Volunteer heads to Cambodia

VOLUNTEER: Tess Guiney spent her childhood in Omapere before attending Whangarei Girls’ High School.

By DENISE PIPER - Whangarei Leader

Last updated 12/01/2010

(CAAI News Media)

A young woman from Whangarei is about to spend a year volunteering with orphans in Cambodia.

Tess Guiney, 21, leaves for Cambodia on January 29 with Volunteer Service Abroad.

She is one of 12 new university volunteers, or UniVols, who are heading to Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea, Cambodia, South Africa and Tanzania this year.

The UniVols programme provides opportunities for students from Otago and Victoria universities to gain practical field experience.

Tess is doing a masters in geography at Otago University, looking specifically at development geography.

"I am especially interested in the gap which exists between countries of the developed north and those of the developing south.

"By travelling to Cambodia I will be able to see how development and poverty are actually experienced within nations," she says.

Tess hopes the programme will give her an opportunity to see real life examples of the

theoretical themes covered in her studies.

Cambodia is a largely rural economy and the second poorest in southeast Asia, causing serious disadvantages in health, education and employment, she says.

"I feel that by travelling to Cambodia I will hopefully be able to share my knowledge with them but also to gain a new understanding of development by learning from the people of Cambodia," she says.

Tess will work with the rural Economic Development Association, a non-governmental organisation in the province of Svay Rieng.

The association works with those in the community who are most vulnerable, including people living with HIV AIDS, orphans and vulnerable children, and those people with chronic illnesses.

She will be a childcare worker for orphans and will organise activities for them and help to improve their living conditions.

The work will be done alongside the Cambodian staff to ensure development occurs in a form the local community desires, a guiding principal of Volunteer Service Abroad, she says.

"Volunteer Service Abroad arranges for people to live within and work alongside local communities in an attempt to ensure more representative development, something that my own studies have firmly convinced me is the key to reducing poverty," she says.

Like other Volunteer Service Abroad volunteers, Tess will be covered for travel, initial resettlement, accommodation and utilities, a living allowance and insurance. Her student loan is interest-free for the year of the assignment.

Tess spent her childhood in Omapere before moving to attend Whangarei Girls' High School. In 2006 she went to study at Otago University but still visits her family in Whangarei during holidays.