School on the Mat

Welcome to School on the Mat -- Cambodia style. This is the CHO (Cambodian Hope Organization)'s school that they do in villages. Most Cambodian children do not go to school because the have to have the proper paper work (birth certificate, etc) and just because education is not a priority. If you know anything about Cambodian history, the Khmer Rouge killed all of the educated people in the 70s. It's really a crazy thing to read about, but even crazier to be there and see these fields where you know hundreds, if not thousands, of people died.

Anyway, we visited a school on the mat and I think it was one of my favorite places. CHO has 15 teachers that teach 5 classes/day with 10-12 students in each class. So, they have over 600 students in their schools!!

CHO has devotions at 7:30 am and then everyone hops on their mopeds and heads out to their job. These teachers spread a tarp out on the ground and set up their whiteboards and have school . . . yes, outside.

This is one class. On the far left side of the mat, you see the little girl in the yellow shirt? She is little. . . not sure how old, but her older sister is on the left of her (out of the picture). Her sister's job is to take care of her all day while her parents either work or they are just not there. Her sister was called up to the front to read from the board and the little sister followed her. But, the little sister sat so quiet on the mat. That is a house in the background (the blue building).

Yes, this is a monkey that was at the school/house they were in front of. It was the family pet. . . yes, that was weird.

The lesson that day was about obeying your parents. These kids are role playing. The kids on the left are brothers and the kids on the right are mom and dad. The "brothers" were fighting and Dad stepped in and told them to stop. The kids thought this was pretty funny. When she announced who was mom and dad, all of the kids giggled.

Taking your shoes off is the appropriate thing to do before you go into a building in Cambodia. I really started to like the whole idea and walking around barefoot! So, the kids take their shoes off before they get on the mat. So, around the mat are all these shoes. This pair of flip flops caught my eye. Notice that the back of the shoe is gone. Both of the shoes were like that.

The boy is reading something off of the board and the class is repeating him.
Wayne sang "Head, Shoulders, Knees & Toes" with them. They know that song pretty well from different English speaking teams that come through because it's the easiest song to "translate". You point to whatever you are saying, so it also teaches them a little bit of English.

Here's a video of them singing "This is the Day". It was too cute!! First, they sing in English and then they sing in Khmer (their language).

These kids followed our van down the road to the school. These kids aren't in school, but they acted like we were celebrities. They stared and pointed and talked with each other. The little girls fell in love with Joel.

I thought this little boy looked like Trip. He rode his bike down the road and hung out for a little while.
As we were driving away, this laundry was hanging out to dry. See that nasty water in the background? That's the washing machine!! ;)