I tearfully left home about 5 weeks ago for the first part of SALT orientation in Akron, PA. I spent that week with a group of almost 40 combined IVEP and SALT participants at the MCC Welcoming Place preparing for our collective departure to our places of service. (Quick overview of SALT and IVEP: SALT is a program for young adults from US and Canada doing a year of service in other countries, and IVEP is a program for young adults not from US or Canada to serve a year in the US.) IVEPers bound for mostly Mennonite areas in the states, and SALTers bound for numerous countries in Latin America, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East gathered together to trade spaces, quite literally the same towns for some people. This was a week of intense socialization, eating very Mennonite food, and interactions between people of many different backgrounds and nationalities. This week and those leading up to it were also punctuated with saying goodbyes to friends and family as well as my fiancé Allison Shelly who is currently doing a SALT term in the Middle East.
Orientation part 2 started upon arrival in Phnom Penh after a 34 hour travel period about a month ago. In the MCC office in southern Phnom Penh I met the other members of our volunteer team consisting of myself and one other SALTer as well as four YAMENers (YAMEN is the sibling to SALT and IVEP and facilitates young adults not from US or Canada traveling for service to countries not in the US or Canada.). Our group of six consisting of people from Zambia, India, Kenya, Tanzania, and the US combined with our YALT leader from Honduras, and numerous Cambodian MCC staff created quite a multicultural environment for these past several weeks. Though I’m publishing this first post a little late (as I have actually been living in my host family in the countryside for about a week), I’ll do a deeper dive into that transition in my next post and focus here on my time in Phnom Penh.
View of outskirts of Phnom Penh from arrival flight
Phnom Penh orientation consisted of three major components: language study, MCC orientation, and staying in a Christian dorm primarily for Cambodian high schoolers and college students. This was our staging area to be together as a team before all heading out to live with host families for the remainder of the year. I will be living in a host family and working at the NGO Organization to Develop Our Villages (ODOV) in Mesang, Cambodia, located in Prey Veng Province about three hours from Phnom Penh. The rest of the group is dispersed throughout Phnom Penh at various work placements. Also, if you read Allison Shelly’s most recent email update on her SALT term in the Middle East you’ll recognize the subheading structure of this next section :)
Language study
We attended language classes from 8-11am every weekday morning during our three weeks in Phnom Penh at a language school about 2 miles from our dorm. We biked to school during rush hour on sometimes flooded streets in what to me was a very new and more fluid traffic pattern, but to some of the YAMENers was a more relaxing flow of people from what they were used to. We spent many hours struggling and laughing together during this time of language learning as we worked to lay an early foundation for our communication skills to grow from this year. I especially felt pressure to work hard during this time with the knowledge that my host family in Mesang speaks no English and whatever Khmer language I could learn before moving in would be helpful.
From left to right: waiting for a ferry to cross the Mekong River with a lot of other motos, flooded street near the MCC office in Phnom Penh, YALT (YAMEN + SALT) crew in front of our language school
MCC Orientation
After language class in the morning we would bike to the MCC office about a mile and a half from school for lunch with the entire staff. After the much appreciated customary Cambodian 1.5 hour lunch/rest period, we started our afternoon orientation training session. I usually used the nap portion of our midday break to take advantage of the quieter streets and explore our neighborhood a bit. A shop I frequented during these regular escapades was an iced drink stand (of which there are many in Cambodia) where I bought coconut butterfly tea boba for a dollar. As a penny-pinching lover of bubble tea, the appeal of this treat was pretty irresistible compared with the cost of a similar purchase in the states, and the shop-owner got to know my regular order pretty quickly. Our actual orientation sessions consisted of relevant topics each of the MCC staff had training, experience, and/or passion in. We covered Cambodian culture, Buddhism, safety and security, sexual harassment, history, Cambodian Christianity, and many others. The most impactful day was a trip to S-21, a high school, turned Khmer Rouge torture prison under the Pol Pot regime in the late 1970’s, turned museum. The exhibits told stories that describe a small piece of the impact and legacy of such a brutal piece of history that unfolded in this country less than a half century ago.
Butterfly tea boba from a street vender
S-21 Museum in Phnom Penh
Christian Dorms
The Christian dorms in the Water of Life NGO where we stayed were a beautiful piece of our initial introduction to Cambodia where we were able to make friends of a similar age and join an already thriving community. We had dinner here each evening, and attended a variety of Christian services, small groups, and bible studies happening most nights. This is also where the most elaborate goodbye party I have ever been a part of was thrown to send us off after our three short weeks staying here.
View of Phnom Penh from roof of Water of Life dormitory
Food
This category isn’t distinctive to the first three weeks, and I think I may keep writing this section in future posts. Food is such a key component to so many cultures around the world, and the Khmer culture is certainly no exception. The average Cambodian eats 238kg of rice per year (3rd highest in the world) compared to 12kg for the average American, so rice has become a significantly higher portion of my diet than in the past. One of my favorite meals which has become an almost daily staple is rice with grilled pork and eggs for breakfast. I already mentioned the butterfly tea boba, but other street snacks that have become my favorites are deep fried bananas, coconut and palm sugar filled waffles, and the assortment of tropical fruits available here grown locally year-round.
From left to right, top to bottom: fried noodles, pork curry, pork and rice, goi teav noodle soup, fried noodles, papaya
This has been a month of transitions, and no doubt there are more to come, with the big one being transitioning to my new home in Mesang. Friendships are often made strong through experiencing transitions together, and this was certainly no exception. It was difficult to say goodbye to the other YALTers and the guys from the dorm, and I’ll look forward to visiting with them in the city throughout the year. For now, I feel excited for the fresh air and open views of the countryside and the relationships that develop as I live into a new community certain to be both challenging and enriching.
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