NFO Rural Schools in Takeo Province

Empowering rural Cambodian children through education and a positive learning environment is the objective for a project that CamKids is helping to fund. Working closely with New Futures Organisation (NFO), a local charity helping to construct and manage schools in the rural villages surrounding Takeo Province, CamKids is helping to provide education where access is limited by paying the salaries of 12 teachers and supplies for the 6 rural schools currently in the programme. It is hoped NFO will build three more schools in 2013, taking the number of children in education from 1100 up to 1500.

An overwhelmingly poor agricultural region, villages in Takeo are often scattered among rice fields and down difficult to access dirt tracks, especially during the rainy season. While education is free in Cambodia, the costs associated with sending a child to regular school is often out of reach for these families. Distance can pose a problem and it is also not uncommon for parents to need their childrens help in the fields which prevents attendance. With no close education facilities available at all, Ben Maur was identified on a 'needs basis' profile conducted by Cambodian Social Services as a location in desperate need of a rural school. 

Constructed in August 2011, the school has quickly grown to accommodate around 80-90 children aged between 4 and 12. The afternoon English classes are run at split times and are taught by two dedicated local Khymer teachers who are funded by CamKids. Lead by the senior teacher 'Son Yang' who has been at Ben Maur since its inception, the students vocabulary and pronunciation skills are increasing rapidly and are testament to the teachers motivation and passion to see them succeed. In addition to learning English, the students are also taught how to behave in a schooling environment, paving the way for them to attend state-run high schools once they come of age.

The teachers also provide a safe environment for students to learn manners, social skills and how to follow rules. All of which are necessary attributes for those who may want a future that extends outside of working in the fields. The success of Ben Maur can also be contributed to the international volunteer programme run by NFO which is designed to provide assistance to the teachers. The children benefit hugely from interaction with friendly and engaging fluent English speakers. In addition to being generous with their time, volunteers also regularly donate much needed teaching supplies to supplement funding from NFO and CamKids. 

Volunteer, Rebecca Kelly (24) from Ireland, spent three weeks at Ben Maur in February 2013 and was pleased to see the positive environment that has been created for the students:

"Helping out at Ben Maur in both a teaching and support capacity has given me a unique insight into real Cambodia," she says. "It's really great to see teachers being given the tools they need to educate the younger generation who are so eager to learn. Having volunteers present in the classroom also helps to open up the eyes of the students to a world outside their village. Teaching at Ben Maur has been a real privilege and it is easy to see the impact the school and its teachers are having in helping to shape their futures."

Sok Kakada's Story

With his routine already planned, sixteen year old Kakada blows his whistle loudly and announces the start of class. He is an older orphan instructor at Happyland orphanage, located on the outskirts of Phnom Penh.  Kakada, with the help of his fellow older orphan instructors, lead the stretching routine for the twenty-five participating children.  Stretching is quickly followed by aerobic exercise, games, and then cool-down stretches.  The hour long session leaves the orphans exhausted but full of smiles and cheer. 

Kakada and Happyland orphanage are participants of CamKids and One-2-One’s Happy Program.  Members of the program are teenage orphans who are taught how to instruct younger orphans in their orphanage in aerobic exercise. Benefits include an instruction of aerobic and leadership skills. 

Kakada enjoys working with the younger orphans, “I like to train everyone; I also enjoy the health benefits.” He acknowledges some of the difficulties of being a leader and was at first afraid of teaching such a big class. “But because I practice every week I do not worry so much.  Sometimes the children don’t listen, but my assistants help keep control of the children.” He has also noticed a big change in the orphans over the months, “Before the children could do only a little exercise; now they are full of energy and do exercises by themselves!” 

The aerobic gym session that Kakada teaches is weekly at Happyland, with CamKids funded One-2-One instructors coming by monthly to critique, evaluate, and offer advice. Kakada has been involved with aerobics since 2010 and was thrilled at originally participating in the Happy Program at Olympic Stadium.  He is very grateful, saying “Thanks to Camkids for letting me know about aerobics and to know about the competition in the sport.” 

