By Nishani Turner

 
“This trip for me has honestly been a life changing and eye-opening experience. Growing up, my mum has always told me and my sister how lucky we are, and I always thought I knew what she meant. But, I can honestly say that no one can ever properly understand how lucky they are without doing a trip like this and experiencing something so real.
 
It’s so amazing that everyday these children go to school and they are so happy just to be there, to think that they were never told that they should smile at you or to come up to hug you - it is just all from their hearts!
 
There was one little boy with down syndrome that really touched my heart. Unfortunately the school cannot provide for his learning disability but every morning he is still at the school still smiling and having fun.
 
Because of his learning disability he does face very different challenges but he doesn’t let that affect him! Something that really impacted me about the trip was the fact that the children who went to the school with relatively nothing, were actually the lucky ones, compared to children who cannot attend school for different reasons.
 
We went to a village that recently had a fire and many homes were destroyed, it was so heart breaking to see these families with absolutely nothing and to understand how lucky we all are and how much we take for granted.
 
The past few days after coming back home and coming back to the life of being so fortunate and lucky is shocking because the simple things that we are able to do that these kids will never be able to do, and something that we all have lost any value for.
 
A key thing that I will take back from this experience is that although these families have nothing, we cannot let it affect our lives because it is their reality not ours, we can only let it affect the way we can help change their lives.
 
Thank you to Missione Possibile for helping me be a part of this amazing learning experience and this amazing one of a kind mission, this learning experience will always stay with me and will never be forgotten!
Nishani Turner (14 years old, KGV)

I love teaching. I love walking in to a class and feeling the energy radiating from those little bodies. I love the challenge of finding a way to explain a concept that they can’t quite get their heads around. I love feeding off that and creating a lesson right there on the spot.
 
It was with this passion that I went on my first trip to Roong Primary School in May 2015. Having heard all the chatter of excitement from Audrey and Mindy on their previous trip, I wanted to go along and train the teachers. I wanted the HK team to leave something with the teachers that could continue long after we left.
 
I had no idea how receptive the teachers would be to me, a foreigner with little knowledge of their culture, teaching philosophy or curriculum. I had spoken to Jussara and had some ideas on topics I could teach them but there was no fixed agenda. By the end of two days of teacher training, all the staff at the primary school had been given training on using games in the classroom, group work activities, how to motivate the students, classroom management and Q&A on challenges they face in the classroom. They were willing to learn and eager to try new things. By the end of the first day, one teacher had moved his desks from the traditional rows into groups. Slowly, more tried this. This is testament to how open the teachers were to new ideas. They kept asking me when I was going to return, eager to get more ideas and training to help them in their job of educating young Cambodians in skills that would keep them out of the factories and into professionally skilled work. Teachers would stop me around the school with questions, and I realized telling them, training them was not enough. I had to get in the class and show them. Frustrated with the lack of time I vowed to return.
 
In the summer of 2015 I got that opportunity. I went back alone, without the support of the HK team to take over the teaching of all the students to free up the teachers. I would have four full days, more time to make a difference. I had more time in the classrooms working side by side with the teachers implementing strategies we had discussed on my previous visit. However, the big project came to me during the break on the first day. I went to take a closer look at the library. Before I knew it I was pulling all the books off the shelves together with the principal and librarian. We fixed, cleaned and categorized all the books, color coded them, cleaned and rearranged the shelves, made signs and wrote up lists of rules for display. Best of all we had the older students help with color coding all the books. They worked through their break, so happy and motivated to give back to their school. All the students and staff of both the primary and secondary school were trained in how to use the library, a place they all use every week.
 
It was hard to leave the school. An amazing group of hard working, caring and enthusiastic teachers. I can’t wait to return in May 2016 to give more and in return get so much more.

On January 23rd our team from Italy and Hong Kong visited Missione Possibile's Roong School and the villages and sites where our mobile clinic operates. We spent four days visiting communities, delivering supplies and donated items, running sessions at our school for the children, and of course opening the brand new volleyball court in loving memory of Marco, husband of one of our team members, Martina Bin and a dear friend to many in the team. Not only this, but we also had the INTER CAMPUS coaches on their annual visit (more in the link below), creating great excitement amongst the children with amazing new uniforms and three days of coaching! This was fantastic trip for all, and it was wonderful to spend time with the children and communities we continue to support.