Tasmanians show brilliant support. A huge thank you to Newstead College in Launceston Tasmania (for you foreigners - that's the island shaped like a generous heart, off the coast of Australia) for raising funds, yet again, for the school. This is $AUD1,000 - and we will be discussing with the College where they would most like to see the funds spent - there are a few candidate projects on the go at present!  The kind people of Newstead College were instrumental, months back, in getting the chicken farm funded - and this small farm (that backs on to the school) supplies eggs and chicken to the SOC.  Check out their newsletter from earlier this year.

There's nothing quite so unexciting as website statistics - but this month we are coming up for our 4000th website visitor this year. Oh sure, that's not quite up there with the 45 million or so who have visited "I'm Sexy and I Know It" on YouTube - but it demonstrates the quiet power of the internet in allowing interested people to find out more. We have averaged 12 new visitors every single day. This website sets out to be useful, informative, and straight talking - and allows those who are looking for a place to volunteer to weigh up our credibility. Thank you to the volunteers and visitors who have shared their photos and shared their stories.

A big thank you to Alexandra of the International Finance Corporation, part of the World Bank Group for finding with us a home for a number of laptops that are being retired from her organisation, but are still suitable for computer teaching. These will be a welcome addition at the school where there is a burgeoning demand from students for computer skills.

Child Safety Incident Report. One of the many good suggestions made when we canvassed supporters about the draft Child Safety Policy was to create an explicit channel for volunteers and visitors to report any incidents where violence, bullying or compromosing behaviour that ought to be followed-up. Good suggestion. On the Child Safety page we have posted the link - and we promise to act on every incident reported - big or small. Meanwhile, based on feedback to the initial September draft of the policy - we have now posted the November draft: which is a lot more specific yet retains the balance between protecting children from harm, while still enabling their freedom to play, to adventure and to socialise.

Following the massive floods that hit Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam in September, thousands of farming families were displaced or lost their rice crops which were washed away. The floods were the most serious on record for decades. Savong responded by appealing to supporters for assistance - not for the school and SOC - but for the local Bakong community where the Siem Reap branch of Red Cross had identified hundreds of families in need as a direct result of the flooding. Savong raised $2800 and with Red Cross purchased rice and food supplies to provide relief for over 100 families.

The local news team covered the event - here's a link. (In Khmer.) During the flooding the children at SOC were relocated to the guest house in town, and really they had an exciting time of it. Flood waters have receded now, but the impact will continue in the district.

In another show of community support, Savong School held a Blood Donation day - and 92 students donated blood to the local Provincial hospital which is always needing supplies. This event was also covered by the local news channel and looks set to become an annual part of the Savong School calendar.

Here's the link to the video news item (in Khmer). Savong has also posted excellent photos of this day on the www.savongorphanage.com website.  As he says, students were a little bit afraid of giving blood - but with some encouragement realised how much this would help save the lives of others.

Meanwhile Savong has been developing his contacts in Siem Reap, and he has secured a generous offer from the University to match one-for-one the university fees for scholarships. So for every student we enrol through university, the university will waive the fees for another student from Bakong.

In November a new orphanage opened in town - the Happy Sunshine Orphanage - which is an Austrian initiative, but in co-operation with Savong and the SOC. The funding has come from Austria, and Savong was consulted extensively, to help navigate the local paperwork, land purchase and registration. The orphanage has been in construction throughout 2011, and on November 5th opened officially. It is a joint venture, and bears the SOC as part of its name. Check out the Austrian website. On November 6th the children from the new orphanage and from SOC joined together for a picnic day at West Baray.

Photo - one of the Sunshine directors with Theavy and Seyha, just before the opening ceremony began.

Savong told us how one of the Scholarship students from the school, Channtheng gave a straight from the heart speech to the gathered audience about how the school had changed her life. Savong said he, and many others, were in tears because the speech was so moving: an affirmation that projects such as these really make a huge impact on young lives.

 

The Savong School September newsletter features a detailed article on the draft Child Safety Policy, but also contains lots of news and photos from the school, health center and SOC. The cover story: our next five scholarship winners are announced. For a copy of the PDF, click HERE. the newsletter may take about a minute to download. Be patient and think of Cambodia.

Below - the generous support of Tracey and Juli and team of Korean students recently enabled the SOC to buy a Nissan utility vehicle that serves as bus, as pack-horse and general transport.

With the reopening of the health center at the SOC, it is time we told our story to more people, so a few weeks back we submitted a story to NZ Doctor, a weekly newspaper aimed at the medical profession. The photos came courtesy of Oliver Son who volunteered earlier this year and is planning a documentary about the subject.

For a copy of the article, CLICK HERE.

 

July is generally the busiest month in terms of overseas visitors - and so it has proved this year with many good volunteers from Japan, Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, USA, UK, Spain and Australia.

