ACJC Overseas Community Involvement Programme to UNACAS (Unaccompanied Association) Cambodia on the 13th to 22nd December saw 18 students and 2 teachers embarked on a meaningful trip that took several interesting and unexpected turns.

Our objectives for this OCIP were two-pronged: to teach English lessons as well as to re-paint the kitchen and dining of the orphanage. Of course, befriending and interacting with the children and teens in UNACAS was also the call of the day.

Group photo taken with a few of the local students we interacted with.

Over the course of the next few days, we settled into a comfortable routine of teaching in the morning and night, and doing infrastructure work in the afternoon. The day would end with all of us-ACJC students-coming together to rehearse our Christmas play. After each day, we were alsobetter able to modify and conduct our lessons according to the students’ abilities.

The mural that we did for the dining            English lesson time   
Area of the orphanage

We ended our service at the orphanage with a Christmas Party for the staff and students of the orphanage. The students themselves had put up a few performances for us, including traditional dances and the like. It was pretty eye-opening to watch their performances. We performed a Christmas skit for them, as well as sang a few Christmas songs after that. That was the end of our service for the orphanage.

For the second part of our trip, we did educational trips in both Phnom Penh and Siem Reap, which mainly encompass places like the Tuol Sleng genocide museum and the Killing Fields in Phnom Penh, as well as Ang Kor Wat in Siem Reap, one of the seven wonders of the world.

Our trip to the Angkor Wat

Everyday was met with so many things to do: teaching and playing with the kids, watching them laugh and giggle and painting the murals. The word ‘orphanage’ commonly connotes an image of pity and sympathy, but the kids there were ever so joyful and appreciative, causing me to think of how, in actuality, there is nothing that stands to limit one’s own happiness in life. 

Sophie Ong 2SC2
Daphne Lee 2SA8