Johm riab sua! ( Hello) Sok sabaay te? ( How are you?)

Okay, this post is way overdue. Despite taking over a year to have this published, I am still much elated to share my volunteering experience. In Singapore, it is not easy for individuals to join overseas voluntary groups on expeditions after graduation from the higher learning institutes i.e. universities, polytechnics etc. At least, that's what I have observed.
Sure, there are operations such as Habitat for Humanity (HFH), but it requires you to form your own group ( of 5 and above?) and it will not be easy to do amongst friends who have so varied schedules. Not impossible but hard I guess.
 On the other hand, HFH is definitely good for corporate voluntary engagements but not so much for the public.

 Patrons will be welcomed by the warm country-style setup of the cafe.

Teppanyaki chicken on hotplate, sizzling hot and served with japanese rice. 

Taste? Not too bad, quite ordinary but still decent enough.

I had their speciality- Japanese Curry with Chicken cutlet. Love the curry!! Thick and bubbling hot, served with rice and mixed vegetables, makes a hearty meal. 

The cafe also sells in-house merchandises... for example this cute t-shirt :)

Cross Town Cafe

Street 294, Phnom Penh, Cambodia,  +855 17 665 204

Panda Mart.. cute logo

Just nearby is Friends 'n' stuff which also has a cafe named Friends the Restaurant. They too are a social enterprise. A cheerful tapas restaurant run by the organization 'Friends', teaching street youth cooking and service skills. Settle in for some drinks tapas and salads~~ 

Some views along the streets 

The cafe offers comfortable sofas, meals and light bites to satisfy your taste buds. Great desserts and selections of tea and coffee plus Free wifi means you can really laze at this place for as long as you want. 

 Orange zest cupcake

Pork and Mango Crepe- filled with huge chunky pieces of grilled pork and mango, clove syrup and served with a side salad made of mango, papaya and coconut. USD 6.50 

Avocado and pumpkin salad which came served with greens, cheese, cashew nuts. A very filling dish, this salad was paired up with their delicious in-house baguette toasted garlic bread, which was really crispy soft. Super yummy! Your teeth won't break from biting for sure USD 5.50 

 Beer Battered Fish with french fries, salad and homemade tartar USD $7. Comes with thick cut fries, the fish fillet is tender and crispy. Good for sharing.

See the citrus fruits around?  totally no tea bag whatsoever, freshly brewed. Think it's possible to do this at home too :)

 Once ready pour them into your cups and served with your own preference for honey and brown sugar as was provided.

Tada- Done!! warm and soothing tea right down your throat....

And we are done with the very satisfying meal!! 

Dine in all for a good cause and remember to head on to Daughters of Cambodia to support them. 

https://www.facebook.com/DaughtersofCambodia

http://daughtersofcambodia.org/

Address: #65, Street 178, Phnom Penh

(opposite the University of Fine Arts) 

Operating Hours: 9 a.m. – 6 p.m. Monday to Saturday Tel.: +855 (0)77 657 678

This cafe is almost like a local hippie hangout for the students. Many local youngsters were lounging around with friends or with their laptop. It's a scene different from the Riverside restaurants we often patronize, spotting mostly tourists. 

DA-DAH! look at these pretty, cooling drinks!! thristy?

Left:   Iced Lemonade Passion Tea, Chocolate Frappe, Soya Vanilla Strawberry Frappe

Chicken Salsa Salad. 

Tasted so awesome with the crispy and warm chicken cutlet mixed with generous servings of greens.

Carbonara!

Tasty and a delight to tuck into, creamy and fillingly satisfied. Huge portions once again. 

I can't remember the pricing but this place is fairly reasonably priced and not expensive. With a wide varitey of food selections, free wi-fi and wallet friendly pricing, it's not surprise to see many local youngsters there as compared to foreigners. Head on down to chill!!! 

Brown Coffee and Bakery has many brunches all over Phnom Penh, head on to their website for the locations! Head onto the nearby National Museum after that to continue your tour in Phnom Penh.

 I am going to make a final conclusion and share some info of my volunteering experiences with the organization we went with- Riverkids. As I mentioned before we didn't really did much as we headed to their main office a couple of time in search of "someone" who was to let us know what we were supposed to do. Even that "someone" seemed lost and didn't know what to let us do. Shouldn't there be some liaison from the Singapore office in advance?

If you are with them on long term engagement for a month all so, I believed it will be a different story, perhaps better.

We were quite sad and dejected in the end that we didn't contribute much but rather, more towards monetary terms- like giving them gifts, which we could have easily done it via donations. Anyway Riverkids is not the organization to join for short term volunteering. It would be better for well-wishers to simply make donations to them instead of being physically there. Language barrier made us 'redundant' despite the local teacher's best effort to rope us in for their class lessons, still it was not easy. We made our best to play with them, nothing educationally beneficial I would say.

 That say, do continue contributing and supporting their causes via donations as this would make a better choice.

I have since discover Singapore International Foundation and I am so glad I got to know of them, or else I wouldn't know how to get started with overseas volunteering stints forever . It's so hard to find a volunteering organization you can joined in once out of school and SIF is a saviour! Best of all, you don't have to form your own humongous group ( of 10 pax and above? as with YEP or Habitat for Humanity) and can go solo or with even just 1 friend! I regretted not knowing them earlier and wasted so many years, but late is better than NEVER!  The difference between them is huge. SIF is so organized and throughout, making sure volunteers are prepared for the trip by giving pre-departure briefings packed with information and you can be sure you will be there physically contributing. I am confident our upcoming trip with SIF this coming Monday will be a fulfilling one.

YES! I will share more about my experience with SIF when I am back.

 Keep a lookout for my future posts~~ ^-^

Riverkids: http://www.riverkidsproject.org/

Singapore International Foundation: http://www.sif.org.sg/

Riverkids Volunteering

For now let me just post some photos of the schools we went to back then, last year in March, with Riverkids.

I love the hospitality and friendly of Cambodians and as usual, they welcomed us with great enthusiasm. The children were great and adorable as usual. We took it as an experience and strived to be better next time!!

They have 4 centres in all in different parts of Phnom Penh and 'Blum Project' took us about 45min-1hr worth of travelling on tuk tuk from our hotel in the city centre. 

  Here we were at the school and greeted by happy-go-lucky children who were always ready with a smile. 

Each class lasted 45mins or so. Lower Primary followed by Upper Primary, after-which came a 2-3 hrs lunch break. Being in the middle of the village, we had no transportation out ( as we wanted to stay the whole day in the school) and though we did pack lunch but we were really bored with nothing to do while waiting for afternoon class to commence. 

The very kind teacher-in-charge who knows English well and translated for us.

We took some photos and gave them polaroids as a gift.

Us with the kids

 Boys, being boys were fascinated with our iphones... 

 Love this pair of obedient sisters 

 This sweet little boy is SAVA, hard at work...

                         This school focuses on computing classes and schooling for younger children below 6, toddlers and infants.