Alison’s review, a Presentation Morning and famous – twice!!
on So Now It's Cambodia (Cambodia), 04/Nov/2010 05:50, 34 days ago
I said in my last post that it had been a busy and interesting week , so I will try and catch up with that now. In fact, since I wrote that, a few more things have happened!Firstly, with Alison’s work there was the APR. To most in the UK that means something nasty to do with interest rates! Well, you might suggest it’s nasty in another way, because it was the Annual Partnership Review for our area. So three members of staff came down from the Phnom Penh Programme Office. These were the Director of VSO Cambodia, the Head of Health (a Cambodian) and another member of staff who coordinates all volunteers.This meant Alison had to prepare documents for discussion and a number of meetings were held in both Mongkul Borei and Thmar Pouk. The meeting in Mongkul Borei was dominated by relations between VSO and the Director of the Hospital and other donors. The director is a remarkable man who performs advanced surgery including on goiters (or goitres) - which are quite big around here. He is also a bit of a maverick and is not afraid to say what he thinks if the big organisations are not treating him right!They PNH staff came down in the VSO 4x4 which came in useful when they all headed off to Thmar Pouk to review progress in that hospital. This is where Oly Shipp is the volunteer hospital manager. The road was terrible due to the flooding and makeship wooden bridges (a few planks!) had been built over the worst bits. Everyone was impressed by the driving skills of the Director from the Programme Office - obviously, it helps to be multi talented out here!One of the nice things about the review was that Alison and Oly got some useful and positive feedback, the partners (ie. the hospital directors) got a chance to communicate first hand and areas for further work were discussed. I am pleased for Alison that her hospital director said lots of nice things about her work and how much he likes working with her.Another nice feature were the meals in Sisophon where volunteers, programme office staff and VA’s (and an accompanying partner!) all met up. It’s interesting to see the different sectors all together in a relaxed setting.Another event this week has been 3 of our volunteer friends leaving on 4th. November. This has entailed their attending a number of farewell dinners and parties– I believe it was 8 at the last count! We have enjoyed their company over the last year – especially over cocktails at the FCC in Siem Reap! It’s hard to imagine we may be going through the same thing in just over a years time! We joined them for the traditional Khmer BBQ which is nicknamed “Cow on the Hill” on Wednesday evening. I counted 22 at this one.We stayed in Sisophon that night (at our favourite local hotel the Botoum) as Alison had more meetings the the next day and I had been invited to play the trumpet as part of a ceremony for World Teacher’s Day. We had a very early start but set off in Cheourk’s taxi with Wim the Belgium volunteer who had acquired funding for this plus two health volunteers who were just interested!The ceremony took place at Mary’s school at Sala Krau near Preh Net Prea (all spellings approximate!) which is the one where I gave the lessons in January.When we arrived the children were all seated outside and tables had been decorated and banners put up to create a festive feel. They were giving awards to recognise the achievements of the school staff for World Teacher's Day: one head, two male and two female teachers. Also, they had started to create a school council and library out of a large wooden shed that had lain dormant for some time. One of the good things about Mary’s work there and ultimately VSO’s impact on development, is that the staff are very receptive to her suggestions and will act on them.As I recorded after my lessons in January - the head adapted ideas I’d used in order to liven up the assembly at the beginning of the day. Mary is a very modest person and says she just suggests something and they do the work. The library came about because they had gone to visit the secondary school in our town where the Peace Corp (American) volunteer worker hadhelped develop the library. They’d actually gone to see the school council in action to get ideas. However, they were so impressed by the library they decided they wanted one too! They’ve also got the pupils from their school council managing the library!!During the ceremony, I played jolly tunes on demand and the occasional fanfare– especially for when Mary made a presentation to the head as I feel he really deserves all the fuss that can be made of him. The media had been invited so there was a TV camera stuck in my face for some of my performances!! This was shown on Cambodian TV (CTN) the following evening but I haven’t seen it yet. Someone may have a copy somehow…..Another sweet moment in the ceremony was when three girls from the library/school council made a speech. They did this with great composure considering the occasion and compared well to some pupils back home.After the ceremony we were shown around the school and library. There was a fantastic contrast to my previous visit. Still no electricity but bare soulless spaces had been filled with displays on the walls and hanging across the room. Various materials were very neatly stored at the side. On closer inspection, the sort card holders were made of plastic bottles which had been cut up and tape put on the top edges. Enterprising and impressive.On the other side of the grounds was the library. There were no tables or chairs but books were neatly stored and numbered in plastic folders which hung on string across the walls.All in all, with a series of speeches in English and Khmer it was a splendid occasion. Khmer dignitaries spoke in Khmer, VSO volunteers spoke in both English and Khmer and the English was translated with the help of Mary’s VA who stepped in at the last minute for another VA whose moto had broken down!. As always, I felt proud to be part of it and honoured to be associated with such splendid work and achievement.I'm used to Presentation Evenings but this one started at 7.30am. (and I wasn't late!).So around 9.30am. we all headed back to the cafe at the Botoum Hotel, Sisophon for coffee and pancakes and to chew the cud for a few hours. Alison joined us later for lunch. A very satisfying day.FAME PART 2!!Recently, Alison told me my name had appeared on the front page of the Independent online. I didn't see it but she phoned me this week to say it was there again! I'm at the top of a list of recommended facebooks! I'm not sure what happened but I think I read an online article about the Naples fans attacking the Liverpool fans and must have clicked on the facebook link to see what happened and ended up on the front page!!Curious really, because it was bad news about the Italian fans attacking the Liverpool fans - I was hoping they liked my cryptic comments on facebook! Here's the link if you want to see for yourselves:http://www.independent.co.uk/