Good Times and Gecko Goodbyes

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Our core purpose in this Service Learning Immersion Tour is to maintain and nurture our connection with Green Gecko. This is achieved through the interactions that take place during the tour, including visiting the temples, participating in workshops with the social enterprises, learning from the young Geckos, and sharing our prepared lessons with them. In addition, back in Australia, we participate in fundraising year-round, and keep up our connections by following their social media channels and liaising via the Global Learning Foundation, our tour provider.

Today, it was our turn to share the prepared lessons with two groups of Green Gecko students: one group of primary school age children between 5 and 10 years of age, and one group of Grade 7-9 students between 11 and 14 years of age. The lesson activities are carefully curated and planned to optimise our time together and fit in with Green Gecko’s operating principles, being plastic free, interactive and addressing the subject areas of STEM and Art/Craft, which are not overly emphasised in their core school curriculum.

The Art & Craft group prepared two engaging activities: rock art with the younger Geckos and string art with the older ones.

Rock Art

The CGGS students planned 4 prompts to help the young Geckos decide on what to paint onto their rocks:

• Something to give to a friend
• Your favourite food
• Your favourite sport
• How you are feeling right now

The kids are incredibly creative thinkers and readily came up with ideas, making for a beautiful collection of finished products

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The Art and Craft activity for the older Geckos involved plenty of hammer banging and action, as they created string art versions of two symbolic animals to represent our connection: a kangaroo and a gecko. Srey Net and Kim Huoy in particular were completely engrossed in this activity and made a beautiful finished product. The Geckos also had the idea of asking each CGGS student to sign their name on the back of their boards, producing a beautiful keepsake of our time together.

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STEM/Logic Activities

The STEM and Logic group focused on building collaborative problem solving challenges for their groups. The older kids enjoyed a raucous and competitive game of cup stacking, along with challenges such as blowing a paper cup off the table edge using an inflated balloon, or rolling a coin between a fork’s tines.

The younger Geckos created some amazing architecture in a spaghetti-and-marshmallow tower building competition. They also worked together to ‘cross the river’ and avoid getting swept away!

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We enjoyed lunch at Green Gecko – a selection of items in a Cambodian-style woven bamboo Bento box. Then it was time to say some sad farewells as the Geckos left for their afternoon lessons or a rest. This is always a difficult part of the trip, and the phenomenal connections built in such a short time between our students and the Geckos is always heartwarming to see.

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In the afternoon, it was Market Challenge time! Every year, the CGGS students participate in an Amazing Race-style challenge in the local market, purchasing items needed by Green Gecko. As it is nearly back-to-school time, the focus was on purchasing items like pencil-cases, hair-ties, backpacks and school shoes as well as daily essentials like laundry powder. This year, Kate from Green Gecko upped the ante and arranged for the challenge to take place at the Psar Leu market – where Siem Reap locals shop, and the communication had to be entirely in Khmer or an improvised, universal sign language! Each group of CGGS students was supported by one of the older Geckos, but the Geckos were not allowed to speak in Khmer with the stallholders. This was a really enjoyable way to gain an insight into everyday life here in Siem Reap.

Today’s reflections are from Minh and Megan:

Today was our last day to spend time with the Green Geckos. We had previously planned different STEM and Art activities suitable for their ages. Being able to immerse ourselves in their culture and language yesterday and teaching them games today allowed us to create a strong connection with them. 
Although it was sad to bid our final farewells to our Gecko friends, we will forever cherish the memories and lessons learnt from these incredible children. We’ve had the privilege of gaining a better understanding of our surroundings because of the Gecko kids and the Green Gecko Project. 
-Minh and Megan

We have been regularly debriefing with the students about what they are seeing, how they are feeling, and the insights that they are drawing from their experiences. Some of these will come to them straight away, and others may take longer to formulate or articulate. Parents can support by asking open questions of the students when they come home, or specific questions, such as “what was the highlight of your time with the Geckos?” or “what aspect of travelling annoyed you the most?” As a parent, I appreciate that it can be hard to elicit responses from our children sometimes, but it will be important to enable them to keep processing when they return.

We have two full days at the Kulen Mountain homestay coming up, leaving Siem Reap on Friday, and returning on Sunday for our flight home. During this time, we will be working with the students to help them express the ideas they have formulated during the tour, as well as having some down time to reenergise and socialise. The homestay is often a highlight of the tour for the students, despite the quite basic conditions. Please be reminded that we may not have internet access while at the homestay to update the blog, so please don’t be concerned if we go off the air after tomorrow.

We’ll leave you with some food for thought – a photo that struck a chord of irony with us this morning, and a representation of one of the biggest challenges facing a tourist hotspot like Siem Reap.