Experience Cambodia

I saw this advertised through YMCA and immediately thought, let’s give it a try!

I have been involved in YMCA now for some forty plus years and I have had the opportunity to travel to Conferences, meetings and Festivals in many different countries. I think something like 50 countries but almost all, in recent years have been for work.

I had some serious surgery about seven years ago and my mobility as a result is not the best, so in the interests of an easy life I restricted myself to very lazy holidays on Gran Canaria. So to be faced with a question like ‘Experience Cambodia’ I had to give this some serious thought.

My decision was made. I would sign up for this visit. Now, I don’t believe I have lost my marbles entirely, (someone gave me a little bag of them for my last birthday) and knowing this was a YMCA Tourist Programme I was on my way.

Before proceeding further, let me explain what the programme is all about.

YMCA operates in 119 countries across the world. Many of these are in places of great interest. YMCA is a not for profit Charity and we depend on donations and social enterprise to enable us to deliver services to very often, the most needy in our communities.

A couple of years back in South East Asia YMCA recognised the potential for enabling people to come and visit not just their country as tourists but also to experience first-hand, the work of the largest Youth organisation in the world.

Out of this grew ‘The Global Alternative Tourism Network’. This is not restricted to YMCA people, it is open to anyone who wants to engage in a visit facilitated by young volunteers from the local YMCA. To visit the tourist sites with a perspective from young people and to experience the work of the YMCA is something really quite extraordinary.

There are many more YMCA Global Alternative Tourism programmes now available. You can get details here.  http://www.ymca.int/what-we-do/alternative-tourism/

So I headed for Cambodia!

I took a flight from London Heathrow to Bangkok which took eleven hours and a further hour to Phnom Penh. When I arrived in Phnom Penh I was met by the National General Secretary of YMCA in Cambodia and a member of the World YMCA staff. They took me to the hotel and we then went out for a drink. We drank wine under the stars on the banks of the Mekong River.

I had broken my journey to do an exploratory visit to Chiang Mai in Thailand and arrived a day early into Phnom Penh.

On the arrival day I met the rest of the group. There was 14 of use in total and we were to spend the next six days together to ‘Experience Cambodia’.

Rather than giving you a day by day account of the visit I would like to share it with you in images.

The sites we saw.

The Projects we visited

The food we ate

The environment we were in

The people that made it

This was such a fabulous visit. There were fourteen of us in the group, four from the Philippines nine from India, including a State Government Minister for Environment and Tourism and myself.

A very special thank you to Bunthok Deth the National General Secretary of YMCA Cambodia and all his staff and volunteers.

The visit was a super mix of culture, tourism and experiencing the needs of the local communities through the lens of the services provided by YMCA.

My greatest passion in YMCA is watching young people become the best they want to be and no matter where I go in the World I see YMCA delivering on this.

Once again, here in Cambodia,  I met young people who do not want to leave their country, rather they want to stay and rebuild a previously broken Nation.

Once again I find myself  #standingontheshouldersofgiants

Thank you YMCA Cambodia - you touched my soul and enriched my life!

World YMCA Change Agent Global Gathering 2 - Day 5 & 6

I left you on Friday evening anticipating what my ‘community service’ trip would entail over the weekend. That evening, as planned a group of us managed to squeeze in a trip to the bar after a long hard week of programme. I decided upon having a Thai cocktail which was delicious. Perhaps the photo shared on Facebook of me slurping it up isn’t the best representation of my time here – so it’s a good job that you’re reading my blogs!

I’ve just come back from my “community service” group weekend. Over a hundred Change Agents were split in to five groups and each travelled outside of the city to work with the community. And work it was. I’ve heard of other teams building schools and even making beds and dinner for their hosts! I haven’t long got back so any really juicy stories I’ll include in the next blog.

Day five.

My specific group was titled “Natural Resources Preservation towards Sustainable Community Development” and was based at Pa Sak Ngam village some 100 kilometres to the North of our YMCA hotel where we are based. The village consists of 102 households and a population of just 347 people – they did however have one bar and it is this first Welsh flag I have seen on Thai soil… in the middle of nowhere but I suppose that just added to my bewilderment!

The visit started by listening to presentations from two professors at Chiang Mai University, basically about what we would be doing over the next 30 hours. I had a great night sleep and an hour on the bus but I found it difficult to keep attention at a high level with over-defined information and the humid atmosphere. This didn’t mean it wasn’t interesting though by any means and it was obvious to see how important “check dams” are to villages in Thailand. Dams hold the water in a specific place so it can be stored for community use, when otherwise it would simply run all of the

way down in to cities.

