Septic Tanks and Soccer Balls

There are some things in life that you need to have there are others which are not essential but do make life's journey a bit more fun.

Here in Cambodia as in so many developed countries the education of children is linked to their ability to go to school... their ability to go to school being linked to their health. If you are not well then you are not able to go to school, simple as that.

The provision of toilets and clean drinking water is something that CCT ensure is in all the schools they support. The additional challenge in this environment is that many of the children come from home environments where they do not have a toilet.... they don't know what to do with one! In these rural communities the teachers are not reinforcing the message of going to the toilet and hand-washing that parents give children at home. They are the primary source of information about sanitation and personal hygiene ... a difficult task with over 30 students in a classroom.

While the CCT NZ team visit the schools they check the states to the toilets and septic tanks... when people don't know what they are there for they don't know what to do or not to do with them. We found one septic tank which vandals had thrown rocks into and the base was broken out, but generally they were in good working order, so while not glamorous they are essential to ensuring that the children continue their education. 

Many of you will have spent time in dorm's of various sorts be that in high school or at university. In recent years dorms have developed into single bedroom accomodation with some shared bathroom, laundry and cooking facility's.

On this trip we have visited the dorms for some of the young people attending teachers training collages. Some rooms have been equipped with bunk beds, this allows for 16 to a room, each students only personal space being the area of their bed. In others there is one large room where students have erected curtains to allow them some personal space.

For the boys... their motor bikes are in the dorm.... expensive and their pride and joy they are not left out in the weather.

The bathing facilities consist of a large water receptacle and a dipper.... no showers, no hot water and for the girls especially little privacy. We have been asked to provide laundry facilities as the students have no where to wash clothes.

The pressure on the teachers training facilities is going to increase greatly. The government has doubled the number of teacher trainees and we are told are about to announce that the training will go from 2 to 4 years. They have build new classroom blocks to accomodate the additional students and training required...... but they have not build any facilities to support going from 200 to 400 students... perhaps an oversight.

Now to the soccer balls...... one of our group bought sports equipment from NZ for a school. As the staff looked at the bats, rackets, balls and nets their faces lit up. They suggested that they wait and see how the children reacted to the new things...... but the temptation was too great. Someone suggested that the teachers "have a go"

Now in Cambodia to be a teacher is a very serious job, you are respected in the community and "goofing" about is not something teachers do........ but faced with a soccer ball and some of the CCT team who were in a "game on" mood even the school director's high heels came off.

The ball was kicked about the playground with lots of fun as people tried to get if from one another.

Then the bell rang..............

That's where the real fun started. The children came out of class for a break and could not quite believe what they saw. Their director, the teachers and the CCT team all scuffling about on the dusty playground determined to kick the ball and get it from one another.