WWW Cambodia Grade 9

Grade 9 students traveled to beautiful Siem Reap, Cambodia for this year’s Week Without Walls adventure. The first four days of the trip were focused on students building two houses for families who were selected by their local community to receive a new house and furnishings.

The grade 9 students worked incredibly hard, sawing, painting, assembling scaffolding, erecting steel pillars, mounting floor and wallboards, and mixing and spreading concrete. The two families who received the houses were incredibly grateful and ISD students made a massive impact on their lives and futures. After completing the house building projects and participating in the customary house building project, the trip transitioned to learning more about the history and culture of Cambodia.

Students showed off their culinary skills in a cooking class and enjoyed the food they worked so hard to prepare, many cycled between the famous Angkor Kingdom temples of Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom, and Ta Prohm. We learned about the difficult period of the Khmer Rouge and the ensuing civil war that ended in 1990. Another highlight was visiting Apopo, a center that trains African pouched rats to detect explosives and assist with the removal of landmines and unexploded ordnance from the civil war and the Vietnam War.  We are so proud of the positive attitude and service the grade 9s provided this year during Week Without Walls.