My children attended the British School Al Khubairat  in Abu Dhabi for twelve years and as soon as I had packed my son, Jordy, off on his gap year, I gleefully dusted off my old backpack and in January 2011 headed off alone for two weeks in Cambodia.​

I had an amazing time exploring the ancient, awe-inspiring temples, jungles, and markets and relaxing on paradise islands. Of course, out of respect for all those who had died, I also visited the torture chambers and killing fields. It has been estimated that up to a quarter of the population was killed or died because of the Khmer Rouge. One of the incredible things about Cambodians is that even with such horrors in their very recent past; they still seem to be such optimistic people. However, Cambodia is one of the poorest countries in the world and there is grinding poverty everywhere.
I wanted to help in some way, but worried about the many orphanage scams and gap-year rip-offs I had read about on Google, I wasn’t sure where to begin.  Having read all the bad press about the corruption in Cambodia, I was more than a little wary.​

Luckily, I bumped into two volunteers on a bus and ended up spending my last day in Siem Reap at Honour Village Cambodia. I immediately realized that this was the type of place that I was looking for. It had only recently been established and the place oozed love and care for the children and commitment and hope for the future. I knew that I would be back.

 

I knew I'd be back​

And so the following summer, in August 2011, I volunteered for a month at Honour Village. My children, Jessye and Jordy and ex-BSAK students Rachel Murphy and Kirstin Cherry came with me. I taught English to the village kids and often had 50 in a class – but because they were motivated they were lovely to teach. We had a fantastic time and I was amazed that in their first few days Rachel and Kirsten were able to assist and then even lead some English classes. Jessye, being a Dental student, taught every child individually how to clean their teeth! ​

When I got back to work in Abu Dhabi, we began to set up a network of people to spread awareness about Honour Village Cambodia, especially to anyone who might be heading to Angkor Wat, and to create a group of university students – or anyone else! - willing to support HVC in the future, either by donations, volunteering or calling in when in the area.​​

The BSAK Team

​The idea quickly snowballed. By July 2012 my sister Rachel and I and ex-Al Khubairat students - Jessye Sutton, Alice Fahey, Jo Nolan, Jordy Sutton, Zoya Zajak, Zack Zajak, Ally Cherry - and Hannah and Harriet Popham were ready to head to Cambodia.​

We had an adventurous time getting more than 150kg of donated toys, clothes and art supplies from the UK and Abu Dhabi to Bangkok. We spent a whole day in Bangkok negotiating for mini buses and avoiding scams only to get to the Thai Cambodia border only to still pay a “fee” to save time. Then we hired two hand carts to get all the stuff across no-man’s land. (You can easily fly from Bangkok to Siem reap but it is a bit pricey.)​

The HVC children were delighted with the toys and seventeen cars immediately vanished but were soon accounted for when the children “confessed” to hiding them in their bedrooms. Some boys had waited 15 years to have a toy car!

Over the next few weeks, we had an absolutely fantastic time at HVC.  As well as teaching English, Handwriting and Maths and having a lot of fun with the children, we also redecorated two classrooms, painted a mural, decorated the spirit garden, helped sort the store room and made a video.
We also taught the children painting skills which then morphed into the Colourful Cambodia Art project – selling beautiful cards and posters of the children’s artwork (available from Frankie here in Abu Dhabi, and great for Christmas or any occasion).

 

It's Not ALL Work! 

On their days off, the volunteers cycled around Siem Reap, explored the Angkor Wat temples, took the night bus to Sihanoukville and then a boat to beautiful Ko Rong island. Aftera month working with the children, the nine young volunteers backpacked through Northern Thailand and Laos, meeting all sorts of interesting people! ​

Rachel and I didn’t get to travel outside of Cambodia but worked on the Colourful Cambodia art project. While we were in Siem Reap we had visits from Abu Dhabi parents who were also touring the area. Alice’s mum, Jo Fahey, fell in love with the Children’s Village, Kate and Kevin Nolan and Patrick stayed at our guest house for three days and found it charming. Other friends dropped off laptops at the guest house or visited HVC. It was a lot of fun to have families and friends together but not on top of each other.​