Recently I travelled to Cambodia to take part in a charity called Help 2 Help. The charity focuses on health and education in small villages throughout Cambodia. During the eight days that I was there I took part in many activities from packing food, clothes and stationary packs to assisting in super clinics. It was an incredible week filled with wonderful people and experiences.

The trip I took was specifically dedicated to the opening of school that the charity had built. It is to be used by 73 villages and will teach hospitality skills such as training in restaurant/bar, housekeeping as well as vocational skill and mechanics, agriculture and general English classes.

Although the trip focused on the opening of the school we did do other things such as visit the Tip Village on our second day there. This was a definite eye opening experience for everyone and I personally found it very emotional. We were there for less than an hour to deliver food packs to the people living there. In that short time though I saw how these people lived using basically anything they could find in the tip as clothes, furniture and shelter. As we made our way back to the school where we were staying I found it stupid how just days before hand I was worrying about keeping up with my local fashion trends.

On our third day there we set up a super clinic in a remote village. We had different stations set up for the villagers to visit each being health related. The one I was involved with gave out “Days for girls” packs to women who had just had a baby and to women with their period. After each of the stations had run out we fed the village curry and bread. That was incredible because you were able to see just how many people were there and how many we helped. 

During the fourth and fifth day we visited school and hospitals throughout the district as well as hand out food packs to remote villages. Visiting the schools was a good experience because unlike the ones that I am used to which have a set location and schedule these did not. We handed out stationary to the school kids while a teacher explained that the classes move from house to house each day and teach there. This meant there was no permanent location and also meant that the locals would have a large group of children learning at their house. The hospitals also surprised me because of the basic set out of everything. The maternity ward had three separate beds where mother and child would rest for a day before going home.

Also on the fifth day we officially opened the school. There was an opening ceremony where the leaders of the organisation as well as government officials made speeches. Then after the school was opened there was a huge meal for everyone including children who would attend the school and there were traditional Khmer (Cambodian) dancers. I spent the majority of the evening of a lovely boy around fifteen years of age who was blind. The charity had paid for him to have surgery that removed a growth from his face. He was lovely company although unlike other locals who you could communicate to with hand actions I couldn’t with him. In the end we ended up helping each count to ten in our own languages. I learnt to count to ten in Khmer (Cambodian) and him in English. That night was my favourite of the entire trip.

The next two days were spent doing tourist activities before leaving for home. I watched the sunrise at Angor wat and spent the day looking around the temple which is one of the Seven Wonders of the World. It was an incredible end to an incredible experience. I learnt so much on that trip and because of it I am so much more thankful for what I have.