Story written by Sandy Flinn - A volunteer from Australia

Volunteering at CamKids’ Community School was an experience beyond expectations. This is where the real culture of Cambodia can be found, untouched by tourism and development. 

CamKids' students are eager to learn English and are very well behaved. I taught English using real objects, drawings, action songs, written and verbal words. 

The students particularly enjoyed learning English through ESL action songs which I played on my phone and Bluetooth speaker. 

I brought other resources along such as photocopies of worksheets that could be transferred to the whiteboard, coloured paper to teach colours, blue tac and small photo albums of family and life in Australia. 

I am not a qualified teacher but have many years experience working as a School Support Teacher and easily transitioned to teaching English mainly because there were no behavioural issues. 

If you have ever considered volunteering, bring a friend and help enhance future prospects of Cambodian children. CamKids’ Community School would really appreciate your assistance.

 

The Village Festival

After the rice harvest finished last week, the villagers of Chbar Chros organized a village festival in order to thank the spirits who took good care of their crops. 

The celebration took place at CCC school and our students were invited to join too. Food such as Cambodian noodles, bread, and soup made of curried chicken was donated by the villagers. 

It was particularly great to see our younger children having fun! I observed that the young children are growing up so well, respecting each other and their parents and teachers and also wanting to help in whatever small way they can in the community. 

Sophak Phorn - Project Manager

 

Phil's Fabulous Ride

We at CamKids are constantly surprised and touched by the kindness and generosity of people. Challenged by his sceptical friends to “get on his bike” Phil Moses did just that – and it wasn’t an easy challenge - cycling some 500 plus miles from Bangkok to Saigon and passing through Cambodia on the way. Phil supported four charities and we were fortunate that he chose CamKids as one of the four. This is his story:

As a 50+ non-cyclist and having decided to join a friend on a cycling trip from Bangkok to Saigon, many of my friends thought I was nuts. So, having been challenged to succeed and expected to fail I made sure I trained well for a few weeks and decided to make my friends put their money where their mouths were! 

I set up a Virgin Giving page for 4 charities including CamKids, which seemed appropriate as a lot of the journey was through Cambodia, a place I had never been. It turned out to be a fabulous adventure and my friend and I were joined by 16 others on the Exodus arranged trip in late February 2018.  

Cambodia was amazing. Temples, Buddhist priests, sad history from the civil war and amazingly friendly people. People were healthy but not well off, and many children were not attending school. Motor cyclists often did not wear helmets and the agricultural output seemed too low for such a fertile and sun blessed place. 

So, the £7,000 support I got for the four charities will enable CamKids to use nearly £2,000 to help support kids who need education to attend school rather than sell postcards to tourists. It's a great cause and I was delighted that my holiday adventure also enabled me to help them. 

A big thank you to Phil and his generous supporters – thanks to his efforts and their generosity the money raised will cover the cost of educating a class of 30 children for six months. Put another way, the money we received will cover the entire seven years of primary education for 14 children! 

Whilst the children CamKids supports have little or no access to tourists due to their rural location, they do face the same financial pressures to help support their families that Phil mentions. By providing a good local school and removing the financial burden we can help to keep these children in education. Whichever way you look at it, it’s a wonderful result and one that will change these children’s lives forever. 

If you feel inspired by Phil’s story – get in touch and we can help you with setting up a charity giving site and provide information for your supporters. It costs just £10 to educate a child for a month and every penny donated is spent directly in helping children in Cambodia. 

JustGiving: www.justgiving.com/tccc

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

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

 

Why is attendance at our CCC school so high?

Most people outside of Cambodia probably don’t realise that student absenteeism in State schools is extremely common, while at our CCC school our students hardly ever miss a class. 

Unlike in the West, absenteeism is rarely due to the students not wanting to attend, but to ill health or social and economic pressures on their families. Children often miss classes for long periods as they are required to help their parents with family duties such as rice transplanting or harvesting. 

At our CCC school, we have created a partnership with the community which not only provides a creative and high quality education which follows the Cambodian syllabus, but we also include other initiatives such as:

• Providing medical and dental treatment, which reduces absences due to illness;
• Free provision of school supplies - unlike in State schools, we make sure that all of our students have sufficient study materials;
• Follow up with family - any absences result in the family being contacted to find out the reasons and, if possible, resolving the issues so that the child can return to school;
• Unlike in many State schools, our teachers are always punctual and deliver high quality lessons to the students, free of charge. 

Again, we would like to thank all of our sponsors and supporters for your donations to help these students receive a life-changing education. Contact us if you are interested in becoming a sponsor - just £10 per month provides a full education for a child.