After seeing a poster on campus offering unique volunteer opportunities around the world, women’s volleyball player Anna Dunn-Suen signed up with a charity organization called Reach Out Volunteers. Within a week, she was on her way to Koh Rong, Cambodia to help make a difference to its people.
Anna joined an on-going project that was focused on building concrete walls for the school’s library and some work on a water catchment that will provide water to the village during the dry season. She also spent some time teaching English.
“It was really rewarding working on the school library project,” she says. “The children were so eager to learn and the time I spent with them was especially rewarding!”
Forging connections
Anna, a Bachelor of Science student, also spent some time in the ocean, planting coral pods on the world’s largest man-made reef to replace natural reefs that have been destroyed by poor fishing practices such as trawling that catch on natural coral reefs and destroy them.
“The pods are metal, spider-like structures with concrete footing,” says Anna. “Planting these man-made pods provides a solid surface for coral to start growing. In some cases, additional coral was fixed to the pods to see if it would help induce further growth, which helps renew the ocean’s ecosystem.”
After finishing those projects, she spent a few days doing a little sight-seeing and perusing the local markets.
“I got to visit the Temples of Angkor Wat and Ta Prohm. The Temples of Ta Prohm were my favourite (they’re the temples from the Tomb Raider movie). It was such a spiritual, peaceful and inspiring place.”
During the last few days of her two-week trip, she visited the animal sanctuary and wildlife rescue centre in Phnom Tamao where she got to feed elephants and spend time with gibbons, Cambodian deer, otters, Asian black bears and some Tigers.
Having a positive impact
Reflecting back on her experience, Anna gained a lot of valuable life experience, including being a smart and safe single traveller. She also discovered how simple and easy it can be to have a positive impact on someone.
“I was teaching English and there were these two girls who were at almost all of our lessons. Just getting the opportunity to work with them and see how excited and proud of themselves they were when they accomplished something was very humbling. They really looked up to us and showed us a little sister-like admiration.”
Having gone on a similar excursion in Ecuador in the summer of 2014, Anna says this trip was much more gratifying.
“I found this one more rewarding because we were more integrated into the community. We lived directly in the village, without running water, toilets, electricity or access to medical care. We were basically in isolation. There were wild dogs that would be less than a few feet away from us at our meals, masses of Dengue fever-carrying mosquitos and chickens and roosters in our common rooms.
"It really changes your perspective on what is essential in your life and you come to appreciate their community so much more. It’s incredible to see how happy they are despite how different their lives are from the Western definition of ‘wealth’ and a ‘good life’.”