Banteay Sleak Clinic

Walking through the slum where dust and dirt mingle, rubbish all around with makeshift homes…it would be easy to turn the other way… We want to thank CamKids for seeing the beautiful lives of these impoverished people and their children and to all their supporters for getting behind them. 

The Banteay Sleak (BS) Community Clinic which is funded by CamKids and operated by One-2-One, is situated in the Tumnub Teak Commune, near the Russian Friendship Hospital in Phnom Penh. Most of the residents living in these slums are rubbish collectors, construction workers and garment factory workers, who face a range of health problems and diseases. They make up the majority of the residents who earn less then 2 USD a day. With limited sanitation and water, life is a daily struggle. The slum clinics also provide services to people from other surrounding area. Nearly 700 families within these communities benefit from the medical, maternal and nursing treatment care that is provided. 

The Medical team provides the following services at the BS clinic: Provision of emergency relief combined with health education and health promotion.  

• Medical Care - includes treatment for a range of common injuries and illnesses such as dengue fever, acute infections, diarrhoea, common colds, typhoid fever, malaria etc.  
• Nursing Care - includes health and hygiene education to for adults and children, as well as and administration of basic health care, including height and weight measurements, de-worming (in line with the Cambodian National Strategy), nail cutting and wound care.  
• Maternal Care - includes prenatal and antenatal postnatal checkups, provision of vitamin supplements, vaccinations, breastfeeding and birth control advice for pregnant women before, during and after delivery. Our team also provides and gynaecological / obstetric referrals for HIV testing, pap smears, ultrasounds, pregnancy problems etc. 

The team visits the BS community to provide basic medical treatment and maternal services and health education. We work cooperatively with community leaders and members to build trust and positive relationships with the community at large. As a result, more patients are continuing to seek medical treatment and care from our team each month. They have learnt to trust the advise and recommendations given. 

Specifically, since January 2015, the Medical team has provided medical care to 333 patients, nursing care to 903 patients and maternal care to 95 patients. This is an increase in the number of patients treated from the previous year. 

Case Study

On a recent visit by the medical team to the Banteay Slek, an elderly woman attending the clinic was interviewed. Her name is Lan Neng. She is an egg seller at the Banteay Sleak. On 6th October 2015, she presented with her little 2 years old granddaughter, who had been crying in distress and with fever. She whimpered and refused to eat or play, Lan Neng knew that with out money she could not be seen at the government hospital so she was so glad that she could bring her little girl to the medical clinic. It is so easy to get skin infection because of the crowded condition and with the rainy season, the slum community is awash in mud, so her granddaughter developed skin infection that lead to skin abscess and thus the tears and fever and misery. Even though she was only 2 years old, she was so brave to allow our medical doctor to incise and drain the abscess. With careful wound dressing and treatment , she is on the mend and starting to eat and play again. There are many like this whose lives are changed for the better. 

Thanks to our donors and supporters, the medical, nursing and midwifery teams are making a real difference in this community helping people like Lan Neng and her granddaughter.

Please consider making a donation to help us to help these desperately poor children and their families. 

If you are in the UK, you can text CAMK13 £10 to 70070 to make a £10 donation. Even a small donation of a few pounds from all of our supporters will make a huge difference. Remember, we do not have any overheads, so 100% of your donation goes to helping the children. 

Alternatively, go to www.bit.ly/singdonate or www.bit.ly/regdonate to make a single or regular credit or debit card donation.

Thank you 

The CamKids Trustees

English Teacher Ky Hao Brings Hope and Valuable Skills to Cambodian Youth

Empowering Youth in Cambodia’s (EYC) Lakeside School is one of the projects that is supported by CamKids. The School opened in 2008 and offers daily English and computer classes as well as leadership training, sports, scholarships, medical and dental treatment to marginalized young people in one of Phnom Penh’s slum communities. 

From 5:30 until 8:30pm each evening Lakeside School has over 60 students, split between three levels of English training that fill the wooden classroom which boom with laughter. Teacher Ky Hao, who has been teaching at EYC’s school since 2009, knows well the responsibility placed upon him and the importance that his students gain English language skills before entering the workforce. He is widely praised by his students as being an excellent teacher and periodic reviews put him as one of the top teachers at EYC. 

Ky Hao knows that the students have long days between work and studies, so having a fun learning environment in the evening is key to their success. Ky Hao knows first hand what the students are facing, since he starts his 3 hour teaching shift straight after his full time teaching job ends. In addition to 11 hour working days, he also is studying for his masters of education at weekends and has a young daughter. Ky Hao graduated with a BA in English Education. 

