During the 2013 summer break, the TKU Cambodia Services Learning Group enthusiastically provided its services in the form of 400 kilograms of supplies such as towels, toothbrushes, toothpaste, stationery, clothing and toys. This was the seventh visit to the lotus cities and towns of Kampot Province, and the floating village of Kampong Phluk on Tonle Sap Lake, to teach computer and Chinese classes and provide care supplies. In addition to cultural differences and a disparity in material items, the simple, mundane and practical is often seen in Cambodia, where for 22 days in July, contentment, gratitude and a sense of value were evident in the desire for knowledge that group members felt in the students. No matter whether it was during class or after class, there was a good opportunity to learn. That type of treasure, concerning the pursuit of knowledge and learning opportunities, is what most inspires the mission members to offer their services.

Lee Mei-lan from the Extracurricular Activities Guidance Section said the teaching program has continued as before, with the mission dividing the Chinese teaching into teaching students basic phonetic symbols, and triggering an interest and impetus in students to study a basic Chinese class. Entertainment found in picture books and singing activities was used to get students to study, adding to picture books drama that resonates with students, and adding actions to singing games. Making the teaching of Chinese singing and painting classes more lively helps Cambodian students gain a deeper understanding of Chinese. In addition, in breaking away from the usual word processing in computer teaching, the image editing software Picasa and the graphics software Sketch Up were added to help students learn more software application skills. Advanced computer courses were also designed for the tutoring of translation teaching in the hope of developing new teachers so that once we have left, autonomous learning can continue, and when we see that local youths can teach their fellow Khymers to type, the group members will be filled with a sense of accomplishment.

A member teaching the basic Chinese class, Cao Wenting, referred to the image that had made the deepest impression on her: “I could hear in the distance the welcoming song of the children at the Buddhist School and feel their hopes and expectations for the coming year. Watching the cooks that prepare three meals a day for us, cutting and washing the vegetables next to the hot stove, carefully preparing each delicious dish, enduring the greasy pots and pans under the charcoal smoke – they are tireless. After one meal is finished they start again preparing the next meal. The view of their sweating backs is the most beautiful and moving scene of this journey.”

Lin Jiazhen, a member teaching the Chinese singing and painting class, also said: “I saw one kid who was very diligent in class actively studying Chinese, who would grab his notebook full of notes after class and ask the teacher how to write the characters they had just been talking about. He would then return quietly to his seat and repeatedly practice the Chinese words that had just been written down for him. He was constantly asking questions, and practicing over and over again. Seeing a kid like this made me think about how life influences life. Although we are in the roles of teachers, it is actually from the students themselves that much of learning takes place, learning to cherish one’s life, learning how to seize hold of the right time to study, and even more so, learning contentment and gratitude. On this trip to Cambodia, more than just enjoying the service work we do, we are seeing the value of life within this service.”

Lee Mei-lan stated that the service was trying out a new experience with the evening calligraphy classes. The Cambodian children had never seen calligraphy brushes before and have had no previous experience learning calligraphy. The four short days of the advanced Chinese calligraphy class saw more than a hundred people in attendance. Calligrapher teacher and team leader Fu Shengjun said, “Based on cultural differences and differences in the evolution of writing, Cambodian and Chinese writing is as different as day and night. The kids are taken step by step, starting with holding a pen, to teaching the eight stroke patterns based on the character ‘yong (永, forever)’. In the beginning the kids are not too familiar with all this, but later they gradually learn how to hold the brush, how to lift the brush from the paper at the end of a stroke, and how to put the brush to paper. A teaching achievement this time was also helping students write one- and four-character New Year’s scrolls. Differences between the Cambodian and Taiwanese New Year were realized through such interactive cultural exchanges.”

The service just happened to coincide with local general elections this time. Flags of the political parties lined the streets, which were filled with the noise of rallies, giving the mission the opportunity to become familiar with the local political culture. Motorcades passed by with waving flags and rallying cries. Young activists made up the majority of the participating public, bravely voicing their support for social welfare and taking to the streets for impartiality and justice. It was an intensely tight election, and after the opposition party claimed victory, a clamor about the government coup was repeated continuously and the news was whispered about everywhere, to the point that the mission almost could not return home. It was discovered on this trip that even though the education the Cambodian people receive is somewhat limited in scope, they participate with enthusiasm, giving the mission members a real lesson in “civic participation.”

The eyes of each student are imprinted in the minds of the mission members. With the writing of Chinese characters by the children, and the sentences they recited in class, and because of an environment that fails to provide a complete education, one can get a sense that the kids do their best attitude when studying, which helped the mission members to understand how education can bring change into the lives of children. When the members were leaving, the reddened eyes of the children revealed both their hopes and their dismay, saying to the members, “Older brothers and sisters, are you coming back next year?” As the car slowly took off, the kids were hanging on to the hands of the members through the open windows. Although Taiwan and Cambodia are separated by some distance, the mission members were profoundly impressed by such genuine, simple, untarnished feelings. The blue sky, white clouds, green trees, red clay, gray stones and black skin are the colors of Cambodia, and they will remain in the minds of the mission members forever.

SDGs

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