After an action packed few weeks it is hard to believe that we are coming to the end of our time in Cambodia. The retreat at Kampong Thom left us rejuvenated and ready to take on our final five days in Siem Reap.

While here we’ve partnered with Pepy, an incredible ethical tour company that encourage participants to engage deeply with, and immerse themselves in, the local culture in order to learn more about responsible giving, sustainable travel and the issues facing development programs around the world. Chor, a local Khmer man with great energy and passion, and Yut, who was a monk for 15 years, are our guides for the week.

We were keen to start our time in Siem Reap by exploring Cambodia’s ancient Angkor era. We visited three temples, Ta Prohm (where Tomb Raider was filmed, for all you Angela Jolie buffs out there), Bayon and Angkor Wat. Angkor Wat was absolutely breathtaking and lived up to the hype despite the troves of tourists. This relic has definitely stood the test of time, being used as a place of worship for Hindus and Buddhists, surviving lootings, rediscovery by the French, a training camp for women during the Khmer Rouge and now being one of the biggest tourist destinations in South East Asia.

The following day, and nursing some minor bicycle related injuries (read: sore butts) Chor lead us to the Angkor Children’s hospital. This NGO hospital, funded by Friends Without A Border, takes a holistic approach to pediatric care, providing Siem Reap’s poorest children with free treatment and education. While in the hospital the child’s family receives a food package and have access to a communal kitchen and a veggie garden. After learning about the hospital and it’s great work we were given the opportunity to give blood, with a number of OGCers choosing to donate. While in the waiting room and capitalising on the free internet we stumbled upon this gem: http://www.seacaptaindate.com/index.html.

One of Pepy’s philosophies is to educate participants on the complexities of ethical tourism. Over the last few days we have had some interesting conversations with Chor, Yut and the group regarding this topic. It has been interesting to learn more about the many ethical implications of “voluntourism” and how best to sustainably support Cambodia’s street children. Yesterday we got off to an early start with a boat trip to the floating village of Prek Toal on the Tonle Sap. It was amazing to see the communities whose lifestyle is completely determined by the lake and learn about important conservation work being done by the Sam Vesna Company and the Wilderness Conservation Society.

Stay tuned for a video blog about the amazing landmine museum that we visited today. Signing out on our second last night in Cambodia.

As Ali’s 21st birthday present, today we met with the UN. No really. We entered the building with a sense of trepidation. While the UN runs amazing projects, we weren’t sure if we could survive 2 hours of back-to-back acronyms that could overpower even the most seasoned OT veterans. However, we were super impressed with how genuinely engaging the meeting was and how mutually excited both parties were. Rather than roping an intern into dumping facts on us, we met with the Cambodia Coordinator, the head of the Youth Advisory Panel and staff members from UNDP, UNESCO and UNHCR (see what we mean about the acronyms?). They were quite upfront about the struggles in achieving some MDGs, in particular 1, 5 and 7 (extreme poverty, maternal health and environmental sustainability). At the same time though, they shared some of the innovative initiatives that have started in Cambodia. One of the standouts was the Youth Advisory Panel, the first of its kind in the world. The Panel is made up of young leaders who work with the UN and government to ensure that the youth are heard.

Young Cambodians are typically very reluctant to participate in civil society. The OGC team has been discussing this issue for the past few days, and the UN added some interesting insights into the mix. According to a recent study, 80% of young people (15-24 years old) don’t know what democracy is, and 60% can’t explain what parliament does. Lack of basic education is compounded by a lack of positive role models who are engaged in civil society. The statistics seem pretty scary, but do we know how many Australians would actually be able to answer these questions?

To tackle this massive issue, UNDP has just launched a brand new campaign called Loy9, which had us all in raptures. The UN staff were in fact a little taken aback by just how excited we were. Loy is a Khmer word for “cool” or “hip” (although we were assured it IS actually a lot cooler than “hip”), and 9 is a lucky number. The “Loy9″ campaign is the epitome of Cambodian coolness! They use mass media to reach out to the 5 million young people across the country to encourage participation in civil society, particularly in the lead up to elections. Through TV drama, talk-back radio, internet and even tuk tuk ads, they spread simple but catchy messages that resonate with the Cambodian youth. It was incredibly exciting! Loy9 even has its own theme song, recorded by a variety of local pop culture figures including actresses, hip hop artists, and even a super smooth boy band. Only 7% of young people regularly access the Internet, so the campaign focuses heavily on TV drama and radio, rather than Facebook and YouTube. Despite this, the theme song on YouTube has over 50,000 views (in just 3 weeks), showing the momentum the campaign is rapidly gaining.

