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.

      

Krousar Thmey Centre for Blind & Deaf Children

Since 2011, the CamKids funded mobile dental team has provided dental treatment and oral health education to blind and deaf children in Krousar Thmey Schools and Centres located throughout Cambodia. The team has placed an increasing focus on providing oral health education, prevention and promotion measures. In addition, the team has continued to build the capacity of teachers and caregivers to supervise and monitor the children’s daily tooth brushing, hand washing, oral hygiene practices and to administer basic health care, in order to improve the students' overall health.

During a recent trip, the team provided dental treatment to a total of 507 patients across four different provinces, including Battambang, Kampong Cham, Siem Reap and Banteay Meanchey Provinces. The team then travelled to the Krousar Thmey centre at Kampong Cham Province and provided dental treatment to 154 patients, including 100 children and 54 adults. This was the second trip to Krousar Thmey at Kampong Cham Province in the last six months. 

Mr. Ban Boeurn, the mobile dental team leader said that during the mobile trip to Krousar Thmey at Kampong Cham Province, the team faced problems with the poor oral health of the blind children, which required many of them to have fillings. Unfortunately, being blind, the children were scared of the sound of the dental drill. However, to alleviate their fears, the team encouraged the children by asking them to touch and feel each type of instrument that the team were going to use. This settled the children down and they all agreed for the team to do the treatment. Sometime later, the children were smiling once again and told the team that their pain had gone and they won’t cry at night time anymore.

We are the only charity supporting the medical and dental needs of deaf and blind children in Cambodia.  Please consider making a donation to help support this valuable work. 

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