My volunteer experience

Prior to completing my program I had visited Cambodia twice with my family. We all completely fell in love with the culture and people there however were saddened by the horrific past and the number of people living in poverty. I vowed I would come back and try and help in any way possible. After talking to a few friends I decided to try volunteering, I travelled to Cambodia as part of a 6 week Southeast Asia trip but two weeks was no where near enough time for me! It is hard being a uni student and finding enough time but I still enjoyed every minute of it.

I was placed in the Missionary of Charity orphanage in Siem Reap which was a beautiful little orphanage for babies to 5/6 year olds. Our job mainly consisted of playing with and entertaining the children while making sure they were fed, bathed and looked after. This proved difficult at some times due to the adventurous and brave spirit of the children! The children are all so affectionate and love the attention and the carers and nuns who work there are very caring. There was limited teaching facilities which I was surprised by and I would have loved to try and run some classes however it was near to impossible with none of the children speaking any english.

Siem Reap is an amazing place and the volunteer house and staff there were so great. The house is a short walk from 'Pub Street' which is a street full of bars, clubs and great restaurants. Safe to say we enjoyed the social aspect of the whole thing! Overall I had the most incredible time and seeing the smiling excited faces of the children when we arrived in the morning made it all worth it. I loved it so much that I am returning in a few months! Would highly recommend to everyone interested.