the judges had to choose between two debating teams, and a song (old McDonald had a farm...) - and there was also a plan for a short origami session which was postponed - we finally got the question. Why? "Why are we teaching the same thing in different ways?"

True, we have explained the reason before. True, it should have been understood from the way the lesson was created, but all that doesn't matter. This student had a real question she didn't understand, and she was brave enough to ask it. She really wanted to know.

The same thing happened later today. This student, Tepi, one of our young leaders, was at a 1 on 1 lesson with me, when I decided to teach her soduko. For a full hour she was fascinated, and her smile when I got her a paper to take home with more games was the largest I have seen. When the lesson was over, and I asked her if she enjoyed it se looked at me and said "very much, but why you teach me this today?"

she was interested not only by what I was teaching her, but also by what it says about her. When I told her it's a good game for thinking exercises, she said "so you think I am clever!" with a winning smile. Yes I do think she is clever. Can you blame me?

Boots...

For today, we’re not gonna have a story about brave volunteers trying to save the world, but a domestic story about men and their favorite animal.

Since day one there’s this dog that spent most of her days outside, at our porch.

Like everything in our house, we’re divided into 2 groups on the two far ends of the scale.

Some of us always spoil her, playing with her, and slipping food under the table for her, while the others always yell at her: “boots – get outta here!!” (sounds better in Hebrew – “BOOTS – TAUFI”, by Einam).

There’s also the eternal argument about the flea’s origin in the house – some say it’s the dog, and some deny it and blames the maid’s kid :)

As time goes by, so does boots stomach started to get bigger and bigger. During the pregnancy period the arguments that surround her became even harder, because some of us thought that pregnant woman should get a proper treatment.

During the last days of pregnancy she started to look for a place to give birth in, and choose one of the house’s rooms, which is of course, forbidden for her.

On the last fight she was removed to the yard, far away from our cousy porch. She was screaming and yelling so hard, more than usual, and than she ran to a pre-digged hole under the house, and gave birth to 6 cute puppies. Some of us were present during the 4 hours event and witnessed the nature’s greatest wonder.

We tried to make it as cousy and domestic for her as we can, because you have to remember that in few hours her world turned upside down: she was moved away from her home, moved to the “streets” and gave birth for the first time of her life.

People from the village do not understand what’s the excitement is all about, for it’s just a dog. If you knew how common wandering animals are here: every day we run after cows and pigs to scare them away of our yard, while roosters and hens run by our side, as the dogs barking at them. And I did not mention yet the enormous amount of insects in our house, that could reach the size of a palm of a hand, the huge lizards that lives in our living room’s wall who eats them. The mice and rats that has a camp under the printer and the bee hive at the outer wall of the house.

I guess this is one of the cultural gaps that you meet when you live in another place. It’s totally legitimate to tie the 4 legs of a pig together, and take him of the motorcycle to be slaughtered. He will fall during that trip from time to time and will make the most heart-tearing shouts you have ever heard.

So today Mr. Teng, our translator, showed us that there are some exceptions in every place, while he helped us to remove the 3rd dead puppy in 36 hours. Nature can be very cruel for a dog, even right here under our house

Lokkru Thul

Two weeks ago our first "Computer Experts" class came to an end, on the same time that our "Young Guides" course came to it's end.
The purpose of the special computer class is to take our Young Leaders group and to make them responsible for the computers at our community center, While the "Young Guides", which is equal to the Israeli MADATSIM course, is to teach the students of the 8th and 9th grade how to be guides for the younger kids.
It's pretty obvious that those who came to both classes got now a very serious clue about being a guide.

So from those who came for both classes, 3 had volunteered to guide with us the new computer classes that we opened last week: Seang-hai, Vann-dy and Thul.

Thul had joined me in teaching the advanced youth group. In other words - he got himself into a tricky situation in which he volunteered to teach - for the first time in his 18 years of age - a subject (computers), that he did not had a clue about 2 months ago, the group of his age!! Doesn't sound to me like something that a sane man will do! but you must hear the end of that story...

