Teaching this month is an absolute honor! It humbles me and excites me. Some of these little nuggets make the dripping in sweat so worth it. Oh, how I would love to have a hot shower, a flushable toilet, AIR CONDITION, comfy bed, wardrobe to choose clothes from, my pup, t.v. (Not that I even really watch it at home, but going 7 months this without watching even 2 minutes of the news or a sitcom is weird), pantry full of snacks, family or friends to see whenever, a car to hop in and drive wherever – whenever, a job to make money (ha, a weird thing to miss, right?), a kitchen to cook in, etc. I know I know, I’m getting carried away, this list could go on and on, but there’s something about this place and these kids that home could never give me. Seeing these kids laugh and play and be so enthusiastic to learn brings lots of joy to my heart.
Most students in America take education for granted. Seeing new perspectives enlightens my view of the privilege of having a good education.
This month so far has been tough in more ways than one. It’s super hot…. like really stinking hot. At home, if it’s hot, we just go into our house with AC or somewhere with it, jump in a pool to cool off, poor yourself a ice cold glass of water, etc. Here… you sweat and wait for the sun to go down, but even then you’re sweating. So with that, we’ve been super dehydrated and upset stomachs and unfortunately, I drug myself to the nearest hospital the other day because of flu symptoms. But seriously, besides the heat… whatever! This village is cool. The kids are cute. The people are the sweetest. And God is doing a work in this small village in Cambodia.
What really breaks my heart for these kids is that all of them have families but never get to see them. There’s hardly any jobs in Cambodia so they venture out to Thailand. So more than half of the students at New Hope School live with grandparents or older siblings and get to see parents during the Holidays, maybe. The tuition at school is $2 a month. TWO DOLLARS A MONTH!!! And guess what? Most struggle to afford that (if that gives you even the slightest picture of how poor of a place it is out here and how truly blessed we are). That’s less than $20 a year for schooling. If only I had about $4,000 to give to the school to help every student not worry about school tuition, I would.
New hope teaches the kids how to speak English and practical things students should know in life. They have about 5 teachers (give or take) who come to school to teach from 7:30 am until 5:00 pm and then stay till 6:30 pm to take English classes so they can better teach the students.
The goals and dreams of this school are incredible just no funds to accomplish.
A man who once was told education is not important and that you just need to work where you can and make money realized the falseness in that statement and decided to do something about it. He and his family live in Battambang, Cambodia in a tiny house that really can’t fit everyone, but they sacrifice to give more kids in the village a solid education and people they can call family. The school is out in the lot by there house. They love taking in volunteers so that is where we are staying.
One man with a dream made it possible for almost 200 students (so far) to understand that education is important and will get you a lot further in life than they are told.
One of my future plans in life is to adopt. Never knew it until now that a Cambodian child is on my list. They’ve 100% stolen my heart.
