On 2nd July
2012, 25 of us from the overseas team in Project Cheway! embarked on the inaugural
16 days overseas expedition organized by the Chemical Engineering Students’
Society (ChESS) to Prey Veng, Cambodia. This project was carried out in
collaboration with Operation Hope Foundation (OHF), which aims to provide
various forms of aid for the villagers in Prey Veng. OHF also runs the
orphanage, Hope Village Prey Veng (HVPV) that gives the orphans a new place
they can call home. HVPV not only provides them with the necessary education
but also equips them with skills to improve their lives and work towards a
better and more meaningful future.
Local and overseas team
members of Project Cheway! have been working hard since the beginning of the
year. The team was led by the main committee and separated into various
sub-committees such as fund-raising, programmes, operations, logistics, and
publicity. Throughout the preparation process, the various sub committees
cooperated to ensure that this expedition would be one that would bring about
the maximum positive impact on the villagers and children in HVPV.
During our stay in Prey
Veng, Cambodia, we stayed in Hope Training Centre (HTC), which is also run by
OHF.
Poor villagers could attend a 3-month program known as the Computer,
Attitude, Skills and English (CASE) Program at HTC. This program not only
allows the CASE students to obtain better job prospects, but also provides them
with opportunities to further their studies in their universities. We were
extremely honored to have had an interaction session with the CASE students as
one of our planned programmes. Through the session, many of us were impressed
and inspired by their willingness to learn and determination to pursue their
dreams and aspirations.
This expedition created
numerous first-time experiences for all of us. Throughout our stay, we adopted
a rotating shift system, which provided each member with various opportunities
to try out different tasks. For the
first week, some of us were assigned to the Marketing team, headed by Tung and
Sinyi. The Marketing team was tasked to prepare dinner for everyone in the
team. It was a challenging yet enjoyable experience. Language barriers with the
Cambodians and inadequacy in cooking experience were some of the many
challenges that were faced and overcame by the Marketing team.
Other then the
Marketing team, 10 of us were assigned to the House-Building team, which was
headed by Jayne. The house-building site was located at a village, which was
situated 2 hours away from HTC. House-building allowed many of us to be exposed
to carpentry work such as sawing, chiseling and hammering for the very first
time.
Although the process was labor demanding, it was made much enjoyable
whilst playing with the children from the village during our break times.
Simple games such as skipping with rubber band ropes, shooting rubber bands or
even piggybacking the children could bring about laughter and joy to the
children easily. Through our visit to the village, many of us came to realize
how one can be easily contented with little material gains, as long as they are
rich in their personal well-being and possess intangibles like friends and
family – basically, bonds with other people.
As Chemical Engineers,
this expedition also allowed us to put what we learnt to good use by building a
reed bed in HTC. The Operations team who was in charge of the construction of
the reed bed was headed by Nikesh. This was a pilot effort by Project Cheway!
which aimed to make use of the reed bed to recycle soap water.
This can also be
seen as an attempt to alleviate the problem of water scarcity in Prey Veng. In
HTC, we were lucky to have an additional rainwater system to provide us with
water in addition to a well which we had to manually pump water out from. But
in the villages, the villagers could only rely on the well water, which
required a lot of human effort just to pump out from the well. In fact, some
wells were facing a dire situation of drying up. Therefore, Project Cheway!
hopes to send future teams to expand the reed bed building into the villages,
hopefully helping to improve on the issue. This also brought across another
important learning point for the team to know not to take things for granted,
even basic needs like water and electricity. This served as yet another first
time for some of us, experiencing occasional sudden blackouts and water
shortages.
On the weekends,
Project Cheway! headed to HVPV and conducted various activities for the
children in the orphanage. Some of the activities included were interesting and
engaging science experiments for them, such as natural pH indicators, paper
chromatography and playing music using glass bottles.
The team also organized
carnivals for both the children in the orphanage and the village, with fun
games like sharpshooter, cans knockdown, hoop toss and bowling. The children
could even exchange their coupons from the games for attractive prizes!
The highlight of the
last day of our stay there was the sports exchange, where the children from
HVPV, students from the CASE program and members from Project Cheway! came
together to have a friendly tournament of volleyball, captain’s ball and
soccer.
It was great to see everyone having fun, interacting with each other
and enjoying themselves on this last day in Prey Veng.
The cloudy skies for the
past two weeks also cleared to reveal an awesome starry skyline on our last
night in HTC.
All work and no play
makes Jack and Jill a dull boy and girl! So on Day 14, we bade farewell to Prey
Veng and began our sightseeing in Siem Reap and Phnom Penh, visiting key
landmarks such as Angkor Wat and Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum.
The visits allowed
us to understand more about Cambodia’s culture and history. And finally, Day 16
marked the end of this enriching journey and it was time for Project Cheway!’s
return to Singapore.
This has been a very
exciting 16 days for Project Cheway, and in the midst of contributing to the
people in Prey Veng, Cambodia, be it the CASE students, the villagers or the
children in Hope Village, I am certain all members of the team have gained
tremendously from them as well, being exposed to numerous first experiences and
learning many invaluable lessons from anyone and everyone we have interacted
with. I believe it is this spirit of giving and receiving so much more in the
process that makes this expedition such a valuable and unforgettable
experience.
Whilst
the overseas team was in Prey Veng during the 16 days, the local team headed by
Delin and Kian Siong in Singapore were busy at work too. Even though the plans
were being carried out overseas, the local team conducted a flea market on 15th
July to raise more funds for the Cambodians.
I do hope this sharing
inspires future batches to carry on our legacy and continue to make a
difference and impact upon the people in Prey Veng. A one-off expedition only
scratches the surface of the big issues at hand. Only sustainable and
continuous efforts will go a long way in creating something incredible in their
lives and our own lives as well. Hence I sincerely appeal to everyone to join
the next Project Cheway! I guarantee that it will be an amazing experience.