The Happy Program also provides a monthly instructor training program; helping instructors build up their routines, practice teaching in front of groups, and exchanging advice with other orphans from Phnom Penh. Kakada’s success in the program serves as a model for younger orphans, who love participating in his aerobic exercise sessions.

Tough Little Champions

Through a local partnership with One-2-One Cambodia, CamKids funds the children’s aerobics fitness program, TLC (Tough Little Champions).  TLC gathers children from five different orphanages across Phnom Penh and brings them together for bi-weekly sessions of high energy and fun aerobics classes.  The aerobics classes are run by internationally experienced Cambodian instructors, with the aim of improving the children’s physical fitness along with an increased understanding of health and wellbeing. 

One-2-One’s Motion Tuk-Tuks collect the children from their orphanages and deliver them to the Motion Academy of Sport.  Motion is a fully equipped aerobics facility with padded floors, ropes, hoops and wall mirrors for the children to grin into as they twist and bend and jump around. Classes are run by Srorn and Sarith, two very experienced One-2-One aerobics instructors. 

Classes begin with a stretching routine, which is quite difficult and requires the help of the instructors, so that each child is correctly warmed up before training and this helps the children to increase their overall flexibility. 

Then the fun begins with high energy music and the shout of: “Five, Six, Seven, Eight!” and the room comes alive with the children bounding into the air, kicks left and right, out and up.  The routine continues with star jumps and pushups and more challenging stretches.  The older, more experienced students demonstrate the moves for the younger, less experienced children.   Flexibility and strength conditioning are emphasized with the instructors giving individual attention and instruction, ensuring a balance of safety and fun. 

Hot and sweaty, the children’s class comes to an end.  Everyone gathers on the balcony to catch a slight evening breeze, to laugh, joke and drink cups of cold water.  The children are slow to leave, obviously enjoying the interaction and the chance to burn off some energy, but eventually hop into the Tuk-Tuks home knowing they’ll be back in a few days’ time.

Youth School – helping the young urban poor of Phnom Penh

Set along the railroad tracks in Phnom Penh in a shantytown slum community, Youth School is a community centre / school which brings education and health projects to children and young people using a variety of programs and activities. Run by Empowering Youth in Cambodia (EYC) and funded by CamKids, this small school is showing some very effective ways to give young people a hand up and have fun along the way.

Started in October 2009, Youth School’s programs include free English and computer classes, medical and dental care, a library, as well as weekend activities including leadership development and field trips Youth School also runs sports programs including cycling, yoga and an under-14 football team. The school was initially started by student volunteers from EYC’s Lakeside School who wanted to share their experiences and talent in a new community, and over time has incorporated professional teachers as funds became available, thanks to CamKids.

Youth School has approximately 100 students attending daily and is primarily an after-school program since government schools teach only 4 hours each day. During the morning and afternoon sessions, students are primary school age, while in the evening they are in high school and even some university, as well as youth who have dropped out of school and are working, unemployed, or underemployed.

At the heart of the school is some excellent staff including Heab Sokhuoch, the English teacher from 5:30 to 7:30pm (2 different levels), who by day is also the EYC program manager.   He is a graduate of the government university “Institute of Foreign Languages” and has a bachelor’s degree in English Teaching and has a grasp of the English language far beyond most non-native speakers. Sokhuoch has allowed his students to become a part of his life and his work is more than a job. “My students get involved in all the EYC activities, and have the highest participation in the cycling team that I manage” he says with pride. “Youth School is more than a school since it is also a favorite gathering place for young people who are on their way to success. The kids really enjoy going to class. Outside of the school are people drinking and gambling, but inside we always try to provide a positive place for them,” said Sokhuoch.

Other key staff include university students Mr. Khorn Kungkea, the school manager, who lives on site, and Ms. Khom Pheary, the English teacher in the morning and afternoon. Pheary will soon graduate with an English Teaching degree. The school also has 2 assistants to teach ABCs to our youngest students and 3 computer teachers for classes throughout the day. The school provides 8 hours of English and 6 hours of computer lessons each day.

An example of the many activities made available to the youth is a series of training sessions recently  held on Job Hunting Skills, over 6 Sunday mornings, facilitated by EYC’s job placement officer Sor Sophea, and included a speaker from Nokia Corporation who shared what he is looking for in potential job applicants. Graduates all now have their CV’s ready and feel more confident to seek quality work.

