IU Dental Clinic Report

Over the past three months the IU Dental Clinic has seen over 508 of children from 17 different orphanages and NGOs all over Phnom Penh. Many of the children came from Steung Mean Chay – an incredibly poor community where families live in slum conditions next to Phnom Penh’s old municipal dump site. For the majority of these children, it is the first time they have received any dental care. All of this work is funded by CamKids.

As you can imagine, many of the children have very significant dental problems. At the initial examination, most children are listed as having ‘poor oral hygiene’ and their problems include cavities, tooth pain, abscess, bleeding gums and gum disease. The IU team has been able to provide a wide range of treatments including: extraction, filling, scaling, root canal treatment, fissure sealants and topical fluoride. For a few, they have also been able to provide surgery (usually for impacted painful wisdom teeth), crowns and partial dentures.

The aim of the IU staff is not only to treat the children’s immediate problems, but to educate them on how to look after their teeth. The students training with the IU Dental Clinic take turns each day at giving oral health education to groups of children. There is a section of the clinic with mirrors and basins where children can be taken to have supervised tooth brushing. Each child is given a free toothbrush after their visit.

A few of the older children have severe cavities in their permanent teeth. It is often a difficult decision whether to extract, or try to save the tooth with costly root canal treatment and a large filling or crown. Where this involves the front teeth, the IU team does as much as it can to save these teeth so that the children can have a nice smile. Rotten or missing front teeth can place the child or adolescent at a lifelong disadvantage, as well as impacting on their self esteem, ability to make friends or get a job later.

One of the IU’s patients is 15 year old Dalin. Dalin sadly lost her parents due to HIV/AIDS when she was 8 and moved in with her aunt at the Steung Mean Chay dump site, living in extremely poor circumstances. Dalin is currently in grade 8 and aspires to become a medical doctor so she tries to study hard.

Dalin was brought to the IU Dental Clinic for treatment because she had toothache, an abscess and significant fractures to her front teeth. Treatments and oral health education were given by IU dental students and after treatment, she was ecstatic with the result. The opportunity to receive such treatment and care for the first time in her life left Dalin feeling extremely fortunate and grateful to all those who made it possible.

Your support means that we can not only treat hundreds of children and free them from pain but provide valuable practical training for the students of the IU clinic.

If you are are interested in finding out how you can help children like Dalin, please email us or make an one-off online donation here or a regular donation here.

CamKids Winter 2011 Newsletter

CamKids In The Community

Strangely, it remains a common misconception that CamKids' work is confined to one orphanage, as we still get asked the question “How is the orphanage going?”. The fact is, we do support 4 children’s centres, to varying degrees and in different ways, but we also do a vast amount of work in the wider community, supporting programs to help keep vulnerable families and communities together, as well as our increasing education and medical programs. We thought, with Christmas approaching, the theme of our newsletter should be “Save the Family. “

One of the major criticisms of orphanages in Cambodia is that the majority of children have some sort of parentage - they are economic orphans. This is not a situation unique to Cambodia but it is a very real problem. With little infrastructure and no help for poor families, it is a viable and sometimes the only option for parents, single parents or extended family, to put their children into orphanages and children's centres to give them the opportunity of an education, healthcare and even the most basic of needs - food.

It is a driving ambition of CamKids to not only help those centres that already exist, but to help lessen the desire for families to look for alternative living arrangements for their children, by providing, or at least, helping to provide their communities with facilities and opportunities for those families to stay together as a unit. A nice sentiment, but how, with your help, do we make this a reality?

In this edition of our newsletter are practical examples of how this is happening, how it can continue to happen and who is helping in the pursuit of these goals.

WE NEED YOUR HELP

In order to fund our the projects shown in this Newsletter, we need to raise £20,000 to build the CC School, £5,000 for Raing Te Kindergarten and a further £5,000 for furniture, equipment and setting up costs.

£15 will pay for a solar light for family use at night, £30 will pay for a desk and bench for the school, £300 will fund the cost of digging a well and £400 will pay for solar equipment to give the school light at night for evening classes.

If you would like to make a donation to help fund these great projects please go to:

www.bit.ly/singdonate.

Regular payments are our life blood and enable us to commit to supporting programmes like this for the long term. If you feel able to commit to a regular donation to CamKids, the following is a guide to how far your money will go:

£10 a month will pay for School Supplies and Consumables

£20 a month will pay for a Junior Teacher’s Salary

£30 a month will pay for a Teacher’s Salary

£100 a month will pay for all the School’s Running Costs

Please go to:

www.bit.ly/regdonate

to make a regular donation or e-mail finance@camkids.org to find out other ways of making a tax-deductible donation in the UK, US or Australia.

