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Program Essentials

  • Location: Cambodia: Phnom Penh, Chi Phat, Sambor Region, Siem Reap, Angkor Wat
  • Standard Length: 21 Days: Tentative travel dates are June 10 - June 30, 2011.
  • Program Summary

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American Youth Leadership Program with Cambodia

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A program of the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs Youth Programs Division, managed by Global Explorers.

A fully-funded cross-cultural exchange program for individual students and educators.

THE APPLICATION PROCESS IS NOW CLOSED

Monks stroll by clad in saffron-colored robes. Jungle temple ruins tell the story of a magnificent bygone era. Signs of the elusive and endangered Indochinese tiger send us searching further into the forest. Aromas of delicate curry, steamed fish and rice waft to your nose. We are definitely on a different continent, in a different world. Cambodia is a cultural, environmental and sensory delight sure to reward the intrepid traveler. The country’s charms are only beginning to be rediscovered by the Western world. While many travelers have discovered some of the more famous Angkor temples, there are plenty of opportunities to feel like Indiana Jones in some lesser-known jungle temples. Ecotourism in Cambodia is in its infancy and we have the chance to discover, and help protect, pristine wildlife with relative tranquility. With sun bears, gibbons, elephants, tigers and more calling Cambodia home, there is significant diversity to discover. This program shows us the heart of a vibrant and resilient culture, illuminates conservation efforts and climate change issues, and highlights the connections between all of humanity. We learn about ourselves as leaders and discover more than we could ever dream.

This exciting cross-cultural exchange program, funded by the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs Youth Programs Division, will bring together students of diverse backgrounds from across the United States for a once in a lifetime 18-day expedition to Cambodia in June 2011. In addition to the international expedition, participants join conference calls and webinars prior to travel, attend a retreat in Washington, DC immediately prior to departure and engage in follow-up conversations upon their return. The fun and engaging educational content emphasizes responsible global citizenship as students explore the complexity and interconnectedness within our world and emerge as self-aware servant leaders who strive to make the world a more sustainable place now and for generations to come.

Tentative travel dates are set for June 10 – June 30, 2011.

Program Overview

STUDENT APPLICATIONS ARE NO LONGER AVAILABLE

SPECIAL THANKS

In addition to full scholarship funding from the U.S. Department of State, this program is also supported by our partners at the AFAR Foundation, the philanthropic affiliate of AFAR Media. The AFAR Foundation provides funding for our Learning AFAR Programs, and will strengthen this program by providing staff for the preparatory retreat who will teach participants valuable career and journalism skills. Learning AFAR is designed to promote cross cultural exchange by sponsoring international travel for students who cannot otherwise afford to experience another part of the world.

Sample Itinerary

We begin our journey with a pre-travel retreat in Washington, DC. This will be your first chance to meet your fellow travelers in person. For our first day, you will receive a program orientation and engage in fun activities to get to know each other.

We review the lessons we learned during our preparatory sessions, build relationships as a team and learn how to tell our travel story from journalism experts at Afar Media. We will also learn more about environmental issues, climate change, conservation and sustainable development as they pertain to Cambodia.

We head to the airport and depart for Cambodia. It will be a long and exciting journey!

We arrive in Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia, and receive an orientation. We stay at a hotel in the heart of the city and visit sites that give us an excellent introduction to the history and current state of the country such as the Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda. Depending on arrival times, this day may include a visit to the center of Phnom Penh before dinner. Throughout our time in the capital, we learn about Cambodian history, including the dark days of the Khmer Rouge, and visit sites from a tragic time that leave every one of us feeling a genuine connection with humanity.

In the morning, we visit the Royal Palace, built in 1866 under King Norodom. Adjacent is the Silver Pagoda, whose floor is covered with 5,000 silver tiles. We meet people from Childsafe Network and the Apsara Arts Association who share their beautiful culture and show us some of the work they do to move Cambodia in a positive direction. We exchange cultural presentations with local students and learn about the opportunities they receive from these great organizations. After lunch we visit Choeng Ek and Tuol Sleng, the location of the infamous Killing Fields, where thousands of Cambodians were murdered during the regime of the Khmer Rouge between 1975 and 1978.

Today we have a cross-cultural interchange with students and faculty at the Apsara Arts Association. The Apsara Arts Association aims to preserve Cambodian arts and culture by giving teachers the opportunity to teach Cambodian dance and music to disadvantaged children.

We visit the Cambodian Community-Based Ecotourism Network (CCBEN). CCBEN is a network of more than 30 members including communities, nongovernmental organizations, academic institutes and private companies who are working closely with ecotourism. CCBEN aims to support, promote and advocate for this unique style of tourism in order to conserve natural and cultural resources, to protect the environment and to raise the sustainable well-being of local communities across the country. After lunch, students visit the Ministry of the Environment and discuss the work being done in Cambodia to protect the environment and combat climate change.

