Interview with CIMA

I didn't really keep up to date with this blog, but when I got back CIMA interviewed me about the trip.

You can read some or watch the interview here:

http://tinyurl.com/5sb92g7

Already into week 2

This is gonna be over before I know it.

There's a fair bit I'd like to do at All Ears but I think the reality is I ain't gonna have the time. It's taken me quite a while to get my head round what the previous volunteers had done, the current situation and priorities, and the small matter of how you're suuposed to do accounts for charities/ngos which I've never done before, in a country I've never been to before..

I turn up at All Ears each morning to be greeted by a gaggle of children waiting to have their ears seen to, which always puts a smile on my face. I escape the heat into the airconditioned interior to commence the daily spreadsheet battle.

Glyn, the Director, briefed me on All Ears in general and the work they do. Good work it is too, and I was impressed at the budget ear mould (for hearing aids) manufacturing process they have in the kitchen, where they can be made at a fraction of the cost that the NHS spends on them but almost as good quality.

Outside of work...

I arrived on New Years eve, to a ready made party in the backpackers hostel. Conquering jet lag was tough.. I struggle at home if I have to get up half an hour earlier let alone 7 hours early. And my pre-booked room in the hostel was right next to the bar which stays open into the samll hours (both sleep and snow were fast becoming vague and distant memories)... A cool rooftop bar though complete with s shabby guitar with all 6 strings intact :)

As well as the transient backpackers I hooked up with some expat residents of Phnom Penh through a friend from uni. I've been made to feel very welcome and been out to dinners, drinks, bowling, dodgems, clubs.. not entirely sure how Cambodian this is but it certainly seems like somewhere you could happily live for a while. I did eat some ants though and saw some monkeys which I don't do every day in the UK..

Otherwise it is very hot, the Cambodians are very friendly and apart from the insistent Moto and Tuk Tuk drivers I have experienced very little in the way of hassle from anyone, so no beggar fatigue :)

Preliminaries...

So I'm in Cambodia. I'm spending 4 weeks volunteering with All Ears Cambodia (a charity supporting deaf and hard of hearing people in Cambodia). After this I'll have another 2 weeks to see the country. The volunteering was arranged by Accounting for International Development (AfID), and I hoping to make use of my accounting knowledge and experience to help build the financial capabilities of All Ears.

Why am I doing this? Well, in part it is to push my own boundaries, cut myself off from all the attachments and comforts of my life in the UK, and to experience new things, places, and people. And of course I was also hoping to be of service to others, to make a difference to those who are in greater need than I.

Just before I left a friend asked me what I hoped to achieve during my trip. My goals were quite modest: to survive and return home, and to be of some use to All Ears. My main concerns about going away were mainly to do with whether I actually knew enough to be of use - and perhaps beggar fatigue which I had experienced quite heavily on a recent trip to Africa..