Projects Abroad, Newsletters from Cambodia

This year, on 01-January-2010, Phnom Penh City celebrated the 575th anniversary of its founding at Wat Phnom, the Hill Temple that gives the city its name, which still looks over the city today. Governance of Phnom Penh hall decided to celebrate the event at Wat Phnom, the first ever birthday celebration in modern history!

Currently, there are an estimated 650 million people with disabilities around the world or about ten percent of world’s population. More than 400 million persons with disabilities live in impoverished nations, about eighty percent of us. In Cambodia, there are over 550,000 people with disabilities; they are one of the most disadvantaged groups in the society – discriminated against in employment, in health and education services, by their local communities, and excluded from and lacking basic human rights.

The Water Festival is a tradition that goes back a long way. It has its roots in the naval history of the Khmer Kingdoms and as a result a number of the events which take place are connected to past battles and training exercises which take place on the water. The annual three-day Water Festival includes a boat race on the Tonle Sap River, and the carnival atmosphere on the shores alongside attracts millions of people from all over the country. More than 400 boats take part in the annual boat race.

Although only two years old, the Phnom Penh Night Market is already creating waves in the Cambodian capital. Opened in November 09, 2007, the Night Market is a recent addition to the Cambodian tourism industry but it has already made its mark among the hordes of visiting tourists. Phnom Penh is the commercial and cultural hub of Cambodia, and has always been the star attraction of the country; for many tourists, the central focus of their visit has been here.

The majority of Cambodia’s population adhere to Theravada Buddhism. Buddhists have built many pagodas throughout the country to serve their religious needs. Pchum Ben - or Ancestors’ Day - is the most important spiritual and religious event in Khmer society. It falls around the 15th of October every year. The exact date may vary depending on the lunar cycle. Pchum Ben can be roughly translated as “gathering and offering".

I am doing a Dentistry project here in Phnom Penh. I have been studying dentistry for 3 years. The project has been wonderful so far, as I have been able to practice my skills and also observe the dentists here. Three mornings a week I work in the Preah Ang Duong Hospital. The majority of work done here is extractions, as patients can’t afford to go to a private clinic. We see all ages. I’ve worked with 4 year old children, the elderly, and everyone in between...

Miss. Kim Seang will be temporarily replacement for Nareth Chhoy during her 2 months maternity leave from 27 July to 27 September 2009. Kim Seang starts working from 6 July until 31 October 2009. She is 22 years old and is a student of English Literature in her third year. She will be in contact with you during Nareth’s absence.

The Queen Mother Monineath Sihanouk’s birthday is celebrated yearly on June 18th. This year, it is her 73rd birthday celebration, and all Cambodian people, government officers and private agencies have a one day holiday to acclaim this remarkable event. It is no different from last year; along the highway such as Norodom and Sothearos Blvd, we always see the exhibitions of her achievements during the year in pictures. She has been involved with society activities as well as community development.

The weekend activity break offers worthwhile activities to all the volunteers to be closely involved with the orphanages on our Care Projects as well as other parts of Cambodian society. On the last weekend of last month, Projects Abroad organsed a dirty weekend at the Home of Peace.

The Khmer New Year is one of the most important holidays in Cambodia. As a part of the New Year festival, various exciting sporting events and competitions are held at different cultural fair's which are better known as 'khmer games'. Traditional Cambodian new year is observed through various folk dances as 'Angkor dance' performed by girls at various community halls in Cambodia. One of the major attractions of the New Year celebrations in Cambodia is the New Year parade performed at the capital city of Phnom Penh.

Projects Abroad had organized a dirty weekend at New Future for Children back in November last year. A whole team of volunteers gave up one of their weekends to get involved with this activity. Last month we organized a similar dirty weekend activity at the Centre for Children’s Happiness orphanage, which is located near the dump area on the edge of Phnom Penh. CCH I consists of one large building with a courtyard and a dining area. In front and along one side, there is a garden where we are planned to do the clean up.

