Siem Reap, KH – School groups from UK and South Africa assist Peaksneng Shop to assist families and community – Aug 2024

This year our community hosted seven groups of student volunteers coming from different schools in UK and South Africa. They assisted our Peasneng Shop to implement GROW and EARN program solutions with the families in the local community.

GROW solutions assist with growing food, like Food Always In The Home (FAITH) organic vegetable gardens for homes.

EARN solutions assist with earning and saving income, like road building and repair of a farm to market road that makes it easier to earn an income.  The road will enable families to easily transport their produce like cucumber and cassava from farm to market. During rainy season, it is very difficult to transport their products because of the very muddy road.  Thanks to the student volunteers, the road improvement will enhance the lives of our farmers here in the community.

I am going to share the story of students volunteering in our community. It is so important to highlight the beautiful value of volunteering.  Volunteering fosters social connections and strengthens community bonds. When individuals come together with a common purpose, they create a sense of belonging and unity.

Volunteering doesn’t have to involve a long-term commitment or take a huge amount of time out of your busy day.  Even helping out with the smallest tasks can make a real difference to the lives of people. One of the seven groups, JOLT (Journey of a Lifetime) Trust brought young people with disabilities for one day of volunteer work in our community.

 One of the most common misconceptions about disability is that it means inability. Personally, I hesitated first to understand what group of young people with disability can do in our community. I was thrilled to meet them because 2 people in my team have disabilities. To my great surprise, the young people brought new hope and new understanding about people with disabilities.

People with disability engaged in our community in a wide variety of ways. They built a garden, repaired a road, made natural insect repellant and growth booster sprays, and compost. We all learnt that people with disabilities are more than capable of learning, teaching, working, and thriving in higher education. This experience has educated everyone in the village that no matter what disabilities we have, we can do things. Our disabilities do not stop us helping each other and from doing things we want to achieve. I think all people have far more strengths than they do weaknesses. While people with disabilities may have functional limitations in some areas, they can excel in many other areas.

What make this story special personally was meeting Doctor Helen Leonard in charge for these students. She is from Newcastle, UK and has worked in the Great North Hospital for children where my two children were born.  I am still wondering, if I might have met her when I was visiting UK. This group brought so many surprises, and we are so grateful to work with all of the groups we hosted this year. I would like thank all the visiting student volunteers for their great contributions. Thank you Betterlives and True Adventures for inviting the school groups.