Day 2 - Tabitha, Tuol Sleng and the PIO

Bloggers: Rachel, Gabrielle and Rachelle

We started our day by heading to the Tabitha Foundation. We got to meet the founder of Tabitha Foundation, Janne Ritskes, and we went through the House Building Orientation session, where we found out more about the House Building Project that we would be helping out with later this week. We also learnt about the women's hospital that Tabitha is currently building, and the story behind it was very motivational and inspiring. We could see many women sewing and making intricate silk items and clothes that were on sale, and these funds went to the Foundation as well as to the women's hospital. After learning more about the Foundation and all the good works that they are doing, it really motivated us to work hard to build the houses for the families that have saved up for years to fulfill their dreams of a better home. We're looking forward to the House Building Project, and we hope that our hard work will make a difference in the lives of the families!

 

After visiting Tabitha, we visited the former interrogation centre at Tuol Sleng, known as 'S-21'.  It was used for detention, interrogation, torture and killing of the detainees during the Khmer Rouge regime. Our guide gave us detailed explanations of the different buildings that housed different prisoners, such as VIP prisoners, or normal prisoners, which were often educated and intelligent people. He also explained to us how the detainees were tortured during interrogation, showing us pictures and even the actual prison cells that the prisoners stayed in. There were an estimated 20 000 people killed at S-21 during the Khmer Rouge regime and the insights that we gained about the atrocities of the Khmer Rouge proved vital to our understanding of Cambodia as it is today.

 

The main agenda today was to visit the Stung Mean Chey PIO school in Phnom Penh! The PIO, or ‘People Improvement Organization’ serves more than 1000 children a day through a range of programs. Founded by CNN Hero Phymean Noun (who is truly remarkable!), the PIO provides a brighter future for some of the most vulnerable women and children in Cambodia. In small groups, we were required to plan several educational activities for the children, such as origami or charades. When we stepped into the classroom, we were greeted by many smiling faces. The children were very excited and eager to learn, often crowding around us to get a better view.

It was a fantastic experience to be able to teach these wonderful children, and it was sad when it was time for us to depart (there were lots of hugging and photo-taking involved!). The visit to the school made us realize how fortunate we are, to be able to have the opportunities that we have. Despite living in a non-developed area, the children were always positive and enthusiastic, a trait that we should all strive to have.  Our trip to the PIO school was our favorite part of the day and made us feel like we really touched the lives of the students we interacted with.