“Voluntourism” is something that we speak about a lot in the development sector. But while we may debate the pros and cons in Generate, it’s not something that is discussed or critiqued in the wider community. For many people, visiting or doing short term placements in orphanages is now an expected part of travel in developing countries, even though the long-term effects of this on children is a hotly contested issue.

There is no doubt that this trend has been borne of the best intentions, as a seemingly tangible, time efficient way for tourists to make an impact on the lives of a country’s most vulnerable children. However, some people have been all to quick to capitalise on this niche market, and prioritising financial gain over children’s welfare has become alarmingly common.

According to a recent UNICEF report, even though the number of orphans in Cambodia has recently decreased, there has been a rapid spike in the number of orphanages. They estimate that more than one in four “orphans” in fact has at least one living parent. The steady influx of tourist dollars to orphanages convince poverty-stricken parents that their children are better off in an orphanage than in the family home, despite the many risks associated with the institutionalising of children. Furthermore, some orphanages have been known to keep living standards deliberately low so that bedraggled children continue to tug the heartstrings and hip-pockets of well-meaning foreigners. This is a really thought-provoking debate, for more info check out this article.

It’s been really interesting to see how the incredible and innovative campaign, Think ChildSafe, is tackling this issue in Cambodia. It provides practical advice on the best ways to support and protect street children. It’s inspiring to see that this initiative has united the Cambodian government, local and expat communities and NGOs. The eye-catching posters are scattered throughout Phnom Penh – on the sides of tuk tuks and buses, on billboards and magazines and even on the back of toilet doors (a handy trick to keep in mind for LBL!). The slogan “Children are not tourist attractions” really hit home for us, and has sparked lots of conversations with NGOs and local Cambodians alike.

For the first time, children from the rural province of Kampong Cham will have free access to a high quality education previously reserved for the wealthy elite of Cambodia. The classrooms will not only have electricity for the first time, but also computer labs that will connect students to the rest of the world.

A classroom from the Provincial Teacher Training College Demonstration School yet to be renovated. Construction has begun on the school in which skylights, computer labs and science labs will be introduced for the first time.

Scholarships will be offered to students who live far from school, and lunch will be provided for those who cannot afford their own. Teachers will be of a higher standard, as pay will be performance based, and monetary incentives will be given to those who take on extra curricular activities.

The school board will no longer be comprised solely of government officials. The board will be made up of a variety of interest groups, including local community members. The investment of the community within the schools will aid in meeting the particular needs of the community, but also foster an understanding in the value of education for youth.

Our Cambodia – Shaping School Standards project is an intentional shift away from the one size fits all model. It is an initiative that strives to set an exemplary example for other schools in Cambodia. The success of this project will prove that quality education is achievable in the developing world, and that not just education, but education of a high standard, is needed for Cambodians to compete in an increasingly globalised world.

Thanks to the fundraising efforts of The Oaktree Foundation and the work of our in-country partner Kampuchean Action for Primary Education, over 1350 students will have access to an excellent education that would be otherwise unattainable.

Isn’t it amazing what a group of dedicated young people can achieve? Now that’s aid in action!

“If you wanted to destroy a culture, where would you start? With the children”.

To read this blog please visit: http://www.livebelowtheline.com.au/community/blogs/294296/#post-569

This is a fascinating and, at times, highly controversial topic that I myself have deliberated on several times over. As Oaktree’s National Director of Overseas Projects I am responsible for overseeing the selection and monitoring of education-related projects, implemented by in-country project partners, for young people in four developing countries including Cambodia, East Timor, Papua New Guinea and South Africa.

I suppose in my mind the answer to the question put forward by the Live Below the Line participant, as well as by the film ‘Schooling the World’ lies in establishing and maintaining a balance.

