Volunteer Workshop Activities

Volunteer Workshop Activities

Workshops provided to volunteers in spare time (activities)

• Cooking Khmer cuisine class
Volunteers are able to not only touch up on their own personal skills in the kitchen but can mingle with the locals as they teach you how to cook up a delicious dish.
You will learn new cooking skills that you’re able to take back home and show off to your family and friends. Learn the special techniques and recipes to cook up a storm and get your taste buds watering.

• Touring the city of Phnom Penh
Volunteers in their spare time are able to also travel around the city, sight seeing and visiting restaurants around Phnom Penh. You can also visit the city during the night where the city lights up, and seems like the city never sleeps.
• Shopping and bargain hunting
Are you a bargain hunter? Or simply just love shopping? Well all YCSCO volunteers will be able to go on bargain hunts with locals, to shop for the best product and price. Volunteers will be able to ensure that they take home special souvenirs to share with their friends and family.


• Handicrafts arts
Cambodian handicrafts are extremely beautiful and what makes it more valuable is the time and effort put into the making such handicrafts. Volunteers are able to visit the locals at home who design and make the crafts those selves. As well as be taught how to make Cambodian handicrafts. So that volunteers are not only able to personally develop their own skills but also gives them time to understand the culture, the people and learn to love the country.

• Khmer traditional dances and music
Love to get physical? Love to dance? Love music and want to have fun?? Well we have special deal for all volunteers, volunteers are able to not only watch the performance of Khmer traditional dances but also be taught how to dance Cambodian style. Learn to dance and have fun with the children and locals who greet you with open arms and a sweet smile.

Each of these activities is only a sample of the possibilities that we can offer our volunteers, as all volunteers are extremely important to our Cambodian street children organization, with out your support we will not be able to help build a future for Khmer children.

Cambodian Holidays and festivals

Cambodian Holidays and festivals

Cambodia has a wealth of traditional and international festivals. Most of these are a time of great rejoicing for the predominantly rural populace, many of whom flock to the capital to join in the celebrations and witness the organized fireworks displays that accompany the festivals. It is at these times the nation unites with a shared common understanding of values and traditions and they are looked forward to with great expectation. Even in times of hardship, people try even harder to make these times special. All the traditional festivals are influenced by the concepts of Buddhism, Hinduism and royal cultures. The following are the most important of the celebrations organized throughout the year.

Water festival (October or November)
One of the largest festivals of Cambodia revolves around the Tonle Sap. The three-day Water festival of the reversal of the waters of the Great Lake is celebrated in October or November depending on when the waters reverse and flow back into the Mekong River. Boat races, the largest part of the festival, are held at the capital, Phnom Penh. Each village has the opportunity to join in the boat races and usually they do. The boats are usually dugout canoes with a prow and stern that curve upward. The boats are elaborately decorated and carved to represent the village. The prow is painted with a large eye like those that decorated the war vessels of ancient times.

A boat can have as many as 40 rowers. Pairs of boats race each other for the first two days. A race including all the canoes takes place on the last day of the festival. The purpose of this race is to make the god of the river happy so that there will be many fish and the rice crop will be plentiful. The Water festival, while celebrating the reversal of the waters, also marks the beginning of the year's fishing season.

Up to a million people from all walks of life and from all over the country flock to the banks of the Tonle Sap to watch the boat races and to celebrate the Tonle Sap. With the city filled to full capacity at this time, it is no surprise that it takes on a carnival air and feeling felt by everyone. Live concerts are held, food stands are set up, and children and adults alike take rides on ferris wheels to celebrate the joy; at night, fireworks light up the sky and people dance in the street. People from the countryside throughout Cambodia come to the festival, many traveling down the three rivers that run through the city. Some come to race their long, hand-carved boats. Others come to see the three days of boat races and take part in the festivities or to take advantage of the many things for sale.

Pchum Ben (September)
This is the most culturally and religiously significant event of the year and is celebrated in September. This festival of souls concentrates on blessing the souls of ancestors, relatives, and friends who have passed away. All Buddhist temples, especially Wat Phnom, are the focal points for this festival and most Cambodians visit the temples to make traditional offerings and pray.

