I am starting to love it here but at the same time, emotionally, at
least once everyday I overwhelmed by the
problems in the country, by the hardship that people face. For the
most part, I don't think about it. But it's hard to ignore. Such as in
the desperation in the voices of those trying to sell on the streets, or the
poverty that you see families living in. It's almost everywhere you
turn. There's a feeling in the country, I would'nt call it
sadness but some kind of a sombre mood and expression on some
people's faces that is disheartening. These emotions of being so
overwhelmed brings such disheartedness in me, like I said, almost
everyday. Not only that, it reminds me of how many problems there are in
the world and how much I wish I could stop or change them, but how
powerless, difficult, almost impossible it is for me or all of us to
do so. Each time I have spoken
with a local, finding out their own story, what has happened to their family and feelings about the country
and what happened, I feel like doing something to help. But you realise
you can't save everyone.
On the positive side, I know I cannot
make a huge difference, but I have promised myself to do the best I can
in my time here, on my placement to do what I can to help. It is better
than doing nothing and I guess the saying goes, 'You might not be able
to change the world but you can make a positive change to the world
of one person'
I know that when I left Cambodia last year and came back to Australia that I
could almost ignore or forget the heartbreak that I felt when I was in
Cambodia. It was so easy to do this having coming back to my comfortable
life in Australia. But I am glad that I still remembered how I felt as I left Cambodia last year and the reasons that I wanted to come back.
Staff at work are really nice. I am determined to help them with their
English so that they can communicate more effectively with Western
stakeholders and organisations such as donors. Challenge is trying to
find out the best way to do this in the short length of time that I will
be there of 4 weeks. I intend it to be an exchange type of learning in
that I will also learn some Khmer from them.
