Back in Pursat, Children's Day, assessment, Roberta

TukTalk 57 reports Adrian and Mayu's return to Pursat, International Children's Day, a classroom decoration assessment and volunteer Roberta's spotlight.

From the TukTuk team in Pursat, Cambodia

We Are Home! 🏠

Three boys, two in white shirts and one in light blue, look through a picture book together

It has been almost a month since our family returned to Cambodia. Everything was fine on the road, which we had been worried about, and other than the pre-boarding document check, everything was as smooth as before the pandemic.

It had been about 2.5 years since we left Cambodia. When we arrived at the office in Pursat, the staff welcomed us even though it was after working hours. All at once, we felt we were back where we belonged and happy!

It's a new office for us. Adrian immediately started to fix up the new office (it is now much easier to work in!). Mayu has been working with the staff to fill in the blanks (it could have been done remotely, but we realized that face-to-face is better for the details!), and Milly is enjoying her new environment despite her shyness. We also have had many people say "welcome back" to us outside the office, and we are feeling the warmth of Pursat 🥰.

Adrian & Mayu & Milly 🦘👘 👶🏻

International Children's Day 👪

"International Children's Day" was celebrated on June 1st. Many schools performed morning ceremony on this day, and children received gifts of lollies and school supplies from the community and schools. A partner school has also invited us to attend the ceremony. Several schools in the nearby neighborhood held this joint event, and students enjoyed playing traditional Cambodian games as well. It seems like it was a fun day for the children. 😊

School Assessment ✅

Collage: TukTuk staff and education officers assess classroom decorations with teachers at the target schools

In response to requests from the partner educational officers, the CLIP project will generate a new resource package of classroom decorations.

In order to figure out what kinds of decorations are actually needed and what the teachers are looking for, we visited and assesed the target classrooms with officers of the province and district departments of education and reviewed the decorations against the evaluation chart created by the Ministry of Education.

The Ministry has set several rules regarding what must be decorated in the classrooms, however, due to budget constraints and the fact that the criteria were not generally known to the teachers in the first place, only 6 of the 12 classrooms in this evaluation met the decorating standards.

However, even if the standards are met, there are still some minor issues in each classroom that need to be addressed, so we will work with the teachers over the next year and a half to make the 10 schools involved in the project have more well-organised classroom environments than they currently have.💪

Khmer of the month

Khmer Word: Angrung

Camping has become popular in recent years due to the pandemic. In this situation, many of you may have used a hammock. In Cambodia, an "Angrung" (hammock) is a necessity! Whether at home or outside, just tie the hammock to pillars or trees, and in no time at all you'll have a place to sleep! Napping in a hammock, especially, is a blissful experience.🍀.

Khmer Food: Tabae (Sticky rice cake) 👇

Black glutinous rice dessert in a banana leaf bowl, the Khmer food of the month Tabae, with a short description

After Two And A Half Years... 🙌

Collage: TukTuk staff and volunteers gather outdoors for group photos on the staff trip

June has been a busy month in our office! This is because Adrian, Mayu, and Milly have finally come back from Japan! And now, a volunteer from Norway who has previously visited us has returned to help us out again making us even more international! (See the Voluntuker Spotlight below for more information about the said volunteer. ♪)

Soon after, we all went on a two-day/one-night staff trip at the end of June. On the trip, the staff members who are doing remoteworking joined as well, and for the first time in a very long time, the complete workforce was able to meet in person.😊 (Three TukTuk 2021 babies could meet as well!)

We feel like things in Cambodia are gradually returning to the way as before the pandemic.

Voluntuker spotlight | Roberta

Voluntuker Spotlight banner with a smiling portrait of Norwegian volunteer Roberta

This month’s feature is Roberta who is from Norway, who is visiting Cambodia for the second time in her three years as a Voluntuker!

We asked Roberta a few trivia questions😉:

What do you like about Cambodia?： Mostly the people. They are so friendly and helpful and always seem to be happy. I love cycling around and responding to their waves, smiles, and shouts of hello. It makes me feel a part of the community even though I know I am not. Most of them probably face hardships and their living conditions can’t be that easy but they certainly make it look that way. We could definitely learn a thing or two about their attitude to life.

What brought you to TukTuk again?: I wanted to build even stronger bonds with the staff of TukTuk. Working from home in Norway is okay but being here makes me feel a part of the team again. I think the work they do is amazing and I am proud to be able to help. They are in close communication with the teachers in the nursery schools and work to fulfill THEIR needs rather than just providing materials they think the teachers ought to use.

What do you want to do during this stay?：Get rid of the stress of my perfect life in Norway and do whatever the staff members need me to do. 🤣 I really enjoy what I do for TukTuk so I don’t consider it work. We had a wonderful outing with the staff last week which included a trip to the floating village, the only touristy thing I wanted to do. Now I am happy just to be with the staff, who, although working hard, are always laughing and willing to help.

Roberta is staying with us for three weeks this time. However, she has always supported TukTuk online, providing us with many ideas for teaching materials and coming up with fresh storybook contents since her first visit in 2019. Her support stems from her over 40 years of experience as a preschool teacher, which makes her very special to us. She is also affectionately referred to as "Mommy" by everyone since she is like a mother to us.🤗.

We are currently looking for volunteers with the following skillsets to help TukTuk bring educational resources to Cambodia;

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If you want to get involved or know someone with skills that could help us spread positive education in Cambodia, hit that link below and say hi (we're friendly, we promise). 😉

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