On our first lesson I introduced us as LOKKRU (teacher) Oren and LOKKRU Thul. He ws very nervous and we both decided that it will be best if he will only look from the side for now.

For the next lesson we made a preparation meeting, in which I made up all the subjects, and he agreed to teach one part of the lesson.
On the beginning of that lesson he was very uptight. not to say angry - but from fear. before I managed to say a word he explained to the class that they should listen to us and not talk while we talk. and remember - those are his classmates. When he had to do his part of the lesson he did it OK - but when his friends / students needed help - he was kinda angry about them...The boy's got a temper!! I heard some called him "Lokkru Thul"...maybe like to laugh about him

For the third lesson, which occurred today, we did again a preparation meeting. This time he explained to me why we should teach the students this and that subject.
I was shocked.
Most of the Cambodian kids that I met are so well-known for their lack of creativity, that it became very unexpected for me to hear such an elaborated answer from him.
I was shocked for he had in his mind the full lesson plan, that is based on the abilities of the students.
And I was amazed when he succeeded to teach his friends / students about Microsoft Word and the Windows "search" option in such an organized way...still a bit of a temper - but what a change!

"Lokkru Thul", I called him at the end of the lesson, "you are the best"

Vann-dy`s Blog

קבוצת המאותרים שלנו, או המנהיגים הצעירים, הם ילדים בעלי נכונות להשקיע בקהילה. כל אחד מהם מוכשר בדרכו שלו ולכולם המון רצון להשתתף ולתרום. אנחנו מצרפים אותם למשפחה שלנו, הם עוזרים להעביר פעילויות, להדריך חוגים ולהפעיל את בית הקהילה. לפעמים, ואפילו בדר"כ, הם עושים זאת ללא עזרתנו כלל. פותחים את חדר המחשבים לילדים ונוער, מקרינים סרטים ומנהלים את הספרייה. כצ'ופר, אנחנו מעבירים להם שיעור שבועי פרטי בכל נושא שיבקשו. לרוב אלו הם שיעורי מחשב, לפעמים אנגלית או גיטרה. הפעם הצעתי לואנדי, אחד הילדים החכמים בכפר, שאולי יכתוב משהו לבלוג שלנו. הראתי לו את הבלוג והסברתי שזהו המקום בו אנחנו מספרים לעולם ולישראל בפרט על כל מה שקורה כאן בצ'י-פאט ושאם הוא רוצה, הוא יכול לכתוב משהו משלו. משהו שהיה רוצה להגיד לאנשים בישראל, שאולי יום אחד ירצו גם הם לבוא ולבקר, אולי לבוא ולהתנדב, לתרום מזמנם לקהילה של צ'י-פאט. הוא קיבל את ההצעה בהתלהבות וישר ניגש למשימה, בלי להסס לרגע.

אלה הם דבריו:

Chi-Phat is the village where there are a lot of foreigners that travel. It has a lot places to play, like waterfall and pool and sunset. And in chi-Phat there are another places but I never been there. But in chi-Phat we have guides there. And the kids in chi-Phat when they see the foreigners they say hello! How are you? And their answer is I am fine. In chi-Phat we have one project that calls Israeli backpackers contribution. And this project makes them (the kids) happy and it is the first time to have in my village. I am so proud, because it is rarely to have in my village. My name is Vann-dy. I am a young leader in Israeli Backpackers Contribution that calls IBC. All the young leaders in IBC are Thul, Sovann, Marnet, Seoung, Ratha, Daragn, and more…………… The young leaders in IBC have the time to share for to work there, like an open computer free time, library and movie for kids and adults. I want you to write to me if you have got questions about chi-Phat by muny2010@gmail.com or to send email to muny2010@yahoo.com .

