I met Julie Parker and Jo Lewry and the 13 Year 8 and 9 students at the airport on Friday 13 November. They all settled into the hotel and had a quiet day.

I believe the highlight of their tour was the Sunday all day visit out to Kampuchea House where they interacted with our children fantastically. We had taken out the older kids from the Siem Reap house – this was a terrific idea, especially as their English has improved so considerably. The students enjoyed the tour of the houses and were amazed to see their worldly belongings in one locker. Volleyball is a real leveller for kids to partake in and yes KH managed to beat The Knox kids!! Julie had her students make these fabulous books for the library. They had been professionally printed including illustrations and were embraced by our kids with huge enthusiasm, so much so that Sor read the whole book to me which was something Leng was so pleased to see. This was a brilliant idea and one that the kids can continue to enjoy. It was also fabulous to see the children all interact during lunch then play games together. Their farewell visit on the Friday was also a good visit and I could see that the students from Knox were actually rather sad at saying goodbye to our kids.

Each day Julie had activities planned –
– Cooking class in the country and visit to the Landmine Museum
– Visit to the temples with Mickey as the guide, we provided headsets which was a very good idea
– Visit to New Hope where the students also had lunch – a very successful tour
– Day visit and activities at Grace House .
– Visit to the markets and shops

The school tour was a great success and both the students and staff really gained a wonderful understanding of what we are achieving in Cambodia.

Libby McCann

The Knox School visits Kampuchea House on Sun 15 December 2013

The Knox School students with the children

The Knox School students, teacher and Somnang