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LUMEN | REFLECTIONS
Children , Culture ,
In the last week of Term 2 , the JC1 students travelled to various countries in the region for their annual
International Project Week ( IPW ). Out of the five locations they had to choose from , three were unique to this year .
Below are short reflections that some of the students penned , in an attempt to translate memories into English , to articulate feelings , to bear their hearts in print .
Phnom Penh
By Gregory Tan , Ow Yong Zhi Qi , Gillian Chai
Before 14 of us left for Lasalle Pothum Primary School for our trip to teach English to the children , our teachers and seniors told us over and over that even though we were going to teach , we will find ourselves being taught even more . None of us completely believed it . I mean , they are kids ! What can they possibly teach us in a mere four days ? There , we found ourselves getting bowled over ( literally ) by their innocent enthusiasm , their honest adoration of us , and the wholehearted joy they take in everything .
The biggest barrier to teaching the Cambodian children English was the language barrier . None of us could speak Khmer
and the children speak little English , if any . They would be chattering away excitedly to us with such imploring looks , but we had no idea what they meant
or how to react . It was heartbreaking to have to settle for a smile and a hug and see the slightly confused , yet innocently hopeful expression that they gave in return .
You would not guess that they only have one and a half meals a day , or that their homes are made of pieces of wood and zinc , or that ( till a few years ago ) they had to drink the water from the brownish Mekong river to survive and yet remain so happy and contented . Us ? We complain about the small selection of food in our canteen ; we complain about the air-conditioner not being cold enough ; we complain about the vending machine running out of our favourite drink . We don ' t fully appreciate what it means to be contented , to be thankful . These children , on the other hand , are so much more contented with their smaller lot in life than we are with ours . It ’ s ironic really , that they are happy with less while we can ’ t manage to be happy with all our possessions .
This page ( left ): Julian Liaw - the child magnet
Facing page ( top ): Learning the bamboo dance from the locals
Facing page ( bottom ): The group that climbed Mount Kinbalu