ואנדי עולה לכיתה ט' והאנגלית שלו לפעמים מפתיעה גם אותי. את המילה "זרים" הוא הפיל עלי משום מקום. אבל יפה יותר זה איך התמימות קופצת בין השורות – בצ'י-פאט יש המון מקומות לשחק בהם – כמו המפלים, הברכות והשקיעה. השקיעה כאן היא בהחלט אחת האטרקציות, הילדים גרים פה כל חייהם ועדיין רואים בה את המשחק האהוב עליהם. לכל המנהיגים הצעירים יש את הזמן לחלוק בשביל העבודה שם. זה ניסוח מצחיק, אבל לחלוק זה יופי של פועל. לא לעבוד שם, אלא לחלוק בשביל העבודה. הילדים בצ'י-פאט כשהם רואים זרים הם אומרים להם "שלום! מה שלומכם?" וזה נכון, אחרי השקיעה, זוהי בטח האטרצקיה הבאה בתור. צועקים הלוווו הלווווו ומחכים שנשיב להם, שנתעניין בשלומם בחזרה. שלושים פעם ביום, האו אר יו? האו אר יו? זה מקסים בעיני. אם יש לכם שאלות לגבי צ'י-פאט וגם אם לא, אתם מוזמנים לשלוח לואנדי מייל – יש לו שתי תיבות והוא גאה בהן נורא. אני חושבת שהוא מצפה לכך מאד. למעשה, אני בטוחה בזה.

אז אם יש לכם חמש דקות, שלחו משהו לואנדי – אפילו רק לומר לו שלום.
ואם יש לכם קצת יותר מזה – בואו לשחק איתנו בשקיעה של צ'י-פאט.

ואנדי ישמח לארח אתכם.

English lesson #1

Today I had a first english lesson a as teacher.

I have a confession: I am scared to death of being a teacher.
Being responsible for someone's knowledge is a great challenge. It's another challenge to make people interested in what a teacher is trying to convey. other words - you have to be a great man in order to master the art of teaching.

I've been afraid my whole life of standing and talking in front of an audience, and although I had decided to face that fear some 3 years ago, I still am.

When the Buddhist holiday of Pchyum-Ben was over, and the monks told us that they have again some free time for learning English, I was both terrified and exited to hear.
Afraid - you already know why, and exited because everyone talked about what a great experience and privilege it is to teach Buddhist monks.
Alon, their previous teacher described them to me as very "monkish": shy, blocked, poker-faces and so on.
I was very happy to postpone the first lesson from monday to wednesday because of YOM KIPPUR, but eventually, the time has came for me to ride my bicycle to the dock, and to cross the river to the village of Tak-La(o).

My translator for today was Yuthia (A.K.A - William), and the fact that he walked from the riverside to the village 4 steps ahead of me was very comfortable and gave me some more time to kill myself thinking "how I could make a better lesson" - a thought that I could keep on going with till the end of days.
"Will they understand my explanations?", "is the material I prepared for them is good enough?". and I didn't even noticed the well-known amazing view of the rice-fields of the village. "What if they will know too much and I will run out of material", as we were crossing the poor-stone pagoda. "What if..."
And we were there. my foots climbed up the stairs as my mind climbed up the walls.

It's not my first time teaching a new class, but like at my first time, my first words were full of doubt.
But like on the first time - the last 59 and half minutes of the one-hour lesson were full of fun and learning. not even one thought went through my head. like a teaching meditation...you know, monks and all...
On the way back I had the time to enjoy the view, walk silently behind William, BREAK a part of the boat that took us to Chi-Phat riverside - other words - life has returned to its normal route.

Auh, and wait! almost forgot! I have another lesson tomorrow...I can't wait!

*Einam - יא יום רביעי אחת!
**The monks and most of the children of tak-la(o) do not go to school, and never met the english language before previous delegations had decided to teach them.
It's a great pleasure for them and for us as well.

today

Few weeks ago, when I still was in Israel, about at the middle of the 3^rd delegation, Gil, our HEAD OF MISSION (!) wrote a blog called “an ordinary amazing day”, which spoke about how many great things happened in the most ordinary day of the week.

