My team from Korea National University of Arts traveled to Cambodia on a two-week volunteer trip last month.

The trip was sponsored by my school’s K-Arts Sharing program, which encourages students to use their artistic talents to serve society. The volunteer program began in 2010, and we were the sixth team to go abroad to volunteer.

In order to go on the volunteer trip, I applied for the Community Arts class, which the school provides as part of the program so that students can better coordinate and prepare in advance. 

There, I met 10 fellow students who majored in theater, fine arts, film and Korean traditional music. We discussed the relationship between art and volunteering, and how we can engage the community with art. We also debated over which place we wanted to help. In the end, we chose Mondulkiri, Cambodia.

Mondulkiri is one of the biggest cities in Cambodia, some 380 kilometers away from the capital Phnom Penh.

A mountainous region, it is also an impoverished city. Through our discussion and research, we learned that students did not have everyday items such as backpacks. They also did not receive enough arts education, and lacked artistic stimulation. Therefore, we decided to provide a program tailored to their needs. We studied children’s recreational programs, and decided to perform plays based on Korean traditional fairytales. Afterward, we would make masks for the characters and have children sing, dance and interact. We also prepared art classes where students can make their own school items.

Preparations progressed smoothly. We worked with the Korea International Cooperation Agency and contacted Korean volunteer teachers in the area. They connected us to four schools including Hunsen Senmonorom Primary School and Molnithi Sangkom Primary School. In addition, we cooperated with three local artists, who had been trained at K-Arts. They were happy to have us, and made all the arrangements so we could focus on our programs.

We decided that we should try and fulfill the local students’ needs, so we changed our program to meet as many students as possible. During the unexpected holidays, we decided to paint school walls. With these plans, we departed for Cambodia on Jan. 25.

Though we were nervous, we were quickly put at ease by the Cambodian students, who greeted us with more warmth than we imagined. During our classes, they absorbed everything we showed them like sponges. They gave us so much energy, and we soon fell in love with the young students. Every day, we would be soaked in sweat by the end of the art class but even that was a big joy for us. We went to Mondulkiri to give to children, but soon it turned out that we were receiving more than giving.

After three days of tight schedules our members started to tire, but the students, the red Cambodian soil, the people and the fresh fruits of Mondulkiri helped us forget our exhaustion.

We were concerned that though they might have a good time during class, there will be no permanent changes after the class was over.

But at the end of the week, a boy came to play with us wearing a mask that he made himself. He wasn’t in our mask-making class, but he was wearing a mask he made out of his little note paper. The students who took our classes were sharing what they learned among themselves. What we thought of as a “single class” did not stop at a single class for the children. We had achieved the ultimate goal of our program: to share art and help them apply what they learned.

As the program was short, we left much to be desired. The depth of the students’ development would have been deeper if we had more time. However, I do not regret anything because this would not be a permanent farewell.

I gained much from this experience as well. Personally, before I visited Cambodia, I was having trouble with my major, fine arts. I could find neither inspiration nor emotional stimulation in my daily life. My creative motivation had almost bottomed out. But two weeks in Cambodia had changed everything. The volunteer trip to Cambodia had touched me in a new dramatic way, and I am still going over my experiences. I hope to visit Cambodia again soon.

By Suh Y-ul

The writer is a second-year student at the department of fine arts at Korea National University of Arts. She visited Cambodia from Jan. 25-Feb. 6 through the school’s project to share artistic achievements and foster Korea’s artistic creativity. ― Ed.