This was the 2nd time to hold Overseas SI Award trip in Cambodia and Thailand. At both countries, participants have visited various places to meet locals who live and those who work there. Interactions with them gave residents the opportunity to realise its good parts as well as tasks arrising and think about what they can do now for the society.
Memorable Trip in Cambodia and Thailand
When I got the message that I’m chosen as one of the WISH SI Award Awardees, I was excited and knew right away I wanted to choose SI Award trip to Cambodia and Thailand. After spending 6 days on the trip, I have to say that I didn’t regret choosing it and this trip is one of my favorite trips I had. Not only it enriches my experiences, but I also made new WISH friends through it.
We did so many social and cultural activities in Cambodia and Thailand. In Cambodia we stayed for two days and in those days we learned about Angkor Wat’s temple architecture, history, and its’ restoration. Also, we got to witness nature and history blended into one by watching the sunset and sunrise from Angkor Wat temple. On our last day, we visited and interacted with students in the Bayon Junior High School. The next day we fly to Bangkok. In Thailand we did various activities too, such as meeting Waseda Education Thailand students and Waseda’s Alumni (TOMONKAI), cruising on Bangkok’s river, visiting Ayutthaya, and visiting the United Nation Development Programme (UNDP)’s office. My favorite activities on this trip were visiting Bayon Junior High School and UNDP office.
When we arrived at Bayon Junior High School, the students and teachers greeted us warmly, the students performed Cambodian and Japanese songs while playing with their melodica. The performance was lovely. After that, they presented slide shows about their school and their daily life. One of the interesting facts that I learned about their daily life from their presentation is, they wake up early in the morning to help their parents on taking care of family-owned farm animals before they go to school. It was admirable that they are able to study and help the family at the same time. Before we divided into groups to interact more closely, the students get to write their future dreams on a poster paper that we prepared beforehand. It was fascinating to read dreams that the students wrote, the one that I liked the most is a student who wanted to earn money so she could help her family. From this experience I realized, despite students’ living conditions, they are all eager to go to school and they all have dreams they wanted to reach.
At the UNDP office, we got to meet and talk with the staff there. From the visit I learned many new things, especially regarding the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) topics. I admire the staffs’ broad knowledge, perspective, and good communication skills as they answer our questions in group discussion sessions. Also, when they were asked about what we could contribute to help achieving SDG as a member of society, a staff member answered “it is important to always think about what we want our society to be like, because our actions and decisions can determine the life of present and future generations”. I’m thankful that I got to visit UNDP office, the staff definitely inspired me a lot.
It was a memorable and fun experience to go on a trip to Cambodia and Thailand for 7 days. Local people are very welcoming and kind, the foods are delicious, and the culture in both countries are interesting. I believe all the experiences and lessons that I learned through this trip will be useful for my future study in university and future career.
(School of Social Sciences / A.J.)
