What are summer camps?
Each year we recruit young volunteers as camp monitors for our summer camps.
During the summer holidays, we take advantage of empty PSE infrastructure, to offer a camp experience to our children so they do not go back to scavenging on the dumpsites or do other dangerous work.
Summer camps could not take place without Marisa's energy. She began to organise them with the help of her husband and children, and now there is an entire team around her!
At the end of July, we see them arrive: 1, 2, 3... then 10, then 200 European monitors! Then, for five weeks, under a blazing sun or monsoon rain, PSE turns into a joyous and raucous saraband, a noisy fair where amid sack races, tugs of war and endless laughter, joy can be read on every of the 3 000 child faces present every day.
And at the end of the day, we see our monitors, 4 or 5 kids clinging to their necks, completely exhausted... but so happy!
Summer camps in 2022
Due to the Covid-19 health crisis, the Cambodian school year has been changed and the summer holidays have been postponed to the end of the year. Therefore, the summer camps will take place throughout December 2022, when the children need our support.
What does a camp monitor do?
The camps have always been held in August but this year, due to the pandemic, they will be held in December 2022. Volunteers had to be available for three consecutive weeks in November and December. There are several possible duration periods:
- Full: 26/27 November to 29 December 2022
- Partial 1: 26/27 November to 17 December 2022
- Part 2: from 10/11 to 29 December 2022
Instructors must be of legal age. They work in pairs with Khmer instructors and their role is to:
- Prepare and supervise the fun and educational activities for the children, in close collaboration with the Cambodian monitors.
- Be responsible for showers, meals, naps and supervision of the children during the camp.
- Take care of the various tasks of tidying up, cleaning and managing the equipment.
- Always be available and at the service of the children!
What are the requirements to participate?
- Be at least 19 years old.
- Be available during the entire duration of the camp.
- Good English level.
- Volunteer´s expenses:
- Round-trip ticket Europe-Cambodia, around €1000.
- Personal expenses and weekends
- €100 of registration for the volunteer´s setting-up, training and maintenance in Cambodia.
- Respect imperatively the rules demanded by PSE during the whole stay in Cambodia.
- Comply with future health recommendations related to the Covid-19 pandemic. Currently, it is necessary to be vaccinated with 2 doses and have the corresponding COVID certificate to travel to Cambodia and to have a certificate of a negative Covid 19 PCR test valid for 72 hours upon arrival in Cambodia.
- Do not publish images of children during or after summer camps.
What does PSE offer to monitors during the Summer Camps in Cambodia?
- Training before and during the volunteering
- Coordination and follow-up
- Reception at the airport on arrival in Phnom Penh (Cambodia)
- Materials for the implementation of the activities
- Food - breakfast, lunch and dinner - seven days a week
- Accommodation in shared rooms - maximum eight people per room with individual Cambodian beds (made of wood and bamboo, and covered with a mosquito net)
- Basic personal clothing and utensils: 2 or 3 PSE t-shirts, cup, spoon, badge, toilet paper
- Basic health service and medical advice
- Weekly laundry service
Recruitment phase 2
Candidates who have been selected in the first phase will be invited to a compulsory training / recruitment day. Depending on the health conditions, this day will be held in Toulouse, Madrid or London or online by videoconference.
This day is planned for October 2022, the exact day and place will be indicated before June on the website.
If it is held online, all candidates must:
- have access to the internet
- have equipment with a microphone and speakers/headphones
- have Zoom or a web browser that allows access
- be online and present throughout the training/recruitment day
Recruitment phase 3
Those selected in phase 2 will participate in the 2022 Summer Camp. A final training day will be held online (same conditions as in phase 2) in November 2022 - the exact date will be communicated by email to all selected applicants. Failure to attend this day will invalidate your application.
> Contact: Jean-Daniel Leroy