My September was extremely eventful. My volunteering journey started with a month of just simply immersing myself in the school community and in the country. It is a great way to start and adjust to the culture and the environment where I will be working and living with for the succeeding months. This month, I learned to adjust to the daily community schedule, the food, the language, the surrounding, and somehow with the culture. Slowly, my “tiny” world at the start is beginning to grow.
As my “tiny” world began to grow, oftentimes people would ask me – Did you sleep well? Are you okay? Are you happy?
Am I happy?
At the beginning of September, I actually felt restless. I had that constant thought that I have to do something. I knew that my focus is to learn the language and to gradually engage with the community. However, I could still feel that there was something lacking. Also, I knew that I need to be involved more.
A time for everything
On the first two weeks of September, Kamal, a Jesuit scholastic from Kerala who is studying in Rome, came to help us in beautifying the multipurpose hall. With this, I saw an opportunity to help. Most afternoons, I helped in bringing the students’ ideas into life. Kanika, a senior student, took the lead in conceptualising the images to be painted on the walls. The paintings revolve around the four pillars of Jesuit education: competence, conscience, compassion and commitment. After two weeks, the mission is done and the hall is ready for use for the coming school year.
Ask and you shall receive.
Then, lesson preparations, staff meeting and other school preparations began. These things pacified the anxiety that I once was feeling. As I get to engage more with people in the school community, the less anxious I become. Also, it made me pause and realise that I may be in a different place, with a different set of people but all these things remain the same. It is the same feeling I have every time a school year starts. It worries me all the same but in the end everything will eventually fall into the right place.
Rejoice and be glad in it.
My September made me realise that happiness actually exudes everywhere. I only need to empty myself with worries and doubts and see things anew. Like a quote I once read, “Happiness does not come from seeking new landscapes, but from having new eyes on the same life you have always been living.” I believe this has always been the way I live. These are the things that I always enjoy. With the new landscape, things may have been “repackaged”, but they are the same things that make me happy. As a volunteer, this opportunity to live and teach in Cambodia may come only once. Seeing with fresh eyes helps me immerse myself deeper in the community – learning, working and living with them. I only have to keep the faith and relish the adventure ahead.
The school year started on October 16. The energy and excitement are radiating from each and every teacher and staff. In the coming days, I will continue getting to know my students, my fellow teachers and the other members of the school community. But as early as now, I can already say that I am truly grateful for being one of the characters in this chapter of their lives.
Ma Kristina Velez from Xavier School in the Philippines is the first volunteer teacher of JCAP Education Secretariat’s Teacher Volunteer Programme, which seeks to respond to the needs of newer and lesser-resourced Jesuit schools in Asia Pacific. Kristina has been missioned to Xavier Jesuit School in Sisophon, Cambodia where she is teaching English for a year.