columns magazine
Soulbound: Cambodia
Reluctant tourist becomes grateful teacher
by Kelly Huffman
Charlie Blackman didn’t want to go to Cambodia. Full of misgivings about the country’s troubled history, he balked when his wife Kathy suggested they tack a short visit on to their 2011 trip to Vietnam with UW Alumni Tours. Swayed by her zeal to see Angkor Wat (“How can you not go see one of the Seven Wonders of the World when you’re so close?”), he finally agreed.
Four years later, and the 1979 UW School of Law graduate is hooked. Now retired from his practice, he visits Cambodia annually, spending several weeks each time as a volunteer teaching English. His students run the gamut: teenage residents of a Phnom Penh orphanage, rambunctious youngsters in a rural village school, and garment workers determined to build better lives for themselves. What keeps him coming back? “There’s something about the people,” he says. “They value kindness and compassion. There’s a graciousness about them, a kindness that’s just exceptional.” That impression, formed after just four days with the UW trip, was “reinforced a hundredfold” after spending more time in the country.
Detail from a mural in the Royal Palace in Phnom Penh. The palace, which was built in 1866, is a popular tourist attraction for its architecture and art. It boasts the biggest mural frescoes in South East Asia.
Less than a year after his visit to Angkor Wat, Blackman found himself in Phnom Penh working in an orphanage alongside a Cambodian teacher. In a nearby classroom his grown son, Michael, was assisting in another English class. The orphanage connectioncame about through Blackman’s tour guide, Chandararith “Rith” Ek, whom the family now counts as a friend. “I have the UW Alumni Association to thank for a wonderful trip teaching English with my son,” says Blackman.
The next year, he returned on his own to the orphanage, where students cheered the reappearance of “Teacher Charlie.” He also traveled to a nearby village where subsistence farmers work the land behind Brahma cows. His mission: Assist with afternoon English classes in a new two-room school. In Cambodia, he discovered, English proficiency is “a ticket up and out.” As a native speaker, he was a star attraction. His students were consistent, eager and very vocal—even after full days of public school and field work.
Back in Phnom Penh, he also helped out in a class for garment workers. Earning less than $100 a month working long hours in tough conditions, the students (mostly young adults) were nonetheless excited and energized for class each evening. “That kind of enthusiasm despite the hardships of their lives—I’m almost in awe,” says Blackman. “If I can help these people, I’ll
help them.”
His students’ fervor and open-heartedness has also rubbed off in an unexpected way: He no longer mocks “kitschy” or sentimental figures like cute kittens, dewy flowers or winsome Santas. (He often travels to Cambodia in December.) What holds him back? He knows how much his students love those images, even if they don’t celebrate the associated holidays. “My experience in Cambodia makes me less cynical,” says Blackman. “It makes me more grateful for the life I have.”
Cambodia facts
Capital: Phnom Penh
Population: 15.5 mil
Median age: 24.1 yrs
Life expectancy: 63.8 yrs
GDP: $50.2 bil
Currency: Riel
Language: Khmer
Natural resources
oil, gas, timber, gemstones, iron ore, manganese, phosphates, arable land
- slightly smaller than Oklahoma
- a constitutional monarchy
- was a French colony until 1953
- 1.5 mil people in Phnom Penh / 1.3 mil. mopeds
- traditional way to say hello is to press one another’s palms together
