2017 Marist Solidarity Immersion Cambodia: Itinerary

Transcription

1 2017 Marist Solidarity Immersion Cambodia: Itinerary DAY 1 Saturday 2 December 10:00PM Staff will make their own way to the airport. Students will travel with their families to the airport. 10:30 PM - Check-in as a group at Singapore Airlines, Melbourne International Airport. Move through Customs to the departure area. Passports are required. DAY 2 Sunday 3 December Sunday 3 Dec 1:05 AM Depart Melbourne International Airport. Singapore Airlines Flight SQ 218 5:45 AM Arrive Singapore/Changi International Airport. Transfer and check in as a group to Singapore Terminal 2 SILKAIR 8:40 AM Depart Singapore - Silk Air Flight MI 620 9:45 AM Arrive Siem Reap, Airport. The group will be met by our travel guide in Siem Reap, Mr Sotheara Koung, who will take us to the METTA KARUNA REFLECTION CENTER, SIEM REAP, where Elisabeth Hermelin, volunteer, will give us a tour of the Centre. The Centre is part of the Jesuit Refugee Service in Cambodia and is an interfaith centre where Cambodians and foreigners are welcomed to spend time seeing the challenges of Cambodia through the eyes of the poor. Very quickly it is apparent that the challenges facing Cambodia, as its people struggle to achieve a quality of life that benefits all, are also the challenges facing the world. We see through Christians and Buddhist lenses as we view the world from the underside of history. Elisabeth will welcome us and will share her experiences and wisdom on the ministry needs within Cambodia. 1:30 PM LUNCH and settle into our accommodation. Mr Sotheara Koung. Buses will remain with you until after sunset at temples. 4:00 PM We will make our way to the Angkor Wat National Park for a sunset experience over Siem Reap. Late PM The group will have a late evening meal and prepare for a full day of Temples beginning with a 5:30am rising. DAY 3 5:30 AM Late PM Monday 4 December Rise for a day exploring the magnificent Angkor temples. Mr Sotheara Koung. Will stay with you until 4pm. The group will have an early evening tonight in preparation for travel to Battembang and Pailin. Dinner at restaurant in Siem Reap Markets. DAY 4 Tuesday 5 December

2 6:00 AM Breakfast 8:00 AM Depart Siem Reap for Battembang / Pailin. Travel by public bus. Mr Sotheara Koung will travel with you on his buses to transfer to public bus station 3:00 PM Arrive Pailin - Bamboo Natural Guest House. Same rooms as in the past. 6:30 PM Dinner 8:30 PM DAY 5 Wednesday 6 December (Days 5-10) Our travel day will take us to Pailin. This will be the main focus of our solidarity and ministry for the next six days: As pilgrims we will be divided into groups and will rotate around the different ministry experiences at Pailin. These include: Teaching during the day at the local public school. A Catholic order of sisters, the Daughters of Charity from the Philippines, visit nearby villages and offer health and educational advice. Teaching in the evenings at the Catholic Parish centre where the Brothers community resides. Assisting in preparation and distribution of the lunch program. Assisting the staff of the small library during the day at the Parish centre. We will have the opportunity to visit the local public school, We will also visit the large Buddhist pagoda and temple. A Sample Day in Pailin: 7:30 AM Journey to Marist Pastoral Centre. 7:45 AM Breakfast 8:30 AM Groups work on projects as allocated. 11:00 AM Snack. 11:30 AM Assisting in the Student Lunch Program. 12:30 PM Lunch 1:00-3:30PM 4:00-7:00PM Return to Bamboo Natural Guest House and prepare for afternoon session. English Classes. 7:00 PM Dinner at Marist Education Centre, 8:30 PM Return to Bamboo Natural Guest House. 9:00 PM DAY 11 Tuesday 12 December 4 AM Depart Pailin for Phnom Penh - private transfer. Breakfast en route. PM Arrive Phnom Penh. Accommodation: Alibi Guesthouse. Immersion Leader to book transfer to airport for Friday.