The Convention on the Rights of the Child, signed not just by Western countries but by 140 countries – developing and developed- indicates that heads of state from all around the world believe, like myself, that education is the right of every child. But for me, this is where the balance needs to occur. Whilst education is a right, a Western style of education that is introduced and institutionalised into a foreign culture is not a right- certainly at times it can even be a curse as ‘Schooling the World’ suggests, particularly in respect to the way in which it can remove traces of an ancient culture in just one generation. Nevertheless, in recognising the right to education, I believe children have the right to access an understanding of a number of basic skills that will enable them to meet the needs that apply to all human beings in later life, such as attaining knowledge in hygiene and sanitation, sexual health and literacy.

Beyond the provision of these basic skills, it is my opinion that education should be shaped and developed by the national and sometimes even the regional or the community culture to meet the needs that the community themselves desire. For example, the teacher training project in PNG that Oaktree funds has allowed for a school that had been closed for 15 years to re-open: something that the community themselves expressly wanted.

However, in funding this project, Oaktree considered the impact of a Western style education on the children who live in the remote village of Yangis in the Highlands of PNG. For this reason, among others, we decided that in funding this project our focus would be on training community members from Yangis to leave the village for a period of time to attain a university degree in education from a national university, before returning to their village to teach children from their community.

I suppose this is one example of trying to achieve that balance- whilst the youth in Yangis will grow up with skills that may increase their quality of life and their life expectancy (through awareness of hygiene, sanitation, germ theory, sexual health etc), simultaneously we hope that by studying in an environment where the way of life remains much the same today as it did 20 or 200 years ago and by learning and gaining wisdom from teachers who are from their own community, their culture will not be damaged by the introduction of education.

A couple of years ago we wrote a story about Augusto, a beneficiary of the Youth Livelihoods project in Aileu District, which detailed his background before the commencement of the project. In October last year, I revisited Augusto and checked in with how he and his group, Lubandu (Without Restrictions), were going.

Augusto, 30 supports his wife and four children with the proceeds from his chicken farming business, a beneficiary of the East Timor - Youth Livelihoods project.

Augusto’s group is based in a small aldeia (village) just outside Aileu town. The Lubandu group, which consists of one woman and five men, focuses on raising and selling chickens and their eggs. According to the first case study, they were just about to start the training that would help them structure the group, “enabling them to establish group rules that would determine roles and responsibilities within the group and details on how to share profits”. It was reported that they were in the process of receiving training from Plan and the Ministry of Agriculture, which “enabled them to improve their traditional methods of raising chickens”. Furthermore, “the group had completed construction of the chicken house and the chickens had been living there”.

Well, I have some positive news to update you all on from our visit last year. Lubandu group began the business in May last year. They have impressively now started to sell their chickens, taking a gamble which in the end paid off. The group adopted a business strategy of holding on to the chickens until they were of a ‘large’ size. Although this risked the chickens contracting a fatal eye disease that wipes out a significant number of chickens each year, it ultimately paid dividends. Once the chickens reached the ‘large’ size, the group successfully sold five for a return of $USD 25 – an impressive first sale! In their reserve, the Lubandu group has 23 adult chickens remaining and a number of baby chicks still to reach maturity.

Augusto and the Lubandu group are now planning to expand their business to take on horticulture farming, once they have consolidated chicken farming. The big block of land that the business is set on would be ideal for running a horticulture plantation. On Oaktree’s recent monitoring trip, we were told that the group wants to run both businesses at the same time so that they complement each other. An ingenious plan! The chickens will fertilise the vegetable and fruit patches while some of the vegetables and fruits can go to feeding the chickens, saving on the cost of chicken feed.

The Oaktree Foundation wishes the Lubandu group and all our other beneficiaries all the very best as the East Timor – Youth Livelihoods project comes to an end in July. Augusto’s story fills us with much hope of things to come.

HIV Awareness Program Participants

According to WHO, in 2009 in South Africa, an estimated 5,600,000 people were living with HIV, making up approximately 17.9% of the population. 330,000 of those carrying HIV are children under 15 years old. These are some sobering statistics revealing the scale of the HIV epidemic.

In April last year, the South African government launched a Voluntary HIV Counselling and Testing program (VCT), aiming to test 15 million South Africans by April this year. In February this year, a policy was developed to introduce school based HIV testing. Controversial.