EYC has also had great results in getting kids from the community who had dropped out of the government school to re-enrol, with regular follow up to make sure they stay in school and that public school teachers don’t ask for money from the students. 

Youth School has plenty of challenges to be able to work in the demanding slum environment. In late 2011 the previous landlord decided to cancel the rental contract.  The school scrambled to find a new site and was lucky to have found the current location, which is bigger and actually a better space for a school. The school has regular electrical outages and is near a sewage canal, which creates a bad smell for the children coming and going to the school. A small problem for the school, but a very sad reality for the families who live along it. 

In 2013 Youth School plans to provide additional life skills trainings for our teenaged students to prepare them to navigate the many challenges that come with being a young adult, including relationships, preparation for university, and conflict resolution.

Brighton Marathon April 2013

CamKids has a few remaining places for the 2013 Brighton Marathon. Public places have already sold out and very few charity places are still available. The event will take place on Sunday 14th April 2013.

The minimum sponsorship amount is £500 per runner which will pay for the running costs of one of our rural schools for a year. Why not make it your New Year's resolution to get fit and help the kids at the same time.

Participants will receive a CamKids T-shirt, Running Vest and Charity Wristbands and we will help you set up a fundraising page on JustGiving, to make collecting sponsorship money easy.

There are a limited number of places - if you are interested, please email: events@camkids.org.

Calling all dentists, hygienists, therapists and senior dental students - SEAL CAMBODIA PROJECT NEEDS YOU!

SEAL CAMBODIA is an exciting 3 year project to save children's teeth in Cambodia, where the levels of dental decay are among the highest in the world (8-10 decayed, missing or filled teeth at age 5).

The project is supported by The Cambodian Children's Charity (CamKids), the Global Child Dental Fund (GCDF) and GC (Asia) Company and has the approval of the Cambodian Ministries of Education and Health. It aims to seal the first permanent molars of 60,000 Grade 2 children over the next three years.

Local partners for the project in Cambodia are One-2-One, International University, the Oral Health Office of the Ministry of Health, the Pediatric Clinic of the University of Health Sciences, Cambodia World Family, the Cambodian Dental Association and the Regional Nurses Training Centre in Kampong Cham. They are providing some of their own members and personnel - but we also need your help!

We are seeking self-funded overseas volunteer dentists, hygienists, therapists and senior dental students to come to Cambodia for one to two weeks, to work in primary schools to achieve our goal of sealing 20,000 children per year. We can arrange pick up from the airport, accommodation, local sightseeing, transport to and from the schools, and assistants to work with you. Training on how the program works and the protocols for GIC sealant placement will be given. Instruments and materials needed will be provided.

We know this project will make a huge difference to the dental health of these children - most of whom presently face extraction of many of their teeth by the time they reach high school. For more information please contact the SEAL CAMBODIA team at: sealcambodia@hotmail.com

We look forward to seeing you in Cambodia soon!

The SEAL CAMBODIA Team

Winter 2012 Newsletter

Up to now, all CamKids Newsletters have been written by the trustees, but we thought it was time for us to take a back seat and for you to hear from some of the Cambodians and volunteers working hard for CamKids and the children of Cambodia.  CamKids continues to expand its reach to help more and more disadvantaged children, and the testimonies in our Winter newsletter are written by people helping CamKids to help Cambodians to help themselves.

To access the Newsletter, please click This Link or Contact Us and we will send you a copy by e-mail.

THANK YOU for your loyalty, trust and support. From CamKids, and all the children we are able to help support through your ongoing generosity, we wish you all a Very Merry Christmas and a Safe and Happy New Year.

The CamKids Trustees

EYC Medical Program

Camkids funding medical care for Phnom Penh’s urban poor

As part of the ongoing support from CamKids to Empowering Youth in Cambodia (EYC), funds are provided to cover the medical expenses for EYC’s 4 schools in poor communities, otherwise known as slums (i.e. residents do not hold land titles). Students in the schools are provided a basic but holistic set of health services including regular health and hygiene training, weekly medical clinics at each school, referrals for serious cases that can’t be treated in the clinics and dental care. Additionally, everyone in the community receive health services including family planning training and long term birth control, medical treatment and de-worming treatment every 6 months. 