To access the Newsletter, please click Here or Contact Us and we will send you a copy by e-mail. If you sign up to our Newsletter below, you will receive future copies by e-mail every 6 months (your details will not be used for commercial or any other purpose).

Thank you once again to all of our donors and supporters, without whom none of this would have been possible. If you would like to find out how to support our work, please Contact Us.

The CamKids Trustees

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Spend and Raise Money For CamKids With Give As You Live

Brighton Marathon - Final Place Available

The last CamKids place is up for grabs for the 2012 Brighton Marathon on Sunday 15th April 2012.

The minimum sponsorship amount is £500 per runner and we already have 12 runners signed up for the event . As an example of how far this money will go, £500 will pay for the running costs of one of our rural schools for a year.

Participants will receive a CamKids T-shirt, Running Vest and Charity Wristbands. We will help you set up a Fundraising Page on JustGiving to collect any sponsorship money, which you can share with friends and family by email or on Facebook.

We have a very short deadline to confirm the places with the organisers. If you are interested, please email: events@camkids.org.

HIV Dental Clinic in Phnom Penh

CamKids are pleased to report that we are helping to fund Happy Clinic – a dental clinic established in April this year and operated by One-2-One. The Clinic is located in the grounds of the Happy Tree orphanage in Phnom Penh. The orphanage cares exclusively for children with HIV/Aids and the Happy Clinic is the only clinic in Cambodia to provide dental care to children with HIV/Aids.

Happy Clinic is staffed by a dentist and two dental nurses and provides services not only to the Happy Tree children but also to street children and children from other poor communities.

Between August and September, Happy Clinic examined 322 children from various children’s centres including the ‘River Kids’ organisation and a very poor community called ‘6km Community’ located just outside of Phnom Penh.

The oral health knowledge and consequently the oral hygiene of these children and their carers is very poor, resulting in much dental decay and a great deal of pain and suffering. Happy Clinic was able to provide a range of treatments including 160 fillings, 193 fluoride treatments, 177 sealants and 87 extractions.

The Happy Clinic team strongly believe in prevention before cure and an important part of their work is the provision of oral health education and practical demonstrations are given by the dental team to all children attending the clinic. They also visit other orphanages and communities and provide information on how to maintain oral health and general hygiene.

Happy Clinic staff have been visiting children from ‘6km Community’, a slum community outside Phnom Penh. One-2-One came in to contact with this community through one of it’s dental assistants, who used to be a resident. The community is extremely poor, the majority of the children do not attend school and are left unattended while their parents work. Throughout August, One-2-One took many of the community’s children to Happy Clinic and provided them with dental treatment, many more children still need to be treated and will be seen in the coming months.

Part of a personal message from Dr Kim Sreang the dentist at Happy Clinic:

“The most common problems I have were decay on the permanent teeth, however, after they have been to Happy Clinic I can see that their oral health status has changed a lot. For preventative care: every time children come to Happy Clinic, dental assistant give them oral hygiene instruction and I have applied fluoride vanish which makes the teeth strong and prevents the teeth from decaying, and now I can see that they have a better smile. The thing is when are in pain they cannot speak up, they are shy and embarrassed which make them scared of other people, and then cannot learn well from the school.

I am very happy and enjoy working with the children; I am committed and will try my best to work well with the children and their carers and directors. I am grateful that I can help my own people. Children are the best and brightest future for Cambodia. Thank you CamKids for your partnership. We protect the children together”

Here is a personal story from Srey Nak, one of the children from River Kids:

“My name is Srey Nak, I am14 years old. This is my first that I can have chance to visit Happy Clinic. I got toothache and I could not drink, eat and sleep well. It is really distracted me from studying, and sometime I missed school, because I cannot concentrate in the class, which is really difficult for me. Now my teeth no longer in pain, I am so happy that I can chew the food well. I can now go to school and concentrate. I would like to say thank so much to CamKids and One-2-One for saving my teeth and helping me with my life.”

EYC Summer Camp

EYC was given a great opportunity to send 150 students to an adventure camp in the jungle of north Cambodia over the past few months (25 per week for 6 weeks). The feedback from the students has been a very positive, as this was a life experience unlike anything they've ever done before. They can't seem to say enough good things and when they return they are bursting with enthusiasm.

