Saturday 2 March 2013
Isle of Man Examiner
http://www.iomtoday.co.im
EYE-OPENING: Peter Hodgson
of the Isle of Man Youth Motor Project and St Ninian s High School
students Alistair Hodgson, Kyle Hutchings, Dervla Murphy, Owen Atkinson
and Fynn Shimmin with Kindergarten children at CRC School, Cambodia
Published on Saturday 2 March 2013
A GROUP of students from St Ninian’s High School have been on a ‘trip of a lifetime’ to Cambodia.
The youngsters, aged 16 and 17, spent a week
volunteering in a school in Phnom Penh, which is run by Manx charity
Friends of the Cambodian Children’s Centre School.
About 160
children attend CRC School. It operates a kindergarten for three to
six-year-olds – children don’t start state school in Cambodia until then
– as well as English and IT classes for students aged up to 28 in the
evening.
Mike Buttimore, of the charity, said: ‘Older kids go to
school in the daytime but they don’t learn English or IT. It gives them a
big opportunity for future employment, that’s the hope.’
The trip was arranged by the Isle of Man Youth Motor Project, which is run by Peter Hodgson.
He
said the first evening of lessons, which involved fielding many
questions about language and culture and teaching in three classes, left
everyone feeling drained yet exhilarated.
‘The week followed a
similar pattern of visiting a Phnom Penh “sight” or historical venue in
the morning, planning the day’s lessons and then, after lunch, when the
temperature supposedly began to fall, a tuk-tuk ride to the school for
classes until 8pm.’
They also experienced the cornucopia of goods
for sale at the Russian and Central markets, from guns to brass Buddhas,
and harrowing tales and exhibits of the genocide museum, S21,
recounting the Khmer Rouge era.
He said it was a ‘true land of smiles among some of the worst poverty and deprivation you can imagine’.
Dervla Murphy, 16, said the highlight of the trip for her was all the time they spent at the school.
‘We are so shocked at how they live, and they were so shocked at how we live,’ she said.
Owen Atkinson, aged 16, said it was the warmth of the people that stood out for him.
‘It
was a great country and I enjoyed it. There were bits I didn’t like but
the people were so happy it brightens your mood up. They just
appreciate every little thing that they have.’
Fynn Shimmin, aged
16, described the trip as ‘eye-opening’, with the number of differences
in the way people live in Cambodia and the Isle of Man.
They all agreed that they would like to go back again in future.
For more information on the next trip to CRC School, email Peter at youthmotorproject(at)manx.net
• Mike is looking for someone to sponsor one of the students at CRC School to go to college.
He
described Sreymarch, aged 15, as ‘exceptionally clever’ and
hard-working and who ‘could be a doctor – or anything she wanted to be’.
He said it would only cost a couple of hundred pounds per year.
To make a donation to the school or to find out more about sponsoring Sreymarch call Mike on 494428.
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