King Sihanouk's Birthday Celebration (October 31)
This celebration revering the country's influential king take place in late October or early November. People from all over the country come to the capital to join in celebrations and festivities held throughout the capital. Often the King's birthday and Water festivals coincide resulting in a mammoths celebration in front of the Royal Palace and along the riverfront. Provincial villagers who would ordinarily have no reason to visit Phnom Penh will save up and make this occasion their sole visit to the capital.

Khmer New Year's Day (Mid April)
Celebrated at the same time as the Thai New Year all over the country, this festival marks the turn of the year based on the ancient Khmer calendar and also marks the end of the harvest done during the year. Cambodians decorate their homes to please the Heaven God and many people can be seen on the streets armed with small bags of water and water pistols to bless people passing by. This festival is one of the happiest times of the year with joyous smiling faces everywhere you turn. Cambodians do recognize International New Year on 1 January.

The first day of New Year is called as Moha Sangkran, and it can be described simply as the inauguration of the New Angels who come to take care the world for a one-year period. The leader of Angels is named KimiteaTevi. People need to clean and decorate the house and also prepare fruits and drinks for the New Year inauguration and to welcome the New Angels at every single home. Elderly people like to meditate or pray the Dharma at that time because they believe that any angel who comes to their houses at that time will stay with them and take care of their family for the whole year.

Actually, in the morning at the first day of New Year, most Khmer people prepare food to offer the monks at Khmer temple to get blessed. It is a great time for boys and girls to play traditional games together at the temple or any field or playground in their village because it is only at the New Year time that boys and girls are allowed to play or to get together. In addition, it is a wonderful time for single people to search for the special partner to get married in the future. In the past 30 years, "Dating" did not exist in Cambodia.

The second day of New Year is called as Wanabot, which means day of offering gifts to the parents, grandparents and elders. Usually, Khmer People like to share gifts or presents to employees and donate money or clothes to poor people. In the evening, people go to temple to build a mountain of sand and ask the monks to give them a blessing of happiness and peace.

The third day is called as day of "Leung Sakk;" that means the year starts to be counted up from this day, for example the year of 2000 begins to be 2001, the year of 2543 BC becomes 2544 BC...etc. Traditionally, in the morning, we used to go to the temple to perform the ceremony of the mountain of sand to be blessed. In the evening, to complete the New Year festival, our Khmer people need to perform the last ceremony, called as "Pithi Srang Preah", which means giving a special bath or a special shower to Buddha statues, the monks, elders, parents, grand parents to apologize for any mistake we have done to them and to gratify them. Every one must have a wonderful time during this ceremony because it is a great opportunity for every one, young and old, man and woman to have much fun by spreading out water to each other.

Angkor Festival (November or December)
This festival is a showcase of performing arts with Angkor Wat as a backdrop. Performers from all over Asia attend this festival performing great epic stories from myths and legends, including the Ramayana, with their own national dance costumes and musical and rhythmic interpretations. King Sihanouk often attends when he is in residence in Siem Reap and other dignatories come to witness this wonderful spectacle.

Royal Plowing Day (May)
Cambodia has a deep connection with the Earth and farming, and there is a deep astrological belief that the Ox has an instrumental role in determining the fate of the agricultural harvest each year. Every year, in May, this cultural ceremony takes place in the large park next to the Royal Palace and in front of the National Museum. The King plays a key role in driving the Ox and depicting real plowing activities in the process of growing rice. The Ox is given a selection of foods and beverages to consume and the royal soothsayers interpret what the Ox has eaten. For this festival both men and women can be seen wearing brightly colored traditional Khmer costume.

Independence Day (November 9)
The anniversary of Cambodia's independence from France in 1953 is celebrated each year on 9 November. This important ceremony takes place at the site of the Independence Monument at the junction of Norodom and Sihanouk Boulevards. All over the city flags, adorn the shop fronts and bunting stretched over all the main thoroughfares as a sign of national pride.

Chinese New Year (January or February)
Due to the large number of people of Chinese descent who run much of Cambodia's business enterprises; and Vietnamese immigrant communities, the Chinese New Year is widely celebrated, especially in Phnom Penh. No Chinese festival would be complete without fireworks and this time of year is no exception with many wealthy families organizing their own private displays, which light up the skies for all to see.

National Day (January 7)
One of the more recent additions to the festival calendar, this day marks the end of the Khmer Rouge Regime. However for many Khmers it also marks the start of the Vietnamese regime seen as another period of foreign occupancy.