I’m gonna kind of repeat it now, but it will not be boring, since every day here is a story on its own.

I woke up today at 7:30 to the sounds of a shaking house. sounds kinda scary? no! The floor here is so unstable that 2 people walking on the same time sounds like an earthquake!

So everybody woke up relatively early – we are making windows to our community house, Yael had a lesson early, and as I said before – 4 people walking on the same time can wake up even the laziest elephant that will sleep in my room.

So I got up and went to the community house. as I got there at 8 o’clock Mr. Sen (our translator, community house’s manager, a secondary school teacher and our most beloved and devoted friend here) suggested me to come to the elementary school with him. because these are the last days before school begins, kids come to school for “labor days”: cleaning, arranging and so. Today they had a parade in order to convince the parents that aren’t sending their kids to school to send them to the beginning of the upcoming year. we came to school and the word “WOW” just slipped out of my mouth.

200 kids all dressed with their blue-jeans/skirt-white-shirt standing in lines and waiting for the sign. as the sign was given, they marched from school to the village’s main (and only) road and totally blocked it, so everyone had to stand aside and watch them passing by. they marched to the village of chum-sla and back to the dock, with signs, music, and Mr. Sen reading a message for the parents and the kids. just amazing. and the kids were so happy! I remember myself as a student, in my geek times and my “cool” times, I was always happy to go to school, but it cannot be compared. these kids are really EXPECTING for the year to begin.

anyway, let’s continue in our journey through today.

After Khmer lesson that ended at 12:00 (in which we learn a new and soooo different language), I went to the village’s only “doctor”, for him to check my leg – I thought that I stepped on a glass few weeks ago. So I came to this Dr. Lui, which came out of his house with a rusty tool box. wait…now?! all the talks about HIV, infections, hepatitis came down to one second. a second later I was sitting on the porch, with unsterilized needle in my toe, with like 15 kids examining my situation, as the motorbikes are going by. By the way, he found nothing there…

5 minutes later, as I entered my computer class, the girls that were watching at my “show”, came to watch the next “show” – computer lesson J

And it’s just about noon!! crazy isn’t it?!

about 6 o’clock the YOM KIPPUR fast was over with banana pankaces made by Yael and me, ginger-honey tea and oil-flavored wafers. super fun and feels so much like home. ​Few times a week the people around me here give me the feeling of actual family. I think I will cry when I’ll have to leave them.

Then another computer lesson. and dinner. and great activity that was made by Naomi and Rotem for us to have fun together. Have I said family before?

I think that the most important thing that this day gave me, is the ability to work as hard as I should, but still knowing that I can have a great time, feel welcomed outside my home and inside it.

Just another usual day…:)

Absolute Beginner

Beginnings are always difficult.
The 3rd delegation left the village of chi phat after a big and loud cry, and left a huge vacuum, in which we, delegation No.4, were sucked immediately.
Within seconds we became best friends, appreciated teachers and role models, for people we barely know.
When we marched to the dock, accompanied by almost 100 kids, we marched as guests. When I walked back to my first volleyball practice as a coach, I was hugged by two kids I had never seen before. It was inconvenient. Strange. Unnatural. I thought those two kids were weird. During that day and the day that followed, I was hugged by many other people. Physically by some, mentally by others.

At that point I understood something about the importance of our project for these kids.
They do not need us desperately, they can keep on living their lives on this small but noisy street they call village. They can go after their parents – as a boat driver, housewife, or the woman that sell fried bananas across the street, but we give them something that they never had before.
It may be personal attention, exposure to new subjects or a different culture, better English or just time to play together, but every one of those things can be an opportunity for those who want to choose a different route.

