Shaken, stirred and soaked

This is not about those who go out on Her Majesty's secret service, it is more to do with people who work for His majesty's ministry, a story about teachers, students and school on mats.

Shaken

After breakfast, a 4 x 4 Jeep was waiting for us. We went in as we were told. Five minutes later, we came off the tarmac road and turned onto an unsurfaced side road - the side road then became a village dirt track just enough for one vehicle to pass by. To call it a dirt track is pushing it, as it is the end of raining season, many sections of the track are in fact mud ponds. A normal vehicle allows forward and backward movement, but our one added extra two directions, up and down and side to side. Between the cheers to our driver after a successful navigation over a pond and 'hold on tight' warnings, we reached the first location of school on mat. After this 40 minutes ride, we were definitely 'shaken'.

Stirred

Where there are no government schools around Poi Pet, CHO brings education to the children. Currently, there are 5 teachers employed by CHO. Each teacher covers 3 classes each day in different locations, each class consists of between 20 to 30 students. The school we visited in the morning has two grades. The teacher sits the students in two directions. On each direction, there is a whiteboard. The teacher teaches maths to half of the class, leaves them with some questions, then turns to the other side to teach the other half of the class Khmer. This alternated teaching lasted one hour and half.

We were deeply stirred by how little resources they have and yet how eager the children want to learn, the resourcefulness of the teacher and the level of respect the class give her. Most of all, the dedication of the teachers, this one and the rest. Remember the muddy pond we had a 'shaken' ride, these teachers travel on their motorbike, sometimes with a whiteboard, three locations a day, four days a week and four weeks a month. Without them, the children will not have any education or any hope for the future.

Soaked

As the days goes on, it definitely became more eventful. On our way to visit a different school on a mat, we were faced with a seemingly small stream. We rolled up our trousers and started to wade across. Doug was the brave first one. On his second step in the water, his right foot went into a thigh deep ditch underwater and he lost his balance and went chest deep in the water. He was quickly helped out, he was totally soaked. As we were leaving the place, Doug realised he had lost his glasses in the water. One minute later, the teacher called a boy over and before we realised what was going on, the boy went into the water and dived under to search for the glasses. We were stirred again by such helpfulness and such a sacrificial spirit.  

Liu Liu (19th October)