Ky Hao teaches his students both English and morality, often creating lessons based on local current events and including discussions to get students to think about life choices. He also encourages them to become involved in social work, such as community cleaning, which EYC regularly coordinates. When asked why he has stayed teaching at Lakeside School for over 6 years, he replies that this is “because of the commitment of my students, their hard-work and willingness to push themselves. I stay inspired, even though working in the community brings challenges such as gangs, drunks, drug users, domestic fights and garbage, all of which regularly interrupt class.” 

Many students that have completed his classes are now obtaining jobs that they would not have qualified for otherwise. “When my students are in class they are 90-100% active. As a result we see good results, such as a former student called Kungkea, who started with very few words of English but he progressed so that his English would now be considered as fluent and he now works as a translator” said Ky Hao. 

A male student, Vannda, 21, said, “I’ve learned English with my teacher for almost one year and I observe that he has a remarkable art in teaching. His teaching methodology is friendly and effective. When I started my English was very poor but because he always uses English in the classroom I have improved fast.” A female student, Metta, also 21, said “It was my only option to study at Lakeside School because it is free of charge and I don’t have any spare money. However, I have found that it is the best school and the quality of the teaching is very high.” 

Ky Hao said he is quite happy to share his skills and to be involved with the great efforts which EYC is making, to help students in poor communities and to give them better life opportunities. With 142 students attending classes daily, Lakeside School has been a pillar in the community and is appreciative of the great partnership with CamKids. EYC’s country manager Drew McDowell says “While everyone involved has an important role, without the support of CamKids and their generous donors the rest could not be possible. Thanks for your support.”

Please consider making a donation to help us to help support valuable projects like this.

If you are in the UK, you can text CAMK13 £10 to 70070 to make a £10 donation (or change to £5, £3 etc). Even a small donation of a few pounds from all of our supporters will make a huge difference. Remember, we do not have any overheads, so 100% of your donation goes to helping the children. 

Alternatively, go to www.bit.ly/singdonate or www.bit.ly/regdonate to make a single or regular credit or debit card donation in £, $ and A$ or www.bit.ly/cccpaypal to pay in any currency through PayPal (all cards accepted) or contact us for more information. 

Thank you 

The CamKids Trustees

CCC School Update

 

CamKids had a meeting with 165 parents at the end of August to review the 2014 -2015 school year results and to plan ahead for 2015-2016. The final exam was taken at the end of August and the majority of our students passed. A small number failed – this was mostly due to family circumstances as these 13 children were needed to help on their family farms with looking after livestock, rice planting and harvesting.

We also ran a popular summer school program for 2 months in September and October to keep the children occupied through the long break and to improve their chances for jumping up a grade. This a first for the area as the government schools don’t run anything similar. We set another exam for our children at the end of the summer course and found that those 13 students had benefited from the course and passed the test. So all of of our 279 students at CCC school were able to go up to the next grade. We are very pleased that these 13 children managed to catch up and that their families understand the benefit of education.

The new school year started on 2nd November 2015 with 78 new students joining the school. All the children were provided with school supplies - study materials, uniforms and shoes. This year, we will be running a full primary school covering kindergarten to Grade 6 and we now have nearly 400 children studying at CCC.

Piseth continues to run our popular English classes and he does a wonderful job teaching English to the children. There are now 194 kids studying English with Piseth and they are divided into 6 classes running from the early morning till late evening.

During the summer school program, we were really pleased that three volunteers, 2 boys from GRADE SORELL and a girl from the village helped with teaching English to their juniors at CCC. Now, Mr. Ek Sophorn, a student of Piseth’s and a security guard, also helps teach English to grade 2 and 3 kids during his break time. It is great to see that Piseth’s students are now able to teach English to their juniors.

The vegetable garden is doing very well – with the kids involved in growing vegetables such as morning glory, mints, salads, cabbages, okra, zucchini, and gourd. The fish are growing well too and they are nearly big enough for harvesting. We believe that our fish pond and vegetable garden are not the only a food resource but also a life skills program that the students can apply at home helping their families. This shows that education is not only a lesson learnt inside the class room but one also learnt from everything that surrounds you. To sustain the biodegister and garden, each student was asked to collect and bring cow and other manure to school – with each child bringing about 30kgs, we collected enough manure to maintain the garden for the whole year!

