Week 5 (but really 3) - building the school

So it's been a while since we last updated this but that's because of Khmer New Year!

All the teachers, staff, builders and their families went to the south of Cambodia for a holiday of sorts. We spent 5 days traveling on a bus, visiting towns, pagodas, and the beach.

We then came back to Siem Reap for one week of public holiday, where we spent time with our families playing traditional Khmer games, and going to Angkor Wat.

Now the fun is over, and another type of fun begins - back to the building of the school!

We will put some more photos up on Friday, thank you for your patience.

Week 2 - building the school

It's been a busy week both in Kaksekam and at Nokor Krao!

The builders have been working hard, and got the foundations down last week before they could start laying bricks. They've set up a little camp where they will sleep during the week, and we can now see the outline of the building and classrooms!

Ensuring the iron stays strong is fiddly work!

Slowly building the school higher and higher!

The outline of the new school can now be seen, we can't wait
to watch it get built.

The builders home during the week. The village is quite far from
their usual homes.

Their washing line for the time being!

The school building begins...

A long time ago in November, we applied for planning permission from the Apsara Authority to build a small school in a village where we do a lot of well installation.

On Monday we finally received written approval, and so on Thursday we held a land blessing ceremony and got some materials on site to start building!

Thanks for everyone who has donated and been so patient. We will use this page to update you and maybe get some video soon.

Sand, stone and rocks!

The planner figuring out the plans

The Apsara representative checking we do have permission!!

Scaffolding and other bits and bobs needed

Meet a teacher - Noeurng Nak

Hello! My name is Nak. I am 25 years old and I come from Banteay Meanchey Province.

I have lived in Siem Reap for 4 years, and I have been teaching at FKC School for 6 months. I teach the Beginner class. In the evenings I am an English and Teaching student at Build Bright University, currently studying in my fourth year.

In my free time I like to read, watch the news, and spend time with my family. I also like going to Baray Lake.

In the future, I still want to be an English Teacher and live in Siem Reap. I hope to gain a lot of experience at FKC to improve my teaching methods, as well as learning more at university.

Interested in sponsoring one of teachers? Click here

Redecorating the school

With over 300 children running and playing and studying at the school each day, some things get a bit worn down, and we're not just talking about the teachers!

The school buildings have to put up with 600 hands and sometimes feet, as well as the extreme weather we get over here, from high temperatures to heavy rain and winds.

Every year in January we redecorate the school and clean around the grounds, giving it a lick of paint and patching up any holes we find! January is the perfect time as there is no rain, the temperature is fairly mild and we have a number of volunteers who come with David.

Students' health and wellbeing

For many families in Cambodia, eating a balanced diet that provides everything their body needs can be a challenge. Rice is the staple food here, and if families can afford to, they will make fish and vegetable soups or side dishes on top. Still, these dishes might not be sufficient and therefore quite often people go without the vitamins and nutrients they need to improve their health.

In order to help our students grow up to be healthy and strong, we provide vitamin drinks or pills whenever we have them in stock, which unfortunately is not as often as we would like. If you would like to help us provide them more consistently, please visit www.khmerchild.org/donations and get in touch.

The teachers discussing what the drinks are.

Preparing the vitamin drinks, they came in a number of flavours

But not all kids thought they tasted as they thought!

Graduation Ceremony

Our school year runs from January to December, meaning that our graduation ceremony takes place at the end of January each year to coincide with one of our donors visits to Cambodia.

The top three students in each class are presented with a certificate of achievement, and all IT students also receive their final marks so they are ready to move onto the next level.

It is a fun celebration of the previous year, so naturally we have a dance, some food and lots of music!

The students showing off their certificates.

Our dancers putting on a great show!

The kids tucking in after a long morning!