From Bridge Valley to Cambodia

After more than a decade at the helm of Bridge Valley Adventure Centre, Dave Fraser is heading to Cambodia with his family to continue programmes to help a poor, remote village.

About 4,500 people, mostly school kids, head to Bridge Valley each year where they participate in camps, team building, and generally as the name suggests, adventure.

Flying foxes, high ropes, hydroslide, and a summertime aqua park have been everyday life for Dave, his wife Heidi, and their young family of four aged between three and 10 and he admits it will be hard to walk away from it all.

“I love what this place is about; seeing young people grow and be inspired. It’s such a cool place to see people flourish and I love being a part of that.

“Like the high ropes, when someone is petrified and pushes through a lot of discomfort and anxiety. It’s so rewarding to see them grow.”

One of the many highlights was the New Zealand Paralympic cycling team who “would not leave a challenge until they’d nailed it perfectly”.

“That drive and determination was absolutely inspiring to watch.”

He will also miss the community of about 50 support workers and 15 staff through the summer peak, but after 10 years as general manager, he says it is time for change and they intend to spend the next two years in a remote Cambodian village on the edge of the Mekong River in the Kampong Cham province.

Dave has visited the village several times and lived there for a year in 2012, teaching English at the school and assisting with a funded programme encompassing care for orphans, putting in wells and developing micro-enterprises.

Most of the work has been funded by private New Zealand donors and Dave will take over the facilitator role from the couple who have been there since it began nearly 24 years ago. One of his tasks will be helping locals create a sustainable poultry farm, with profits used to continue the aid and orphan programmes.

Funded work in the village has been going long enough to see change and Dave says kids are now getting enough education to go to university, with one heading into medicine, which creates more opportunities within the village.

“In some of the really poor villages, there may be 10 and 11-year-olds skipping days at school to help the family, and high schools are generally in the city and you have to be able to get to the city. It’s really cool to see the change in the kids. They have a more positive outlook on life and believe there are opportunities out there.

“The bit that gets me excited is seeing communities own the care and responsibility of looking after their wider community because they’re starting their own businesses and are able to help others.”

Early on, providing wells for clean water had a huge impact on the village, he says, because kids were no longer taking so many days off school because they were sick from the water. Plus, they no longer had to walk long distances for their water.

Despite the trauma Cambodia’s older generation remembers from Pol Pot’s regime, Dave says they always have a ready smile and are happy people.

“It’s been a traumatic journey they’ve been through, but they smile and embrace you. You can go into the markets with a bit of their language and make friends everywhere.”

Dave has a month left at Bridge Valley and leaves for Cambodia with his family at the end of August.