The Most Affordable Volunteer in Cambodia - 25K happy Volunteers Since 2006

As a medical doctor, the volunteer organization IFRE placed me at the Soviet Friendship Hospital in Phnom Penh for 2 weeks.

The application was not difficult, and I got a placement very short term (2 weeks) as I had been hoping.

Upon arrival, everybody got an introduction concerning the history of the country and local habits. Some even got an organized tour of Phnom Penh. The local office of IFRE was available almost night and day, every problem was solved promptly and very friendly. They even organized private trips for the volunteers on the weekends on request.

I stayed at a rather basic hostel, together with 8 other volunteers, mostly much younger than me. While the other volunteers were working at schools and orphanages, I was the only doctor.
That hostel already was quite an experience. No A/C. No pool or outdoor sitting area. No toilet paper (you are told to bring your own). The shower is very basic, too. Constant noise as the roads are very busy.

Of the three meals that are prepared for you every day, they wrap up your lunch nicely so you can eat it at the hospital.

I was introduced on the plastic surgery ward and immediately started working.

The work is pretty much organized the same way as in Germany ( and probably other western countries, too). Ward round, then surgery, once a week you work at the outpatient department.

The kind of medical conditions though are really not what I was used to. The Soviet Friendship Hospital, built in the early 1960s, was at some point the largest hospital South-Eastern Asia. It is built in a way that the wards are long balconies and the rooms for the patients are connected to this long balcony and have small openings in the wall facing the central courtyard. The rooms are cooled that way by the little bit of wind that is blowing. A good system, if flocks of birds would not fly in and out all day long.

My ward had 25 rooms with 4 patients each. And the amazing thing: healthcare is absolutely free.
Only the poorest of the poorest go there. The hygienic conditions are not optimal, of course. The materials rather old or cheap.
But staff does an awesome job there!

As most of the patients come from the really poor parts of town or remote vilages where there is literally no healthcare (and they couldn't afford it anyway), they show up with very advanced conditions. Bone tumors the size of oranges, having penetrated the skin weeks ago, infected all over. Weeks old open fractures. Chronic wounds. 10 huge lymph nodes on each side of the neck.

On my third day they started to let me do most of the surgery. The Cambodian doctors and students assisted me and asked many, many questions. It would have come in handy if I spoke French. But some of the colleagues spoke some English, and most of the reports were written in Roman letters, so communication worked quite well considering.

The workload sometimes was massive. The smell was unbelievable. But all in all it was absolutely enjoyable to work in such a motivated and interested environment.
Prepare though to struggle with the fact that the patients get absolutely no after treatment but a few antibiotic pills. Chemotherapy or Physiotherapy are not available. It must be hard for the doctors here to know, which ever effort they make, the outcome will be less than ideal. Most of the colleagues I met were at least partially trained in France or Korea.

At the end of the work day one passes the patients' relatives who live, wash and cook on the hospital premises, and take a TukTuk ( 2 USD) back to the hostel to have dinner with he other volunteers. The food is amazing, by the way.

You have to be flexible of course. Things don’t go your way all the time. You sometimes have to search all operating rooms on all levels of the hospital for scrubs. There will be no change of scrubs, and after the first surgery everything is wet with sweat. The sterile gloves have to be handled with care, the material tends to tear. You cannot do the same surgery twice back to back, they have each set of instruments just once.

Bring a white gown or 2, and blue T-Shirts, as well as toe covering shoes. You will need the shoes in the operating room, as special shoes are not provided. Bring a small bottle of hand sanitizer, as it is not always available. Bring a lock so you can lock in your belongings at the hospital while you work.

So, this exoerience is not cheap, but very well organized and vey rewarding and interesting.
It was my first time volunteering abroad, and I can absolutely recommend it!

I chose to work on a community development program 1x1 with the main program manager in the volunteer office. My project was to assist in a school building project in a small and poor village in Cambodia. My responsibilities were to re-write and improve the funding proposal (12 pages+), write the newsletter (5 pages+) to the current supporters who have already donated to the project, edit a marketing video that was previously recorded, and start the GoFundMe page for the project. I was only volunteering here 2 weeks and I definitely feel like I had a huge impact. During my time in Phnom Penh, I also visited the village where the school would be built. Although I left Cambodia after those 2 weeks, I have been in weekly contact with the program manager to help finish the project and we are nearly done!

As a solo traveler for the first time, I wasn’t sure what to expect moving to a new country for a couple months, but now I understand how much fun and growth you can take away from an experience like this. This program helps people learn how to become leaders and teacher which provides a lot of support and help to communities. I learned how to not only be an English teacher but also how to communicate with people and to build relationships built on similarities and differences. Although things got confusing and tiring sometimes, the connection with the children is something I’ll never forget,

It was such an unforgettable experience for me to take care of abandoned disabled orphans. 70% of them are disabled and 20% are HIV positive. I am amazed by the overall environment for the orphans. It is actually quite organised. As I understand I was the first Singaporean to volunteer in Nutrition Center Phnom Penh, and it was also my first time taking care of disabled orphans, I was worried and nervous. Nevertheless, I managed to pick it up very fast. I encouraged more Asian volunteers to support such program for the disabled orphans. The local teachers are very friendly and helpful. They helped me to understand the needs of each individual orphans. We had a great fruitful time during my 10 days in Phnom Penh. I would definitely be back to visit them again.

I volunteered with IFRE’s Teaching English Program in Cambodia. I was assigned to a Charity School as an English teacher for 4 weeks. I must say that the experience was incredible. The whole process right from inception to the end was hassle-free. The IFRE team was very prompt with replies, which was very helpful. I was picked up by a driver at the airport upon my arrival at Phenom Penh. The teaching was challenging because of the language barrier. The children were very enthusiastic and eager to learn, which made my experience even better. My primary responsibility was teaching the group of beautiful and enthusiastic children. I not only taught them but also shared with them special bond- laughing, playing, drawing, painting and so on.

The IFRE staffs are responsive, sincere, helpful, up front. Support while at the site was also very good. Any questions or requests I had for the local coordinators were quickly responded to.

I would definitely recommend IFRE to anyone considering a volunteering placement.