400 YMCA volunteers from Singapore build road in Cambodian village

400 YMCA volunteers from Singapore
build road in Cambodian village

Grace Road in Proyouth Village in Siem Reap, Cambodia: It was built by 400 volunteers from Singapore.

– YMCA picture.

SIEM REAP (Cambodia) – Villagers from the Proyouth Village in Siem Reap are now able to walk on the newly-constructed concrete “Grace” Road which officially opened on Nov 28, 2008.

Through the YMCA International Service Programmes, 400 volunteers from schools and corporations formed teams and made regular trips to the Proyouth Village to build the road as well as to teach English to the underprivileged youth.

Teams of volunteers have been making regular trips to the Boys’ Brigade Learning Centre in the Proyouth Village to teach English.

It was discovered through these trips that a dirt road in the village was severely damaged by floods and water retention and this caused much hardship to the 1,100 villagers who had to ply this road daily.

The mammoth task of rebuilding the 1.2-km long and two-metre wide road was undertaken by the YMCA to improve the livelihood and living conditions of the villagers as well as to encourage commerce activities.

The concrete road had to be constructed manually, with no machines involved. The volunteers had to first clear bushes before they could pile on big rocks and layers of sand, gravel, dry and wet cement. The road was eventually widened to three metres. The work was done under scorching heat, with temperatures soaring to an average of 34 degrees Celsius.

Started in November 2006, the road-building project was carried out by 400 volunteers from various schools and corporations. The volunteers raised US$40,000 (S$60,000) over the two years for the construction of “Grace” Road. The costs of airfare and lodging of the volunteers were partially funded by the National Youth Council’s Youth Expedition Project grant.

These volunteers are employees from Citibank and PricewaterhouseCoopers as well as students from Hwa Chong Institution, University-YMCA at Singapore Management University (Uni-Y@SMU), Millenia Institute, Yishun Junior College, Catholic Junior College, Nanyang Technological University, Macpherson Secondary School, Institute of Technical Education (College Central) and the National University of Singapore Business School.

Besides road-building, these teams of volunteers also taught English to 60 young villagers, aged 14 to 18 years old. As part of YMCA’s International Service Programmes, the YMCA English Language Programme aims to provide English language skills in a structured and sustained manner to make significant impact on the villagers and to enable the beneficiaries to find employment.

In collaboration with The Boys’ Brigade, the programme was launched in May 2006. An English curriculum is developed for three different levels (beginners, basic and intermediate) of 10 modules each.

This curriculum was carried out by 10 teams of volunteers over a period of one year, with each team completing one module within a fortnight. Upon completion, students sat for a proficiency test, which included both oral and written components.

The proficiency test was conducted in September by corporate volunteers from PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Ms Eva Chua, leader of the volunteers, said: “Grace Road will definitely improve the villagers’ living conditions. During rainy seasons, the road becomes muddy and wet and the villagers have to trudge through such conditions, sometimes up to ankle level. When we were constructing the new concrete road, the villagers would stop and thank us even though we were complete strangers.

“The YMCA English Language Programme will also equip the villagers with a basic proficiency which will help them in the marketplace in conducting business. I feel blessed knowing that we have done something for them.”

The teams of volunteers will now embark on a new phase of construction, extending Grace Road by another 600 metres. They will also continue the second phase of the YMCA English Language Programme with the youth in the Proyouth Village. –YMCA.

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ENGLISH LESSONS AS WELL