The facility, called Jombok Hoas, was provided free of charge, but the total cost for transportation was significant and funds were not available to pay for the bus rental. CamKids therefore offered to cover most of the transportation costs and our students have been travelling across Cambodia to allow them to take part in this great opportunity.

The following is a letter from an EYC student:

Hello! My name is Choum Sopheak. When I went to the adventure camp I was happy, excited and a little afraid. Now I want to tell everybody about my interesting experience there with the other students from EYC.

When I came to Jombok Hoas, I thought that this place was going to be more like an army camp. But when I stayed there and participated in the activities, it was much different to what I thought. Through the many experiences and the learning activities, this place has encouraged a greater consciousness and self confidence in me. Most activities have impacted my social life, my individuality and the people around me. Jombok Hoas is a place for helping people to work together, to build teams and to forgive the other people in the group. All the games always create knowledge, new ideas and we gain experience from it. They showed us methods to solve the problems that we face in our lives, like studying, family, and working.

I learned a lot of creative ideas in leadership, relationships and how to work with co-workers in organisations. Some of the activities were very scary, but I still managed to do them, because of the facilitators and my friends, who always encouraged me. I even managed to survive the high ropes course. Thanks to EYC, CamKids and the organisers of Jambok Hoas who offered the opportunity for me to get more knowledge and experience.

"Big Po" Community School in Takeo District

Big Po community school is one of 15 locations where CamKids, in conjunction with the local NGO New Futures Organisation, operates rural schools in the Takeo region of Cambodia. CamKids funds all of the running costs of the 15 schools and is working with NFO to improve the quality of the teaching and the buildings where the teaching takes place. The following post is an extract from a report made by CamKids' local staff member, who regularly checks and monitors the schools.

Big Po is located in Pou village, Sambuor commune, Treang district, Takeo province. It is 12km from Takeo town and takes nearly one hour to get there, via the main road. Big Po opened in 2008 in a female teacher’s house in Pou village, for which she charges a nominal rent to use her house. None of the students are charged for the lessons and all of the books and other materials are provided free of charge by CamKids.

There are two English teachers who are qualified teachers at local State schools. One is a teacher in the Pou primary school and the other, a high school teacher. They are hired to teach English to the children after normal school hours, under the rural schools programme developed by NFO and CamKids. The wages which they earn supplement the low wages which are paid in the State schools and help to support their families. They usually teach about three hours per day from Monday to Friday in the afternoon (State schools usually only operate in the mornings). They are often helped by visiting foreign volunteers, which gives both the students and the teachers the opportunity to practice their spoken English and improve their accents.

During the State school vacations, the teaching schedule is changed, as the students are free all day. With the agreement of the Authorities, they move the lessons to the Pou primary school which is located in the village and is better for the children as there are more opportunities to learn and play.

The syllabus depends upon the age and ability of the group which is being taught. For example, some children learn from the Beginner New Headway syllabus, whilst others use Let’s Go Part One. The total number of students being taught in this community school is 116 at an annual cost of around $1,400 (£900) which equates to a cost per child of around $12 or £8. CamKids is also working to provide additional training for the teachers and has also established a teaching English by Phonics course, which all of the teaches have been instructed in, by a visiting educationalist from Australia.

If you would like to support this or any of our other education projects, please send an email to schools@camkids.org. A regular donation of £30 ($50) per month will pay the wages of one of the teachers at Big Po school and £20 per month ($30) will pay all of the costs for 30 children to attend school for a year.

The Al Murray CamKids Golf Classic V

On July 15th, Effingham Golf Club hosted the Al Murray CamKids Classic V. This is the fifth consecutive year we have held the event and the third consecutive year it has been held at Effingham Golf Club. Steve Hoatson and all his staff were once again, professional and friendly and hosted another flawless day. This is one of the reasons why, in previous years, the golf day has always proven to be hugely popular, great fun and very successful as a fund raiser, allowing CamKids to continue, and expand on, its projects for children in Cambodia. This year was no exception.

Unlike last year, the weather was kind and everybody teed off in glorious sunshine and high spirits. Those spirits, although dampened at times by the golf, were continuously resurrected by the caravan of buggies, led by The Pub Landlord and partner in crime Adam Booker, delivering cold beer and snacks to all on the course. With the addition of the lovely Beccy, from Eye Candy Caddies, also selling refreshments as well as giving putting advise, the mood on the course remained buoyant.

