Ranya's Story
Ranya Mulchandani looks back on a summer working with the children at Honour Village Cambodia
In the hours I was not teaching either Maths, English or Handwriting, I spent the free time with the kids playing games (they loved their version of Angry Birds, Uno, piggy backs and hand clap games) as well as drawing, playing sport or teaching them the few chords I knew on the guitar. I admit I am not gifted with musical or artistic skills, but what I could teach them they were truly thrilled to learn, and the time I spent there was so humbling seeing how much each individual kid wanted to learn so much whether it be English, football or guitar. I was so impressed by the artwork they produced through the Colourful Cambodia campaign and urge everyone to go out and buy one of their pieces (- click here!).
While volunteering at Honour Village Cambodia in the summer of 2012, I spent most of my time teaching English to a class of fifteen children aged between eight and fourteen. This was pretty daunting, but I was up for the challenge, and after shadowing current volunteers for two days, I was given my own class which I would be teaching for the rest of the month at the children's village which really wasn’t as scary as I first thought.
Each of the kids had such a unique and inspiring personality, with some so keen to learn their times tables and so by giving them my time they were able to learn these, to kids who absolutely loved to dance and would perform for us while we were preparing lesson plans or playing games with them. Some were so cheeky, some quiet but each and every one made a huge impact on me.
Not a single day did we volunteers who cycled into work bright and early not get greeted at the gates by the kids waving and smiling. One of them even told me their hope for the future was to become a chef at a hotel in the countryside, which I really hope they achieve through the amazing effort Sue, Chhunly and everyone else who works and volunteers at Honour Village puts into each individual child, one of the most amazing places I have visited and worked at. I will never forget all the cuddles and affection the kids gave to us every day; they were absolutely incredible every single one of them.
Thank you to everyone there, to all the kids for being so amazing and inspiring, and I really hope to visit again sometime in the future!
Lots of love
Ranya Mulchandani xx