Finding a volunteer work can be harder than finding job in western country such as England since it requires lot of qualification and experiences. However, working as volunteer in Cambodia is quite easier for foreigners.
Many people from the western countries are coming to do volunteer job in various Non Government Organization (NGO) in order to use their own skill to help the people in a developing country like Cambodia.
Laura Roberts, an English expatriate, has been living in Phnom Penh for nearly five months and working as a volunteer at Cambodia Women’s Development Agency (CWDA), which is a non government organization working on promoting self-sufficiency and self-reliance amongst Cambodian communities and the advancement of women’s economic and social rights.
Living in England, Roberts studied fine art at university and she was also a trained counselor and had worked as an art gallery assistant and librarian for over five years.
With short hair and blue eyes, Roberts has a lot of responsibilities in the CWDA organization. She is required to write report, proposal, maintain the database, teach English and vocational training for students at the organization.
Every day, she goes to work at 8am and teaches students at 9am at the organization. Besides staying in the office, writing reports, she sometimes goes the village with the staffs in the organization.
Walking into the class room, Roberts said that in the past three months, she had worked with a Cambodian volunteer, a first year student in design to clean, paint and fix the room so that the students have a nicer place to study.
Most of the children in the organization are the prosecutor, some were rape and some come from the poor family. They just live on the second floor of the organization.
It is quite hard for her to make a regular schedule to teach the students, because some of those go to study at public school in the morning and some in the afternoon. She is trying to adapt herself with them.
“It is quite easy to communicate with the children, though they know a little English. “They teach me Khmer, I teach them English”, adding that she is really enjoy her teaching time.
A big globe with colorful and difference signs were produced by the students. She said that at the first time she show them the map, and then ask them to make one. “They don’t know that Cambodia is just a small country in the world, they think that Cambodia is the world”.
Volunteering at CWDA, she said that it is a good job experience for her. In her country, she could not find a volunteer job. “In England, if you want to volunteer, you have to have a degree, lot of experience or even master degree”, she added.
Even though, there is no air-conditioning, only one computer for fifteen staffs, most of whom are over fifty already, she really enjoys working there. She said that “I love the women I work with; they are very strong and I learn a lot from them”.
Thuch Vichea, 20, a training student at CWDA, said that she was very happy to study with Laura. “I never wanted to miss her class, she did a lot of activities in the class so I would not get bored with the lesson and she also gave me some practical exercise”, she says, she misses the time she were training.
Furthermore, Clarisa Diaz, an architecture volunteer at Sahmakum Teang Tnaut organization (STT or Palm leave association) , said that she has been living in Cambodia for more than 6 months, and she really love living here. Especially in her house, she said that a lot of her friends are also working as a volunteer in various organizations with difference jobs.
Working as the volunteer in the organization, she said that “I start to learn the work of the staff by going with them to the community”.
Sarah French, 26, a volunteer teacher at Conversation with Foreigners organization (CWF), have been living in Cambodia for nearly a year. Transporting and communication with the people are quite hard for her, but she likes Khmer food and the living condition in Cambodia. She is going to live 9 months more in Cambodia.
“When I go to some places far away from the city, the motor taxi drivers don’t know where it is on the map, and it is hard to bargain for the price when you don’t know how much it should be”, she said
For Laura, It is not a bit deal for her living in Cambodia. She starts learning slowly. She rides a bicycle to work, goes to the market to buy vegetable, speaking a little bit of Khmer to communicate with people. “They honest, they don’t cheat me”, she said for the first time she bought the vegetable in the market when she just knew only a word in Khmer, ‘Muy’, which means ‘one’ in English.
Besides working, in her free time, Laura travels to provinces, goes to theater, and sometimes visits the students; especially she always rides her bicycle to every corner in the city. “I like to know the city well, so I like to get lost, and when I got lost, I went back to where I was”, she adds that she always feel safe though she get lost.
“I really love Phnom Penh, it is very friendly city. In England like London, nobody is friendly, they are tough and no emotion”, adding that she could imagine that if there is a robber robs her, people would come to help her.
She pays 120$ per month for an apartment, which is twice cheaper than in England. She explains that “The accommodation is nicer in Cambodia but the land lords don’t fix and repair the things in the apartment if there are broken like they would in England”.
Moreover, many foreigners think that volunteer is more romantic, go to the country side and saving people’ life, but Laura has a difference idea, she said “To me, volunteer is able to help in an organization for a specific program”.
“I pay for my organization, I want to be with people not money”, she said. Roberts doesn’t get any money from the organization and also have any jobs to support her living in Phnom Penh. She is not sure what she is going to do in the future.
Though she wants to stay in Cambodia, she said that she will either go back to her country or find a job with the same paid as Cambodian people in Phnom Penh. Because she thinks that it is unfair that foreigner can get higher paid.
