Finding a smile here is never difficult
Finding tampons is Giant pale people on billboards tell you to drink more beer Beer costs 50cent Cereal is hilariously expensive Coffee is served over ice with condensed milk and will cost you 2000 real There are loads of French people here Its really hot The evenings are nice The mornings are better Afternoons are a right off All drinks cost 50 cent It's always loud Nobody walks here If you are walking you will be harassed by Tuk Tuk Drivers every few feet money is handed over with two hands Babies born in the city leave their fathers to go and live in the provinces You don't speak about politics here You don't dare Westerns get paid 4 times more than Khmer staff for the same work 4000 Cambodian riel is worth only 1 American Dollar Coffee comes in plastic cups with a straw and a plastic, handle bar handle. Buildings are tall The stairs are steep There is no limit to how any people you can get on a moto Construction workers live on site until the job is done A man got shot at a petrol station for speaking up against the government Pineapples are cut into lollipop sticks You get fined on the stop for not wearing a helmet Funerals happen in the middle of the street and they last for at least 3 days People honk before they are about to do something stupid, Lunch times are sacred noodle soup is for breakfast Pale skin is good, dark skin is bad The word in Khmer for ‘cheers’ and ‘F*** you’ are dangerously similar Bamboo is used for scaffolding For one dollar you can look like a Khmer Justin Bieber Old ladies with wagons collect recyclables from the rubbish at the side of the road Hammocks can be hung up almost anywhere And pineapples are cut into fancy lollipop sticks
0 Comments
At hope for justice there were two main sites that I was based in. The dream Home where the girls lived and received counselling and care and it's where I would plan, have meetings, eat lunch. The second is Shine School where I would teach. Therefore, this means that I would say this sentence quite frequently “First I am going to Dream and then I am going to Shine’ (cringe). But...
The girls final performance was an example of a group of extraordinary girls shining. I couldn't tell you how many of the girls told me they weren't going to dance, that they weren't good enough,that they were too scared. With no time to do a dress run in the space, the audience (all the staff from dream home and shine school) sat waiting on red plastic chairs at the stake park. The girls all huddled around getting ready to perform and last minute words of encouragement were translated. The girls were fantastic. Naturally the performance did not go as smoothly as I had wanted but it was a joyous event! Staff were beaming and so were the girls. And they all performed, even the ones who told me quite adamantly that they were not going to dance. The girls showed their great strength, creativity, flexibility, ability to work in a team, ability to improvise. So many amazing skills were demonstrated by these girls this afternoon and I was so proud. The following day I had my goodbye circle, together we made a huge collage of photos of our time together. Some of the girls made me cards and wrote beautiful messages inside. It's safe to say I cried a lot that day, as you can imagine I became very attached to these girls. Some of the girls even spoke to the staff at HFJ expressing their interest in continuing dance classes at Hope for Justice. If this is something which could be organised I have no doubt of the long term benefits of dance for these girls. I have never been close to experience what they have been through and I am fortunate enough to say that I will probably never experience what they have been through. But to experience a climpse into these girls lives has been an absolute privilege. When you are teaching a class when one girl has returned from her counselling and is crying for the first hour in the corner with her back to the room then later stands up and declares that she wants to dance you see the true strength in these young women. Women of such strength and such power. And when you receive messages like this one, suddenly all the hard work and challenges all seems worth it. ‘I would like to thank Caroline that spent time to teach me. What you have taught me is very valuable. I would like to thank you very much and I hope I meet you again on day.’ -Srey Pin (Names changed for the protection of the girls) !!! Your wife and 3 year old child.
A man in a suit on a business call Your 4 young children 2 sets of willow shelving units 3 teenage boys Many wicker baskets A monk smoking a cigarette A washing machine A sofa and a chair A gang of moving chickens hanging from their legs A large TV monitor A fizzy pop shop A lilac wooden bathroom door A tall red ladder Several pigs 6 body sized sacks of cabbage Your partner in crime and the stollen bag of a young French women. An empty space for your next paying passenger A young girl in a black lace dress and high heeled shoes on a Tuesday afternoon An empty space for your lover who's working far from home Your sweetheart Your Mother Your brother Your niece Many sacks of varying vegetables An American woman on her way to work Your constant fear of the police A Sheep Your Post traumatic stress disorder that still clings to your back A tuk tuk with two travelling American film makers inside A shop selling sticky rice wrapped in banana leaves Your elderly grandmother wrapped in purple skirt The weight of your country's recent history Your fear of the government and your fear of change The fear for another war The fear of losing it all again A candy floss and popcorn shop THIS IS THE STORY ABOUT HOW I CAME ABOUT DOING THIS PROJECT. A QUESTION PEOPLE ASK ME A LOT. THE SHORT ANSWER IS THAT I ASKED, AND I MADE THE OPPORTUNITY. FOR ANYONE INTERESTED HERE IS THE LONG ANSWER….