Meanwhile the new accounting system is running pretty smoothly. If you making a gift directly to Savong, then ask to write it into his little black notebook where he records every expense. This gets typed up into Excel, then sent to a Chartered Accountant. Below - excluding the Childrens Home and the Health Centre, here's a simple chart outlining the monthly budget for the school and the scholarships.

This budget will be stretched shortly, when a new group of scholarship winners is announced to join the initial quartet of students we support through university. The exam is soon to be held.

Earlier in July an extremely well-organised trip - sponsored by the energetic Palti family of Melbourne took older children from the SOC to the seaside town of Sihanoukville via Phnom Penh. It was the children's first glimpse of the ocean - on day one the surf was pounding - and on later days they went out fishing and even jet-skiing. The journey was a thoughtful gesture, well structured, and designed to build the esteem of these students through challenges, successes and that golden feeling which all children should enjoy - of experiencing new things and becoming just a few steps more worldly-wise. A big thank you.

 

This is a busy time for Savong - with a full schedule of visitors and volunteers and a number of projects on the go.

• A group of Koreans here to teach the newly established Korean class at the school.
• Visitors from Spain, Indonesia, UK, USA, Australia and NZ booked in to volunteer. big welcome.
• Progress on the "town branch" of the SOC which is due to open in August.
• Paperwork filed for the Health Center, and reopening due in July.
• Maintenance issues - there's always something. This time the water pump failed at the school, so it has been replaced with a petrol driven pump from the SOC, while the SOC gets a new petrol-driven pump. In fact we need a bit of help with this one - got a spare $20??
• New vegetable planting - and more chickens. The farmer is working hard to develop the food stream for the SOC. The main priority with the chicken farming is to hatch more chicks and grow the flock - each weeks more eggs are hatching.
• Holidays in Cambodia. Galina and her mum took a group of SOC students to Battambang - which for most of the group was the first time beyond Siem Reap they ahd a great time...
• ...and another holiday is booked for early July. This time the Palti family - Steph and the clan - are taking a group from the SOC down to Phnom Penh and then the coast of Sihanoukville for their first taste of the ocean. 
• Some outreach work in the Bakong community has identified pockets of real need - well-building and other basics.
• Meanwhile in Tasmania and Singapore fans and followers, visitors and volunteers have embarked on two separate fund raising events to help the project. Really grateful thanks.
• The Savong Foundation is building the number of members to the Facebook page. Have you joined yet? Click here. 
•  And while you're in the mood to find out more - why not Follow Us on Twitter?

Follow @savong_school

A busy month. In late March Savong was very kindly hosted by supporters on South Korea to a visit in Seoul - Savong's first journey overseas and a step out of the 35 degree heat of Siem Reap into the 4 degree chill of Seoul's late winter weather. The journey was made in order to see schools in Sth Korea, and also to discuss the support of a Korean language teacher at Savong's School. This is in full harmony with the purpose of Savong School to provide free language education to students in order that they have an asset that makes them more employable in town. In Siem Reap the biggest single source of tourism is Sth Korea, and there is a shortage of Korean-speaking Khmer.

Heading toward Cambodian New Year, the teachers had a get-together lunch in town before being measured up at a local tailors for a new staff uniform outfit - as a thank you.  On April 8th, the end of term fun day featuring traditional Khmer games, lots of food and a few formalities made sure the school finishes on a high for the Cambodian year. This is one of the two main holidays in Cambodia, and school children have a two week break until the end of April.

Meanwhile one of the longer-term supporters, Duncan Stuart, is heading to Siem Reap to discuss and update with Savong some of the systems at the school and SOC. These systems include:

• Child safety policies.
• Teacher skills development.
• Accounting, reporting and transparency procedures.

On Tuesday March 15th Savong went to Phnom Penh on business - and it seemed okay, even though his wife Aneed was expecting a baby. The child was not due for a number of days yet. But Savong wasn't in Phnom penh very long when he got the phone call from Aneed - the baby was on the way! Family took her to hospital and Aneed gave birth to a baby boy to join two sisters Visa and Sunna.

Aneed has forgiven Savong for being "out of town" and when we spoke to Savong he sounded mighty proud.

Construction has begun on a branch of the SOC orphanage - 5kms from Siem Reap's centre. This has progressed for two reasons. One - the APSARA local authority has really put a halt on new constructions around Bakong where the school and SOC are located. This is a heritage area.

However the SOC now has 38 children and is crowded, and the plan is to provide a home nearer town for the older children in order that they have access to good schools in town.

Meanwhile Government regulations, recently introduced mean all NGO medical centres will, forthwith need to be registered. This is a good move (it will help weed out dubious operators) but while the paperwork is completed this month the clinic at the Savong Orphan Centre will be closed. A number of NGOs are working together to decipher the government regulations and requirements. We applaud the move to registration - it helps provide assurance - but the step is not without it's extensive paperwork!

Work nears completion on the chicken farm which will provide eggs and protein for the children. A family will dwell on the site to manage the farm - so apart from generating food, the farm will add to self-sufficiency.

