The School - Background & Students

School & Temple History (Page in Progress...)

Before the School was built, Kim (Sunly's dad) and other students used to study under the shades of trees, namely these old mango trees that have been around for a long time...

Kim and Mary are also pol pot survivors who have an interesting tale to tell, their hardship and support for each other and how they've brought their families to Australia is truly inspiring, but an intriguing story for another day. It is truly inspiring to see how they have returned and helped the children of this school, to give the gift of education and how they have helped the temple by supporting their elderly residents who don't have families or a home.









This mango tree is over century old, it has provided shade to many including young students to aspire to learn great things and who have since returned to contribute to the school and pass on the generosity to the younger generation. Kim and Mary were once young students who enjoyed the shades of this very tree when they were primary school children.









Primary School

27 August 2006 - Classroom block built by Kim & Mary (Sunly's Parents).

This is the educational statistics chart of education in Cambodia, taken from the teachers room.








 
In this image we have the deputy principal (left) standing next to the teacher in the classroom, the deputy principal is an impressive man, he is the jack of all trades for the school, he was an honest man who did good by the children, aside from his usual duties he also cooked the children  breakfast (usually noodles). He also does the gardening, handy man work and anything that the school or the temple requires him to do. He used to also climb the coconuts trees but have retired from that but still retains the skills of an expert coconut opener using a machete, which we found highly impressive.
The whole time we were there he was always doing something.
 

 

Picture of teachers in the staff room.

We left them stationery packs for the students who were absent on the day that we gave them out.

A very nice team of teachers worked here. Many of them have to travel far to get to the school but their love for the students here have brought them back every day.

The school has lost many of its teachers and students to the larger schools in the bigger towns and cities so the numbers have dropped by about 200.

 
The children were so polite and thanked us by bowing their heads. They were very shy but managed to say hello to us in English.

 

Food Scholarship Program through Word Food Programme (WFP)

We were so happy to see that the school has signed the children up for the food scholarship program which helps provide their families with a bag of rice if they meet the attendance requirements at school.
This is a great program for the children in this poor area.

According to WFP, malnutrition in Cambodia is a hidden problem that is costing the US $400 million annually.

The link below leads to the article published on 9 July 2014, on malnutrition in Cambodia where a picture was taken of a health worker measuring the upper arm of a young student from the Kampong Speu province who is malnourished.


More information on WFP and the great work that they are doing can be found on this website: https://www.wfp.org/node/3418/4488/642217

Artwork by a student

This artwork was discovered on the wall of the kitchen building, it seems to depict some kind of Buddhist image or worship, it shows you that there is a huge presence of Buddhism in Cambodia and even among children.

 

This picture is of Lee and two of the younger boys at the school.
We managed to get them to come over for a chat with us before they headed off home.
One of the boys (in the middle) lived with another boy and his family because his parents were in Thailand working. We found his story sad and compelling, he was determined to study hard so his parents would be proud and so he would be able to find a good job and his parents can come home instead of working so far away.
He still managed to smile while talking to us despite his lonely story.

Coincidently there was an ice cream man in the background....

So of course we didn't let them leave without an ice cream (or two) to thank them :)
And of course we rewarded ourselves with well deserved ice creams too haha...ice cream for all it was!!!

The smiles on these children's faces really made our day, they were the highlights of our trip, we were fortunate to be able to meet the children of Cambodia, be able to talk to them and ask them questions
and gain that bit of insight into what its like in their lives.

We wished we could do so much more for them, but we hoped that aside from giving them stationery packs to help them with their education that our share of motivation towards them has also given them encouragement to study towards better futures for themselves and their families.