For a poor child in a small Cambodian village, learning to
speak English can be a ticket out of poverty, says Spearfish native and
recently-returned Peace Corps volunteer Billy McDonald.
McDonald
spent the last two years teaching English in one such village, where he
renovated a school library — and received about 1,000 donated
English-language children's books from his alma mater — that could help
put some of those kids on a path to a better life.
"That could
change a lot of lives in the village that I lived in," the 27-year-old
McDonald said of the Mount Marty College book drive. "To learn English
in a developing country like Cambodia ... it's so important, financially
and in other ways."
The Yankton college, where McDonald played
baseball and earned degrees in history and education in 2008, helped him
fill empty library shelves at the Cambodian public school where he
taught English to seventh- through 12th-graders from 2010 to 2012.
"We
called this the “Books for Billy” campaign," said Mount Marty education
professor Nicholas Shudak. "It took on a life of its own."
The
library improvement was a "secondary" Peace Corps project for McDonald.
"When I showed up, there was somewhat of a library, but there were no
English books — and only a few Khmer books on two shelves," he said.
For
a big school — about 1,500 students came from many surrounding villages
to attend grades 7-12 — its library was in dismal shape, he said. So
bad, in fact, that few students even used it.
"There isn't really
a culture of reading (for pleasure) in Cambodia," McDonald said, and
this school library, with its peeling paint, lack of chairs and tables
and no decent books to speak of, did nothing to encourage one.
McDonald
applied for and won a $1,200 Peace Corps grant to update the library.
That paid for new paint, chairs, tables, wall maps and $600 worth of new
Khmer-language books — a mix of fiction and nonfiction — that he bought
in the capital of Phnom Penh. When some of his friends at Mount Marty
learned about the library project back in 2010, they spearheaded a book
drive that resulted in boxes and boxes of easy-to-read English-language
children's literature being shipped to the village.
With the help
of student Education Club officers Zach Walsh and Sarah Crosgrove, the
Books for Billie drive sent at least 1,000 books to Cambodia, a few
boxes at a time.
"We shipped them to Billy every two or three
months, as the only mode of transportation for the books was to put them
on a bicycle or motorbike," Shadduck said. Each shipment cost about
$150.
"We were very pleased by the response from the community
(many school children) in terms of book donations but also in terms of
the willingness of a few community members to write checks to fund the
shipping costs," Shudak said.
Where McDonald taught, public
schoolchildren get only about 2 hours of instruction per week in the
English language, beginning in the seventh grade. That's not enough,
McDonald said, so the additional English-language library books provide
some extra exposure to the language.
"It gives students who really, really want to try to learn English an avenue to do that," McDonald said of the donated books.
Even
elementary-level storybooks were beyond the fluency of most of his
secondary students, so having the books available to younger grade
levels in the coming years will be important, he said. Students often
pointed to pictures in the books and asked for translations.
"English
will only be more important as the years go on, so they will benefit
students for years to come," he said. "The effort put into that book
drive was greatly appreciated by Cambodians and by the kids at my
school."
So is the renovated library. "It looks clean and nice;
new tables, new shelves and a Cambodia map painted on the wall," he
said.
After the library had actual books on its shelves,
McDonald had to educate the school librarian in how to manage a lending
library. The hardest part was teaching librarians and students about
borrowing and book security and organization, although he opted for
broad subject categories instead of the Dewey decimal system.
"Using a library was not part of their culture, either," he said.
Now, more students are using the library, and its improved selection of books in the Khmer language.
"Every
day, they read the story books. The fiction books, they really got
used; they love their stories," he said. "This sort of bridged a gap of
getting them used to reading more in their own language and, maybe, in
the future encouraging them to read in another language like English or
French," McDonald said.
The 2004 Spearfish High School graduate
wasn't the only Peace Corps volunteer from his hometown serving in
Cambodia. His high school buddy, Aaron Merchen, also was stationed in a
village about 3 hours away, McDonald said, and the two saw each other
regularly.
"It broadened my horizons," McDonald said of his two
years in Cambodia. Before joining the Peace Corps, he taught school in
the Elk Point/Jefferson School District. "I wanted to travel and see the
world ... and it definitely got me doing that."
Shudak said
McDonald exemplifies Mount Marty's service mission. "Billy is an amazing
individual who is genuinely concerned with helping others," he said.
"We learned a few things from this: that such simple efforts really do
make a large impact around the world; that perhaps we should be doing
this more often; and, that people are generally ready and willing to
help with such projects especially if they know the money and the
resources are making a tangible impact."
McDonald separated from
the Peace Corps six weeks ago, and he's visiting his parents, William
and Peggy McDonald, at their home in Spearfish. He plans to return next
week to Cambodia, though, where he'll go to work for the
non-governmental organization Partners for Development, which works to
improve health and social issues in Cambodia.
He dislikes the
humidity and heat of Cambodia — where the weather is "very difficult to
adjust to. It's so humid and hot, you don't ever stop sweating, ever."
But he misses the Cambodian people. "I know it's cliche, but the people
— I consider some of them like family. Cambodian people are very
welcoming, very curious people. Cambodians in particular are awfully
curious."
Contact Mary Garrigan at 394-8424 or mary.garrigan@rapidcityjournal.com
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