In fact, to be fair, the quality of play this year was of a fairly good standard and after five years, the event is now actually beginning to resemble a golf tournament. Far more golfers than in previous years, graced the fairways with their presence. People were actually entering the clubhouse at the end of the day with smiles still on their faces, although I am sure some of those smiles were a reflection of the refreshments delivered throughout the day, rather than the golf scores.

In the evening, Al was once again merciless with his financial forfeits for supposed improprieties on the day, and his cajoling, badgering and quite frankly, harassment of the bidders in the auction, would definitely have been frowned upon on the floors at Sotheby's. However, for our purposes and for the entertainment of the room, it was pure gold. The auction surpassed expectations and CamKids is honoured and proud to report that the total profit from the day was in excess of £15,000!!!!!!!!!!!!! An amazing amount for which we, but more importantly, the children in Cambodia, are eternally grateful.

So many people help to make these days special, rewarding and successful, and to that end, special thanks must go to Al Murray, Adam Booker, Steve Hoatson and the team, Fullers and all the businesses and individuals who sponsored the day and donated prizes. The day simply would not happen without you all.

Thanks also need to be extended to Gail Taylor, Beccy, Big Bob, Lisa, Win and ALL the golfers on the day and guests who came for the evening. Thank you all for your support, humour, encouragement and faith.

Places for the 2012 Brighton Marathon

CamKids has been offered some additional places for the 2012 Brighton Marathon. Public places have already sold out and very few charity places are still available. The event will take place on Sunday 15th April 2012.

The minimum sponsorship amount is £500 per runner and we already have 10 runners signed up for the event . As an example of how far this money will go, £500 will pay for the running costs of one of our rural schools for a year.

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

We have a very short deadline to confirm the places with the organisers. If you are interested, please email: events@camkids.org by Monday 10 October.

UPDATE: We have now filled all of the places for this year. If you would like to put your name down for next year's event or are interested in taking part in any other fundraising event for CamKids, please email: events@camkids.org.

Give While You Spend

CamKids has established a Fundraising page with Simple Fundraising, to enable our supporters to direct a portion of their spending with High Street Retailers and well-known brand names to CamKids. We earn commission on all sales made via this site and it doesn't cost you a thing.

There is absolutely no catch whatsoever - each of the companies that Simple Fundraising partner with have agreed to pay CamKids the stated commissions (look out for the £ symbol).

For example, if you shop for the following major brand names via this site, CamKids will earn the following commissions:

• An order made with Amazon will earn us a minimum of 2.50%;
• For each order with WH Smith, CamKids will earn 4% of the sales value;
• CamKids will earn £40 from Direct Line for each home insurance policy sold via our web page;
• We will earn £50 from Nationwide Building Society for each new mortgage; and
• A new contract with Carphone Warehouse will earn CamKids £17.50;

and much more ……

Thank you for supporting CamKids

Happy Shopping !!

CamKids Summer 2011 Newsletter

Thanks A Million!

Our latest Newsletter marks the passing of an important milestone for CamKids - we have now donated over $1 million to projects in Cambodia to improve the lives and reduce the suffering of 1,000's of children.

In accordance with our philosophy of transparency and full financial disclosure, the newsletter shows, in words, numbers and pictures, how your money has been spent over the past 4 years.

To access the Newsletter, please click Here or Contact Us and we will send you a copy by e-mail. If you sign up to our Newsletter below, you will receive future copies by e-mail every 6 months (your details will not be used for commercial or any other purpose).

Thank you once again to all of our donors and supporters, without whom none of this would have been possible. If you would like to find out how to support our work, please Contact Us.

The CamKids Trustees

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Changing Lives - 2 Personal Stories

In an earlier post, we reported on the work which CamKids and One-2-One are doing, to relieve pain and increase the quality of life for poor children in Cambodia, through our medical and dental programmes.

We thought that you might like to read some personal stories to illustrate the real effects which this work has on the lives of the children.

Both children were brought to the IU Dental Clinic from the Bong Poun NGO, whose aim is to help poor street children, especially those who make a living collecting garbage, to go back to school. The NGO mainly works at the Steung Meanchey dump site, Boeung Tompon slum and several other poor areas of the city.