After the presentation and lunch we made our way to another part of the village with the university staff and before we knew it many of us were knee-deep in a river trying to net insects that we could barely see. The purpose of this activity it quite important, as the University – by listing and scoring whatever is caught – can judge how clean the water is. This particular part was deemed a 5.15 out of ten, so would be used for agricultural use but not good enough for feeding pets or washing dishes. Drinking water in the village is always sourced from the City which thankfully means built up areas are not too far away. 

By the time 3pm came we were just about to start the Pa Sak Ngam nature trail before the heavens opened. It never rains it pours couldn’t be more correct. After 100 meters we turned back to the vans which was the point things went from optimistic to me really not enjoying the experience.

We had to ditch our luxury minibuses at the side of the road as three pick-up trucks collected us and took us to the hotel. I doubt there was a risk assessment done for the journey but we got to our accommodation safe, albeit soaked through, agitated and already longing for the hotel. Dinner followed suit being especially bland and as 8pm came I was the first one to turn in to our cabin – a florescent pink mosquito net covering the bed offering the slightest glimpse of positivity. By the time I had the full-time Newport County score texted through by the Mother at midnight I drifted off to sleep thinking of all the other Change Agents having a great time in their home stay locations (which didn’t quite turn out to be true for everyone, in hindsight a peaceful cabin in the middle of a beautiful forest competed well). 

Day Six.

Considering I spent 11 hours on a 2 inch mattress with air-con, I had a really good sleep, albeit despondent that where I was staying wasn’t just a dream. Rice and tasteless chicken was kept down at breakfast and we were led away for a morning’s hard labour. 

This is where things started to look up (you didn’t really expect me to moan for too long?) as we joined members of the community to set up two dams in the village river, one made of bamboo filled in with soil and another made with rock and cement.

The first task was to transport 200 boulders from the roadside some 50 yards down the hill to the stream bed. I felt a great sense of team work as we aligned up and passed the muddy-spider-ridden rocks at great pace. Of interest, the line consisted of people from Thailand, Wales, Australia, Philippines, Trinidad & Tobago, Hong Kong, Niger, Liberia, Ghana and Denmark. I’m sure this makes up for the usual “A Welshman (add other countries) walk in to a bar…” joke I usually make.

A continuous conveyor belt of rocks, cement and water were passed down over the next two hours and the dedication resulted in us finishing at lunch time, two hours ahead of schedule. Muscles on us! Without wanting to make another point of food; lunch on the back of a pick-up truck was the best meal yet. We were treated to a huge fried chicken leg, sticky rice and REALLY chilli paste, all served in pockets made from banana tree leaves.

Just as I was thinking to myself how happy I was compared to earlier Mother Nature decided that my clothes were getting a little too dry and within seconds we were soaked through. Rather collapse in defeat we moved on to the next part of the project which was to plant a tree – no charitable visit to a forest is complete without it! No photos of this sorry as I’d be ordering a new phone by now.

As we started to make our way back to Chiang Mai we were fortunate to visit two attractions on the way. Firstly, we stopped at a viewpoint on the outskirts of the village over-looking tens of thousands of teak trees. Having learned the importance of maintaining tree levels it was comforting to see them as far as the eye could see. Our final stop was along route 1001 to visit the Bua Tong waterfall in the Mae Taeng National Forest Reserve. The spring water contains a high amount of calcium carbonate. As the spring water cascades down the falls, the calcium is deposited on the rocks. The calcium carbonate then adds a non-slip surface to the rocks. Believe it or not, the rocks look slick but it is very easy to walk up the face of the falls without slipping.

So with a risk assessment nowhere to be seen, just two of our 30 strong party made the climb and apart from a little slip right at the top (which was a million times scarier than it sounds!) we made it with ease, perhaps because I’m a terrific athlete (citation needed) or because it really was similar to walking up steps.

Our group was the third of out the five to arrive back and at first glance everyone had a similar dirty, sweaty experience. Like many others my first venture was to have a shower and although the hot water was completely extinguished half way through I finally felt clean enough to go back in to civilisation.

Succeeding dinner I respectfully passed on the devotions session to start the blog and found my place in the room before the final session of the day started which looked back on our experiences, still at the forefront of our mind.

