It seems a million miles away, and yet as I write this article Portsmouth Grammar School pupils are building the school which we as a community have made possible. The project is being run in conjunction with the Charity United World Schools (UWS) and the cost of the school build in Chia Thom, £10,000. I am delighted to say that we have exceeded this by raising a very healthy £11,500. To have raised this in just one year is incredible and it is down to a dedicated team of people
This summer has seen another exciting phase of the project as we launched PGS’s first Gap Year project. There was much competition for places where pupils had to convince not only of their motivation but also their robustness to cope with the demands that two weeks rough travel and work in Cambodia would entail. Twelve PGS pupils, some in year 13 and some who left the Sixth Form last year, are teaching in village communities including Chia Thom. It has been wonderful to hand over the baton to PGS pupils and they have not let us down. PGS pupils are now leaving permanent marks on this glorious yet needy part of the world. They have travelled great distances, and gone well beyond their comfort zones. These pupils are laying the foundations for the new school building.
Lara Péchard comments:
When it takes a mammoth minibus journey, a two hour trip in the back of a pick-up, a ferry journey and another two hours in the back of a “Cambodian Hummer” to get to the place that you are “working” you know that this won’t be your average Gap Year charity work – this is the real thing! The experience is only amplified by crowing cockerels at three in the morning, bucket showers, and dust that will stain every part of your body orange. However, all this is forgotten when you begin to look around you; this really is the most amazing place, and home to some of the most amazing people. They are timid and shy at first, but then you find them inviting you to the most amazing tribal ceremonies; involving the sacrifice of a cow and tribal songs; it is then that you realize that they absolutely appreciate your help. These are people that are so grateful for anything that you can give them, and so eager to learn that they arrive at school at six in the morning! I can’t think of anywhere else that I have been where you are so welcomed, appreciated and needed. This is an extremely worthy cause, in an area that is desperately in need of your help.
A former pupil Tim Wiggins continues:
So how do you teach rhythm? How do you teach rhythm in Khmer? How do you teach rhythm in Khmer in the baking sun? You sweat. You sweat and clap and struggle. And when that evening you hear a (albeit tuneless) chorus clapping Queen’s ‘We will rock you’, you smile. You smile because you know these kids are smart. These kids just need the opportunity to learn. These kids need the work of charities like UWS; lets help them step in time
I am so very proud of what we, as a community, have built over the past year. You plant a seed, be it in Portsmouth or in a remote tribal village in Cambodia and with desire, hope and will anything can be achieved. Thank you to everyone who has contributed. This seed; this international partnership between two very different societies will, I have no doubt, change lives forever.
Anna Howarth
