☆ESTHER.G: OCP (Part II)

✈ CAMBODIA - PHNOM PENH

Overseas Community Project 2010 (Part II)

13th Oct (Day 3): Workshop, lunch, workshop, dinner

As early as 830am, we gathered at the hotel lobby, ready to head off for our workshop.

Our workshop was held in a conference room in one of the church.

It was better than I thought as I thought we'd be presenting in the village. Phew!

Once we arrive & settled down, we quickly get ready all the stuff for the activities.

Soon, the participants started streaming in too.

We went around to talk to the participants to get to know them better.

The participants here are mostly the village leaders.

After we taught them, they will go back to their respective village & pass on whatever we taught them to the rest. This would ensure a wider reach to the people out there.

Alvis & Fred preparing for their presentation. Hahaha.

Once everyone settled down, it's ready to start.

We expected about 20 participants. However, only about 10 arrived on the first day.

Of course, the villagers do not understand English, so we have Thi Da our translator.

The members from the Women's Health group. They would be presenting today.

This is Pagng-Lang (Peng Leng), 11 years old. He is one of the participant's son.

Halfway through the workshop, we would have activities for the participants.

Hopefully this would not make the workshop too boring & also to enhance whatever they're learning.

Jm showing the participants on how to chose the appropriate pad etc.

Alvis & Fred showing the participants visual examples of menstrual cramp.

Lunch time!!

We went to this eatery called Bangawan Solo. It is the best eatery so far.

Their food was cheap & nice. My rice with chicken cost US$3.

Back to the church for the other half of the workshop for the day.

Our next activity is a treasure hunt. So before the participants come back, we quickly hid the cards.

I think we're so evil. We hid the cards inside the dustbin. LOL. Like who the hell can find right?

Other cards were hidden under the table & chairs, behind the curtains. Inside the flower pots etc.

Another activity that require the participants to be quick & accurate.

We will flash the different types of food, & the participants were to raise their card (red/green)

to show us if that food was good or bad for our body.

Participants have to be quick & accurate. The fastest & correct group will win the food.

We've lots of quiz & activities for the participants. I can see that the enjoyed them.

After the workshop, we went for dinner somewhere far away.

Jh said that in Cambodia, this particular food was very nice & popular among the natives.

So we went to try it.

It was meat wrapped in bread with mayo or cheese I'm not sure. But it taste nice.

Other than this, they also have bread with beef stew. Nicer than the other one.

It was cheap too. US$1 each.

Ms Hor also treated all of us coconut ice-cream. Hehe.

I ate 2 of them cause Sukie doesn't want hers. Wah, damn fattening max!!

14th Oct (Day 4): Workshop, lunch, workshop, dinner

Second day of our workshop. It was now the HIV/AIDS group to present.

Also, more participants joined us today (:

Before lunch, we had a short briefing by my group leader, Jh.

Lunch was back at Bangawan Solo. This time I tried the fried squid with rice. Also US$3.

After Dollah's presentation, it was my turn.

First I had the participants to do an activity on brainstorming.

Look at their handwriting! It'll be hard for us to learn their native language.

My slides were on starting a support group.

I am glad to see that the participants participated actively during the activity I was in-charge.

Their points were all very relevant & very close to mine.

After my presentation, it was Dollah & Jh's turn to demonstrate on how to wear a condom.

Hahaha. This activity got everyone perked up. LOL!

First we demo to them on how to wear a condom.

Then we gave each of them a condom & a dick-like model for them to try it.

After that, 1 representative from each group will come to the front & show the rest. Hahaha.

End of the presentation, for day 2 only! Our group still got day 3 to present T___T

Prize presentation to the top scorer for the quizzes.

Dinner was back to the Singapura Chicken Rice eatery.
My Thai Seafood Fried Rice cost US$ 3.

Back to our hotel, we have another round of meeting for the next day's presentation. Yawns.

15th Oct (Day 5): Workshop, Russian market, workshop, dinner, PARTY!!

Last day of the whole workshop, everyone's really happy.

The workshop started with us playing a game.

& the loser have to forfeit a Chicky Dance. All of us did the dance together anyway.

All of us were assigned to a participant to interview them.

Therefore everyone's taking the break time to bomb their participants with questions. LOL.

Let me tell you more about Sin Sinan...

She is 27 year old & she lives in Phnom Penh. But every Mon, she'll travel 90km on bus to Kampong Chhang to work. & every Fri evening, she'll take the bus back. She is a staff of the NGO. She is not married, but she is attached & intend to get married in a year's time. She is a Bachelor Degree holder for Agriculture.

Our teachers of the day who've been marking their quiz papers.

Fala & Eileen are in charge of doing a power point for the end of the workshop.

My group, the HIV/AIDS group.

Today would be the last day for us in Phnom Penh.

Ms Hor is kind enough to allow us to shop at the Russian Market once again during our lunch time.

All of us were elated! Cause previously we only got about an hour.

Now, we got another 1.5hours to shop. Happy max.

I spent another US$13 on 2 T-shirts, 3 straw pouches, 2 coastal & 1 packet of wooden chopsticks.

My best buy is the wooden chopsticks lor. Usual price was US$10, I bargain until US$3 (:

Shopping during our lunch time means we've to settle lunch on our own.

Thanks to Alvis who gave me a sandwich he made. I shared it with Mico (:

Inside the Russian Market, it was damn bloody stuffy!

The shops in there are packed to the max. No ventilation at all!

Thankfully I brought along my mini-fan for this trip ((:

Back to the workshop, last half of our presentation.

We taught the villagers on how to bandage their head, hand & legs.

Then we had an activity where they've to show us.

Before everything come to an end, we had a short quiz for them again.

After 3 days, it's finally time to bid farewell.

We gave each participant a certificate of participation, & a token of appreciation.

The group that has the most points from all the activities.

Not forgetting to thank our translator.

A great thanks to Ms Hor, our teacher in-charge who've helped us out a lot.

I'll miss the times we had together... );

After bidding good-bye, we went to the supermarket to buy stuff for our party at night.
We went back to the hotel to put our stuff, then we went to a restaurant near our hotel for dinner.
Since it was our last night over at Phnom Penh, we should have a good one.
The restaurant was very westernize & I ordered Fish n' Chips. Haha. US$5.
We had a great chat over the dinner table too. I really had a great time with all of them.

After dinner, we went back to the hotel to wash up. I had diarrhea when we went back T___T
After that, we went over to Ms Hor's room for a debrief.
During debrief, we shared with one another about what is most significant about this trip.
Ms Hor also gave us a paper file each to draw what we feel about this trip. Then share with everyone.
I realized I have achieved my objectives for this trip, & I am glad I did that.

After debrief, it was party time (!!!)
All of us went to Alvis & Fred's room to chillax & played games.
We played Truth or Dare, which everyone choses truth which was a little boring.
So we changed the game to sharing with everyone our love story. Haha. It was interesting.
Aftermath, a few of them were tired & went back to our room,
leaving Alvis, Fala, Jh, Nurul, Sukie, Zu & me in the room gossiping away until 4am..
Then one by one, they knock out, leaving Alvis, Zu & I wide awake.
So we hang on for another hour or so before waking everyone up & going back to our room to pack.

16th Oct (Day 6): Back to Singaapore!!

We meet at the hotel lobby at 830am. Everyone was feeling so groggy when they came down. LOL.
Then the bus took us to the airport to catch our plane.