Name: Sreynet – aged 13 years

My name is Sreynet. I’m studying in grade 5. I have 3 siblings, and I am the youngest in my family. Both of my parents passed away. My oldest sister is a hairdresser. My brother is a laborer, and my other sister still studies with me. I want to be a teacher. Now I’m living with my neighbors. I help them to prepare the meals to eat. I could not go to school before, because I had to work. Today I came to the IU dental clinic – this is the first time I have been to a dentist.

I had my teeth cleaned, a filling, and one tooth extracted. The student was very good, kind and gentle. He helped me to be not afraid. Now I am so happy because my teeth wont be painful any more. I would like to say thank you so much to CamKids and IU for helping me.

Name: Oum Savary – aged 16 years

Ashamed of his appearance, he would not smile and did not like to talk, in case anyone could see his teeth. He had been like this for several years and was so amazed that such a miracle could happen to him. He could not stop smiling and showing every one his new teeth. He says this is the best thing that could have happened to him. He wanted to thank CamKids and IU for making this possible.

If you are are interested in finding out how you can help children like Sreynet and Oum Savary, please email us or make an one-off online donation here or a regular donation here.

National Aerobics Champions

Twenty-nine children from 6 orphanages belonging to the One-2-One / CamKids TLC Club participated in the National Aerobic Competition at the Olympic Stadium from May 18-21st 2011. The children competed in the Individual, Pair and Trio competitions and we were thrilled when two teams from the Happy Tree-HRB orphanage achieved 1st and 3rd places in the Level 1 Trio Competition! A huge thanks to our hard-working and dedicated team of sports coaches and helpers – Sarith, Makara, Rebekka, Srorn, and Thary.

As part of the programme it is also stressed to the children taking part, that sport is not about winning or losing, it is about the spirit of participation, team building, and good health. We were all encouraged to see that the children participating were very happy to have this sporting opportunity on the national stage, where they were able to show their ability and receive the cheers and applause of the spectators.

Dental Clinic Update

In the past 12 months, CamKids has significantly increased its funding for projects aimed at relieving the pain and suffering of poor children and young adults, mainly through our joint work with the local medical and dental NGO, One-2-One.

CamKids established its first medical facility at an orphanage in Kampong Speu in 2006 and has since established medical facilities at a number of other organisations. Our projects with One-2-One include the funding of free treatment for poor children and orphans at the International University (IU) Hospital in Phnom Penh, the Ta Kmao clinic, a rural mobile dental / medical clinic, a weekly clinic at Canalside (see previous article) and we have just started a project to send 2 trained dental nurses into rural areas. In addition, CamKids funds the cost of the only dental clinic in Cambodia for HIV children.

The following is a recent report from One-2-One on the IU and Ta Kmao clinics' activities:

"During this quarter we continued to see children from 17 orphanages and NGOs from all over Phnom Penh. In addition, one NGO (“Who Will”) brought a busload of children from Kampong Chhnang Province. Some of the organizations are now bringing children for the second or third time, and it has been so encouraging to see that the children’s teeth have improved. No longer are many of these children in pain, with mouths full of rotting, abscessed teeth. Our use of topical fluorides and fissure sealants, along with basic treatment and oral health education, have been the main reasons for these marked improvements.

However, we are still seeing children from some newer orphanages and organizations, whose dental health is sometimes shocking to see. It is distressing when preschoolers are in pain or have swollen faces, or when teenage children have broken down or missing front teeth. A few of these older teenagers have needed crowns, root canal treatment or partial dentures and this has only been possible because of CamKids. The improvement in their health and appearance is sometimes remarkable.

The details of the 3 month period are summarized below:

Number NGOs and orphanages 18

Number of children seen 1,108

Number of fillings 480

Number of sealants 164

Number of extractions 422

Thank you again, CamKids, without whom this vital work could not be undertaken."

If you are are interested in making a donation to help us extend this extremely valuabe work, if you know any companies or organisations which might be interested in helping or if you have dental or medical skills and are planning a trip to Cambodia and would like to join the team on some of the visits, please email us.

Follow CamKids on Twitter

Please follow CamKids on Twitter for up to date reports, photos and videos from our projects as well as news of fundraising events.

CamKids is funded entirely by donations and has absolutely no overhead, marketing or other costs - all of the services we need are provided by the Trustees or friends of the charity. Please spread the word by following @camkids and tweeting your followers.

5th Al Murray Golf Classic in aid of CamKids

The 5th Al Murray Golf Classic, to benefit CamKids, will be held at Effingham Golf Club on 15th July 2011. Due to some late cancellations, we have a few team / individual places available, which will be sold on a first come, first served basis. We also have a few tickets for the evening meal and entertainment only. Pictures of last year's event can be seen: Here.

