My Personal Experience in Cambodia

Everyday I teach kids ages 7-13 at an orphanage. Some kids we teach live at the orphanage and some of the kids come from the surrounding area. Everyday I ride in a Tuk Tuk to the orphanage and back. A Tuk Tuk is a motorcycle pulling a little carriage with four seats. Here in Cambodia, Tuk Tuks are like taxis in New York City because everyone takes them, there are so many of them, and they are all over the streets. The streets are very crowded. There are Tuk Tuks, cars, bikes, motorcycles, and pedestrians, but to my surprise, everyone is coordinated. Riding to the orphanage in crowded and trash-filled streets reminds me of the grim condition the children live in. Seeing the them run barefoot and half-naked through the streets reminds me of how little they have, but the smiles on their faces and willingness to learn touches my heart.

The only subject that I am teaching is English. I have two sessions, one in the morning from 8 to 10, and one in the afternoon, from 2 to 4. In between, I have lunch and do my homework.

My Cambodian Family
PINK SHIRT-Sia, GREEN SHIRT-Mama, and DOG-Mien Mien

For lunch I have a lot of rice and some vegetables to accompany it. After my afternoon session of teaching, I go back to the house and there I have around 2 hours of free-time when I read and do any homework that I didn’t get to finish before. At 6:00 it is time to go to dinner. Dinner is basically the same thing that I had for lunch, a lot of rice and vegetable but since we are eating with our Cambodian family, we have some protein such as chicken or meat.We also have a variety of soups such as chicken or vegetable, which are often spicy.

At the orphanage, we divide the children into two groups, the younger and the older. In the older group, we are teaching them the phonetic alphabet. We were also introducing them to the concepts of verbs and nouns. Some of them are still struggling to read and write while some are writing beautifully and are beginning to read very short books.


In the younger group, we are focusing on the phonetic alphabet, the sound of each letter (Phonetic Alphabet Song That We Use). We are also introducing the numbers 1-10. In the last 20 minutes of class, we jump-rope (counting or singing the A, B, C) in the dirt or draw and color. We play a lot of games to keep them interested like hangman with three-letter words. The most challenging part of my day is keeping the students’ attention. They are always speaking to each other in Khmer (the language they speak in Cambodia). Sometimes it seems like they are talking and laughing about us, but we see them improving. I will never again judge a teacher for telling students to be quiet; I know how difficult it is.

Everything is different, the language, the smells, the foods, and the people but the only thing that is the same is that the girls want to learn and the boys just want to have fun :).

Me teaching the older group:
left-Liza, to the right of Liza-Li Li, to the right of Li Li-David, right-Cham

Cambodia's History

In the beginning, from 802-1431, Cambodia was known as the Khmer Empire, or “the Great Empire.” This empire was greatly influenced by Indian culture, and therefore the dominant religion was Hinduism, and later Buddhism. This period was considered the Golden Era due to the flourishing of architecture and culture as well as the expansion of land and the increase of wealth.

The Khmer Empire left behind a huge legacy of architectural monuments in the world known as the temples of Angkor. The most famous of these temples is called Angkor Wat, which I will visit in one week. The name Angkor Wat means the cities of temples. Angkor Wat is the largest religious monument in the world and the seventh wonder of the world. It was originally built as a Hindu temple for Vishnu, the god of protection, but then towards the 12th century it was transformed into a Buddhist temple.  

The capital of the empire, Angkor, was the largest city in the world prior to the Industrial Revolution. Towards the end of the Angkor Empire, the royal family had a dispute about the transfer of power, so the Thai took this chance to attack. They sacked Angkor and the royal family retreated to Phnom Penh, which became the capital from then on. During the Thai invasion, the water system broke due to the lack of manpower spent on fighting the Thai. However, the temples were never destroyed or abandoned because Buddhist monks maintained them.

From this first Thai invasion to the end of the 19th century there were a series of Thai and Vietnamese invasions to try to influence or take control of Cambodia. Cambodia was desperate to rid themselves of these invasions, so they called the French for help. The French were willing to come not only to Cambodia, but also to the whole Indochina peninsula. They created a federation called the Union of Indochina, which included Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. It purposely did not include Thailand because Burma was a colony of the UK, so the French did not colonize Thailand to prevent conflict. Thailand was the only country in the Indochina peninsula that was never colonized. It took the French ten years to arrive in Cambodia due to the poor communication between the two countries. Finally, when they arrived, they were met with a lot of resistance from Laos and Vietnam, but Cambodia welcomed them.

