Work - Yes I do some!
on Hells Bells Hits Cambodia (Cambodia), 01/Mar/2011 10:05, 34 days ago
I am a procrastinator! I have always been one. I have read books on it, I have creatively tried to overcome it in many different fashions and, finally, I have accepted it. Unfortunately for you my dear reader, this means you will also have to accept it, as this will probably not be the first time it takes me two months to update my blog. So I have learnt as a procrastinator not to make promises you will undoubtedly fail to keep. So I will not promise to try harder, or update more regularly, but keep checking in and perhaps– if you’re very lucky – I will not wait another two months to post something. Although I might!So what have I been up to? Well, I had a lovely Christmas and New Year spent in Kratie and Siem Reap respectively with a lot of other volunteers. There was cheese, wine, presents, shouts on Christmas morning of‘he’s been, he’s been’ – obviously not from me as I’m nearly 27 and wouldn’t reference Santa dropping presents off in Cambodia via my parents, cocktails, parties, sunbathing and lot’s of meeting up with friends.Very soon after all this tomfoolery I had a fantastic weekend playing host in Ratanakiri to two Aussie guys I met separately in Siem Reap. Patrick was towards the end of his round the world trip while Russ was just at the start. We all got on brilliantly and had a great timecooking in the dark, listening to music (Oh my god– this is Daft Punk?), drinks and ridiculous conversations on the balcony, long rides on motos, falling off motos (Bradshaw), getting caked in dust, hosing said dust off each other in the yard, sunsets, stargazing, being served by 7 year olds, ladeling pimms out of a saucepan, and basically abusing each other the way only Brits and Aussies do. I plan to take them both up on their offers of return hosting when I get to Australia.I’ve also had some fun weekends with Zac, one of the other volunteers from my intake. This included camping on a sandbank in the middle of the Mekong in Kratie and two weekends in Ratanakiri. These weekends combined have included a couple of moto crashes (don’t worry Mum – nothing serious), playing nurse – alcohol swabbing someones extremely cut up arm is not fun when they’re yelling in pain, experimentation with meat from the market, pervy policemen, waterfalls and lakes, rum – we’re both a fan, lots of lovely edible presents, chilling out with the apple mac movie and den making.More detailed accounts of these weekends with pictures can be found on Zac’s blogwww.zacincambodia.blogspot.comI’ve also had a great housewarming party with a lovely BBQ curtosey of Narin, one of the VA’s. I have spent some time in Phnom Penh for buying supplies I can’t get in the Rat and peoples birthdays which included half price cocktails at a lovely roof-top bar and scouting a restaurant for my ownbirthday celebrations which will be this month.Well, it’s about time I told you all about work. It’s taken a while to get around to blogging about it as there have been some difficulties that unfortunately I can’t really talk about on here. I have been working hard with VSO and others to reach resolutions for these problems in order to be able towork more effectively and, fingers crossed, at the moment we finally seem to be getting somewhere.My job is that of a Community Assistant and the primary function is to encourage more affiliation between schools and their communities in order to raise the enrollment levels of primary aged children in schools. I am working in three districts; Ban Lung (the provincial capital), Ou Chum (North of Ban Lung towards Laos) and Borkeo (on the road to Vietnam, 15k from the border). I am lucky to be working with some great school directors who are very interested on doing some real community work and exploring issues rather than just asking me for things. I’ve seen a lot of schools in Ratanakiri and it’s so touching when you see School Directors who are utterly dedicated to the progress of their schools and not just in a ‘trophey fashion’, especially as some of them literally have nothing and are waiting on owed salaries. I am also looking into some collabo I am also looking into some colabarations with other NGO’s which if we get off the ground could be very exciting indeed! Watch this space!rations with other NGO’s which if we get off the ground could be very exciting indeed! Watch this space!I am learning a lot regarding development and am questioning everything, therefore shaping my theory and views (remember praxis uni people?). I am struggling with the balance of some aims and concepts and am trying to form my own opinion. It is altogether informing, educational, frustrating and exhilirating and altogether an incredible opportunity to be in the middle of so many issues and be able to question and learn from them. The field of International Development is complex and I am just scratching the surface. I hope this is the start of a long career of questioning, learning and exploration and with some possible leads on jobs here after my placement– that is becoming a more real possibility.Life in Ratanakiri is, as always, pretty great. There’s always something new to discover – a new lake, a new waterfall, a new view. Restaurants are popping up all over the place. The current favourite is ‘The Pizza Place’, which has an exquisite menu of everything from Chicken, Bacon and Avocado Salad to Steaks and Corden Bleu – and of course delicious Pizza’s. Go there any night and you are sure to find another ex-pat trying out a new dish. There are so many ex-pats here and it is such a diverse crowd of ages and nationalities. I feel lucky to have a great social network of thoroughly interesting people who are fast becoming great friends.