If you are interested in taking part, or would like to register for next year's event, please email: golf@camkids.org.

The Walkers & Talkers - Across the Divide 40K Walk

CamKids would like to say a huge "Thank You" to all of the ladies who participated in the recent Walkers & Talkers - Across the Divide 40K Walk and raised £2,000 for CamKids.

"Yes, we made it, after 7 hours of exhausting walking in very difficult terrain – wooded, hilly, rocky, slippery, hot, sticky, and muddy walking. Worth every penny when we were greeted with our families and friends with champagne and picnics.

AND, it is even more worth while to see that we have raised approximately £6,000 for our three chosen charities: The Cambodian Children’s Charity, Pancreatic Cancer Action and the Multiple Sclerosis Society.

We want to say an absolutely huge THANK YOU to everyone who has supported us through this venture. It is really appreciated.

With lots of love Louise, Lucinda, Davina, Diane, Elizabeth, Jayne, Julie and Maxine."

Donate to CamKids by Text Message

CamKids can now receive donations in the UK by text message thanks to Vodafone's partnership with JustGiving. Vodafone is covering JustGiving's 5% fee on donations for two years and donations can be made by mobile phone from any network. There are no hidden costs and CamKids will receive every penny of your donation. As we have absolutely no administration costs or overheads, this means that 100% of your donation will go directly to helping some of the World's poorest children (125%, if you are a UK taxpayer and agree to the addition of Gift Aid).

To make a donation by text, simply send a text message with CAMB20 plus the donation amount (£5 or £10) to 70070. Eg CAMB20 £10

The donation will be added to your next mobile bill. Follow the text instructions to allow us to claim an additional 25% back from the UK Government in Gift Aid, at no cost to you.

If you have any problems or would like to find out other ways to help CamKids, please EMAIL US.

CamKids on Facebook

Please visit the CamKids Facebook Page for up to date reports, photos and videos from some of our projects.

CamKids is funded entirely by donations from the general public and has absolutely no overhead, marketing or other costs - all of the services we need are provided by the Trustees or friends of the charity. Please spread the word by 'liking' our Page and adding us to your Profile.

Lakeside School at EYC

CamKids has partnered with an organisation named Empowering Youth in Cambodia ("EYC"), and has been providing funding since January 2010 to help build this project and expand their work. EYC has 3 schools in very poor (slum) communities around Phnom Penh which aim to develop strong young people and thereby help them escape the cycle of poverty. These schools have had a huge impact on the communities which they serve and are a great success.

The schools/community centers offer English language, computer skills, leadership, job placement, medical, dental, sport and art activities, as well as intervention to keep kids on track, such as family support and scholarships. In 2010 CamKids also started funding EYC’s medical program which is a great success and has served thousands of poor children and their families - providing much needed medical and dental care, as well as health training. CamKids also funds EYC's Community Organizer, Nareth, to connect the resources of the schools with the student’s families, as well as to build the capacity of their students and staff.

EYC’s founder Drew McDowell comments: "CamKids' help is appreciated in more ways that can be conveyed, since it has done so much good. They came with the intention of real partnership, asking questions, discussing ideas and have been a huge help to shape the organisation to become more effective, as well as connecting us with resources."

In January 2011 CamKids started to provide funding to cover the cost of operations for EYC’s Lakeside School. Located on the shore of a now filled-in lake (to make way for commercial and residential development), Lakeside School has been helping in this shanty-town community since 2008, and now is seeing many of the students through their transition from High School to University. Thanks to a base of talented and hardworking Student Team Leaders, Lakeside School has enjoyed great success with many programs under local leadership.

Lakeside has regular classes for English language and computer skills for their 120 students who live in the community around the school. However, extra-curricular activities are what really make the school special and are essential for building critical thinking and life skills. Lakeside offers training in various topics of leadership, Youth Legal Rights, Community Organizing, Health and Hygiene, IT, Yoga and Art, as well as a football team, a gym and aerobics club and a traditional dance group that performs for parties. The student team leaders volunteer to run the many activities, including the medical clinic on Saturday nights (medical professionals see an average of 40 patients per night) and trips to the dental university (where they receive free treatment thanks to CamKids funding of this project as well).