The thing that frightened me most before I came here was that we’re gonna be those smart-white-western guys who came to tell those natives-locals-charlies how to live their lives right. But it’s not like it.
We can only encourage people to learn. Once you learned a bit you can choose. If you know 200 words in English there’s a whole new world lying at your feet.
and suddenly it’s legitimate for Sokny to want to become a media-reporter – because he KNOWS he wants it.

6 kids are leaving to high school this week. This is a huge number comparing to previous years. Srieng, Sokny, Naiheak, Savoeun, Tepi and Pov. Three girls and three boys, that are leaving their homes for the chance of having a choice.
6 kids. Only about 20% of junior high graduators. And this number is 3 times higher than last year.
But can you get it?
One year they send 2 kids to high school, and after less then a year of presence of IBC proect, those 2 kids were tripled!

Is it possible that such a small project can make such a difference? is it just a coincidence that will not repeat next year?
Or did we make a difference for a mother who had decided to spend the savings of a lifetime for in order to send her son for high school, far not less than 2 hours on a boat?

Hi, my name is Oren Shacham. 22 years old from Rishon le-zion, Israel.
I came here for the experience, and staying with will for making a difference

an ordinary amazing day

Nothing amazing happened today.

You see, Tuesday is our report-writing, staff-meeting, paper-working day. What can be special about a day like that?

Well, if you have been following us, you know that we are working hard on our community center. Pteah Sahakum in Khmer. it took us a while to get people to stop calling it by the name of the owner of the land and make it into an institution with its own name. now it even has its own children song: "pteah sahakum sabai sabai", fun at the community center, is a short clapping song we sing every Sunday at the beginning of the children's activity. But even better - these days we hear children singing it when we walk to the market or for coffee. How great is that??

Anyways, part of the great change we have brought into the village was the introduction of computer lessons. These, as you can assume, are overwhelmingly popular. when we figured that with our 6 laptops we can only give each student so much time, without having us collapse as teachers, our volunteers came up with a brilliant idea: open computer time, that will be managed by our "excellence team".

Today we had the first open computer time, and to be honest - I was nervous. Are we going to finish the day with 6 computers like we started? How are we going to control the great demand? How will we make people want to come back?

Well, as I said - today nothing special happened. or at least that's the way our excellence team made us feel. They were operating a computer room, the library and even a game room as if they were doing it for years. We came up with rules for the computer room (20 minutes each, no more than 2 per computer etc.), and they were enforcing them as if each one of them is running his own internet cafe.

To think that only two weeks ago our crappy one laptop at home was the closest most of the people here could get to a computer, and to know that from today they will be able to do it when ever they want - what a difference!! ok, ok, not when ever they want: when they have open computer time, and only after writing their name on the waiting list at the excellence team representative, and only for 20 minutes at a time etc etc, but it's actually these limitations and that order, that make the people here understand that something is changing.

Our excellence team, who will be our replacement once we are gone, with the newly appointed manager of the Pteah Sahakum, Mr Sen, have once again made us so proud! Together with the more than a hundred people who came to enjoy the 2 open computer hours today, they have showed us how important our work is to them.

What an amazing day!

the day it happened

It happened! After a lifetime (or so it seems) of working on the community center here in Chi Phat, it was finally reopened with a new and improved service for the community!

You see, all our past delegations worked on the establishment of the community center as a center for our activity in the village, but the completion of its building was a sort of an endless story, that we, the third delegation ourselves, have had to deal with, and in fact still do, since we still have things to do.

When we came here, we set ourselves the goal of providing the community with a rainy season activity, to replace the school that goes on a 2 months vacation. We consider this to be an opportunity for us to set the center as a major place in the life of the community, and therefore tried to build a schedule that will be as appealing as possible and as wide ranging as possible, offering such classes as English and computers for children, youth and adults, and also art classes, dancing, singing and movie making, along with our long running library, and a newly opened play room.



