What hours?

Savong's School runs an afternoon shift 5 days a week. The shift runs from 1:30pm in the afternoon until 7:00pm in the evening. It is a 5 hour stint, quite hot work - but a good stretch of time to run cohesive lessons.

Who is in the class. How many? What age?

The numbers vary each day and each week depending on the local farming schedule. In busy seasons classes are smaller because many if not most children are required on the family rice farm. (This is what crimps school attendance and literacy rates in Cambodia.) At other times attendance is very high. So a class may range between 15 students right up to what we think is the record: 68 students - jam packed in these small classrooms.

A range of ages 12 - 20. It is quite common in Cambodia for older teens to return to school and to share the classroom with 12 year olds. They all get on really well. But for teachers it is important to pitch you lessons neither too young nor too old. You will get a mix.

Most volunteers stay in Siem Reap, a lively town that makes a great holiday base - close to the Angkor Temples, and just 12 kms west of Savong's School which is east along Highway 6. Siem Reap has a lively night life, excellent restaurants, fun bars and good nightclubs with a distinctive Cambodian twist.

But how to get out to the school? The best way to arrange transport from your Guest House or hotel is to phone Savong the day before. +855 12 531 037.  He'll arrange somebody to pick you up at an agreed time - perhaps a motorbike if there's one of you, or the new school tuk tuk kindly donated by an Australian family.

We're a school in a poor region, not a free transport service! So there is a charge to cover petrol which is very expensive in Cambodia, and to cover the driver to whom we pay a basic salary each month.

Return cost to town. $US10.00 for one person. For people sharing a tuktuk the cost is lower: $US4.00 per person.