Summer Community Service Program in Southeast Asia

It is an exciting time to visit Cambodia. VISIONS teen volunteers will glimpse both the “shock of the new” and the very old in this beautiful Southeast Asia country. They will experience Cambodia’s compelling contrasts in palpable ways -- from the hustle and bustle of Phnom Penh to the more relaxed rhythm of Battambang Province to the timeless ancient wonders of Angkor, from vibrant marketplaces to quietly serene countrysides, from green-beyond-belief rice paddies to silk weaving farms and factories to the ancient art of shadow puppetry and exquisite traditional Cambodian dance.

Cambodia is generally known for the two extremes of its history. There is its country-forming that climaxed in the astonishing Angkor cities and temples, arguably the most sublime combination of art and architecture on the planet, built during the reign of the Khmer empire that spanned nearly six centuries. And there is the singular historical event from 1975 to 1979 when the Khmer Rouge gained a foothold during a period of tumult and instability. Under the Khmer Rouge an estimated 1.5 to 2 million Cambodians, over one-fifth the (then) total population, died through execution, torture, starvation and forced labor. To know Cambodia is to understand Cambodian identity as indelibly forged and shaped by these two facts of its history.

From our 24-year perspective, community service teen travel camps, and the growing number of middle school travel programs, impact youth participants in enduringly similar ways. However, the lens through which each participant looks while reflecting on his or her experience can be profoundly singular. This college essay from a VISIONS Dominican Republic (DR) participant expresses the contradictions she experienced in her teen summer travel trip to the DR and the lingering questions she brought home with her. Thank you for sharing this college essay, Mollie.

By Mollie Rayner-Haselkorn (Dominican Republic 2011)

In the year 2010 the average household income in the Dominican Republic was $5,231. That same year my parents spent almost that much to send me on a month-long community service program in the Dominican Republic. There is no question in my mind that I gained more from the experience than I gave to the impoverished community I was there to serve. The question that remains unanswered and continues to occupy my mind is what am I going to do to change a world in which such painful inequalities exist.

I signed onto the program wanting to help those who have less than I. Yet within days of living in the capital, Santo Domingo, and working in the nearby batey community of San Luis, I realized the help I had to offer was sorely inadequate...to the deep needs. The community lacked an adequate supply of clean water, a sewage system and a sanitary way to deal with garbage, which caused sickness and disease. Yet, my service boiled down to simply building a roof, digging a trench and entertaining children for a few hours a day. The curious, piercing stares my presence provoked from mothers in the community said it all: what are these kids from the United States doing here?...

Amanda McAneny, a teen volunteer from Chesapeake Beach, MD participated in VISIONS Ghana’s inaugural season last summer. Recently, Amanada sent us these poignant thoughts about her experience in Ghana.