Much preparation was going on, with our volunteers working literally form sunrise to way past sunset to get things done. We set yesterday, the 27th of July as the celebration day, and even organized with the Israeli Embassy in Bangkok to bring a very talented musician, Tal Kravitz, to put on a show. With the help of our friends from Wildlife Alliance, the construction was done a day before, to everyone’s relief.

On the day of the ceremony we gathered our Excellence Team, gave them red ribbons to wear with their name tags, so that they will stand out and people will know them, and soon it was time for the speeches. I tried my best to make it a short one, but failed, like always, and then it was turn for the deputy district governor, who said everything we wanted to hear – how much the community supports our work, and encouraged people to take part in it.

Even more important were the next two speeches: the one of the newly appointed local manager of the community center, Mr. Sen, and the one of our excellence team. These two together will make up the group that makes sure our works stays after we are gone, so it was very important for us to present them to the community in a very dignified way.

Next it was time for the show. And what a show it was. Hundreds of people gathered, some of which we have never seen before, to watch the music magician. Tal plays instruments he gathered from all over the world, and is able to excite just about any crowd. When he started playing a wood saw, people were speechless. When he sang they sang with him. The audience was so captivated that we considered it a perfect opportunity to get to these people who we have not seen before, and hand out information about our activities.

The day after was the day we were picking the fruits of our hard work. We announced this to be an open registration day, thinking it will be a good opportunity for us to get some order into things, buy even we didn’t expect things to go so well. As soon as we opened the doors, literally hundreds of people came in, all saying what courses they want to take. We stood there, tears in our eyes, not able to believe how things have changed in our village.

meet the excellence team!

One of the first things IBC has done, when it got here 8 months ago was to form what we call “The Excellence Team”. This is a group of young people that we know and consider to be particularly good at what they do – good values, good students, good people skills, good … you get the picture.

The group was initially small, but every delegation tried to expand it and make it more prominent in the volunteers’ activities. The program is simple: the designated young leaders get 1 on 1 time with our volunteers, time they can use for whatever skill learning they want – mostly English, computers, internet etc, but some have also asked for singing lessons and things of that nature. All these activities are meant to empower these young people. And this is where the empowerment pays off: each one has to choose a field in which he can give back to the community. Some of our excellence team are running the library we opened here, others are running movie nights and other still are involved in the community center activities we run for the children. We consider them to be part of our replacement once we are gone, and so we think about their empowerment very often.

One of the most important things we try to do is install in this small group, now 12, with a sense of pride for being chosen. When we recruit, we have a talk with each one of them and emphasize how special they are, and we also declare to them that they are now joining a family.

Well, being Israelis, one of the things we love best to do with our families is to have big family dinners. Naturally, this is one of the first things we did with our special group. We had a big dinner, with Israeli food, like Schnitzel and hummus (yeah, I know they are Austrian and Arabic foods, but the mix is what makes them Israeli!), and most importantly we had a family gathering feeling.



After the dinner came the Taki-playing (that one is proper Israeli, and no one can take it away from us!), and more games, sitting, talking, laughing and even dancing. It was great fun for s, but also for them. One of them said to us it was one of the happiest days he had, and another told our translator he felt like he was in heaven.

And so now we have a family here. They share with us even more excitedly our activities, they understand better what we want to achieve and what roll he hope they will take, and well… they are our young special friends here.

The city prespective on our village life

After more than a month in our charming little village, we had a new destination: Phnom Phen. we went to the big city for two reasons: a. we needed the big city, b. the big city needed us.

As for us needing the city, well you can guess what that's all about - we love our village dearly, but the idea of a vacation in a place with running water and electricity, with the opportunity to eat western food - all this was just too much to refuse.

As far as the city needing us - and it is written more for the sake of the word-game than anything else - we had an opportunity to take part in a good deed organized by the Israeli Embassy, so it was natural that we would jump on... On the Occasion of the Israeli 61st Independence Day, the embassy has decided to side track from the usual champagne drinking sort of events, and tried to do something different: they have adopted a center for street children in Phnom Phen. The center is one of several operated by the very impressive Krousar Thmey organization. The embassy wanted to make the center more "homey", and so decided to donate a play ground for the children. We couldn't resist the opportunity to spread our love for Cambodia outside of Chi-Phat, so we joined by donating a new and very fancy door to the center, and working for to days on painting the walls of the center in cheery colors.

