MaD :: Cambodian charity/NGO in Siem Reap

My experience teaching English

The english program is one of the most unique programs that MaD has to offer. The experience is different for every person who comes to volunteer depending on their age, their background and what what community kids decide to show up for class. A new teacher can put their own creative spin on the class and guide the kids into different learning pools depending on their passions and the reactions of the students to different teaching styles and materials. So as I said, everyones experience is going to be different. My teaching has been full of trail and error and trying to use my creativity to keep the class interesting and fun for the kids who attend.

Operation Time!

Each day Dave, our current medical volunteer, comes back from one of our clinics he usually has an interesting anecdote to tell a group of enthused listeners back at the MaD House. However, today we had a particularly good story that we all felt was worthy of a diary entry!

Two or three weeks ago our medics had been set up at a village clinic and had been visited by a woman who came to see us about a growth on her neck. Dave examined the growth and, after asking a few questions, determined that it was most definitely cancerous and was growing at an alarming rate. He was very straight with the woman, telling her that she had to go to the hospital to get this removed otherwise it would kill her. The woman seemed alarmed at Dave’s diagnosis: she seemed to believe that she was just going to get a couple of pills that would make it go away, not that a pesky lump on her neck could become so serious that it would be life threatening! Nevertheless, she appeared to take his warning to heart and left, Dave and Vinh thought, to promptly go to hospital and get the cancer taken care of.

A painful decision

MaD House Abandoned - We are being forced out of our HQ in Bakong Life in Cambodia is incredible. We have reasonably good weather most of the time, when we are not in a drought or flooded. It is relatively safe and the cost of living for most expats is cheap!

Living without the little luxuries of life back home, is not such an issue. Cold water showers, dust and litter everywhere, insane drivers, nonexistent traffic rules, chaos and more are things, which eventually become the norm.

Wrestling with pigs...

I learned long ago never to wrestle with a pig. You get dirty, and besides, the pig likes it.

This is certainly very true...

In Cambodia pigs are very important - as a source of income - they can have several piglets with each litter which when reared can be sold for a generous profit.

Pork is the nationally preferred meat so their added value is as a food source be it sold, slaughtered and then served up in a local market or eaten for festivals and special celebrations is another use for the pig.

MaD's Organic Farm becomes an Edinburgh University Biochar Experimental Farm

MaD Organic Farm is proud to have been selected by Dr. Simon Shackley of the UK Biochar Research Centre, University of Edinburgh.

This 12 month project funded through the Asia Pacific Network (APN) includes partners from four countries, and it is led by the Appropriate Rural Technology Institute (ARTI) in India. Other partners are International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), SME Cambodia and the University of Edinburgh. This original research will look at the possible agronomic benefits, which the addition of biochar can have to agricultural systems in South Asia. Biochar's carbon storage properties also make this project useful to address the issue of CO2 reductions for the Asia Pacific region, and will also provide sustainability and social benefits. Biochar production SME Cambodia is an NGO with a sister company SME Renewable Energy Ltd and will provide the biochar for use in the trials.

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