EYC started providing education and leadership development for young people in 2006. The services made a difference and are still much appreciated by the community, but the founder Drew McDowell was constantly confronted with illnesses in the students and their families. For EYC’s first 3 years they were unable to do much beyond taking kids with serious problems to a clinic or hospital, as well as some to a private dentist. “Kids were constantly getting sick, and we weren’t doing much to address it. Our team was good at inspiring and training young people, but when people got sick, and sometimes it was serious, we felt pretty helpless” said Drew. 

As the medical NGO One-2-One started to partner with EYC, they were able to provide a whole new level of support for students and their families. Not surprisingly, the costs to provide health services started to rise, and EYC could not sustain the program if not for the support from CamKids. Once a monthly budget was established, the team in EYC was able to work to support the health programs, establish partnerships, train volunteers from the communities, and the results were impressive. So impressive, it is hard to summarize or understand without seeing it firsthand; sick people being treated, cavities being filled (smiles returned), behaviors changed and hygiene improved.  A new generation that understands reproductive health, woman in control of their bodies and real care being shown to people who are in a tough situation. Each week there is a line of people waiting to see the medical team.  There are tuk tuks full of kids going to the dentist and there are trained young people on the ground to educate and help in all kinds of situations. 

From October 2011 to September 2012 EYC accomplished the following, thanks to the support from CamKids:

2,515 Patient-visits with a doctor. 

1,152 Patient-visits to a dentist. 

73 Women received long term birth control (IUD or implant). 

While the road to improving the health of a community is not an easy one, these results along with a continued health education message will affect long term changes in the communities EYC works with.

NFO Update

The following report and slideshow has just been received from one of the orphanages which CamKids has been supporting for a number of years:

NFO has had a year of great developments, we have not only had many upgrades and maintenance projects take place at the children’s home, but we have also seen an expansion of our community project and village schools too. Thanks to many volunteers, school groups and international organisations such as CamKids, we have seen an extension of our farm, teaching the children about sustainable practices and were able to complete much needed maintenance work on one of our classrooms, the children’s bathrooms and the kitchen. Other important construction projects also took place such as a dance room and a rice store shed and a new playground area. 

The children have also enjoyed a number of excursions; the most exiting of the year was to Phnom Penh for the CamKids cup, in which our talented football stars took first place. The children also visited Kep and Sihanoukville while all the children who have recently turned sixteen went on the annual trip to Angkor Watt. Our volunteers have thoroughly enjoyed their stay at NFO and have bought much benefit to the youth in which we serve, as expressed by a previous volunteer. 

“I feel very grateful and have had a humbling experience to have taught the kids at the orphanage and being able to play some outdoor games with them, teaching English to Monks at the Pagoda and help out at Ben Mao rural School whilst my stay at Takeo. I've also had some time to see other parts of Cambodia and had really cherished every moment of it. You can sure hope to visit a town full of lovely, local people, local traditional markets and many exotic fruits” Tania - June 2012, Student

We have also seen the expansion of our community projects and have extended not only our village school program with the building of a new school, but we now provide free English classes to the local monks and police and are also working with the Takeo provincial hospital on a blood donation program, proving desperately needed blood to those in need. 

NFO have been supported by CamKids for a number of years now through the provision of food for the children, the teachers' salaries and materials for all of our village schools, the building of our vocational training centre and the funding of our Tuk Tuks and other vehicles. Our children are very grateful for the assistance that CamKids provides as you can see by some of the testimonials of our children, such as this short story by Soklina.

"My names is Sok Lina, I am 12 years old, I have lived at NFO for four years. When I grow up I want to be a doctor. I like NFO because they help me think of my future. I have a lot of friends in NFO, they are so friendly with me, and other children too. At free time we study English with the volunteers in the classroom CamKids made for us. We study Khmer at school with our Khmer teacher. We eat breakfast, lunch and dinner every day. We sometime go to the beach and the mountains, we are happy in NFO." Sok Lina - October 2012