After a visit to the U.S. Embassy, we depart for Chi Phat in the Cardamom Mountains. Here, we participate in and contribute to community-based ecotourism and learn about conservation efforts in this region that is home to endangered species like Asian elephants, Indochinese tigers, Pileated gibbons and Humpback dolphins. In addition, will be participating in homestays during our Chi Phat visit.

We visit and work alongside high school students in Chi Phat. The visiting students teach English and engage in training sessions, simulations and role-playing, team-building exercises, case studies, volunteer service and leadership training. Local students teach Khmer and Cambodian culture. We take an afternoon bike trip with a visit to a tree nursery as students learn about and engage in a reforestation project at Chi Phat. We cycle back to Chi Phat and enjoy a swim in the nearby waterfall.

We board local boats that will take us into the protected area near Chi Phat. We transfer to rowing boats where we will look for monkeys and colorful birds on the riverbank. After about two and a half hours, we reach the wildlife watching house where we take a short rest before we start trekking through the forest. We enjoy lunch in the jungle next to a small river. After lunch, we continue our trek to the jungle camp where we will spend the night. Our porters and guide set up camp and prepare the dinner while we make a foray into the forest towards a nearby clearing called Veal Ta Prak. Veal Ta Prak is a grassy opening in the middle of the jungle with a seasonal pond where wildlife might include sambar deer, wild pig, great hornbills and gibbons.

We make the return trek to Chi Phat where we have a departure celebration with the local community. We discuss conservation and sustainable development challenges and opportunities.

Next we head to Kampong Thom, where we spend our nights at homestays or in a school dormitory. After an orientation, we meet local students and share a meal. Throughout our time here, we work side-by-side with students from Kampong Chheuteal High School on peer education workshops, leadership development, and a local community service project.

There is a full day of activities at the Kampong Chheuteal High School including peer training/education workshops, teambuilding exercises, leadership development with workshop trainers, exercises related to increasing tolerance and cooperation and developing strategies for future collaboration and cooperation among participants, and a local community service project.

Students continue their service project and engage in additional leadership activities. Discussions will center around conservation issues in the region and in the U.S. and the challenges of sustainable development.

Today, we learn more about the rural lifestyles of Cambodia as we visit local stone carving houses and a silk farm as well as help plant rice in the nearby fields. Activities provide insight into how local people make their living and challenges they face economically and socially.

After a morning bicycle ride to the ruins of Sambor Prei Kuk, we work with our partners at Khiri Reach to actively help in the restoration of the site’s ancient monuments.

Our final few days in Cambodia are spent based out of Siem Reap, the gateway to the otherworldly temples of Angkor. We stop at Spean Praptos, a stone bridge from the Angkor era. Spean Praptos is over 180 feet long and a marvel of ancient engineering and construction. We then continue our drive through beautiful and unspoiled countryside. Early this afternoon, we arrive at Beng Melea, one of the more distant sites that once was part of the ancient kingdom of Angkor. We have a picnic lunch at Beng Melea before we continue to Siem Reap, gateway to Angkor.

Today, we focus on the Tonle Sap Lake region, learning about the remarkable seasonal changes of the lake and its fascinating biodiversity. We begin in the village of Ampil Peam, where we visit the primary school and meet local students and educators. We take a boat to the village of Chong Kneas Village, a small community that consists mainly of floating houses on the Tonle Sap Lake.

We focus on Cambodian food today - how to prepare it and how to serve it. After breakfast we head to the Ecole D’Hotellerie et du Tourisme Paul Dubrule. We get a short introduction of this school before we go to a local market to shop for the ingredients of a delicious Cambodian lunch we will prepare. Before dinner, we visit the Sala Bai Hotel and Restaurant School. Sala Bai is a hotel and restaurant school in Siem Reap created by the French NGO Agir Pour Le Cambodge in 2002. In the last five years, 413 disadvantaged young people have been trained, enabling them to achieve economic independence and improve the living conditions of their families.

Finally, we have a day to explore the grandeur of scale and intricate detail of Angkor Wat. These amazing temples set the tone for our closing ceremony and leave us with memories we’ll never forget. We have a closing ceremony and farewell dinner at Luang Prabang: Viroth.

We head to the airport and start our journey home, arriving on Day 22.

Location Information

Not familiar with Cambodia? We encourage you to discover more through these online resources:

: Learn about Secretary Clinton's recent visit to Cambodia and much more!

Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs: Learn about the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs Youth Programs Division, and the launch of the American Youth Leadership Program.

Exploring Cambodia’s Lost Temples with NPR and On Point Radio: A great NPR story about Khmer history featuring John Burgess of the Washington Post.

Lonely Planet Cambodia: A brief overview of Cambodia by Lonely Planet Travel Guides.

Tonle Sap: The Flowing Heart of Cambodia with NPR: A radio expedition to the Tonle Sap River to learn about conservation issues.

Afar Media: Learn more about our partners at Afar Media, whose generous support strengthens this program. The Afar Foundation is donating staff time to our pre-travel retreat to help train students in journalism skills. In addition, Afar is helping us spread the word about this program by contributing ad space in Afar Magazine and sending a journalist on the expedition to document the experience.