What did we learn that we didn’t know beforehand? Obviously I learnt a lot about dams and water flow which maybe isn’t the most practical of learning but others were taught how to cook and even mix and lay concrete which I thought was quite cool, and it’ll save you a few quid the next time you get the driveway upgraded!

We then took a more sentimental approach of our experience and were told of people’s home stays and experience of working in small communities. The weird and wonderful took place in several houses that night, including a group of three English girls having to go shopping, cook dinner for the host and be sent to bed at 8:30pm. In comparison Amely from the Dominican Republic was taken elephant riding so maybe the brief wasn’t translated very well by some accommodation providers!

On a serious note every single one of us had something to take back from the experience. One group building a mushroom house commented that the head teacher was in a suit one day to greet the Change Agents, and the next morning was in his labouring attire getting stuck in to help the community. My personal reflection was on how welcomed we felt. 30 strangers/foreigners turning up at their village of under 350 people. In so many places throughout the world outsiders are not welcome and I hope that my experience – albeit it on a minuscule scale – can show this.

It’s now Monday morning and sadly it’s likely I’ve come down with a bit of a flu. I have no idea if it’s the sun, the air, the lack of water or lack of sleep catching up with me but having missed the first session waiting for the pills to kick in I’ll be re-joining the sessions after break. Two girls have had to be taken to the hospital because of influenza so I'm being cautious (don't worry, Mum!)

___ 

For my final blog on FRIDAY I’m hoping to use this as a way of raising funds that can go towards the next time young people have an opportunity like I've been lucky enough to. For a very small price you can read about the final 5 days, guaranteed travel shenanigans, 19 hours in Helsinki, my top photographs and how it felt to say goodbye for the final time to so many friends.

Thanks for reading!

Chris

World YMCA Change Agent Global Gathering 2 - Day 3 & 4

It’s hard to come to terms with the fact it is now Friday and it’s been a whole week since I left home. Although I am missing many parts of life in Wales I really hope the final 5 days slow down.

I left the second blog at a point where I was about to join a party provided by students from the local University. It was an event everyone enjoyed accompanied with Thai cocktails and a band playing some global tunes – the only downside being Justin Beiber included in that list. Another night of having the nest intentions of going to bed early diminished… but I can sleep when I’m back home, right?

Day 3

After two solid days in the conference room, Thursday 25^th gave opportunity to visit outside of the YMCA hotel as part of the programme. Our 100 plus population split up in to a dozen minibuses and by 9am we had arrived at another branch of Chiang Mai YMCA – Sao Hin YMCA.

The morning focused on environmental issues at Sao Hin, specifically the fantastic teaching they provide to the community about the many different types of producing energy and how we use it, and importantly education on how we can reduce our energy levels to make our habitat more environmentally-friendly. As we cascaded through the classroom style exhibits I thought about how cool this would be for young people to experience and noticed a number of Change Agents reacting as it is the first time they have been made aware of the damaging impact our reliance on electricity and oil has become.

Following a typical delicious and filling lunch we then drove 45 minutes to Maesa Elephant Camp. I’m still unsure whether I seen my first ever elephant at Berlin zoo two years back instead of yesterday but one thing is for sure and that’s I have never had the pleasure of being so close to these majestic animals. The sea of red shirted change agents felt similarly going by the exciting atmosphere and selfie production. After about half an hour petting the giant trunks the elephants were lead to the stream to be washed by the trainers – called mahout’s – before being led to the showground.

What followed next was a hot topic of discussion on the way home. What we had seen so far was in no way untoward so to have a circus-type show divided the opinions of some. Over the space of an hour up to a dozen elephants completed a number of impressive stunts including placing hats on their mahout, taking penalty kicks, trunk hula-hooping and even painting using a brush and easel! I did have a keen interest in one of the paintings had it been in my price-range as can you imagine that as a conversation starter with guests over:

“So tell me about this picture?
An elephant painted it
…
no, seriously.”

One of the final acts was for a member of the crowd (namely Mario from Italy) to play darts with against one of the older elephants. Although some shocking arm-work by the Italian meant he took a while to take the lead, it did take some purpose cheating by the larger mammal to claim victory, to the joy of the hundreds in attendance.