International Half Marathon (Late December)
This International Half Marathon is held at Angkor Wat and attracts competitors from all over the world. Thousands of people come to see this international event held in the spectacular setting that is Angkor.

Other Holidays and Festivals
Cambodia also celebrates other special days including: International Women's Day (8 March), International Worker's Day (1 May), Genocide Day (9 May), Vesak Bucha Day - the anniversary of the birth, enlightenment, and death of Buddha (Late May), Ploughing the Holy Furrow (Late May), Chol Vassa - Buddhist Lent (July), and International Human Rights Day (10 December

Teaching Monks

We are please to give monks the opportunity to grow and learn in the NGO.
Our volunteer staffs not only teach children and the common citizen, but educate monks whom are the country religious figure and whom we all respect.

Buddhism is the largest religion in Cambodia and the practices of being a Buddhist depends widely on monks who teach the citizen to be a good Buddhist. We have a schedule for monks to come and learn in the facility or if they cannot learn in the facility, our volunteers will go to the temple and teach to a group of monks. Monks should have the same privilege in learning English and others skills just like any commoners.

Monks age range from 12 years to lifetime. Those who become a monk since young can learn and gain the skills they will use in the future if they come out of monk hood. Since YCSCO is close to the temple, it is easier for monks and staffs to come and go.

Temple teaching

The distance from the temple and the YCSCO centre is close to each other which make it easy for the children to learn, the meaning of being a Buddhist and the Cambodian cultures. Volunteers are welcome to learn and explore the religion of Cambodia. Since many of the children are street kid, orphans, and neglected by their family, they do not understand the proper way of being a good citizen. Therefore, this result in a lack of manners and bad behavior leading some of them to be a thief, gangster, or to be in jail.

Temple teaching program is valuable to volunteers for those who want to explore new religion and how the practice of being a Buddhist. This program is offered to children and volunteers. These are the main practices they will engage in:

• Know how to pray
• Know how to celebrate the Khmer culture
• Know what is the different between each holiday
• Know the practice of each holiday
• Know the proper way of acting in temple and talking to religious figure like
monks, nuns, or elders
• And many more…

Summer camps

This is the time to expand your oversea traveling experience.The camp offers volunteer the opportunity to be a leader, to guide, and to have a great time.The summer camp program offer many things to volunteer for one month or two months.

Programs

•English teaching

The English teaching program in the summer is quite different from the regular English program.This summer program is essential for prospected teacher who want to gain his or her teaching experience, although it is open to anyone.We offers certificate after the program completion.

•Art program

Let get more fun with arts.This camp offers volunteers to express their artworks with orphans.They can do painting, ceramics, and any kind of artworks volunteer want to introduce to the children.

•Cooking

Do you have the skills in the kitchen? This camp offers volunteers to show off their cooking skills by teaching the orphans, how to cook international food and how to make cooking fun.

•Dancing

Are you a dance teacher? Would you like a change of scenery? Come and teach our orphans how to dance, hip hop, pop, classical any thing. Teach them to bust a move and groove to the music.

•Computer

Computers are becoming more well known in Cambodia, but yet we are still behind in the evolution of this technology. Do you have good computer knowledge? Please come and join us, teach the orphans how to use and programs computers

•Math’s teaching

Are you brilliant with maths? How about taking on the challenge to teach maths in Cambodia, these orphans are numeric illiterate so it would be great for you to help teach basic math’s to them.

Restoration Projects

Love building homes? Love helping the community? Love being active? Love to be involved and making friends?

Many Cambodian families live in homes that don't have adequate sanitation or safe weather protection. Volunteer work in Cambodia on this project runs alongside these families to build better homes with local, sustainable materials. You will be working with a supervised contractor. The restoration projects of YCSCO are about lending a helping hand. Volunteers can get more involved in the community by helping the citizen build or repair homes for the poor. In addition, they can help with planting and fishing.

Imagine yourself hammering a nail to a home, planting a tree to help the environment and for foods, catching a fish in the water under the hot sun with the community. It is a great way for you to interact with the Khmer people, get some exercise, and to learn more about life of the khmer culture and the native people. overall you leave behind, a home that you help to build with your own to hands.

English Teaching

English is a universal language and we are always in need of volunteer English teachers year round from beginning to advance. Our on site volunteer English teacher teaches English to children who