Anna and I join Konthea and the Community Liason team into the field to learn more about the villages that JWOC reaches out to and the new guest opportunities to take part …
While traveling, some outings are ready made experiences — a horseback ride through a rice field, a trip to a natural wonder or a guided tour through a bustling Asian market. Other opportunities, like the new Journeys Within Our Community excursions, are about the potential to create your own memorable moments.
We headed out with Konthea, the Community Liaison and Assistance Program Manager and one of the volunteer scholarship students Narin for Prolit (Waterlily) Village just outside of Siem Reap. Konthea and her student were scheduled to be in the village to check up on a Food For Work project that had been initiated. Food for Work is designed to bring the community together and help them improve their own infrastructure. In this case, the Waterlily Village was in the process of raising the main road to make the community accessible during the rainy season.
While Konthea translated conversations for Anna and I, Narin was busy interviewing those villagers involved with the project to ensure the residents still supported the project and that labourers were taking the appropriate breaks and drinking enough water.
As we walked through the village — a grouping of wood and thatch houses built in close proximity surrounded by tropical vegetation — Konthea talked about the villagers and their livelihood.
The more friendly residents were happy to stop and chat — my favourite among them a grandmother who told us she was recovering from an illness. In her 80s, she was decidedly still alert and engaged as Konthea translated our pleasant conversation. As someone with a soft-spot for grandmothers, this was a highlight for me.
As we casually strolled down the village’s only dirt path, Konthea highlighted points of interest, like vegetation or former failed projects that didn’t have the necessary follow-through. If you stay Siem Reap, it is easy to forget how undeveloped most of Cambodia is. While I try and avoid terms like “real”or “authentic” Cambodia (Siem Reap and Phnom Penh are still, after all, Cambodian cities) trips to the village are helpful reminders that the Khmer was of life is not uniform.
Since the Community Liaison and Assistance Program runs a number of different projects, depending on the season, it isn’t the kind of tour you book with specific activity expectations. Responsible for emergency relief, community gardens and food for work programs, what happens on a trip with Konthea will vary.
What won’t change is the opportunity to have a kind and funny expert in the field introduce you to a community of people she is dedicated to helping. For those looking to get off the beaten path or give back as they travel, it is harder to imagine a more enjoyable (and photogenic) way to make that happen.