CamKids Winter 2014 /15 Newsletter

Welcome to our Winter 2014/15 Newsletter, which focuses on our project in an extremely poor rural area of Kampong Speu province, where we now operate a school for some 330 children from Kindergarten to Grade 4 and a small medical unit for the whole community, as well as a number of agricultural and other development projects.  

We call this initiative "MEND" - Medical, Education, Nutrition, Development.    MEND was founded on one enduring principle - A Hand Up, Not a Hand Out. Four years on and the project has proved to be a huge success and, more importantly, the children are flourishing as we hope you will see in this Newsletter.

All of this would not be possible without your help.  The Newsletter provides details of some specific  Sponsorship Opportunities or other Fundraising Possibilities but any donation, however small, will help us provide long term support for some of the word's most vulnerable children.  We are very proud to still be able to say that CamKids has no fundraising or administration costs and that only Cambodians receive funds from the charity.

This year, we would therefore urge you not to forget that every penny you raise gets directly to the people in Cambodia and is critical to our continuing aid to many thousands of children and their families.

We wish you all a happy and successful 2015 and hope you enjoy the Newsletter.

The CamKids Trustees

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

Lakeside School student graduates from IT program

Empowering Youth in Cambodia’s (EYC) Lakeside School has been going strong since 2008 with an array of educational programs and activities that have served dynamic young people in slum communities. Fully supported through CamKids, this school has provided support to young people and their families who live in tough conditions but have big dreams. 

One young man is named Chan Ranuy, and he just completed a 2-year Associates Degree in System and Network Administration. Ranuy started to study English in the evenings at Lakeside school in 2009 until he graduated high school in 2012. EYC’s education manager then introduced him to a program where students from poor families can study in an intensive IT and life skills program, and he was accepted into the program. EYC paid the subsidized tuition while he studied full time, and his family supported him with food and transportation costs. 

While many families rely on grown children to support themselves during their advanced studies, or even send money home, Ranuy’s family made the necessary contribution to make this possible. Now he has been placed in a technology company working in computer service, and making a good starting salary while he continues his studies toward a bachelor’s degree. He has long days between a full time job and classes in the evenings, but he is very energized and hopeful for the future. His family is very proud and grateful to the support he has received from EYC. “I very much appreciate all the donors who made it possible for me to get my education and I now believe I can achieve my dreams,” said Ranuy. 

While EYC cannot change many of the problems people in Cambodia face every day, we know that when we give a hand up to young people with potential the results are usually good. Thanks in large part to the great support EYC receives from CamKids, over 30 students currently receive direct support for their advanced studies. With 132 students attending classes daily, Lakeside School has been a pillar in the community and is appreciative of the great partnership with CamKids.

 

Sorell School visit to Chbar Chros Community School

Sorell School from Tasmania is sponsoring a class from CCC school in Kompong Speu as part of our GRADE initiative and this was Sorell's first visit to the CamKids project. It was an amazing day for the Sorell students and staff, the CCC students, parents, villagers, elders and CamKids.

TLC Program

One-2-One Cambodia’s Tough Little Children (TLC) aerobics program, which is funded by CamKids, provides an opportunity for talented young orphans to train in the sport of aerobic gymnastics with the aim of improving their physical fitness and increasing their overall health and wellbeing. Established in 2010, the TLC program is designed for children aged between 8 and 14 years old to have fun while training in aerobics and provides them with an opportunity to participate in the National Gymnastics Championships. During the past six months, the number of children participating in the program has increased from 18 to 30 children. 

The children are from a range of orphanages located in Phnom Penh. Over the last year, the Head Coaches have continued to facilitate aerobics classes at each of the orphanages. Each month, a total of 10 classes have been held and, in addition, the 15 most talented children have been invited to attend two extra training sessions held every Saturday and Sunday evening, at the Motion Gym which is a fully equipped aerobics facility with padded floors, ropes, hoops and wall mirrors. The aerobic gymnastics classes are conducted by Srorn and Sarith, two internationally experienced Cambodian aerobics instructors. 

In July 2014, the TLC team participated in the National Gymnastics Championships and won a total of 4 silver medals. These achievements are testament to not only the hard work of the children and staff, but also to the overall success of the TLC sports program. At the last TLC training session at Motion Gym, a talented young boy named Peniel, was interviewed. 

Peniel is 12 years old and he is in Grade 6. Peniel was born in Kandal province but he lives in an orphanage in Phnom Penh. He has 3 brothers and he is the second child in his family. In 2008 his parents decided to send him and his brothers to live at the orphanage because of his family’s poor living conditions. In 2010, Peniel joined the TLC program and in 2012, 2013 and 2014 Peniel participated in the National Gymnastics Championships and won Bronze and Silver medals. Peniel really enjoys aerobics and has worked hard over the years to become a National Champion. 