On paper, VCT is an effective HIV diagnosis and early treatment initiative. What about the other implications of the testing? The program involves testing children as young as 12 for a life threatening infection. Do young people want to know their HIV status? Are children psychologically prepared to deal with an HIV positive diagnosis? What about the social implications of being HIV positive?

HIV carries strong social stigma. It is a life threatening condition, often associated with negative behaviours (prostitution, drug use, promiscuity) and often thought of as the result of a moral fault. People are afraid of contagion, afraid of those carrying the virus. Those living with HIV can be seen as shameful and can be marginalised by their community. Being HIV positive may mean facing a future as a social outcast. Under these social conditions, voluntary school based testing will not work to its full potential. Some may not want to know their HIV status, preferring to ignore a potential positive diagnosis and the associated social burden. Some may not be ready to face the psychological effects of being diagnosed as HIV positive. Imagine being told you have a life threatening, transmittable, stigmatised condition.

School based HIV testing will only be effective if the stigma surrounding HIV is addressed.

The Oaktree Foundation’s HIV/AIDS Awareness project in South Africa educates youth on the reality of HIV/AIDS, giving them the leadership tools to share their knowledge with their community. Making HIV testing effective by fighting social stigma starts here, with young people supporting each other in an informed way.

In Australia, it is mandatory that schools implement wheel chair ramps or elevators. There are special programs and schools for children with learning and mental disabilities. Having a disability in Cambodia however, often means little to no access to education and support. The infrastructure is not in place for children with special needs, and so they are frequently marginalised.

If you live more than 10km from school or uni, you likely take a car, a bus, a train, or even a bike to get there. In Cambodia, these essential modes of transport and infrastructure are poor or simply do not exist in rural areas. Few people can afford a bus fare, or afford to own a bike let alone a car. As a result, children walk great distances or simply have no way of travelling to school.

With the unseasonal rainy summer we experienced here in Melbourne this year, we managed to still go about our daily lives. Some of our roads flooded, but within hours they were usually cleared. In Cambodia, the rainy season can mean daily sharp bursts of rain that can cause great degradation to unsealed roads that are poorly maintained. For children who are already travelling great distances by foot or other means, the weather can present great obstacles.

Having a disability, living far from school, or poor weather does not typically prevent Australian children from receiving an education. Yet these three seemingly surmountable obstacles can mean the difference between a future of skills and opportunity, or ignorance and poverty for children in Cambodia.

At Oaktree, we believe that education is the key to ending extreme poverty. And we believe that young people are best able to assist young people in the developing world. Which is why I am so excited to be taking on the role as Cambodia Country Manager, as we partner with Kampuchean Action for Primary Education to fund radically improved education opportunities for young people in Cambodia.

Whilst the educational needs in Cambodia are varied and great, the future can be bright for a nation of young people with the right educational opportunities.

- Steph Moroney, incoming Cambodia Country Manager

It was a fantastic feeling to finally step foot in PNG, after months of research and planning.  Before we had much time for it to sink in, though, we were driving to our first meeting. Staying in Port Moresby for nine out of the twelve days, we grew to understand a little of what it would be like for the people living there and to see just why Oaktree’s help might be beneficial.  We also conformed to the local habit of eating two-minute noodles for several of our meals (inflation of the economy has made living costs in urban areas too expensive for most people, including humble Oaktree volunteers).

As well as our abundance of meetings in Port Moresby, which above all taught us the importance of shaking the hand of every new person one meets in PNG, we also included a trip out to Mt. Hagen and Yangis to meet with Oaktree’s partner organisation in PNG, the Baptist Union of Papua New Guinea (BUPNG), and conduct monitoring and evaluation of the current project.

The flight to Yangis is an experience in itself.  We flew in a tiny five-seater light aircraft, through massive mountain ranges and over amazingly green landscapes and little rural villages.  For the first time I fully understood the extreme isolation of Yangis and other such remote places; sitting on the top of a mountain in the Eastern Highlands of Enga Province, Yangis seems like a tiny spot of human life amongst a massive stretch of nothing but jungle.  The realisation that we were in the middle of nowhere, completely reliant on that same plane returning the following day to take us away again, drove home the complete and utter isolation of Yangis.

