Thsi is the press release fron the sports day which has been sent to the donors of VSO and CARE. We have loads of pictures but for some reason I cannot upload them. I think it must be the dust which is getting into everything after 4 months of no rain. David had a really good day and I was sorry I was not able to be there as had to travel to Phnom Penh in a hurry with tooth ache. Its OK now! A big thanks to Erin (VSO Canada) for all her ideas and help too.
February 21st 2011
Borkeo Lower Secondary School Sports Day. Ratanakiri Province.
120 pupils enjoyed their first ever sports event on this hot, windy Monday morning.
10 volunteers from VSO and CARE arrived after a 30k motor-bike ride from the provincial capital of Ban Lung to help run the event and organise the races.
The students were aged between 9 and 24 and were a combination of boys and girls, day and boarding pupils and Khymer and indigenous people.
The sporting events began at 8am with the school dividing into 4 teams – blue, green, pink and yellow. The first event was 80m races quickly followed by a volleyball tournament. Other events included long jump, 3 legged race, sack race, throwing a boot the furthest. Plenty more running races were held throughout the morning.
The students had great fun and entered into the spirit of the occasion in a grand way. Yellow team were the overall winners and were presented with a identification ribbon for them to wear at school. However, all students who participated were given a small prize.
Grateful thanks to VSO for the resources and CARE for the prizes.
It has been a very busy month and I feel this week that at last I am working appropriately. I worked on a literacy strategy for grade 3 pupils this week and also organised and ran the first inspection of a school with 430 pupils aged 5 -9. It was really interesting and so different to Ofsted!! I learnt that it is a very important regulation in schools that all maps must be displayed on a north facing wall and that every school should have a map of Cambodia even though they might not have anything else. I have also put in a bid for some funding to train teachers who are not qualified properly. Here, if you have your grade 3(age 7-8) certificate you can teach! I have just heard my proposal has been accepted as long as everything is completed in 2 weeks before the end of the financial year. So lots to do.
Well, its nearly 8pm here on a Saturday evening after a very busy week. I have just practised making pancakes with rice flour and dried milk (thanks Cynthia) as we are having a pancake party on Tuesday evening. Can you imagine standing in the tiniest kitchen with a 2-ring calor-gas hob cooking pancakes in temps of 30+C? We ate as usual on the balcony watching the world go by and sharing the space with a family of lizards and geckos who live on the ceiling and behind shady spots such as the fridge. I can hear the big one making the loud noise - it sounds like the word gecko repeated. This morning we went out for coffee at our favourite place in town. Coffee and cake for two and all for $1.25 (under a pound).
This week we have said goodbye to Erin from Canada who has been a good friend to us. I have travelled to some remote schools which I love doing - but this time there was a problem with my motor bike and we had to return to have it mended. Something wrong with the oil pump, I think - it was .instantly mended and had an oil change and all for $19.
