Cambodia English School Higher Education

Everyone agrees that volunteering at Ceshe is a life changing experience in many ways, myself included. It is a very unique opportunity to experience a country and its people more intimately, beyond the dull filter of tourism. I left the school two months ago and have thought of it everyday since. As this is part of my job back home, teaching was not really the most challenging issue for me there. The young kiddos were. Teaching a foreign language to students who don't share your own was. Preparing a class with few material support and no structured program was a million miles out of my comfy habits in a Swiss university. Teaching here requires to be even more creative, proactive and to work as a team with the other volunteers to offer consistent and adapted contents to the kids. Everybody experiences his volunteering time in a personal way...But to me, traveling to a foreign country, living with the locals to merely limit your actions to entertaining, playing with the kids during weeks would be - besides a wonderful personal enrichment - quite an anecdotal benefit for the community. Making my time there count, first for the kids, thus for myself, was my initial purpose arriving at Ceshe. Kick your ass every morning to leave the place a little better than the day you arrived. You never know to what extent you succeed but try hard and the reward you'll get from it is priceless.

I spent one amazing month in CESHEO. I absolutely loved the experience. I had always wanted to experience living in a developing country and try to help out the local community. It is an incomparable experience with just traveling to Cambodia to visit famous tourist destinations. Here, you feel as a part of the community and you have a lot of opportunities to change things. It’s been almost a month since I left I still miss them every day ☹ It is hard to leave them after spending so much time with them, some of them are very talented and I hope they have a bright future ahead of them also thanks to their English skills. Please, if you see that something could be improved, take an active part in the process. We organized Friday Fun Days during which the kids not only played many sport games but also helped to clean the area around the school. Also, we put all the teaching materials in order. Now, the books are just waiting for the new library to be build in May :)

Pavla

I had the most amazing 2 months here.. It's an experience everyone, in my opinion, should make. I made new friends from all around the world, taught some of the most beautiful kids and smiled more than ever before!! Thank you to everyone who I met there who made my time amazing. I hope to be back soon!! Love Becky xxx

Becky from Germany

My boyfriend and I volunteered here two weeks ago and we haven't stopped thinking or talking about it since. We had such an incredible experience working with the children and hanging with the other volunteers. We have been traveling South East Asia for the past 4 months and our time here was definitely a highlight of our trip. It was so fun to watch the children learn and grow in just the two weeks we were there.

James, Rady and his family are all lovely and make you feel very comfortable and welcomed during your stay. If you are going to Cambodia check this place out, you won't regret it! We love you CESHE!!

Chelsea & Ryan from U.S.A

We had an amazing time volunteering with Rady, James and everyone at CESHE.We were originally supposed to stay two weeks but we ended up staying three and a half weeks.We didn't want to leave. The kids are magic, a real joy to teach. Everyone is so welcoming and friendly from the kids to the other volunteers. A really amazing experience. Thanks to Rady and his family for their hospitality and to everyone we met. Volunteer here! 

Sarah & Simon from Ireland

I spent two weeks teaching at CESHE and had an incredible experience. I came with no previous experience of teaching, but quickly picked it up through talking to the staff and the other volunteers. It can be quite daunting teaching your first day but approach it with an open mind and on your second day you'll immediately feel more comfortable with them. 

The kids can be tough to teach sometimes most but of them are really willing to learn, and will respond to a teacher with a willingness to teach. The best part of the experience was witnessing them actually learn what we were teaching them, and seeing their English improve over the course of the two weeks. Anyone who stays for longer I thing could really make a difference to them.

Most of the students at the school live and work in the surrounding farms and villages. Were they not to learn English, this is where they may very well spend the rest of their lives. By teaching them English I really believe they get such a great advantage in life, where they could get the chance to move away, get a good job and earn more money and drastically improve their quality of live. Although volunteer teachers coming and going isn't the best situation to teach them, it's the only option they have and is so much better than nothing at all. 

Finally I'd like to thank Rady, his family and all the drivers, who made my time there so great. I was also lucky to spend my time there with a fantastic group of people, who I had so much fun hanging out with. It's an experience I won't forget! 

James from England

I loved this place! Amazing people amazing hosts! Everyone is really friendly I stayed at ceshe for a month and it was great! I enjoyed the teaching a lot. And doing volunteering work at Ceshe gives you an opportunity to see siem reap from a whole different point of view. This is also because your teaching the local kids. If you think about visiting Cambodia go to Ceshe as well! 

Sanne from Netherlands

I stayed at Ceshe for a month in September having choose to go there because I wanted to teach but also be able to share the experience with other volunteers. At the house I met volunteers from all over the world, in the week we would mostly chill in our free time and on evenings or weekends we all headed into town together to eat, go out or chill in cafés (sometimes all day!) What made my experience at Ceshe was the kids who were absolutely amazing, sometimes a bit cheeky and it was a privilege to get to know them. Everyday they came in to school full of smiles and chatter and even tried to teach me to speak Khymer! I'm so glad I choose to teach at Ceshe as it was a great experience and I loved spending time getting to know the kids and doing my best to teach them English! 

