A day in the life of an English teacher

'If you speak English, you're a teacher' a American repeat visitor told me on Sunday. It seems she knew what she was talking about as Doug and I have been treated like trained language teachers despite our protestations that we are only here to help the existing teachers. But with a teacher shortage at Safe Haven, the school have been unable to spare a teacher to translate for both us (teaching English) and Sue (teaching Oral Hygiene), meaning we've been thrown in the deep end!

After the morning's devotions and breakfast we catch a lift to Safe Haven in time for the second lesson of the morning. When we arrive the children on on their morning break, and greet us with big smiles and shouts of 'hello!' We then teach two English classes, starting with the very youngest children. Despite the challenges of communication with the children, we have had a fun, interesting and informative time, and hopefully the children feel the same! A favourite with them all are the inflatable globes we brought with us. After only two days, some of the children can find Cambodia with ease - not because we spent ages teaching it, but because the children are very fast learners. 


Unlike the CHO buildings, Safe Haven has no air con or fans, so it gets very hot for us during the day, even indoors. The children think it's quite funny to see us sweating in the heat when this, for them, is the coolest part of the year. We are very grateful then that CHO have insisted on us returning to their restaurant for lunch as it gives us a welcome break from the heat, and gives us a chance to catch up with the rest of the team. 


When we return for afternoon lessons, the children have finished their packed lunches. Some of the children live on the site, in the houses for trafficked children. Others have travelled in from Poipet (mostly CHO staff's children). Most are from the nearby village on the junction of the East-West paved highway from Poipet and the very rough soil road south past Safe Haven.  Our journey home is interesting because the truck we arrived in transforms into a school bus, taking home eight adults and seven children today. The driver is Tihea, and who spends his time at Safe Haven as a welder, and is currently building shelves for the new library. He works long and hard for CHO, as all the CHO staff seem to. Another example is the head master of the Safe Haven school, who spends his weekend studying at university. This evening we met him again when we returned for dinner; he told us he had just cycled 30km as part of his practice for a fundraising ride this weekend. When Sue asked him where he gets his energy from he told us "It comes from God".

Maria (25th October)