Epic Arts, An international inclusive arts NGO registered as a charity in the UK and based in Kampot, Cambodia where they provide inclusive arts education for young disabled and non-disabled people to promote the value that every person counts. Epic Encounters, an inclusive performance company of disabled and non disabled dancers. Graduates of the Inclusive arts course at Epic Arts, Encounters are a professional touring company. Back in 2014, I was searchung for jobs online and I came across a job that caught my interest. Inclusive education manager for Epic Arts. I read the job description and the information about Epic Arts. location, Cambodia.The job didn't interest me as much, but the organisation sounded amazing. I admit, I had to do a quick Google search to know where Cambodia was on the map. Then I realised that I knew nothing about this small country (in south east area, south of Thailand and on the Laos and Vietnam border) A highly comprehensive Wikipedia search told me a little about Cambodia’s recent history and I have fascinated. Why didn't I know about this? Why have I not learnt about this tragedy at school like we leant about the genocide in Haiti or 9/11 or the holocaust? I became hooked. I had just started my internship at the Attenborough Arts Centre working with the Education and outreach team. Epic Encounters are doing a UK tour in a couple of months. But I couldn't find any further information online. It said email us for more information, and ended up programming them to come to the Attenborough Arts Centre, almost by accident. The company came to Liecester in November of 2014, but I also saw them in Cardiff as part of the People Dancing conference and again in Birmingham where the company taught me some Cambodian sign language, I learnt to say ‘I hope to go to Cambodia’ It was at this time that Epic Arts advertised for an inclusive arts tutor, for a year long internship. For anyone who knew me at that time, you will know what a knock it was when I didn't get this job. But I always had a sense that I wouldn't be disappointed, that this wasn't all for nothing. My fascination of the country didn't stop, ad I started to fall in love with Cambodia and its people from afar. The best way that I can describe how I felt is with the German word 'Fernweh'' which means 'homesickness for a place you heave never been to' And I knew that I was still going to Cambodia, just not in the way I was excepting. It wasn't long after this that I learnt about the anti-trafficking organisation Hope for Justice. At their marketing stall I picked up a piece of jewellery “made women who were victims of sex trafficking in Cambodia”. They told me about the education and rehabilitation programme in Cambodia. Do the girls have any dance training? I asked. I was given an email address for the Cambodia office and sent an email explaining how I wanted to come to Cambodia to teach some dance with the girls. During this time, Epic Arts and the Attenborough Arts Centre became official partners. And while Laura and Anthony Evans, EA directors, are in the UK they are now based at AAC. During catch up conversations in late 2015, I told them about my plan to go and work with Hope for Justice. Anthony's face lit up and said “well if you are in Cambodia, will you come and do some work for us?” Plans were put into action to get this project off the ground, the first was getting time off work to come here for 2 months, then it was 6 months of hardcore fundraising to raise enough money to go. This part of the journey I would not have been able to do if it was not for the incredible support, love and generosity of all my friends, family and strangers. (I would like to say another massive thank you). Then there was flights to book, lessons to plan, accommodation to find, languages to learn, projects to plan, the list seemed endless. It's so strange how these things work out. Now I am writing this little narrative while I am in Kampot, in the middle of my 3 week project working with Epic Encounters, as a guest choreographer. I still have to blink sometimes. Coming here has been a dream 2 years in the making, and it has been even better than I could have imagined. I have seen more, done more and learnt more than I ever thought I could in such a short space of time. Was the wait worth it? Yes. Was I disappointed? No way. |
Caroline RowlandI am a dance artist from Leicester who is teaching dance in Cambodia with Girls who are survivors of sex trafficking and with young disabled Khmer people ArchivesCategories |