A little about my work.

It's about time I actually let people know about the work that I am doing. I am working for an organization here called Child Helpline Cambodia. As you can imagine, it is a helpline, where children in Cambodia call when they need someone to talk to.

Right now the organization (CHC as I call it) is in its preparation phase, so there are only 3 of us that work here, but soon there will be more people. As it is so small, my work has been quite varied. One of the big things that I did was to design a database using Access where we could enter the details of any organizations that partner with us. This was a big task. Normally in Canada, when a child calls a helpline, and it is clear the child needs ongoing help, the helpline can just make sure a local social worker takes the case. However, in Cambodia, this does not exist. So since we are not going to be able to go bring kids the food they need, or give them shelter, or stop them from being abused, we need partner organizations that can do all these things. And we need a way to search all these organizations that lets us easily find the best option for a child in need, and that's what my database is for.

Creating the database has been a really interesting time for me, and a lot of fun since I get to think logically about how things interact, and also I get to pretend to code. If I did another database, I would definitely design it and then make it, not the other way around, because I spent a large amount of time realizing that I'd made a huge mistake and starting over when halfway through, and then another large amount of time making small corrections everywhere.

Another large part of my work here has been to find the organizations that we should be working with, and to convince them to partner with us. This is generally quite easy. I stress that we only want to send children to an organization that is a very good fit for that child, and many people respond well to that idea. Also, I think that the idea of giving children the voice to speak their issues is something that people really identify with. I have really enjoyed this part of my work. Talking to all of these organizations has given me a really good broad view of the work being done here in Cambodia. I have talked with people who work with children and youth from: Legal organizations, Human Rights organizations, Shelters, Work Programs, Education Programs, an HIV/AIDS support centre, Crisis Centers, and more. While the problems facing children in Cambodia are certainly numerous, it has been very uplifting and hopeful to meet so many people who are all working to bring hope and change to the lives of children here in Cambodia.

I also support my boss in many general office ways, taking minutes at meetings, preparing presentations, and so forth and so on.

The one other thing that I do, that I am really enjoying is working with another ex-pat from a different organization, who started working there as an artist, and has moved into a more development-type of role. I have been meeting with him and one other person from his organization, and sort of working through a lot of development thinking. Most recently we developed a Logistical Framework Analysis for a program he is working on. It has been really great for me because it is easy to meet with people who work in development, and have been for years sometimes, and have no idea about the types of issues that arise when development work is done. To have someone who is so keen to learn about some of the pitfalls of development work, and who is willing to put in a little extra work to avoid them, has really made me enjoy my time here.

I am sorry for all the text and no photos.