Best of this Blog – Savong’s School

It is hard to write about an NGO in Cambodia without, in the end, writing about the people.

One thing about writing a blog – your carefully crafted copy gets discarded mighty quickly. Currency is King. Yet for various reasons some stories have longevity – they hit some button with our readers, or they come up quite often in Google Search.  A few of these stories are simply personal favourites of mine because they reflect the texture and complexity of being involved daily with an NGO in Cambodia – Savong’s School.

So get ready to click. Here are a few favourites in no particular order.

1. Click here. A case of village justice.
2. Click here. The boy who was nearly sold.
3. Click here. Hello K-Pop Princess – goodby old faithful Water Buffalo
4. Click here. Education under the Khmer Rouge. Pol Pot’s new order in the classroom.
5. Click here. The Electric Village – a reflection on the arrival of electricity to our village of Bakong.
6. Click here. A guide for volunteer tourists – an ethical compass.
7. Click here. The hanging-tree. A sudden memory.
8. Click here. The happy/sad punchline to a pair of maimed feet.
9. Click here. A journey through time to Kampong Kdei.
10. Click here. Listen: a clue to social standing and subtle put-downs in Cambodia.
11. Click here. Here come the Thais. How World War 2 deeply affected Siem Reap.
12. Click here. And here’s a Cambodian folk tale featuring the wily, wise Judge Rabbit.

Savong and the giant mystery chicken. It had me in a state of cultural confusion.

Bakong Temple – after 1000 years something new is coming to the district: electricity.