Every year in February the IoM Youth Motor Project, in partnership with the Manx charity, Friends of the Cambodian Children’s Refuge Centre (CRC), take a group of young people from the Island on an expedition to Cambodia. This year a group of young people from Castle Rushen High School, with their teacher, Ms. Katy Duff, will be accompanying us for the adventure.
CRC’s School is funded through voluntary contributions and provides free education in English and I.T. for Khmer young people in a factory dominated suburb of Cambodia’s capital, Phnom Penh.
We are spending 11 days in the far east of which 5 of these will be spent at the school with the Khmer young people; and when the school is closed, we will be seeing Cambodia and learning about the country’s history, culture and people.
2017 is the 8th year of our organised trips and we are leaving on 14 February for Phnom Penh, via Bangkok in Thailand (there are no direct flights from the British Isles).
In school, the Manx young people will be presenting lessons in English language, swapping cultural stories, and noting and comparing similarities and differences in expectations and experiences with the students and teachers. CRC’s school’s classes are for Khmer young people aged from kindergarten to 19 years from the Kintouk Village area, and our expedition group of high school students always report back having had an amazing life-changing experience.
We will be attending lessons in the evenings (it opens during the cooler hours!) and during the day we will combat the heat of the dry season to visit Phnom Penh’s sites: the harrowing Genocide Centre and Killing Fields, the Royal Palaces, Buddhist Temples, and the incredible markets and stunning embankments of the Mekong and Tonle-Sap Rivers. At the weekend we will visit Kampot and Sihanoukville on the coast of the Gulf of Thailand; and before returning to the Isle of Man, for a couple of days, we will take the opportunity to travel to the north of the country to walk amongst the incomparable Temples of Angkor, with the Giant Banyan and Strangler Fig trees, near Siem Reap.
The IoM Youth Motor Project organises these expeditions to allow the young people of the Isle of Man, and the young people of CRC School, to gain valuable cultural experience and education, and for the Khmer students to learn English, which is a prized and cherished skill in the Far East, from natural speakers. If you want to get involved with the next adventure contact Pete or Mike at the Youth Motor Project on 07624 460601, or at youthmotorproject@manx.net.