By creating a school in the heart of a poor community EYC has been on the frontline in the fight for child rights and CamKids is proud to play a key role in building strong and independent young people. EYC’s WEBSITE provides more detail on all of EYC’s programs and some stories about Lakeside School. The School has a very dynamic manager (former student) named Phearith, who has created a blog for the school, which can be viewed HERE.

Canalside Project

We are regularly asked to help fund projects in Cambodia and 2 of our Trustees recently visited a very poor slum community. We have seen many appalling and heart-breaking situations in Cambodia and try not to get emotional at any of the locations we visit, but this stretched their resolve to its limit and we knew straight away that something had to be done to help. This is by far the poorest community CamKids is helping and much more needs to be done.

The community consists of two recycling "villages", where the inhabitants make their money from collecting cans and plastic. At least half of the young children had no clothes at all.

"The sad realisation was that the little ones followed us, talked to us, smiled and laughed with us but the older adolescents and young adults had no hope drive or passion in their eyes - it was devastatingly sad. The young children’s future is unmistakably mapped the same unless something is done".

However, finding the right way to help these people is not at all straightforward. Although these people are living in abject poverty, they are also under threat of eviction, which makes it difficult to put in facilities and resources. We are, again, working with our medical and dental partners, One-2-One and we will take it slowly at first, to ensure that we deal with the issues in the appropriate way. The first step has been to extend our medical programme to provide a regular clinic. As there are no suitable buildings on site, this has involved purchasing tarpaulin, chairs, tables and equipment for a temporary clinic area and also to provide a makeshift classroom, as the education situation is extremely poor. 1hr classes are now a regular event and we hope to be able to extend this in the future, with the cooperation of the community leaders and the Cambodian Authorities.

An extremely generous donor has agreed to fund the cost of purchasing tarpaulin and equipment for the temporary mobile clinic and classroom, but we need more donations to extend our work with this community and regular donors to fund the ongoing cost of the medicines.

If you are able to help in any way - every £1 will make a huge difference - please EMAIL US if you would like to become a regular donor or click on THIS LINK, to make a single donation. Please enter "Canalside" in the project box if you would like your money to be directed solely towards this project.

Donation by Muirkirk Primary School

We recently received a cheque for over £400 from the Headmistress of Muirkirk Primary School, which the children raised during various events in 2010. This is an incredible effort from a school of only 102 pupils in a fairly deprived rural area of Scotland.

This money will be used to fund the teaching and other running costs for one year, at one of the 15 rural schools which CamKids funds and which are run by New Futures Organisation, in Takeo.

The CamKids Trustees would like to thank all of the children and their parents, as well as the headmistress and her teachers for their hard work and generosity. If you would like to help by sponsoring a school, a pupil or a college student or are interested in finding out more about any of our education projects, please email us.

CamKids 2010 Annual Report & Accounts

The Trustees of CamKids - The Cambodian Children's Charity, are pleased to report that the Charity's Annual Report and Accounts for 2010 have been filed with the Charity Commission well ahead of schedule.

A copy of the report and accounts can be downloaded from HERE.

Please direct any questions about these accounts to CamKids Finance

T-34 Featuring Al Murray The Pub Landlord is playing a one-off show in aid of CamKids

Al Murray The Pub Landlord swaps his bar stool for a drum stool to serve up a molotov cocktail of revolutionary jukebox tracks with his band, T-34, in aid of CamKids, The Cambodian Children's Charity.

Armed with an arsenal of killer covers from the 50's, 60's & 70's and fuelled on a diet of black bread, burgers and vodka, T-34's mission is to liberate the masses from the oppressive tyranny of pop fascism with straight ahead, no frills, good time, rock'n'roll.

The evening includes the Air Guitar Hero of the Soviet Union competition and classic rock from DJ Ric Blaxill. Bar until 1am.

To purchase tickets, please visit SeeTickets.

Fundraising for CamKids

These days, raising money for charity doesn't need to involve rattling a can or trawling round your friends asking them for the £5 they promised you months ago. With online fundraising services, you only need to email or tell your friends the details of your own personal fundraising site and the rest is taken care of, for you. These services charge a small fee, but they also reclaim the 28% in Gift Aid for us, which means that, in most cases, we receive around 120% of the amount donated (for UK taxpayers).

CamKids has signed up to the popular JustGiving service, as well as the newer Virgin Money Giving and CharityGiving services, where you can also make single or regular donations.

