By Teo Wei Ling
[Im Yoona in Cambodia]
Im Yoona, a popular singer from Korea, has experience how it is like to be a volunteer in Kampot, Cambodia last month. The singer has come to Cambodia for a 6days voluntary work; helping out in Kampot orphanage. Below is a daily diary by Yoona
Day 1:
Once my flight landed on Phnom Penh International Airport, the staffs over there welcome us and we have a briefing over at their headquarters, a modest room in the office district of Phnom Penh. After the briefing, we went to get our necessary supplies.
Day 2:
Woke up and have breakfast at the hotel, I felt really peaceful since no one here knows me, which means a really quiet morning. We then drove all the way to our destination, Kampot, which is around 160 kilometres by road. We took around 3 hours to get to Kampot and another 1 hour up the hilly areas before we reach our destination, the Elephant Mountain. Went to check out our rooms before we meet up with the local volunteers there, spend some time bonding and understanding how are we going to proceed with our plans there, sounds like lots of fun to me.
Day 3:
Today is the day that we will meet the orphans there! And guess what? They actually prepare a performance to welcome us! How sweet of them! Proceed to play games and spend some time with them. As part of the program with Salus, I taught them on the practice of good personal hygiene, like covering of mouth/nose when sneezing or coughing, washing hands after touching of contaminated surfaces or matter. We went to the basin and trained them on the correct way to wash their hands using liquid soap and to wash them before and after eating too. We were unable to finish teaching as the kids spent quite some time playing with the water.
Day 4:
We continued our 'lessons' from yesterday by educating the kids on poor personal habits that they should not be doing such as digging nose/ear, putting fingers in mouth, rubbing of eyes and spitting. They should not share personal items like toothbrush and towels too. While educating them, we gave them a new set of towel, comb and toothbrush, hoping that they will practice what was taught to them. The only concept that seems difficult for them is the sharing of utensils and food and drinks. They have started sharing everything seems young, thus this idea seems to be more of a problem for them. We taught them some simple mathematics, Korean and English in the afternoon and they seem to really enjoy it!
Day 5:
Possibly the most tiring yet fun day, we taught the orphan on how to keep a healthy lifestyle by exercising near the field. We started with basic warm-up; followed by the correct way to run. We taught them badminton too. Playing badminton for the first time, the kids really enjoy the activities very much. We spend the whole day there. We had a small party at night and I gave out my presents to the orphans, a stationary box to each of them! I was so touched when they queue up to collect their presents, some even make sure everyone of their friend has one before they get theirs, seems to me they have found their family there. I cried a bit towards the end; guess I am going to miss these lovely kids. I hope they will grow up happily!
Day 6:
We left at around 7 in the morning, some of the kids were waiting to say goodbye to us. Reached the capital at around 11 plus and had our last meal there. I brought back with me lots of gift and memories. I can’t help but wonder when I will have another trip like this.
