Coaches Across Continents: The world away from home

My first, and by no means last, adventure abroad has officially come to an end, and although I may physically be leaving the country of Cambodia and the city of Phnom Penh, I will forever be changed by the people I met and the things that I saw. I learned that you can bookend the beginning of your trip, but never the end, because although you may have left you only continue to grow and be impacted by what you saw and did.

I first started volunteering for CAC ‘off-field’ nearly one year ago, and when I asked Brian if I could dive into ‘on-field’ work and got the “a-okay” - I was thrilled. The computer screen was no longer going to be my classroom but the football field instead. When I first arrived in Cambodia I was in a bit of shell shock, the sounds, smells, and sights were all new to me. Everything was a whirlwind until I stepped foot on the football field. I was instantly greeted with hugs and smiles as coaches embraced me and in no time the country that I felt so estranged from was my home.



Few coaches could speak English, but thanks to our translator and the work ethic of the coaches, the training went brilliantly. Everyday new games with different themes were translated from English, to Khmer, and then signed to our deaf participants. Coaches learned valuable lessons on the importance of having a voice, being able to solve problems they faced every day, and how to protect themselves and ultimately their players from things such as sexual, physical, and mental violence. Days were wrapped up by discussing what we had learned that day; posters written in Khmer and sketches were hung up for coaches to take notes or photographs of. And with each passing day I felt more, and more privileged to be educating these coaches.

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