The Hope Villages team arrived at Phnom Penh on 5 December. As a first timer, I was filled with intrigue and a yearning to discover a world outside of what I was accustomed to.

Early morning, on 6 December 2012, we set out on our journey to Phum Trea. The road leading to Kampong Cham was under heavy construction and our 200 km journey was at snail’s pace. I enjoyed the ferry ride across the Mekong River to reach Phum Trea, a small fishing village on an island in the Mekong River.

Following our arrival and traditional lunch at the home of Naseat Ahmad, the village school teacher, we went to our Hope Centre, a rented house from which Hope Villages operate its educational programmes. There were about 200 young students eagerly awaiting our arrival. The students had prepared multiple presentations to illustrate their English learning abilities. The presentations included the children singing songs, reciting plays, illustrating their reading skills, and performing dances. The enthusiasm, joy, and appreciation shown by the children were a sight to behold. After the presentations, we handed out donations such as stationary items, and apples to the students. More apples were further handed out through competition hosted by Rohin who gave them quizzes on English language.

Hope Centre was formed approximately five years ago to teach English to the children of Phum Trea, a non-English speaking community. It was remarkable to witness the amount and sophistication of English learnt by the students. Their ability to clearly pronounce and spell words highlighted the major achievement of Hope Centre over the five years.

Moreover, Naseat was the first English teacher in the community, and in five years he has succeeded in training former students to assist him in teaching English to the next generation of children. Currently, there are four such teachers. We, especially Rohin, were reluctant to say goodbye to the enthusiastic students when we had to leave Phum Trea to catch the last ferry to cross the Mekong River.