[America's] Hudson students learn about community, culture in Cambodia

CONTRIBUTED PHOTO: Hudson High student Olivia Andrade traveled around Cambodia for three weeks this summer. 

By Jeannette Hinkle/Correspondent

Hudson Sun

Posted Aug 09, 2012

HUDSON — Two Hudson High School seniors who had never been out of the United States now envision futures involving international humanitarian aid after traveling to Cambodia this summer.

Christina Joyce and Olivia Andrade left for a four-day orientation in Honolulu, Hawaii, on June 24 and then continued to Cambodia where they traveled for three weeks. They returned to Hawaii for a two-day debriefing and got home on July 24.

After hearing about the American Youth Leadership Program (AYLP) in their world cultures class, the friends were moved by the idea and applied. The program is funded by the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs’ Youth Programs Division, and sponsored by the East West Center of the University of Honolulu. The program’s aim is to immerse participants in Cambodian culture, examine the country’s rich history from a first-hand perspective and investigate media effects and issues in Cambodia.

“We talked to Khemer Rouge survivors and we went to museums, just to see how different things were portrayed and the different points of view on things that have happened,” Joyce said.

“We talked about how to be more skeptical,” Andrade said.

“And not believe everything that we’re told,” Joyce added.

The girls spent the first week of their trip in Siem Reap and then traveled to Oudong, where they stayed with host families. They closed their tour of the country in Phnom Penh.

“We had a huge schedule that was given to us and there was scheduled stuff everyday, so it was pretty packed with workshops,” Joyce said.

Activities included planting trees in a pagoda, meeting the director of the women’s media center and visiting the S21 prison where former dictator Pol Pot ordered the deaths of more than 15,000 people during his reign. On their third day in Cambodia, the girls went to a houseboat community on the Tonle Sap River. The girls said that the extreme poverty they saw there was shocking.

 “(Those were) the worst conditions that I saw throughout my entire stay in Cambodia,” Joyce said. “It was just surreal. The houseboats were half the size of my room. That was where an entire family lived.”

The majority of the people who live in the community are illegal immigrants from Vietnam who can’t buy land.

“Looking at it is one thing, but then we went in and we interviewed a family,” Joyce said. “One of the questions we asked was, ‘What are your hopes for your future or for your children’s future,’ and our guy said he hopes to buy land and get money so that his children can have a better life. So he had hopes for them, but there were six other groups and three of them said that they didn’t have any hopes or dreams. It honestly still gives me goose bumps because that was such an overwhelming day.”

Joyce was stirred by the lack of medical care available there, and she says now she is considering a future in medicine.

“A big thing for me is OB/GYN doctors, particularly obstetricians,” Joyce said. “They don’t have people to help deliver children, so a lot of women die during childbirth. I think that was a big need, and I think that would be awesome if I could become an OB/GYN doctor and go there, or go anywhere, and help.”

Andrade was especially moved by her visits to Cambodian schools.

“We volunteered at these primary schools and we would teach kids English,” Andrade said. “So I kind of have a passion for teaching now and I might want to become a teacher.”

Both girls said they learned a lot from Cambodian culture. Andrade said she was affected by the strong sense of community when she stayed with her host sister’s family, and she hopes to bring that concept into her life.

“I lived right on the market and every morning I would be out there talking to everybody walking in the streets,” Andrade said. “Over here, I don’t even know my neighbors, and over there I knew everybody around the community. Her cousins were always coming over and they would call me ‘sister.’ I never felt homesick there because they always made me feel so welcome.”

“What we have in common is so much more than what is different,” Joyce summarized. “My friend from the program said she learned that there is a universal language. A smile or laughter or braiding each other’s hair… My sisters, they braided my hair and they didn’t speak English. We went to some schools and the kids would always teach us hand games, just little things like that. We’re all people when it comes down to it, and that’s really what I learned.”