Hannah’s love for wild side of life

CULTURE change . . . Hannah Al-Othman dressed up for a Cambodian wedding

She’s gone a long way — from Crompton House to Cambodia!
FEASTING on crickets, holidaying on uninhabited islands and making friends with monks . . . former Crompton House pupil Hannah Al-Othman has done it all.

The 26-year-old is loving her new life as a community education adviser in Cambodia, a position she secured through Voluntary Service Overseas, a charity that sends employees to improve life in developing countries.

Hannah, who used to handle press and publicity for Burnley MP Kitty Ussher, decided on a change of direction when she was made redundant last June.

Education
Her role, which she started in October, sees her trying to improve the standard of education by encouraging community members to get more involved with local schools.

Before she started, Hannah underwent two months of training in the capital Phnom Penh and rural Kampong Cham, where she learnt all about Cambodian history and culture as well as local customs and the Khmer language.

Hannah now works in North-West Cambodia, close to the Thai border, and will finish her placement in December.

She said: “I was shocked when I visited the schools and found out that not only did they not have computers, they didn’t have electricity or even paper, pens, books or crayons.

“Some schools even have to shut down completely at certain times of the year such as the rainy season when the classrooms flood and during the rice harvest when the teachers are in the fields harvesting their crops, as their wages alone are not enough for them to live on.”

Over the past five months, Hannah has implemented a series of improvements such as creating a primitive library, building a playground from old timber and tractor tyres and developing a vegetable patch.

After her placement has finished, Hannah intends to travel for three months before returning home.

She said: “Before I came out here I hadn’t ridden a push bike for 15 years and I wouldn’t go to the cinema, a restaurant or even to the gym without a friend.

“Now I cycle everywhere, ride over 20km out to schools. I’ve managed to visit seven of Cambodia’s provinces so far and I hope to visit many more before I leave.

“I’ve eaten crickets despite being a vegetarian, travelled for 12 hours on a rickety bus to meet friends, shared green tea and fruit in a pagoda with monks, seen the rare Irrawady dolphins in the Mekong River and spent a lovely few days on a practically uninhabited jungle island with no electricity where I was stung by a sea urchin.”

Hannah has set up a website to raise funds for the Cambodian project. Visit www.justgiving.com/hannahdoesvso to donate.