Hi Everyone! This is the first official GlobeMed blog post! :) I am going to use this space to talk a little about my experience in Cambodia this past August and, most importantly, about our partner organization Green Umbrella (GU).
Spending a month in the Takeo Province of Cambodia was an extremely immersive experience, where we were given the opportunity to meet so many members of a community that care immensely for the health and well-being of the people around them. We immediately realized that although this community was lacking sanitary water, proper trash disposal, and adequate shelter, it gained strength through the kindness and joy of the people living there. At Green Umbrella (GU), specifically, all of the staff and students were eager to learn from and help us as we conducted our work, but also to educate us about the success and accomplishments of their organization. GU is an educational NGO that prides itself in teaching underprivileged students English, science, social studies, and a variety of other topics. What makes them special is that every student is motivated and excited to learn, and they plan to have their students change the entire community as they become educated, independent adults.
Our team from GlobeMed spent most of the time working on a waste management project with the youth group of high schoolers from the community. Cambodia has no reliable form of waste management, so they are forced to burn trash and plastics, leading to innumerable health issues. So, when we first paired with GU, we all decided this would be topic tangible of tackling. The goal of our project was to 1. write a research paper based on a community assessment of 11 villages, 2. teach the youth at Green Umbrella and in public schools about the importance of waste management/recycling, and 3. present our work to Sokrath, the founder of the organization, so that he can spread our knowledge and implement our teaching in other schools around Cambodia. The project went extremely well, and we are so excited to see where it takes off in the future when we get to go back next year!
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