Our JustGiving Page will give you some ideas of possible events. In the past year, supporters from all around the world have set up pages for the following events:

Marathons

Kick Boxing Event

Bug Eating Competition

Birthdays

Weddings

In Memory

Paragliding

Skydiving

Kilimanjaro Climbs

Ultramarathon

Cycling across the USA

Fun Runs

Some people also set up fundraising pages before or after a trip to Cambodia, to let their friends know what they are doing, how they have been affected by the country and how they can help the children.

How about you - why not set up a fundraising page today? A few pounds from all of your friends could make a huge difference to the lives of the children who benefit from our programs. £1 will pay for the dental treatment for a child in a rural village, who would not have access to such treatment and can relive them from the pain of tooth decay and infection. If you can raise £400, this will allow us to run a rural school in Takeo for a year.

JustGiving: www.justgiving.com/tccc

Virgin Giving: www.virginmoneygiving.com/charities/camkids

Charity Giving: www.charitygiving.co.uk/camkids

If you need any assistance, or would like some other fundraising target ideas, please email us.

Mobile Clinic goes to Battambang

We have just received the following report from Annie, one of the Directors of One-2-One, which provides free dental and medical treatment to the poor of Cambodia. CamKids is funding the MOBILE Swift projects which travels to remote parts of Cambodia to treat children who would otherwise not have access to any medical or dental care. Annie's report follows:

Thanks to Camkids, the MOBILE Swift went to Battambong from the 13th to the 17th December 2010. The team treated the deaf and blind children of the Krousar Thmey Foundation in the Provincial townships of Battambong and Sisophon.

The team comprised 13 dental students, 5 support staff from One-2-One and 2 dentists from Austalia - Dr Nathan and Dr Shu’an Hu. In total, the team treated 233 children. A typical day was as follows:

8:00AM – 5.00PM. Treated 69 children: 56 extractions, 129 fillings, 39 sealants, 19 Duraphat applications, 10 scaling (by hand), 82 silver fluoride treatments. Dispensed 250 tablets of Paracetamol, 690 tablets of Multivitamins, 135 tablets of Amoxicillin, 10 tablets of Ibuprofen and gave out 69 toothpaste/toothbrushes.

During this visit, One-2-One also ran health education classes for the local community, at the Krousar Thmey School in Battambang.

Classes were held every afternoon from 2pm till 4.30pm and were for teachers and teacher aides - ranging from 12 to 20 students at a time. Basic topics were covered included basic personal hygiene, fever control, control of diarrhoea, treatment of burns and oral hygiene. The teachers were very eager to learn and enjoyed the class discussion. The highlights were the many laughs had when practising basic first aid, wound care and stabilising broken bones.

The school was a very warm and inviting place. As a team we thoroughly enjoyed our time there. The children and staff were excited to teach us sign language, they were very patient as we made many mistakes. At the end of our week at Battambang, both students and teachers asked when we would return. The head teacher asked if we could return every 6 months, so they are very keen to have us back. According to the teachers, all of the children were treated for their most urgent dental need. Dr Shu’An and Dr Nathan were both moved by the courage and the resilience of the wonderful children who had put up so much for so long. It is our hope that we will be able to return to focus on prevention care.

Most of the children had not had any dentistry before, due to the significant challenges of distance and their co-morbidity. The smiles on their face said it all. We felt thanked beyond measures. We felt honoured to be able to do what is, in our culture, a relatively simple procedure - yet, until we came, was out of reach. Now the children are pain free, able to concentrate at school, sleep well at night and enjoy their meals.

Thank you CamKids for making this trip happen.

CamKids and One-2-One are currently seeking donors to help fund the next phase of our rural dental health strategy. This involves equipping 2 nurses to travel to remote locations in order to give primary treatment (focusing on pain relief) to children who would not otherwise have access to any dental services. More serious cases would be reported back for future visits by the MOBILe team. Details of the proposal can be found HERE. The cost of equipment and initial supplies for 2 nurses is approximately £3,000 and the annual salary, travel, accommodation and food costs for both nurses will be approximately £7,000 per annum. The nurses will spend 10 days a month (half their time) in the provinces and the other half working in the Ta Kmao clinic or other community projects which CamKids is funding. It is expected that around 3,000 children in remote locations will be relieved from the terrible agony of dental pain, at a cost of just over £1 per child.

If you are are interested in making a donation to help us extend this extremely valuabe work, if you know any companies or organisations which might be interested or if you have dental or medical skills and are planning a trip to Cambodia and would like to join the team on some of the visits, please email us.