Once I had arrived back I immediately did some research on the well-being of the elephants at the camp and felt relieved that I was correct in feeling comfortable enjoying the experience, and before we set out for dinner both the YMCA staff and hotel personnel assured this. My question of why do they ‘have’ to do a show was suitably answered by the reason that if the show wasn’t part of the experience, attendance and therefore funds would drop and ultimately they would cease to be able to preserve the animals. The website out of interest is http://maesaelephantcamp.com/.

I’m aware that I haven’t mentioned food in over three paragraphs so I’ll fast forward to dinner which was at one of Chiang Mai’s most popular restaurants, the Kantoke Palace. As we removed our shoes and sat down a starter of onion soup and pineapple cocktail were served immediately. After this came the main – or eight to be precise – that included curries, fried chicken, pickled vegetables and that British classic; pork scratching’s. This was devoured by everyone on the table before the entertainment started. We relished eight traditional Thai dances which were entertaining not only because of the fact it included extremely loud drum banging, colourful costumes, playing with knives and the first ‘pantomime’ two-human-bodied animal I have seen for 15+ years.

The final minibus ride of the day gave us opportunity for the food to digest as we travelled to another market this time in the newer part of town. There were literally hundreds of stalls vying for custom and I contemplated how risky I should be with the gift I bring back for the better half… and there wasn’t a Pandora shop in sight!

Surprise surprise I soon noticed now legend of these blogs; Aussies Steph and Bec in a small bar in the middle of the market so joined them for an innocent beer to end the night. By the time another 6 people joined the congregation we had an audience of Jordanians, Lithuanians and Spaniards not only being entertained by a live band, but firstly yours truly dancing to “Uptown Funk” and Stewart from Scotland delivering three brilliant karaoke ballads that had the rest of the bar – whoever they were, in raptures.

Day 4

Perhaps thanks to my tiresome sharp moves the night before, I woke up today the freshest I have in a week and even caught the end of breakfast. Today’s morning show team included Icelandic Change Agent Isak and it would come as a shock to nobody that the energiser was the ‘Icelandic clap’ that was brought to fame at this year’s Euro 2016 tournament. I made sure that the English participants joined in (why wouldn’t they?) before the day’s workshops covering health and employment kicked off.

The workshop that I attended was delivered by Emma and James from Australia concentrated on physical health and exercise. Not exactly right up my street but as I knew Emma was a personal trainer would be good to get some tips from her at the very least.

We discussed why it’s difficult to eat healthy in various countries and I alluded to us Brits usually rushing or skipping lunch during a busy days work and that it’s almost impossible to go out socially and eat/drink healthily. I for one have never seen a celery stick in a cinema (then again I’ve never looked!).

What was interesting was that in Oz they do not follow the 5 fruit and veg a day rule. Instead it is recommended that people have 5 veg and 2 fruit a day… which when you think of it is quite different to our perception of healthy intake.

After lunch (Thai green curry again if you’re wondering) I attended 2 workshops on Employment. The first was brilliantly delivered by Joumanna and Lara from Jordan. We discussed how family influences young people’s career choices and whether this could hold someone back or is a case of simply a parent having their child’s best interests at heart. A video produced by Lara interviewed several young people in Jordan and sadly a case such as a young girl wanting to be a lawyer was an uphill batter just because of the fact she is female. What rubbish. We went on to discuss how YMCA’s can help young people in to employment along their chosen career path. This is something I’m really proud of Newport YMCA for. Our casual caretakers are more often than not young people with little or no qualifications from the local community. When they leave working at the YMCA for greener pastures they have a variety of experience in working with young people, hospitality, conferencing, caretaking and catering.

The second session was led by Alex from Victoria YMCA and concentrated on how global demographics are changing and what this means for young people. She admitted that she finds it difficult to speak to decision makers on the basis she is young and female (and I bet bloody good at her job). Let’s hope our generation do not look down on young people when we are in these situations as every generation will bring something different and fresh to the table.

I can’t quite remember how it fit in to her presentation but one highlight was the work that Victoria YMCA delivers to refugees and asylum seekers. Every year they provide 180 people ten weeks of free swimming lessons and from these they go on to employ 32 as staff and pay for ten to achieve an education. Isn’t that fantastic? And similar to what is happening throughout YMCA’s worldwide.

So, after a quick rest and 1,486 words in to this blog post we are going for dinner and popping out for a few hours tonight. Tomorrow morning we will leave for our community participation programmes that I detailed in my first blog on Monday. I’m really looking forward to this albeit whilst the mosquitoes are starting to work through my bug repellent! 

Catch up on Sunday evening if all goes well!

Chris