Education and its challenges

Every day, we see contrasting numbers of children come to school with absence varying from 1% to 70%. Every month, we find out that one or two students have stopped studying all together for a reason. Every three months, we welcome a few old students back and ask where they have been for so long.

It's not easy teaching in Cambodia, the students may be committed and keen but quite often they are powerless. Their parents, guardians or older brothers and sisters may not let them go to school for a number of reasons. Here is a list of the most common reasons:

"I had to stay at home because no-one else was there, and we have to look after the house"

- There is a fear that if you don't have someone at your house, someone will come in and take things or look around your house, even if you have locks.

"I had to go to work with my ......., because they told me they needed help"

- Unfortunately we hear this quite a lot, parents or siblings pulling the student out of school to help work on the farm, collect plastic bottles or sell something. Sometimes it could be for a day, other times for months.

"I had to cook rice for my father / younger brother and sister"

- If there is no-one at home to cook then normally the older sibling takes charge, meaning they leave halfway through a class or don't come at all.

"My bicycle tire burst and I was unable to get here"

- Perhaps the most reasonable argument, if the tyre bursts it costs about $0.50 to get fixed, which most children do not have, so they go home and wait until they have the money to fix it.
 
These are but a few reasons why they don't come to school as well as the usual sickness, conflicting Khmer school schedules, extra lessons and holidays. We often discuss absenteeism with parents and explain how important it is for their children to study every day. We compare it to work - if you miss a day you don't get paid, whilst at school if you miss a day you miss out on 10 words / a tense / reviews.

It's one thing to encourage parents to let their child study, but another to make sure they attend every day all year round.

www.khmerchild.org

Meet a Teacher - Rouet Kanha

Good day, my name is Kanha. I am 20 years old and I am from Siem Reap Province. I am currently the Assistant Head of Education and Starter Class English Teacher.

I have been working at FKC for 3 years, and initially I was just a part-time English teacher with the beginner's class. I am now learning how to run the education department and also attend free teacher training ran by other NGOs when I get the chance.
I live with my mother, my father, four brothers and one sister. I am also studying English Language and Translation at Mekong University.

In my free time I like cooking and making handicraft which I do at school sometimes too.

I enjoy being an English teacher and hope to continue to improve my skills and gain more experience teaching English!

Interested in sponsoring one of teachers? Click here

We did it!

Thanks to all you guys we have managed to raise the funds needs to start building our school in Nokor Krao!

In total we raised over $6,000 - more than we needed for the original plan. Now we will reassess the building plans and see where and if we can make improvements to make a sturdier structure. We will get some quotes this week and then look to start building some time in December.

Luckily we have a number of volunteers coming throughout December, so we may even draft them in to help build (if you're reading be warned!).

Thanks again for your support - and remember you can still donate if you haven't already, we always welcome whatever people can give!

http://khmerchild.org/donations/

Fundraising update!

We are coming to the end of our Nokor Krao school fundraising project and with 3 days to go we are edging closer to the target.


http://youcaring.com/buildmeup


After losing our rented room (as the government school we rented it from needed it back), we were seeking donors for the project. We managed to get the land and perimeter fence donated however still lacked the funds for the school.  Three weeks ago we started fundraising online for it, and the response has been great. We hope to start building in December and getting some of our volunteers to help build it!

Thanks to those 67 supporters who have donated and to the countless number of retweets, likes and Facebook shares that have spread our cause across the internet!

http://youcaring.com/buildmeup
www.khmerchild.org 

Flying Doctors of America

Every year FKC support the Flying Doctors of America in their amazing mission to help as many Cambodians as possible. This year a total of 13 doctors and 2 volunteers came over, ranging from dentists and pediatricians to chiropractors and general practitioners.They worked solidly over the week to offer advice, treatment and medication to over 1000 patients.

On their final afternoon of the trip they even found time to come visit us at FKC, where we put on a few songs and a traditional dance or two so they could relax!

This year they went to 4 different clinics in 4 different districts:
Srae Nouy Commune        - 235 patients
Chanleas Dai Commune   - 307 patients
Svay Chek Commune       - 281 patients
Sro Nge Commune           - 317 patients
 
We'd like to thank them again on behalf of Cambodia, and hopefully see them again next year!

Interested in becoming a flying doctor? Check out their site -  http://www.fdoamerica.org/

Our team taking their personal details and what was wrong

Patients ranged from babies to the elderly

The dental surgery was in high demand due to poor oral
hygiene in Cambodia. Toothbrushes were handed out to
each patient and they were shown how to brush properly

Medicine was brought from the US and any further supplies
bought in Cambodia. Here are two volunteers helping dispense
the medicine according to what the patients need.

The team on the fourth and final day of the mission. Tired
but extremely happy with their efforts. Congratulations
on a great job and thanks for everything!

Healthy food, healthy minds.

A good start to the day includes a filling, healthy breakfast that gets your brain in gear and your hands writing!

Before we set up our own tuck shop many of the children were feasting on sugary snacks and energy drinks, meaning they would be hyper for the first hour and tired the second. Unfortunately this is the case across Cambodia, as the cheapest products to purchase are full of sugar and other chemicals.

We decided to offer our children something different, and now cook them a porridge in the morning and offer baguettes in the afternoon. We have one sweet snack, which is sweet bread covered in sesame seeds, but we have got rid of all energy drinks and switched to soy milk instead. Let's hope the students reap the rewards of having extra brain power at exam time!

Our tuck shop serving up cheap snacks

A couple of the students tucking into a nutritious
lunchtime meal

One student opts for a smaller snack

Our recently donated water system, all water is
filtered before it can be drunk.

A week of hard work and great outcomes

In my last post I told you about what was coming up in November - well here's an update!

Fundraising

So far so good - with two weeks left to go until the fundraising ends we have raised over $2000. However there is still quite a distance to go, with $4500 needed to complete the project. We are talking, e-mailing, networking, updating, blogging, tweeting and reporting everywhere we can to raise awareness and try to hit the target! A big thanks to those who have donated so far, and a huge thanks to those that are going to keep spreading the message and sending donations our way. There will be a real big push in the last week so please support us.

Flying Doctors of America (FDoA)

The week long work of consulting, diagnosing and treating is over, and has been hugely successful. A total of 12 doctors came to Cambodia and traveled to a different district each day to offer their expertise and skills to the local community.We'll be posting something specifically to report on the Flying Doctors - so check back soon!

New student registration

On Saturday 9th November we invited all parents who wanted to register their children at the school. We asked them to come from 8 - 10am but the reality was they turned up at 7am and carried on coming until 3pm! It was a remarkable turnout, especially with the amount of younger children that turned up. Unfortunately we have a limited number of spaces so we are now busy working through the applicants and placing them in order of need.

Busy November!

Sorry for the lack of updates recently, we've got a busy month ahead we've been busy planning for!


The Flying Doctors arrived yesterday, they are a team of American Doctors from different disciplines. They will be visiting a different province around Siem Reap for four days, meeting anyone with an illness or problem they want diagnosed or treated. Last year the doctors saw hundreds of people every day, we hope they can hit the same numbers this year and provide free healthcare to them all.

Our teachers and other staff help translate for them, so the school pulls on all its resources to ensure we can run both projects for the week. Fortunately we have a number of volunteers for the week ahead which will certainly help share the work!

We've also been busy with our fundraiser, and we hope to raise the rest of the money as soon as possible so we can crack on with the building and get our students back to school. Here's the link again if you missed our last post: www.youcaring.com/buildmeup