The French first focused their attention on re-building Cambodia, but they noticed that Cambodia would be content with whatever they did. They knew Vietnam and Laos wouldn’t, so they decided to re-focus their attention. The French began to build hospitals, schools, roads, etc. in Vietnam and Laos to try to calm their rebellions. This strategy didn’t work; Vietnam and Laos didn’t take the bait. To make matters worse, Cambodia began to get jealous that France had abandoned them for their neighbors. Cambodia soon saw that France wasn’t helping the country as much as they had expected. Therefore, Prince Sihanouk threatened to change Cambodia to communism if the French did not give them independence. As a result, France agreed to give them independence peacefully. The French protectorate and colonial time was over.

The Cambodian state greatly suffered during the Vietnam War and the Secret War in Laos, from 1955-1975. Since Cambodia and Vietnam share a border, Cambodia was greatly affected. Vietnam was divided into North and South; the North was supported by China and Russia, and the South was supported by the United States. For the North Vietnamese soldiers to attack the South, they had to cross through Cambodia on the Ho Chi Minh Trail. In order for the South to protect themselves, its allies, including the Americans, had to bomb the Ho Chi Minh Trail, which not only killed soldiers but also 300,000 Cambodian civilians.

In 1970, General Lon Nol became the president of Cambodia. Lon Nol was supported by the United States. He overthrew King Sihanouk who was beloved by the people of Cambodia. This destabilized the country and created an opening for Khmer Rouge, a small political party with a communistic ideology to gain strength. King Sihanouk fled to China, and the Chinese told him to join with the Khmer Rouge. King Sihanouk went back to Cambodia and began to cooperate with the Khmer Rouge, who used the king’s popularity with the people to gain popular support.

Lon Nol and the Khmer Rouge had been fighting for 5 years, and in 1975 the Khmer Rouge won the civil war and marched into Phnom Penh and began its revolution based on agrarianism. The Khmer Rouge evacuated all the big cities and sent everyone into the countryside to work as farmers. Phnom Penh became a ghost town and families were divided, maybe never to see each other again. The currency was abolished, and they went back to the old system of trading. The Khmer Rouge was paranoid of anyone who thought it was wrong. It thought anyone who was educated was a potential enemy to the state. The Khmer Rouge had a long list of potential enemies, including teachers, doctors, intellectuals, peoples with glasses, people with soft hands, lawyers, people who spoke a foreign language, monks, nuns, artists, students, and former government officials. The Khmer Rouge had a plan with dealing with these people.

The Killing Fields - this was how they would deal with their enemies. When I visited one of these killing fields, I learned how much these people suffered. The prisoners were brought in the dark of night, blindfolded and tied. They were transported on a bus. The road was rocky and bumpy. The prisoners were told that they were being transferred into a new home. When they arrived, the prisoners were crammed into a dark and gloomy detention center with no windows and a low roof. When the executioners took a prisoner outside to be executed a bright light was turned on. There was always revolutionary music blaring on the speakers and the generator was very loud so they could cover up the screams of the dying people. The killing field that I visited, just outside of Phnom Penh, is probably the most notorious one, but there were more than 180 killing fields. Through execution, hunger, and disease, about one-fourth of the population died (two million).

The Khmer Rouge began to lose popularity and since Phnom Penh was abandoned, the Vietnamese invaded and took over. The Khmer Rouge was pushed into the countryside in 1979, near the Thai border. Vietnam ruled over Cambodia for 10 years. They appointed Hun Sen to be the prime minister in 1985 and the leader of the CPP (Cambodian People’s Party), and Vietnam finally left Cambodia. The Civil War continued until 1991 with still some of Khmer Rouge resistance in parts of Cambodia. In 1991 the Paris Peace Accords were signed and the United Nations became the transitional authority in Cambodia. Cambodia had its first election in 1993, and from them on they have begun to establish law and order.

The Language:

The language they speak in Cambodia is Khmer. These are a few words I learned:

Hello-Sus Day

Good Morning-Aron Sus Day

Good Afternoon-Saiam Sus Day

Good Night-Re-Tray

Goodbye-Lea Sen Hery 

What is your name?-Nak Chmuas Ei?

How are you?-Sok Sabay Te?

I am fine-Sok Sabay

Thank you-Aukum 

Please-Som

Yes-Baat(men)-Chaa(women)

No-Ot Te