I am a doctor and I have practiced paediatric emergency medicine for 20 years in America. One day I realized, “I want to do something I have never done before”. As a student in college and medical school I did not have the money and time to travel and visit foreign lands. I want to work in a developing country, not another America”.

Tens of thousands of Cambodians cheered the 30th anniversary of the ousting of the brutal Khmer Rouge regime at an elaborate stadium ceremony mounted by the country's powerful ruling party on Wednesday 07th January 2009. About 50,000 people attended the celebration three decades to the day in 1979 when Vietnamese-led forces toppled the Khmer Rouge, which is blamed for the deaths of up to two million people.

Sometimes it is nice to do something different…… and you cannot get more different than sitting eating spiders and crickets outside the Royal Palace in Phnom Penh! One evening a small group of the volunteers went to sample some of Cambodia’s more extreme delicacies. The insect market is open every evening and is certainly different from what you normally expect to see in a food market! The stalls are filled with every kind of insect and strange animal you can think of.

A dirty weekend involves rolling up your sleeves, putting your old clothes on and getting dirty!
In November a team of volunteers gave up one of their weekends to go and renovate a nearby orphanage in Phnom Penh - New Future for Children. Projects Abroad have been sending volunteers to help work with the children and teach English at this orphanage for the past 3 years. A few months ago New Future for Children moved to a new building surrounded by a leafy courtyard and a vegetable garden. However the walls of the courtyard were stained and very dirty so Projects Abroad decided to go and give the courtyard a make-over.

The fifteenth day, of the tenth month, of the Khmer calendar marks the Pchum Ben festival. This is a time when the spirits of the dead ancestors walk the Earth. And the living can ease their suffering by offering them food to eat. People pray in front of food and candles during the first day of the Pchum Ben festival (Festival of Death) at a pagoda in Phnom Penh. Pchum Ben festival is a popular holiday in Cambodia. it consists of 15 days of praying for the deceased, Visiting the temples and bringing food to monks.

Some of the volunteers decided to spend a weekend at the beach this month. They packed their bags and headed out of the bustling capital city and made their way down to the south west coast of Cambodia to the gulf of Thailand. After a week of working in the city it was fantastic to step onto the white sand beaches and be surrounded by palm trees and blue sea!

We were not sure what to expect in Cambodia, but we were looking forward to it nevertheless. No one could have prepared us for what was ahead of us! We were met by at Phnom Penh airport after an exhausting flight and were driven in a small car (which wasn’t quite big enough for both our suitcases, so we had to have one in the back seat as well) to the apartment. We were both by now, exhausted, having been awake for the previous 24 hours, so after finding our beds we slept throughout the day.

You are probably aware that June 01st, yeach ear is celebrated as International Child Labour Day. This day is enshrined by the United Nations and celebrated by each of its signatory member states. The Convention of the child was adopted and ratified in accordance with RESOLUTION No. 44/25, dated November 20, 1989; of the UN General Assembly and came into effect on September 2 1990, as stated in article 49. The convention on the right of the child is the most widely used treaty across all UN member states. The treaty for the first time, has considered the human right of a child, ensuring that the world is aware thet a child is in fact a Human Being.

On 14^th May 2008 is the 55th birthday of the new King Sihamoni who ascended to the throne when his father, King Norodom Sihanouk, resigned three years ago. You can hear the fireworks being set off on the waterfront by the Royal Palace. This is the second of three days of holidays established to honor the king.

The Khmer New Year festival originated from Bramhmanism, a part of Hinduism, which was a religion that Khmer people believed in before Buddhism. Usually, Khmer New Year is celebrated for three days. The first day of New Year is called "Moha Sangkran", and it can be described simply as the inauguration of the New Angels who come to take care of the world for a one-year period. People need to clean and decorate the house and also prepare fruits and drinks for the New Year inauguration and to welcome the New Angels at every single home.

With funding from Projects Abroad, Volunteers Katie Badger, Alan Flood and Cosmo Montagu helped to get the farm at the Lighthouse Orphanage in shape after the wet season, helping out with re-ploughing the soil, making a new sign and planting the seeds (and a fair amount of just playing with the kids too.!)