Q1 2022 Newsletter
We started 2022 with a renewed sense of purpose with the objective of wanting to be more impactful in the work that we do in Cambodia, where we have been present since 2005 when our founder Paget Sayers travelled afar to the little town of Kampot. He identified what was needed then, which was clean water for drinking and English classes, followed by dental care for children. We are now asking ourselves what else is needed to be done - because we know that we live in a dynamic world and we would need to evolve to meet new demands. This involved a multifaceted review of our past activities, the standard of delivery and what further improvements we could make to positively enhance the lives of people in Cambodia.
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HEALTH
After a delay due to school closures, we have recently added a new service in the form of eye care to our Health Program.
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In March, we provided eyeglasses to seven students who were found to have poor eyesight. We are able to increase the care for students by providing eyesight screening after their regular visits to our dental clinics. Our staff at the clinic brought the children to a local optician to have glasses made. Each pair of glasses cost only USD 30 and if you are keen to help support this wonderful initiative, please make your contribution here.
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EDUCATION
Education continues to be a mainstay of our activities because of the level of empowerment it brings to improving the quality of life of an individual. We engage more than 40 teachers to provide English lessons, Khmer language, computer classes and preschool care to over 1,800 students each day. These are supplementary classes which support the formal education system in government schools.
We have recently engaged a native English teacher/trainer, James Stroyan to conduct an objective assessment of all our English teachers and to make recommendations for their training needs. The overarching goal is to enhance the quality of our classes and that we get to see a real improvement in the children's command of the English language.
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We have extended our Education Program to now include a Student Financial Assistance Scheme, where we provide scholarships and living expenses allowance to deserving students. This initiative is jointly funded by YourAid and a private donor organisation, the LUFF Foundation. In view of our involvement with students from primary school level, we consider that it is only natural for us to want to continue to support the students further. By doing so, this would enable us to see a final positive outcome of our efforts.
We have recently awarded four scholarships to Soh Vichet (Dentistry), Ngorn Thanin (Engineering), Lab Sry (Accounting) and Chouch Yunan (Nursing/Health Care). We have carefully chosen these candidates with a view that they not only successfully complete their course of study, but also become responsible and caring individuals who can make a difference to the local community.
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We are featuring Vichet in this newsletter as a testimony to the success of our Education Program.
Vichet comes form a poor family where his father works in a fishing boat with income barely sufficient to meet the daily needs of the family. The household live in a small wooden house over a river. Vichet had committed to studying English and took computer classes with BLCP. He knew that his studies could change his life and enable him to help his family out of poverty. During the interview selection, he spoke fluently about wanting to volunteer for the community and work in BLCP's Dental Program. He was also involved in his school community programs including tree planting and campaigns to register eligible children to attend school. With his background, we are therefore confident that he will not just be a capable dentist, but have the personal qualities to be a caring and responsible person in the community.
In order to keep abreast with technology and with the help of a donor, No Moss, an IT company based in Sydney, we have equipped Ranaridd High School with computer equipment and to pay for the salaries of trainers. The students will be taught various computing skills from using software, including document writing and spreadsheet analysis using Microsoft Office, and picture editing using Adobe Photoshop.
We also started a young adults computing course at our head office building in Kampot town centre to help these job seekers gain employment quickly. All of our education courses are given free to the students.
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COMMUNITY
We continue to provide help to the community as our concern for the welfare of children goes beyond the school environment. By improving living conditions at home, the children would be able to lead happier lives. We facilitated many caring individual donors including students from Australia and regular givers, like Garald, Wijaya, Yuvon and the Long sisters of the PitOn ('Pass It On') club.
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Our school principal, Sok, registered an 11-year-old to attend formal government school and a kind donor of YourAid, Megan, paid for a bicycle for the boy to get to school. As it is not uncommon to have especially adolescent girls to leave home and be domestic maids, we continue to provide Stay-In-School (SIS) Scholarship help with sponsorship by Jasmine Club 500.
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If you want to make a difference to a child's life, we are ready to be your helping hand and you will be comforted to know that 100% of your contribution goes towards where it is needed.
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