So after our not so gentle introduction to Cambodia in Poi Pet, we made our way to Battambang where we are both doing some voluntary work for a social organisation called Kinyei (Khmer for ginger). Kinyei is a grassroots organisation that supports social projects and empowers local people with new skills. Kinyei has a number of projects on the go. They run a push bike tour through the countryside (Soksabike), a café, an art gallery and an office space which can be used for a range of different workshops.

Joel and I will be volunteering ourselves for two weeks working directly with local people in their various different roles at Kinyei. I am developing a barista training program for four new staff, which will begin working in the Kinyei café in early October. I am using my six years experience working in the coffee industry in Australia to develop this program and train the new staff. The new staff have never worked with coffee or customers before and through this training they will gain valuable, employable skills to set them up for their working lives.

Joel will develop some new training for Kinyei’s IT equipment, and to teach the new IT staff some basic computer skills. Some of them have never used such things as email, Google, Microsoft Word etc. so Joel has quite the work ahead of him! With these new skills gained, they will maintain Kinyei’s IT needs now and into the future.

Also, both of us have been giving some English lessons to the staff. This has involved developing their conversational English skills. One of the students even took the opportunity to take us to his English school elsewhere in Battambang. Here we were used for ‘show and tell’ and all of the students were thrilled to have us around. We were asked to tell the class our best tips for learning English. A bit stumped, all we could come up with was ‘umm, start leaning when you are 6 months old’! Seriously though, they don’t really need any tips, they are all so enthusiastic to learn and are excited to be in your presence. Sitting in the classroom, they all can’t wait to ask you another question and hang off your every answer. The enthusiasm to learn here is out of this world.

We are still yet to convince all of Kinyei’s staff that we are not twins. It really doesn’t help that our names both start with ‘J’. Most of the time James was shortened to just ‘Jam’

Our time at Kinyei has been fantastic and it has allowed us to meet so many amazing local people. I’m sure it won’t be long before we return to Battambang in search for some local Kinyei hospitality.

J&J