Zinc NZ Mishcam 2023

Day 1: Land in Pheom Peng (after 2 days travel ��)

1st of many tok tok rides

Lunch & Meet the team! 20 Zincies from 6 different countries (Australia, New Zealand, USA, Germany, Italy, Denmark)

Visit the Killing Fields & Genocide Museum

The Cambodian Genocide was the result of the Prime Minister Pol Pot & his Khmer Rouge soldiers, attempting to create a classless society.

All who opposed the CPK and Khmer Rouge were executed. Former business people, leaders and teachers were sought out and killed, along with their families. Anyone with knowledge of a foreign language, anyone wearing glasses, basically if you were deemed smart, you were a threat. Hospitals, schools, factories, shops, market places – shut down.

Torture, imprisonment, interrogation and execution centres were set up in places like high schools. Classrooms were turned into cells, torture chambers & execution rooms.

The executed were buried in mass graves known as the Killing Fields. Human bones can still be seen sticking out of the ground. A Buddhist stupa, packed with thousands of skulls, serves as a memorial to the dead.

Estimates of the total deaths resulting from Khmer Rouge policies, including death from disease and starvation, range from 1.7 to 2.5 million.

View of Genocide Museum from our hotel roof.

Team bonding dinner, drinks & dancing on a river cruise

Day 2: Visit the ONE day spa, Russian Markets & explore the city (be a tourist!)

ONE is a beauty salon serving locals and tourists with beautiful massage and beauty treatments. It is one of CKF’s income generation projects which was created to provide employment and training to young women.

All profits made by ONE are either invested back into itself or are used to fund CKF projects. One is also now fully sustainable business on its own.

We had to make a video while exploring the city that would make Pete & Donna laugh (they never did pick a winner, so we all win!)

Day 3: Exploring Soksan Village

In 2009, CKF began working in Kampong Thom Province, whilst working there they started spending a lot of time in one village, Mous Village, one of the poorest villages in the poorest province of Cambodia.

Several projects began in the village which helped to empower the people of Mous Village and as each month went by, the community started to take pride in their village; they were proud to live there and proud to be a part of what we were creating together.

In early 2011, the village came to the Cooper Family and told them that they were planning on changing the name of the village, they were no longer Mous Village – a beautiful new village deserved a better name. They decided to call themselves Soksan Village, Soksan meaning peace, wealth & health.

Soksan International School

SIS has over 200 students studying 5 days a week. It is the pride of the community with students waiting outside the gates over an hour before classes start.

There are 3 “shifts” of classes during the day, as pupils are still required to go to Cambodian public school. Little ones start at 7am, middle aged kids starting at 1pm, and the older kids at 6pm.

Students spend time in class learning English, and a variety of activities depending on what they are interested in and what they want to learn about.

Mishcam House / lunch area

Mishcam house is a little hideaway within the school grounds that is for Mishcam members only. It has 1x kitchen (a lovely lady delivers cooked eggs every morning) and 4x bunk rooms (8 beds per room) outside there is a common area for relaxing and catching up.

For every meal we walk across the road to a big feast like table, where the very lovely cooks have prepared delicious food for us & the teachers. All meals are vegetarian, except for some fresh fish on occasion. Famously known for their Soksan Sauce, it you want some, just try keeping it away from Pete ��

Greeting the kiddo’s for every class, everyday. Best start!! We should do the same ��

4-7

6:00am Breakfast 6:45am Greet Kids 7:00am Project/Activity 11:00am Lunch 12:45pm Greet Kids 1:45pm Time in classrooms 5:00pm Dinner 5:45pm Greet Kids 6:15pm House games 8:30pm Catchup with Donna 10:30pm Wind down/Bedtime

Days

settled into a routine:

Time in the classrooms:

After our hi-five greeting, the younger kids go to get cleaned up. Showered, brush teeth and hair done. Then we start class by singing songs & doing stretches. Followed by a lesson plan from their teacher, then a game or activity to finish.

Some of the activities included; going to the library, swimming lessons or to the stadium for games.

Ralf and I taught our class ring-a-ring-a-rosie, and statues 

HOUSE GAMES!!

The whole school was divided into 5x houses: Anthroadvancers (blue)

Astroaspyr (pink)

Anthronurturers (orange)

Terrifiers (red)

Uno Eco (green)

Each day we played lots of games competing against each house to be crowed winners of house games 2023!

(Astroaspyr won)

Projects:

We had a couple projects to work on during our time at SIS:

Mr Chhou’s Land. He is a teacher at SIS (and was once a student of SIS) he brought a block of land, but it was not level ready for building. So truck loads of dirt were dumped, and needed to be spread out over the block. Lastly a fence needed to be built.

Projects:

Storage shed at the stadium. The school needed extra storage, but before the shed could be built a concrete foundation needed to be hand mixed & laid.

Mr Man who oversees the school maintenance came back the next day and made sure it had a professional finish ��

Unfortunately, we didn’t have time to complete the building of the shed.

Projects:

If you found yourself with idle hands, then more time in the classroom kids (bonus!) I was lucky enough to join a junior class for a trip to the fields to pick flowers and make flower crowns. The teachers tried to teach me & Heidi, but we just could get the knack of it haha.

Activities:

There were a few activities we could enjoy to experience the day to life of a Cambodian. These included a bike ride, fishing, going to the markets & cooking in the kitchen.

Soksan Sauce!!!!

Catchup with Donna:

Every night we had a group debrief and discussed how our day had been. We discussed things like our highlight, and low light of our day.

Some days were easier than others, and we heard some very confronting and hard stories from teachers, students and even our own Mishcam members.

It was a time to reflect and think about how you can better yourself and your personal impact on the team & the community

Last Day in Kampong Thom:

Sambor Prei Kuk Temples:

The whole compound is made of three clusters, that are enclosed in a double-walled fences. Stretching over 1,000 acres, there were 150 Hindu temples today mostly in ruins.

The now ruined complex dates back to the late 6th to 9th century. In the 20th century (1970) US President Richard Nixon ordered a secret bombing of Cambodia to fight the Khmer Rouge guerrillas and any influence of North Vietnam in the country. The US aircraft bombed the archaeological site, causing craters near the temples, while the guerrillas left several mines on the land that were cleared only in 2008.

Today they are working hard to rebuild the temples using original brick & sandstone.

Concert:

One our last night at SIS the older kids put on a concert for us. There was traditional dancing, a Cinderella play & even a debate on why English is important.

The Mishcam team then also put on a dance to close out the show. For our costumes we made streamer bracelets out of scrap fabric (from Sew Good) and made fabric crowns for the stars of the show Taryn & Elenor (crowns pictured below)

We had such a wonderful trip; it can be a little tricky to put into words.

The children & teachers were amazing, and super friendly! Their attitude of positivity & love (when they have suffered terrible upbringings) is truly inspiring.

It was a very humbling experience; they have so few possessions but are so willing to give you everything they have. It makes you realise what is truly important, and you don’t need to be so materialistic.

The days were long, and just when you think you have no gas left in the tank, you get a big fat hug or a smile/laugh, and you find that you do have a bit extra, and you can keep on giving. It is just enough to make someone else happy.

Many of us have made new friends, not only with the Mishcam Zincies (which is really cool), but the teachers at SIS too! (I get Instagram stories from Mr Lee everyday ��)

We were out of our comfort zone, but in a good way. It is an experience that I would highly recommend and be prepared to come home with a new perspective.