From Kat to TeachAH

When I went to write an email this afternoon, I noticed the date. August 23?! Is that right?! There's absolutely no way I have been here for 5 weeks. It feels like I've been here for 5 days, but at the same time I'm already having trouble remembering what life was like before Cambodia.

For the past two weeks since making my tearful departure from Wat Opot, I have been working alongside the newest GSC Cambodia volunteers in a low-income primary school in Phnom Penh. Christina, a 28 year old trauma nurse from Detroit, joined me my first weekend back in the city. I had previously mentioned this school in a past blog post. It caters to the very poor, mostly children of factory workers. Cambodia's government is very corrupt, as is the education system. Public schools are supposed to be free, but if you don't pay your teacher they won't acknowledge you in class, make you sit in the very back, and refuse help requests. So the "public" school system that should be available to everyone, is only available to those who can pay. This school we have been working at charges a flat monthly rate of about $1 US so that students can be guaranteed fair education and treatment.

Me with some of the students before dismissal.

At this school, I had two roles. My first role was that of "TeachAH" of English and mathematics. Instead of calling their teachers Mr. or Mrs. LastName like in the States, all of the children here just call their teachers, teacher. With their pronunciations, or lack thereof, they said it so cute and it never got old to me one bit! As an English teacher, I covered pronunciation, spelling, grammar, and vocabulary per their curriculum. Math was simple addition and subtraction (LUCKILY for me... and them!!). My other role, together with Christina, was nurse. For a few hours each day, we conducted basic check-ups on each student one by one covering all basic systems, vitals, and health history. Healthcare is expensive in Cambodia, and many of the students had never seen a healthcare provider ever in their lives. The kids for the most part were very healthy. The bottom of each child's sheet (which will be kept on file in the school) featured a section for Follow-up Considerations. For most we noted dental hygiene education, one child had a faint heart murmur which we reported to the Director to ensure follow-up with the family, and a few children had noted visual impairments. One little girl stated, via translator, that she kept having daily headaches that always started half-way through the school day. We asked if she could read the board during class, she said yes. We then asked her to read a poster that was only about 10 ft away, and she couldn't do it. It wasn't until someone had asked her to read something right then as a test did she even realize she couldn't see well. The only thing is, I wondered whether or not her family was in a position to be able to get her glasses or even a more official eye exam. Since most of the children had decaying teeth, we implemented a dental hygiene program. Each morning and afternoon we taught a different class about teeth brushing, why its important, how many times per day, which parts to focus on, how much toothpaste to use, etc. It helped that I taught dental education to kindergarten classes as part of my community health clinical just before graduation this past spring. I think it was effective, and we have asked the teachers to ensure follow-up with the students on dental health.

The little tiny boy is the brother of the kid behind him. He is too young to attend school, but refuses to be without his older brother. He follows him to all of his classes and just sits next to him patiently. They love each other so much, and it made me miss my Amy!!

Last weekend, the third GSC volunteer arrived in Phnom Penh. Molly is a 23 year old recent graduate from Santa Clara with a degree in public health. During her orientation week, she spent some time with us at the school. Her orientation also featured a day trip to Wat Opot and I got to go! I was in heaven and loved every second being back with the kids. My shadow Srey Nith, who I mentioned in my last blog, has started getting a bad fungal infection on her head. She had had one before that was healing, but now is back. It broke my heart to see her head with oozing open sores, but she was the same little happy goof ball. Love her :) I can't wait to go back there this weekend!!!

I have lots to share about my last two weekend adventures. One weekend was spent in Bangkok, Thailand and the other in Sihanoukville, Cambodia on the Gulf of Thailand. The former was a cheap, spontaneous trip, the latter was included in our GSC program fees. Both weekends were so much fun and I'll be sharing about them in my next post.

I hope that everyone who's going back to school in the next few weeks has a great start! Thanks for checking in, and have a wonderful day :)