As shattered as I was after a full day of travelling, I didn't sleep too well: an unfamiliar bed and pillow will do that, so at around 6.30 this morning I went for a short walk to the vegetable market around the corner from our residence and I might as well have walked into a Nat Geo programme. They sell everything here from lychees to dragon fruit. You can buy chickens by the bunch and, of course, if you're into that sort of thing, you can try deep-fried tarantula or black scorpion. What? We eat rabbit and snails back home.

  By the time I got back everybody was awake to different degrees and we set about planning the day. We knew we had to head out to SFODA first thing to assess the situation at the orphanage. The eviction from the premises was sudden and we needed to know what the status is, and if we can help. We knew that they'd moved to new premises close by but that's about all the info we had.

  Surprisingly the new space is bigger and better than the previous area, however this is still only a temporary solution with a two-year contract. After that it's all a bit grey, however, in true Cambodia fashion, the two ladies running the orphanage are optimistic that they won't be kicked out but of course, owning their own space would be the ideal situation for them and the children.

  We will look into ways of helping out somehow, possibly with another local NGO, because at a cost of €60,000, what it really boils down to, is getting 6,000 people to donate €10 each. A tiny amount which would help a growing community in ways that I can't describe within a stipulated word count.

  So, our first stop was the old SFODA which is still being dismantled - wisely, the SFODA ladies use temporary structures which can easily be taken down and erected at the new premises. The young children at SFODA were thrilled to see us and we were pulled this way and that as they wanted to show us everything at the same time. We were overjoyed too; however, I have to say that we picked up on a sense of sadness among the older teens. We haven't worked out why, but we intend to find out. Maybe it's just a teenager thing, or maybe it's something else that we can perhaps help with.

Anecdote of the day: Thavit a young boy who is very attached to me, took my hand and pulled me towards the old SFODA and as he led me out onto the road I thought it would be a good idea to check my mobile for messages from home when *BAM*, I slammed into the metal structure of local hawker selling something that looked suspiciously like eyeballs with legs.

  The result is a long gash down the centre of my forehead. Not deep enough to require stitches, but ugly enough to get me a lot of love from the locals. But not from my team who just found it hilarious that I was bleeding profusely. Well, sort of…

  We left SFODA and set out to buy some supplies in preparation for our first day of teaching. We headed off to The Peace Bookshop which must be the Aladdin’s cave of stationeries and back home for yet another delicious Khmer lunch.

Sambath trying out the tuk-tuk.

  This afternoon, we settled in for final prep of our first lessons tomorrow. This time round we spent long hours planning our education programme and making certain that it’s a good fit. Last year was a bit of a baptism of fire in that we didn’t really know where and who we’d be working with. To my knowledge no other NGO has ever taken a development programme through drama before us, so we had no reference point. We were pioneers, so we just rolled up our sleeves and adapted on the spot to the many challenges that were thrown our way.

​  This time we’re armed with experience and are well-prepared.  We’ve tweaked the Helen O’Grady Academy curriculum to fit the level of English of the children we will be working with (thank you Katherine); we’ve introduced an arts and crafts section (Cambodians have a natural flair for creativity which we intend to nurture), and we’ve included more song and dance routines. Chiara has even created a “Hello” song specifically for the children and we will be starting each session with it. By the end of our trip I know we will all hate the sickeningly catchy tune, but music is an important part of what we do.

Matthew and Paula have also worked on some material for additional English lessons for the older children at SFODA. ​

  Right, it’s time to sign off and get an early night before embarking, tomorrow morning, to meet the children. ​We’re expecting to be picked up by one of the two tuk-tuks that Drama Outreach Project has purchased, through benefactors, for the children of SFODA and LRDE… and we can’t wait!