“I never thought that I would become a champion or a sports man because before I started to train in aerobic gymnastics I was really weak and got sick very often”, Peniel said. However, after a few months of training he increased his strength, flexibility, speed and overall ability to perform gymnastics to a high level. Peniel said, “At first I didn’t like flexibility stretching and dance exercises, but after practicing very hard, I am now able to perform a range of exercises which I enjoy very much.” The instructors are so impressed with Peniel’s dedication and the progress he has made. Peniel also says, “I have improved my strength and skill so much. Before, I found it difficult to play even a simple sport but now I have good health and strength, and have never been sick like I was before. I am so thankful to One-2-One and CamKids for providing me with this opportunity to learn aerobic gymnastics and to improve my health and fitness”.

Fundraising for CamKids without getting out of your chair

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.  It doesn't even require you to get up out of your chair, if you don't want to!  With online fundraising services such as Justgiving, you only need to email, Tweet or post the details of your own personal fundraising site on Facebook and the rest is taken care of. These services charge a small fee, but they also reclaim the 25% in Gift Aid for us, which means that, in most cases, we receive around 120% of the amount donated (for UK taxpayers) and involves very little administration work for us.

CamKids has signed up to the well-known JustGiving service, as well as Virgin Money Giving, BT's MyDonate and other popular services, where you can also make single or regular donations.  Fundraisers can be located anywhere in the world and funds can be received in a number of currencies.  You don't need to sign up for a Marathon or even pour a bucket of cold water over your head (although you are welcome to, if you want).  Just tell your friends and family that you want to support CamKids in helping some of the poorest children in the world - we can even supply some standard text for you to use.

If your friends and family do need an extra reason to part with their money, our JustGiving Page has some possible fundraising suggestions and will also give you an idea what can be done with the money you raise. In the past, CamKids supporters from all around the world have set up pages for the following events:

Marathons

Birthdays

Weddings

Skydiving
Bug Eating

Climbing Kilimanjaro

Beard Shaving
Kick Boxing

Cycling through Asia

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. If you are thinking of travelling to Cambodia, we can agree on a specific project or programme which your money will fund, so that you can report back to your supporters on how the money was spent. Remember, at CamKids we have absolutely no administration or overhead costs and so we can guarantee that 100% of the money you raise for us will go to helping the Cambodian children.

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 pay for a teacher in a rural school in Takeo for a year.

JustGiving: www.justgiving.com/tccc

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

MyDonate: www.mydonate.bt.com/charities/camkids

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

CCC Clinic

The Chbar Chros Community (CCC) Clinic was built and is funded by CamKids to provide free basic medical and dental services and health education to CCC school children and community members as well as to other people from surrounding villages.  The community is very poor and in a very remote location with extremely limited access to medical facilities.

The CCC clinic provides the following services to the community, free of charge:

• Dental treatment- including oral health and hygiene education, extraction, filling, scaling, endodontic, SDF and sealants.
• Medical treatment- including basic medical care and treatment from the CCC nurse for fever and diarrhea management, wound care, first aid and health education. In addition, the CamKids-funded mobile medical team also visits the CCC clinic bi-monthly to provide treatment for a range of diseases including dengue fever, acute infections, typhoid fever, malaria, pressure wounds etc.
• CCC School Health Program – the CCC nurse provides basic medical care services, including height and weight measurements (every six months), monitoring and treatment of scabies and head lice (three times per year), de-worming (at roughly six monthly intervals), nail clipping, first aid, fever and diarrhea management, basic wound dressing and distribution of soap.  The CCC medical nurse also monitors and supervises the students to brush their teeth and wash their hands every day.

Over the last year, we have continued to work cooperatively with the CCC community by building trust and strong relationships with the CCC school and community members as well as local people and village chiefs from surrounding villages. We have built on the work carried out in the first two years of this project by providing dental care beyond the CCC school, to CCC community members and to people from surrounding villages as well. During the last six month reporting period, the dental team provided treatment to 659 patients, including 270 CCC school students, 55 children and 333 adults.

In addition, the medical team has also provided medical treatment to the CCC school and community members. A total of 556 patients (227 children and 329 adults) were treated by the CCC medical nurse, and a further 195 patients were treated by the mobile medical team, including 34 children and 161 adults. Education and training about basic health care and hygiene, personal care and family care has also been provided. A total of 270 students are enrolled in the School Health Program. The challenges of working within a resource-limited setting continue to push our teams at the clinic!

Case Study

On a recent trip Ms. Sokney, the CCC Medical Nurse, interviewed a woman, named Mrs. Phal Sophorn who is 30 years old. Sophorn currently lives in the Roug Village Samiki Commune, Ortdong district, Kompong Speu province. She came to the CCC clinic with a sad face and complained of tooth pain from one of her molar teeth. Due to the unbearable pain, Sophorn said she could not sleep at night time and found it very difficult to eat hot or cold food or water. However, one day Sophorn heard from the village chief that the dental mobile team would be visiting the CCC Clinic soon to treat the patients there, so Sophorn recorded the date and waited to visit the CCC clinic on the day of their visit. The dental team helped relieve her pain and removed her third molar tooth. Sophorn said that after the tooth was removed she could eat and drink whatever she wanted and started to have better sleep again. She is very thankful to CamKids and our donors for helping the vulnerable people in her community.