Day 15- Sophie Ellis at Peak Sneng

Right now, relaxing in our rooms is a hard earned treat after an exhausting but enjoyable day at the Peak Sneng School. The day began as an early one, as so many have on the trip so far, but the idea of a unappreciated wake-up call and another harrowing journey on the bus (at least this time only an hour and a half) hasn’t gone unrewarded by the end of the day.

                The bus ride in was slow and bumpy along the roads of the smaller villages around Siem Reap, the bus driver was cautious and seemed very concerned about the welfare of his vehicle which is always appreciated and is a huge contrast to our experiences so far in tuk tuk’s. After the impatience that accompanied a slow arrival at our destination, we finally made it to the school and were greeted with the best welcome we could have asked for. It was all very humbling as the students clapped us into their school from all sides and generally celebrated our presence in their school community. In many a case I think a lot of us were surprised at their gratitude to us for something we had deemed so little, their passion for learning and education was inspiring.

                                The next part of the day included getting prepared to teach lessons while the library was stocked by our very own librarian Mr Kervin and Jill of all trades Mrs Seymour.  We were soon sent to our classes and in our group’s  case it suddenly dawned upon us how difficult teaching these lessons were about to become. The language barrier was difficult, as a lot of students didn’t know much more than a quick greeting and introduction. Nevertheless, we carried on wholeheartedly and luckily our lesson of choice was an easy step-by-step introduction into some easy origami. It certainly put a smile on the children’s faces to run around “meeping” at us with their chatterboxes (which apparently look a lot like birds) and somewhere along the line what was simply folding colourful paper became a sport!

                After what we would call early successes with our lessons (despite everybody’s complaints of unco-operative ‘older kids’ whom none of us has prepared for and the common problem of language difficulties) everyone settled down for a break as the students left for home and lunch. Many people left to enjoy coconut juice up the road and had great experiences again with the squat toilets. Afterward, everyone returned for an enjoyable (and large) lunch and were ready again to tackle our class’s.

                The afternoon class’s all played out much the same as the mornings with everyone encountering and in turn over coming many of the difficulties that came with trying to plan out lessons. After three more class’s we earned another break and much excitement came from our groups apparent ‘menace’ of noisy origami. We tried not to join in, but the smiling faces of the local children and their enjoyment in nipping us with paper faces overcame many and everyone was once again up and joining in the activity in a variety of ways.

Our final class’s (including private English lessons with after-school students) were a great time to relax and recount the events of the day. The whole group was able to see and appreciate the gratitude for education in this country. The desire to learn was overwhelming and the happy, friendly attitudes of everyone within the school amazing. We all made many new friends today and are looking forward to what I expect to be a magnificent celebration of the official opening of our donated library tomorrow (but perhaps not the bus ride).

Sophie Ellis