After landing, shaking everyone’s hand and then stowing our packs in the closest secure grass hut, we walked to the Yangis Community School with an entourage of about thirty people.  The school buildings are standing, but are somewhat dishevelled and bare.  Children sit on the dirt ground in bush classrooms built by community members, or on wooden floorboards in the main buildings.  They have no books, writing materials, desks, learning posters or even decent blackboards.  It really hit home how much still needs to be done for this community in order to provide them with a fully functioning, quality educational institution.

Our one night’s stay in Yangis involved attending a community meeting, a jungle walk, eating the staple meal of two-minute noodles and boiled unripe bananas, and sleeping on the floor of a hut made from bush materials.  An amazing experience, even with the long hours during the night in which I huddled shivering in the foetal position, terrified of the giant rats scuttling around me.

The next morning, after shaking everyone’s hand goodbye, we flew away from Yangis with the knowledge that even though there is so much work still to be done there, Oaktree and BUPNG are committed to this community.  We have made the first, crucial step in beginning work there and training teachers for the school; now we are ready to see them provide quality education for generations of children to come.

We left Papua New Guinea with a greater understanding of not only the major needs and issues the people there face, but also of how Oaktree can better work with local partners to address these needs and make a real and lasting impact.  I for one am so excited about the future of Oaktree’s work in PNG, and I can’t wait to see what we can achieve.  However, I may never eat two-minute noodles again.

On 1 February Oaktree committed to a new, exciting development project in East Timor. Signing on to this project means a whole different direction for Oaktree’s overseas development aid, previously or currently. As always when taking on new things, there is an element of risk: in this case, the risk is that Oaktree supporters and volunteers won’t see the significance or importance of such a program in East Timor. Therefore, I thought it necessary to take this opportunity to formally introduce and discuss – drum-roll, please – the Youth Empowerment Peace Building program.

Let me begin by talking about this project from an interesting perspective that will help you to understand its practical implications in East Timor. I want to start by discussing what this new project does not directly target.

The project does not directly target the disturbingly high percentage of poverty in East Timor; it will not directly address the severe dearth of employment and income-generation opportunities, or even the struggling education system; moreover, it does not directly curb the many devastating health problems that confront Timorese mothers and children; finally, it does not work to directly resolve political tensions leading up to general election in 2012.

(I must clarify at this point that I do not intend to highlight the above to inadvertently point out the project’s deficiencies or short-comings; quite the opposite in fact, as you will see, I raise these to highlight the holistic, all-encompassing nature of the Youth Empowerment Peace Building program.)

The following is what the Youth Empowerment Peace Building project will successfully accomplish. Unlike any other project supported by Oaktree, Ba Futuru’s Youth Empowerment Peace Building program will tackle the one potential risk that would deem all of the above development benchmarks insignificant, if it were to break out on a widespread scale – incidentally which many forecasts have warned of [Muggah 2010 Urban Violence]. I refer, of course, to inter-personal and inter-communal violence in East Timor.

This is sentiment is succinctly summed up by AusAID, which clearly states that Violence militates against economic growth, erodes gains made in governance and undermines public confidence in state security forces and the credibility of law-makers. Displaced populations [due to violence] create new pressures on marginal lands, health systems and governance systems.

East Timor is no exception to this rule. From 2006 to 2007 East Timor descended into widespread inter-communal violence that effectively paralysed the country. According to some estimates, 30% of the population – 300,000 Timorese – were displaced, many of whom ended up in temporary displacement camps. Moreover, 6,000 houses were destroyed nationally, and lasting social rifts was created between neighbourhoods, districts and regions that the nation is still struggling to resolve.

Ba Futuru and the Youth Empowerment Peace Building program with Oaktree’s support, will contribute to efforts to ensure such events don’t occur again. The program will provide 600 ‘at-risk’ youth in four communities around Dili with conflict mitigation skills, including personal development and confidence building, and human rights education, using Ba Futuru’s Transformative Arts and Human Rights Education (TAHRE) curriculum. Upon completing the program, the beneficiaries will hold the desire, and indeed have ability, to prevent and resolve violence using peaceful and nonviolent means.

With the general elections looming in 2012, such a development issue has great precedence in East Timor currently. East Timor can’t afford a repeat.

For any further information regarding the program please don’t hesitate to contact myself at p.tobias@theoaktree.org

Paddy Tobias

East Timor Country Manager