Cambodia in the heart
Three students from the University worked at a summer camp in the country's capital, Phnom Penh.
Santiago Zarauza Pellejero, 3rd year of the Degree de Education Primary (Pamplona, 1993), Luisa Paloma García-Elorz González del Campo, from the 4th year of Law (Pamplona, 1992) and Anna Carbó Vidal, from the 4th year of Pharmacy (Tarragona, 1992) met in the capital of Cambodia where the French NGO is working to provide schooling for the POUR UN SOURIRE D'ENFANT (PSE) is working to get schooling for the children living in the garbage dumps that still exist in this city.
In 2004 the NGO was established in Spain under the name. "Por la Sonrisa de un Niño, España en Camboya" (For the Smile of a Child, Spain in Cambodia).which is the manager of the organization of the Summer Camps, among other things; since 2002, they are held every year, during the month of August. The camps complement the schooling of the children and try to prevent them from returning to work for their families in the garbage dumps of Phnom Penh.
Santiago (everyone calls him Yago) had been thinking about it for some time, since his brother Pablo, who studied at the University of Navarra, has been living there since March. Journalism at the University of Navarra, has been living there since March. Luisa found out from her brother Antonio who went three years in a row with his friend Pablo Zarauza. And Anna has some uncles who have been collaborating for years with that NGO; she was eager to go and help, although, like Luisa, she had never done volunteer activities before.
Ten different camps are organized, 8 in Phnom Penh and 2 in the cities of Shianoukville and Siem Reap. A total of 140 European monitors, mainly from Spain and France, and some 230 Cambodian monitors, whose work is essential for communicating with the children, have worked this year.
In total, between the 10 different camps, about 2800 children between 3 and 15 years old were welcomed each week. Yago and Anna were in Trapang Chane, an hour's drive from Phnom Penh, where "Paillote 5" was set up, with 130 children per day. Every day, at the end of the day, they returned to PSE headquarters in Phnom Penh. Louise worked in "Paillote 4", in the town of Oudong, a little further away, which did not allow her to sleep with the rest.
Their work consisted of organizing showers, breakfast and meals for the children they attended, and carrying out the various activities: basketball, soccer, volleyball, dances, crafts, board games, water games, reading stories to the little ones.
"We had 10 Cambodian monitors, who helped us with basic vocabulary. We played very simple games, so language was not a problem for us to communicate," says Yago. "We would get up at 5:40 am. We would wash up and load the car with rice and jerry cans of drinking water. We would arrive at 7:30 am and the camp would end at 4:00 pm. When we returned to the Central Camp we would have dinner with the children staying there and at 7:00 p.m. the so-called "Preillere" would take place, a time of prayer with singing."
"I have learned how little you can live with. Those kids play with a deflated ball and to mark the boundaries of the goal they just take off their shirts. You'll never see a child playing alone," says Yago.
Luisa adds: "I would repeat the experience without hesitation. I plan to come back as soon as I can and as many times as I can. The volunteer activities is engaging because it makes you realize that it is possible to fight and end poverty. The power of individual action, repeated by many, can solve the problem. This experience has helped me to know myself and my strengths and weaknesses, a kind of SWOT analysis staff".
And Anna continues: "Cambodia is one of the poorest countries in Asia and at the Paillote 