The July 9th post is brought to you by students Elly and Margaret.

These past few days have been very busy! We’ve visited several NGOs, including Cambodia Children’s Trust (CCT), which works towards the eradication of fraudulent orphanages that traffic children (80% of whom aren’t even real orphans) and uses them as commodities in their business models, which benefits from well-meaning, but unaware Westerners. These children are trafficked mainly from poorer areas. CCT work to support and protect the family model, rather than the orphanages themselves, by providing resources for the families of the children including healthcare, supplementary school, and recreational activities. We visited the Sports and Activities Center in Battambang, where the children are enriched through programs including computer skills, internet safety, and a small garden which provides fresh produce for their social enterprise restaurant Jaan Bai (where we have enjoyed a few delicious meals).

Our days in Battambang have been filled with a lot of art. One of our highlights was meeting and visiting with local artist, Marine Ky, a Chinese-Cambodian who managed to escape Cambodia before Lon Nol’s coup d’etat in 1970, and has since traveled and lived throughout the world and has pursued a focused education of visual arts. She’s recently returned to Cambodia and used her art as a platform to cultivate peace and compassion here. The first time we met her, we participated in a workshop in her studio, led by herself and her two friends, Penn and Jef, who introduced us to a medium nouveau: rice flour! There were no directions, so we played and created art with the flour, each of us making something entirely different. By the end, everyone was covered in flour and we finished the workshop with an open discussion about our creations and their personal meanings. Since then, we’ve visited her in her studio two more times, once for a long meditation session and that same evening, she invited us for a home-cooked dinner, where we met three new friends from Tasmania. The vegetarian meal was delicious and we ended dinner with oolong tea by candlelight and another group meditation (someone even fell asleep!). We think we can all honestly say that she was one of the most interesting and inspiring individuals that we’ve met so far on the trip! We all hope to see her again in the future…we miss you, Marine!

Yesterday, we visited Sammaki, Battambang’s first art gallery where local and international artists are able to share their work in a communal space. We spoke to three resident artists who are currently displaying their works. After our art intensive day, we took a 15 kilometer tuk tuk ride to the famous bat caves of Battambang, where the tragedy of the recent genocide still haunts the mountain with remaining human skulls and bones displayed in glass boxes in the location of their deaths. This was a very moving experience. Just as the sun was setting we were treated to the sight of thousands of bats in the exodus in search of their nightly meals.

From Instagram to international gallery showings, Cambodian artists are reaching new heights in their work and celebrity. Schools/programs like the Phare Arts School are a significant part of the future of Cambodian art: encouraging young people and providing them the space, time, and resources for artistic discovery. Today we returned to the Phare, after experiencing one of their senior circus troupe shows which was filled with acrobatics, theatre, and impossible tricks. We’re currently sitting at the Phare cafe during our break between workshops. We had a visual arts workshop this morning and we’ll have our circus workshop this afternoon, followed by music. The weather today is overcast and a bit drizzly, but we won’t let that deter us from trying new things and enjoying the rest of our time in Battambang for what it truly has to offer!

– Elly and Margaret