The Green Gecko Project

(click on the logo to visit Green Gecko's website)

Suas'dei! Greetings from Siem Reap, Cambodia. I've been in Cambodia for a few weeks now, and last week started my volunteer work at Green Gecko Project. I didn't really know what to expect, I thought I would just turn up and do what they needed me to do, i.e. helping dish out meals, supervising the kids while they play, taking them on field trips, sweeping the grounds etc. but it turns out that I am going to be more of a schoolteacher; planning, preparing and giving lessons. Is that the deep end? Oops, guess I just fell in!

Green Gecko is a shelter for ex-beggar and street children, often from abusive backgrounds. It provides a safe home where they receive food, shelter, love and care. The kids go to Khmer school every day and receive supplementary lessons from volunteers.

Please visit the website (www.greengeckoproject.org OR click the logo above) to read more about the project.

Check me out - wearing my official "Green Gecko Crew" t-shirt and aladdin pants - this is pretty standard dress in this climate.
The kids each wear their own gecko t-shirts similar to mine but in a colour corresponding to their house. They're divided into 6 houses: Elephants, Snakes, Monkeys, Frogs, Bees and Crocodiles, they eat meals and do chores in their house groups but are divided into age/ability groups for lessons.

Kim Khoun - one of the more extroverted kids. You can't help falling in love with them!

The main office building and library (upstairs)

The lunch huts and rice field (the rice field is a football field in the dry season)

Green Gecko is a very organised, structured kind of place. It's not the kind of orphanage/children's shelter where kids are just running amok all day long, they have scheduled activities (run by us) and go to school every day. The older kids go to school in the morning and we have the younger ones for activities including library, Me & My Planet, Computers and Art. They all come back for lunch and siesta, and in the afternoon they swap - the younger ones go to school and we have the older ones for activities. They have dedicated homework time in the evenings, sports & music on the weekends and regular field trips. It's a very rich programme that covers a lot of different areas. Each volunteer that comes has something different to add - for example I'm giving photography and film classes for the next couple of weeks and have planned things like photographic treasure hunt and filming their own music videos. Watch this space!

Me taking English library with the younger ones

Lunchtime meditation at assemblyA visitor comes to Gecko and meets Srey Nich and Pichet


The topic for last week's activities was American Indians. We made teepees and coloured in Indian clothes with the little ones
Lunchtime assembly - the kids seated in their house groups

On Thursdays they have a martial arts teacher that comes in to teach them Boxkator (pronounced bock-a-tao), an ancient Khmer martial art similar to Muay Thai. Boxkator was introduced into the programme about 18 months ago as a non-academic activity; many of the kids have never been to school before joining Gecko even though they're teenagers, and this gives them something to be good at outside academics.

Last Friday the kids were invited to perform at Hotel de la Paix for a group of important Malaysian businesspeople. Here are a few snaps from practise:

Watch this - you will be amazed!!

Luckily I'm not volunteering all on my own. I've got a good bunch of people with me; Sally (UK) started at the same time and is staying 1 week longer than me. We're staying at the same hostel and go to work together on bikes in the morning. It's a beautiful 10-minute bike ride through the countryside to get there. This week another guy from the UK and 2 Australian girls joined, so it looks like we have more volunteers than we really need but we can divvy up classes and take shifts. And really, the more the merrier!

OK that's probably enough for now. Hope you enjoyed this intro - do have a look at their website and keep checking back here for updates!

Love
May Lee