Becca from England

January 01, 2020

I spent three weeks here and had the best time! All the volunteers I met were amazing and the children are eager to learn and so openhearted. I enjoyed the opportunity to do something meaningful while I traveled and had a lot of fun hanging out at Rady's and going into town on weekends. I have a lot of memories from here that I'll always cherish and laugh about. I highly recommend it!

Joslyn from USA

Working at this school was one of the best experiences of my life! The kids were so eager to learn and good-hearted. The volunteers I was with were tons of fun, and I'm sure I've made friends I'll have for a long time. The location is gorgeous right in the countryside outside of Siem Reap (with the city being close enough to get to very easily) and the accommodations are very comfortable, especially for Cambodia (working toilets and private showers, wow!). I really can't explain how perfect my time there was and how I treasure the memories I made. Thanks for everything, Rady and James!

Sarah from USA

I came to volunteer at this school feeling nervous and quite unsure. I left feeling like I was leaving my family behind. This place is amazing and I can't even express in words how extremely grateful and happy I am to have been given this opportunity. Rady and his family, James, the drivers, all of the people at the school, the students and the fellow volunteers are wonderful people. It was so hard leaving and I hope to go back one day. All I can say is volunteer here, you will not regret it. 

Jenna from Australia

January 01, 2020

Jade & Brad

We volunteered here for 3 weeks and would say it was one of the most enjoyable & rewarding experiences we have had. We had a great time teaching the kids at Papas school & the volunteers we worked with were also amazing! This organisation is doing a fantastic thing for the local community in a poor country that makes their citizens pay to get a basic education - go figure! Cambodia has a long way to go to move forward as a nation and it is wonderful organisations like CESHEO that gives these kids some hope for the future through providing free English education. Not only will you be helping a good cause you will have a great time outside of school hours with some really cool people as well!
Jade & Brad from Australia

We stayed here for 3 weeks. We thought it was plenty of time to stay here but unfortunately not. We miss this place so much. James was very helpful when ever we asked questions. The staff are so nice and helpful. We were never hungry because we were fed so much. Acommodation is basic, but turned out to be awesome, had no problems what so ever.. We miss the children that we taught. They behaved well and it was such fun teaching them. We will definitely return, but with a longer stay. Thanks Rady, staff, and James.
Kel & Elizabeth from Australia

After teaching at the school you leave woth so much! A most wonderful feeling of offering the kids a small difference, that hopefully, ind the long run and with help from many volunteers will lead to a better life for them! You leave with a feeling of friendship with both the dedicated and great people running the place, the amazing, fellow volunteers and the kids at the school. We feel grateful for all the positivity that came our way at our stay, and we want to say a big thanks to Rady and James and all the others at ceshe for making this a worthwhile workaway experience! 
Emma & Jonas from Denmark

I had an amazing time here. I was supposed to stay for just two weeks, but ended up extending for more than a month, and I would have probably stayed longer if I had the chance.
It can be challenging at times (teaching with that heat can be tough), but you'll be rewarded with great experiences. The kids are eager to learn and quite respectful, considering that they have new teachers coming and going. The other volunteers were lovely, we all got along very well immediately, and we had an amazing time together.

Thanks again Rady, hopefully I'll get a chance to come back!
Erik from Italy/Ireland

I spent 3.5 weeks here and did absolutely love the experience. The children are amazing to work with and the volunteers mesh together very well (I worked with volunteers from 15 countries). This was my first time teaching and I found it quite easy to hit the ground running as a newcomer. The children were welcoming of me rather quickly and we had so much fun in our classes :-) The English classes are fun to teach, especially you have to be creative in how to teach students properly / get the lesson to stick in their brains once & for all :-) Aside from teaching, I recommend you visit Siem Reap at least once on weekends with other volunteers, so you can seek out the area more and can get a change of scenery from the country / volunteer house. Remember that Cambodia is a "still developing" country, meaning at times there may be no power / water sometimes the food you crave won't be available, etc. The people of Cambodia are very friendly/welcoming and I learned a great deal about humanity from them, including many at the school. I am forever thankful for this experience and will never forget it. In fact, it's only inspired me to pursue more teaching opportunities in my future :-)

Thank you so much Rady, & everybody !

Thanks for the memories :D
Brad from U.S.A

I stayed here for nearly 7 weeks and it was one of my best experiences! The kids are amazing and it was so much fun to try teaching for the first time. It takes a couple of days to get the hang of it, but when you do, it's so worth it. The kids really appreciate it if you stay longer, so they have a good chance of getting to know you. I would recommend staying here for a least 4 weeks and the time goes so fast! 
The volunteer house, the family, the tuk tuk drivers and all the other volunteers make your stay all the more better. From the minute you arrive you feel welcome. 
I will miss the kids and the other volunteers very much and hopefully return in the near future, as it would be amazing to see the kids again and see their progress.

Thanks for the memories :D
Signe from Denmark