Every summer, PSE warmly opens its doors to European volunteers. New ones, selected in the 2018 recruitment process and veterans from last year who form the Welcome Committee. They are in charge of welcoming, guiding and informing new volunteers from the moment they arrive in Phnom Penh to the start of training week a few days later.
Their work and effort is not only valued but it is vital for a smooth transition and an organised schedule before training week. These first few days include meeting the other monitors, cultural trips to Phnom Penh and most importantly, they allow the new monitors to adjust to the time difference, climate and the PSE environment.
PSE throughout the year
The PSE Centre is a school throughout the year and during the summer transforms into the setting for the school continuity programme. A small number of students in vocational training however, remain at the centre throughout summer to work in the Lotus restaurant of PSE and the others who remain mainly have internships.
PSE offers so many opportunities for Cambodian youth, all of which not only change their lives for the better (and their families’ lives) but completely transform their future prospects. For a Child’s Smile offers education from a young age until maturity and vocational training. They provide food and care for families, protection as well as housing for those in need and give their ultimate support to families through rice distribution and short training courses to give more autonomy to each family.
Life at PSE
When entering the PSE Centre, you see all these buildings: classrooms, a big canteen, a restaurant, guards working, children running around and a lot of outdoor spaces. The environment feels like a home, one that brings happiness to children in need, and all those who are part of it.
“They have suffered so much. You can’t even imagine what these girls have been through”
Luis, coordinator of summer continuity programmes
Central PSE often astonishes first-time visitors due to its big size and numerous work spaces. The ‘Pensionnaires’ are an active part of that space. They are students and residents of PSE who have been taken in by the NGO after the Social Team established their living situation to be too dangerous or impoverished. Up till the age of sixteen, the pensionaries live at the centre, after which they become ‘Internat’, the French name given to describe PSE residents over the age of sixteen.
During the summer continuity programme, volunteers will live alongside the pensionnaires but sleep in different buildings: the J building and the D building, a nickname used between monitors. These living spaces are in reality used as regular classrooms throughout the year. Although sleeping separately to Pensionnaires and Internat, you get to spend time with them after a long day at your camp.
Discovering the surroundings of PSE
Amongst the planned outings during the first days, there is a very special one that takes them to a surrounding village, Preak Takong; home for a few PSE children and their families. A number of volunteers even visit the closest dumpsite where some of those families still work.
Members of the PSE Social team lead this unique guide along the dirt road; a rare experience where everyone can listen to firsthand stories about the precarious conditions in which these families live and learn about the reasons why their situation is so hard to improve.
“The PSE doctor visits this village once a week”,
Sineth, part of the Social Team
The Social team’s main objective is to make sure the kids go to school and to improve their living situation. As an effect of their incredible work and dedication to social care for Cambodian families, the social team is warmly welcomed. PSE volunteers are also kindly received: all you need to do is send a smile and a wave to a child or his family and you receive a lot of laughter and kindness in return. In Preak Takong Village, for instance, Sineth greets and smiles to a couple of teen girls who say hi to some volunteers in English. “They are PSE students”, Sineth proudly remarks.
Excitement, effort and a common goal
During the first days of Summer Camp, volunteers get the chance to reconnect with the reasons they chose to do a project like PSE. Everything started in 1995, thanks to the strenght and good will of Christian, who sadly passed away last year, and Marie-France des Pallières, who introduced herself to the volunteers during the first meeting and answered questions. She talked about the evolution of PSE since the NGO’s creation, as well as its future. That discussion took place right after everyone watched “Les Pepites”, a documentary narrating the incredible story of PSE and its heroes up till 2016.
“Behind each kid there is a sad and tough story. All of them deserve our love and support equally” Marisa Caprile
During these days, coordinators and Marisa Caprile, President of PSE Spain kept on asking volunteers not to lose perspective and to remember the reasons why they came. This programme was created to extend PSE activities for kids in need so they would avoid working and be provided with a safe and educational environment throughout the holidays.
In the end, PSE’s work aims at giving these kids a better future, and is doing an incredible job so far!