Caring for Cambodia Trip

October 2010
caringforcambodia.org

caringforcambodia.org

We just returned from our Caring for Cambodia "MAD" (Make a Difference Trip)
Most of our time was spent at the Arahn School in Siem Reap.
I think we had about 10 families. Including children there were 35+ hard working individuals.
We arrived at the Singapore Airport at 4:30am Thursday morning and were at the school ready to get to work by 8:30am.

Siem Reap had substantial rain leading up to our arrival and their was a lot of flooding as you can see from the pictures.
The work projects were very well organized and prepared for our group and we were able to get started right away.

Our CFC kids got started on spreading 6 tons of gravel basket full by basket.  The school children could not stand being bystanders so they quickly came to their aid which made for a very touching team project.

We started our work on building bulletin boards by hand sawing, plaining, mitering nailing wooden frames and sandwiching woven palm mats between the wood.  The kids were a great help and I think we completed over 25 bulletin boards.  They were then spray painted in primary colors, red, blue and yellow.

Bookshelf building and painting was another project.  They completed 6.
The building of a playground was fun to watch.  Swings and a treehouse.
We worked in the library covering many books.  Most donated by Room to Read.
All the books we worked on were written in the local language of Khmer.
It's a beautifully artistic script print, but we couldn't even begin to decipher the text.
On Friday morning our group spread out and went to three different schools:
Arahn School, Kong Much School and Amelio School.
Once there we participated in the "Food for Thought Program" by serving breakfast to the children.
Because of the flooding only a handful of the 250 children who regularly attend breakfast at the Kong Much School were able to be there.  I think I was told in general over 1000 children who attend CFC schools receive breakfast 6 days a week.  This may be the only meal some of these children get all day.
The school day is divided into am and pm shifts, and many of the children come for breakfast even if they attend the pm sessions.  Breakfast consisted of a savory broth with rice cooked into a porridge.  They have sprouts and greens as well as chili and other sauces to add as condiments.  It actually smelled very good, but at 7:00am a savory soup just doesn't sound appealing to me.
Currently their are 6 CFC schools that are in operation. These programs educate the children through the 6th grade.  Early next month the first Middle school (7th, 8th & 9th grade)  will be open for business.  Hurray!  The plan is to have the first children who started in the program back in 2003 graduate from a CFC High School in 2015.  The program is gradually growing and has been highly successful and supported by the Cambodian Government.
We had a wonderful experience working at the Arahn School and the Kong Much School.
We met a great group of dedicated volunteers (expats from Singapore) and managed to make a dent in all that needs to be done.
We managed to fit in some wonderful meals, some shopping and were entertained by a dance group from one of the CFC schools as well.
We will definitely be returning to help with this ongoing endeavor.