      

Canalside Mobile Medical Team

Over the past 5 years, CamKids has been funding a number of mobile Medical Teams, staffed by One-2-One Cambodia, to provide medical, nursing and maternal clinics and social welfare support to community members at very poor communities in the capital, Phnom Penh. Canalside Community, is located in an extremely poor district - most of the residents in this slum are rubbish pickers, construction workers and garment factory workers who face a range of health problems and diseases. More than 120 families with about 630 beneficiaries live in this slum. 

The Medical Team provides the following services at the clinic: 

• Medical care - includes treatment for a range of common injuries and illnesses such as dengue fever, acute infections, diarrhea, common colds, typhoid fever, malaria etc.
• Nursing care - includes health and hygiene education to adults and children and administration of basic health care, including height and weight measurements, de-worming (in line with the Cambodian National Strategy), nail cutting and wound care.
• Maternal care - includes prenatal and antenatal checkups, provision of vitamin supplements, vaccinations, breastfeeding and birth control advice for pregnant women before, during and after delivery and gynaecologist referrals for HIV testing, pap smears, ultrasounds etc. 

The Medical Team has provided treatment and care to over 2,000 patients at this community, during the past year. This included of medical care to some 400 patients, nursing care, included deworming, to over 1,500 patients and maternal care to around 100 patients. 

Case Study:

On a recent trip, the Medical Team interviewed a boy called Vong Dy, who is 18 years old, who lives at Canalside community. His father passed away and his mother is a rubbish picker. Dy is a student who studies in grade 10. One day, whilst returning from school, he was involved in a motor accident and injured his leg. He did not go straight to a regular clinic to receive proper care and treatment for the wound, because he had no money. As the Medical Team regularly visit Canalside on Thursdays, he decided to wait until the day of their visit. After he met with the Medical Team, he obtained the necessary treatment and wound care and also received advice from the Medical Team on how to maintain his dressings and also received pain relief medication. 

We would like to say thank you to all of our donors and supporters for donating the funds to enable us to help these Cambodian people receive the medical care they so desperately need and to improve their overall quality of life.

If you are in the UK, you can text CAMK13 £10 to 70070 to
make a £10 donation (or change to £5, £3 etc). 
Even a small donation of a few pounds from all of our 
supporters will make a huge difference.
Remember, we do not have any overheads, so 100% of
your donation goes to helping the children. 

Alternatively, go to www.bit.ly/singdonate or www.bit.ly/regdonate to make a single or regular credit or debit card donation in £, $ and A$ or www.bit.ly/cccpaypal to pay in any currency through PayPal (all cards accepted). 

Thank you 

The CamKids Trustees

Who Will Children's Village Update

 

We recently received the following update from Who Will Children's Village, which we support through our Child Sponsorship program and where we have built school rooms and other facilities:

Activities in our Village continue as normal although the project in now evolving into more of a Community Educational Facility with the residential element reducing in importance. We remain with 37 resident children but the number of students from the surrounding villages increased at its peak to over 250. As many of these children come from farm backgrounds they have to stop studying to work in the fields during the planting and harvesting times, but they normally return.

The start to the year was overshadowed by the, somewhat premature, passing away of our director, Mao Moniroath, wife of the Chairman. Since resigning from her position at the Australian Embassy in Phnom Penh, Roath had established herself as an invaluable member of the management team. She was able, through her experience as Personnel Manager at the Embassy, to bridge the gap between children and staff all of whom respected her and followed the advice given. She was loved by all at Who Will Village and is sorely missed. 

We are now concentrating on improving the quality of teaching in our in-house English language classes and to this end, we are continually looking for qualified teachers to volunteer with us and share their knowledge and experience with our 3 Khmer teachers and 2 long term German volunteers. We have 2 very experienced teachers coming over for a month in January 2016 but still would like more between now and then. 

The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology have made 2 visits this year, one in early January and the second time on 5-7 June. Their visits are always welcomed by the children who enjoy the varied programmes of learning and playing planned so effectively by the students. These include, both normal classroom teaching and arts and crafts in addition to drama/musical presentations. 

The school year is almost over and we are now trying to sort out the futures of the 3 girls who are completing Year 12 and who, hopefully, will all achieve a good pass in their final exam. One wants to train as a nurse, one as a dress designer and the other has accountancy in mind. We are endeavoring to satisfy their wishes. 

The vegetable garden has been extended into adjoining land that we own and we have had good crops of sweet potatoes, corn, cassava and watermelons. Our mango trees have also borne a large amount of fruit. We are trying to extend the garden but the children’s time is limited and it is too hot in the middle of the day for volunteers to work in the sun.

Having helped with capital expenditure during the start up period, CamKids continues to provide much needed financial support through the Child Sponsorship Programme that they run for us and we are most grateful to them for doing this.