The final Gecko instalment

This way to the gecko house...

I've finished up at Green Gecko. The month went by incredibly fast as I knew it would, and one month was nowhere near enough, but I enjoyed it all the same. It was an amazing experience, at times rather challenging, but very rewarding. It was really nice to get to know some people and feel like part of a community, and in a way have a place to call 'home'. Us girls staying at the Siem Reap hostel felt like flatmates; Sally & I went out for dinner to our local diner most nights (they do the BEST iced coffee in all of Siem Reap, for only 50c, not to mention very tasty bbq frogs), once Jess arrived we had to keep up with each other's manicures and pedicures, it was a really good group and we all got along well. Although only 2 of us had any teaching background, we all pulled together to plan each week's lessons.

Me and the Aussie girls with (L-R) Srey Neang, Nicky, Kim Khoun and Srey Nich

A day in the life of a Gecko volunteer... sharpening a million pencils.

Yes I am carrying a hula hoop on my bicycle. The kids were all over it!

The photography classes went really well. The kids were really responsive and absolutely loved being allowed to run around and play with the cameras. Of course it wasn't all free play, they were also very good at following the task and shooting certain items at certain angles. I was very impressed at just how smart these kids really are. My earlier blog shows the results of the treasure hunt. Another thing kids of ANY age like to do: MAKE NOISE. And watch themselves on TV. So we combined the 2 and filmed the kids playing songs on musical instruments they made out of recycled materials (mostly plastic bottles). The videos are a bit too big to post here, unfortunately. I'll look for a video editing programme and see if I can reduce the filesize so you can see.

The girls intently watching their music videos

Here are a few last photos of my time at the Green Gecko Project. I'll never forget my geckos, and will definitely be back one day for a visit if not to do a longer volunteering stint.

This has to be my favourite photo from Greek Gecko: Cookie time!

Doesn't JayJay look like this lolcat?!?!

Well I'm glad we covered the basics
Kim Khoun and Kim Suan (R), gecko sisters
Mien being her usual self and attacking/climbing

Mien has an extremely short attention span and is prone to temper tantrums and as such, usually only gets negative attention from the teacher ("stop doing that" or "sit down, Mien"). During this lesson she built her musical instrument, played it in the video and finished writing sentences in her book. She was looking so pleased with herself I just had to take a photo! I awarded her a green star for that lesson - I guess the equivalent of when we say "gold star", quite a big deal at Gecko because it means they get awards later - and she was still going on about it that weekend. When I said goodbye she jumped on me, gave me a big hug and said "Green star!"

Who knew you could make a flute out of a rolled up piece of flax?
Srey Nich compares her mugshot to the real thing (We have flashcards in the volunteer room to help us learn the kids names - a bloody brilliant idea)

Thank you to everyone at Green Gecko for having me, and for doing such a fantastic job of turning not just these kids lives around, but helping their families too.

Over & out. Stay tuned for the next episode: Vietnam!

ML