The ceremony at the end of our work was very impressive, and the children loved what we have done. you can read more about it here.

But Phnom Phen also gave us an opportunity to see a side of Cambodia that we have only just heard about so far. It is a Cambodia of hardship and pain. To start with, of course there were all the street children that we were working with, each with their own hard story, stories that we do not know, but can imagine. And then there were the times we were trying to enjoy the city life, but time after time faced the bitter truth of the sex industry. In a painfully "in your face" sort of way, the stories of the sex tourism in this country came to life. In almost every club we have been to you could see young Cambodian women trying to survive, by offering themselves to tourists, and them gladly taking part in this party of employment and degradation.

When we first thought of building this project here in Cambodia, we knew that we wanted to give as many people as we can a chance to escape this fortune. Seeing this grim picture in such vivid colors, reminded us all again that what we do here is more than teaching English and computers. It is trying to give the people of this lovely village an opportunity.

Coming back to the village, with brand new computers and more equipment that we will use to help this happen, gave us a true sensation of coming home. And as you know, there's no place like home.

After more than eight years of studying political science, I thought that at least I would have a clear concept of how a country is created. Hell no!

It was an English lesson exercise I had worked on with my 9^th grade students. The idea was to steer up a discussion, in English, and I thought it would b a good idea to talk about the perfect place to live in. “create your own country” I said, and got the “hrm… ?!?” look I have learned to love. “Yeah – today you can make your perfect world. let’s talk about what sort of country you would like to live in”. to clear some of the confusion we started talking about the basic Wikipedia-style info about the country. They said a country of about 10 million people would suit them just fine. Size? I asked. Well – this got things going. Some of them wanted a country the size of Cambodia, and others – well they went big and had Russian dreams. By a vote, the final agreement landed on the Thai front, thus tripling the size of their current country. For national languages they said they want to keep Khmer, but to add to that English, Chinese and Korean. To my surprise regarding the last language, they explained to me how powerful and important they see Korea in their region. Less surprises, but more laughter, was recorded when I asked about their new national food. Fried fish and chocolate they yelled. It was a good opportunity for us to learn the word “SEPARATLY”.

After clearing out more important matters like national sports (boxing and volleyball), And religion (Buddhism), we go to the good stuff: what sort of government do you want? Well that got an interesting split when all the girls said they wanted a king and a queen, and the boys insisted on a democracy. The conclusion was a democratic Monarchy, and we even went so far as to agree there shall be 15 parties, with elections every five years.

I was again surprised when I asked if they wanted an army in the country, and for the first time we had a unanimous vote: NO. They did, however ask for a police force, and when all options were on the table as to what the force should do, between letting criminals go to killing them, they chose the very traditional court system. A sigh of relief.

Bitter debates were held on the two last questions – the education system, and the citizenship. As for education, the boys all wanted to learn from the age of 6 to 25. “and you?” I said to the girls, as I saw they had a different idea. Till 22 they said. Why? Well, marriage and babies are calling, it seems. The notion of citizenship was even more unclear, but they did an impressive work choosing a “by blood” system to becoming a citizen, and demanding an immigrant will learn the local culture and live in the country for a long time.

The full-week’s session ended with the handing out of passports that I made for them, complete with all the information they have gathered for their new country – named Khemorak Bot, by the way – “the Khmer Sons”. At the end of it all they have a few empty pages, as the next session will be about traveling, and they will be stamped as we cross more mile stones in our way.

See, this is what we do here. We teach English, but we consider it to be only an instrument – to allow the people of this community to dream, to fantasize, to think beyond the confine of the big river. And once shown the way, they jump on so fast…