3 Meet Bunna at accommodation at 1pm. Tuk Tuks until arrive at Riverfront for dinner; local tuk tuks sourced by Immersion Leader for transit back to hotel. Jars of Clay for lunch; then a look around the Jesuit Peace Store and the Russian Markets. Jars of Clay is owned and run by young Cambodian women who support themselves as well as their families. A tenth of the profit goes towards helping others in need, such as poor families, widows and the sick. It also supports the families or people in need from different provinces. THE HEART BEHIND THE COFFEE SHOP is helping women and girls from the various backgrounds who have experience hardship in their lives, including some who have been rescued from trafficking by providing jobs and skills, including cleaning, cooking, serving customers and working together. 6:00 PM Familiarisation look at Phnom Penh River Front 7:00 PM Dinner at Khmer Saravan (Riverfront) 8:30 PM Return to hotel. DAY 12 Wednesday 13 December 7:30 AM Breakfast 8:15 AM Bunna and Tuk Tuks for day. Depart for the S-21 Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum. The group will visit the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum. The Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum is a museum in Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia. The site is a former high school which was used as the notorious Security Prison 21 by the Khmer Rouge regime from its rise to power in 1975 to its fall in :15 AM Depart for The Killing Fields, Choeung Ek District, outside Phnom Penh. Travel takes approx. 1 hr. 11:15am 12:30pm The Killing Fields. 1:30 PM Lunch at Friends Restaurant: Friends the Restaurant is famous... not only in Phnom Penh but across the world! Over 10 years in operation, this vibrant and colourful training restaurant has become a must-visit place on any trip to the Cambodian capital. Friends the Restaurant is run by Mith Samlanh, which has worked to build the futures of former street children and marginalized young people in Phnom Penh since :30 PM Return to accommodation. 4:30PM: 6PM Guest Speaker - Sister Helene O Sullivan, Maryknoll Sisters, at accommodation. Maryknoll Sisters come from 29 countries and continue as pioneers - women on the world s geographical frontiers moving toward new understandings of the human condition. Sister Helene will speak of their mission to respond to the hungers and needs of the times: human trafficking, immigration issues, ecological concerns, peace, spiritual hunger and reconciliation. Dinner: NGO Ramdeng. DAY 13 Thursday 14 December 6:00 AM Breakfast

4 7:00 AM Bunna and Tuk Tuks for day. Depart for Sala Lavalla School (outskirts of Phnom Penh) AM / PM Sala Lavalla School: Marist Solidarity Cambodia s (MSC) primary beneficiaries are children and young people with physical disabilities throughout Cambodia. They are the children and youth with disabilities from one year old to 35 years old, who lack access to rehabilitation; children with disabilities from 10 to 17 years old, who are eligible for support and integration at public schools and vocational training centres; children with disabilities from 6 to 12 years, who have opportunity for primary education in LaValla School (MSC s centre for primary education); and youth with disabilities from 18 to 35 years old, who are eligible for higher education and employment at Villa Maria; and parents who are poorest for livelihood support. 4:00 PM Return to Alibi Guesthouse. 6:00 PM Dinner at Dine in the Dark. This restaurant provides an illuminating insight into the challenges that blind people face. Its aim is threefold: first, to allow sighted diners the experience of living, for just a few hours, in the world of the blind. Second, to investigate the effect on the senses of sight deprivation (does the food taste better, worse, or simply different? Is it necessary to use touch a sense rarely associate with eating to enjoy a meal you can t see?), and third, to provide employment in the catering industry for the blind, a demographic not easily included. Packing DAY 14 Friday 15 December 7:00 AM Breakfast. 8:00 AM Bunna and Tuk Tuks until 2pm. Depart for Tabitha (arrive 8:30am; leave at 10am). Tabitha s aim is to reach out to the despairing in their communities and help them to address their own needs in a holistic and sustainable way. Community development is achieved by encouraging personal savings, providing employment and income by teaching and selling Cambodian handcrafted items, and house- building by volunteers for families who cannot afford a home. Thereby transforming lives to fruitfulness with dignity! 10:30 AM Final PRAYER / REFLECTION session: For me personally, my immersion 11:45 AM Depart for lunch at Jomo Bakery. 2:00 PM Arrive back at hotel; finalise packing and prepare for airport transfer. 3:00 PM Hotel transfer to airport. 4:00 PM Check in at Phnom Penh International Airport. 6:10 PM Depart Phnom Penh. Silk Air Flight MI 607 9:10 PM Arrive Singapore, Changi International Airport (Check in at Singapore Terminal 3)

5 11:45 PM Depart Singapore. Singapore Airlines Flight SQ 237 DAY 15 10:10 AM Saturday 16 December Arrive Melbourne International Airport. Student travel arrangements upon returning to Melbourne: All Students will be collected and travel home with family