The social circus

Cambodia is well known for its huge number of NGOs, and Battambang is home to a couple of really amazing ones. Today, let me introduce you to the social circus and school Phare Ponleu Selpak. I call it "social" because it started as an art school for deprived children and teenagers at risk. The school is still running today with an extended curriculum, since new arts as music and circus skills have been added.

Teenage acrobats found their way

The school and performing grounds are humbly located in the outskirts of Battambang. Surrounded by trees, the first thing you notice -other than the ticket booth- is a stilted wooden hut. Next to it, at the end of a footpath, there is a small marquee, where the magic happens.

The circus opens four days a week with three different shows, all of them featuring live music and traditional Khmer instruments played by the young beneficiaries. The various performances are intertwined with a central theme that brings story together. We watched "Chills", which uses the fear of ghosts -a really common fear among the Cambodians-, as the story theme.

Students peforming the traditional apsara dance

The stilted house holds an exhibition of the works of the art school students. Some of them are really talented and their artwork is even displayed and sold in the downtown art galleries. Judge for yourselves:

Changing topic completely, today is a sad day as it is officially my last day volunteering at the Coconut Water project. I had an amazingly fun and rewarding experience and I can't thank enough all the kind, fun, hard-working people -organisers, teachers, social educators, children, etc. -that made it possible. I will miss you all!

Now I'll be travelling around Cambodia for about two weeks. So the following posts will be mainly amazing sights and stunning sunsets, I hope.