The university scholars are doing well. Over March they have an academic break after first semester examinations. These students also help out around the school and are very happy as a group - though, as any student knows - that depends on those exam results!

September/October. The four scholarship students have enrolled at University and have begun their studies. Meanwhile the new GP who works at the health clinic on Mondays and Fridays reports huge demand: some 70 consultations a day.

In early October heavy flooding has affected the region - roads and villages are underwater (October 11th) as they are in Phnom Penh and Sihanoukville. All flights in and out of Cambodia were cancelled due to the weather. Bet the fish are happy in the new fish farm however!

Here's a link to the October Newsletter. (It will think for 30 seconds and then open up.)

Meanwhile there has been a fund raising outbreak in various places around the world. Terra and Janene held a couture fundraising effort in Vancouver, Nyetlin and friends in Auckland held a huge fund raiser party, while in Rotorua NZ Kylie Hickey and her posse at Rotaract have also been raising funds. (See story.) Hey, a huge thank you to everyone.

Meanwhile back in Siem Reap, the children at SOC had a fabulous day visiting the Cambodian Cultural Village (seeing life as tourists see Cambodia) and among the activities was archery - a hunting tradition that goes back a long way in Cambodia. What better way for the older boys to show off their prowess!

Day trips for the SOC children are a really popular activity, and they've enjoyed trips to the Angkor temples, to Kulen Mountain waterfalls, to the floating village, to West Baray (beach, lake and island) as well as to Karaoke when the Palti family of Melbourne improvised a wild night of food, fizzy drink and singing for the SOC staff and children.

Each journey works on all kinds of levels - bonding between the children, encouraging a sense of adventure and play, firing up young imaginations, and adding to the sense of love and care they children richly deserve. 

There has been a lot of activity at the school and orphanage this period. Since April school enrolments have soared (we had to buy 20 new desks) and at the Savong Orphan Centre (SOC) a new health clinic has been opened, a fish farm has been filled with 500 fish, and a new skills programme fro unemployed local women has begun.

JUNE/JULY 2010 NEWSLETTER - Click this link and allow your computer 30 seconds or so to download.

 

Following examination in January and personal interviews with the families four students have been selected as university scholarship recipients beginning October 2010.

• Ngan Sochun is a student at Savong School. She is 19. Sochun has been a student here for 3 years. She also studies at Government School. She is in Grade 12. Sochun has 6 siblings. Her father works as a farmer and her mother is a housewife. She aspires to be a university trained teacher.
• Preoun Sarat is a student at Savong School. He is 22. He has 3 siblings and he is the oldest child in the family. His father works as a farmer and his mother is a seller. He stopped studying after graduating at Government School 2 years ago. In the future he would like to work in tourism.
• Neng Ty is a student at Savong School. Aged 22 he has 5 siblings and he is the oldest child in the family. His father works as a farmer and his mother is a seller. He has completed high school. In the future he would like to be an English Teacher.

 

 

April 3rd, 2010 - we have the latest newsletter right here as a PDF file. CLICK HERE When you click on it, it will take several seconds to open so be patient - there's a heap of news squeezing its way through the internet to reach your computer!

April 12-14th is Cambodian new year - so we wish everyone a very happy new year.

 

February 10th, 2010 - we have the latest newsletter right here as a PDF file. CLICK HERE When you click on it, it will take a few seconds to open so be patient - there's a heap of news squeezing its way through the internet to reach your computer!

 

Steph Palti has led her family on a second expedition to Cambodia - revisiting the orphanage and school, and connecting once more with the students. Updates and new photos are here on her blogspot.

http://www.steph-cambodia.blogspot.com/

Below - Steph and the children heading to market to buy new clothes. Later the party dined like kings at a local restaurant.

The hard work by everyone in 2008-2009 to develop the orphanage was recognised with the registration of the Savong Orphan Centre as meeting local standards laid down by the Ministry of the Interior. Registration was introduced in part to help eliminate less scrupulous operators from opening orphanages as a front for scooping tourist dollars. 

Two Singapore High Schools visited in November, and both made an big impact - getting the study room completed at the orphanage was a mighty effort.

Chung Cheng High and XinMin School made an enthusiastic contribution, and there were tears when these students left for home.  Below: XinMin students taught dental care and completed the study room, while earlier in the month Chung Cheng High students put in slavish hours, formed a human chain and moved metres of sand, earth and rock to form the foundaton of the study room. A brilliant effort that's made a real difference. The orphan children now have a place to spread out (rain or shine) and do their studies. Savong plans to hire a tutor to provide more one on one teaching and care for these students.

For the full PDF version of the  Nov-Dec Newsletter - click here. (It is 1MB so it may take a few seconds to load.)

Typhoon Ketsana ripped through Vietnam and Cambodia in late September with winds hitting 145 kph and bringing heavy rains, flooding and destruction to large swathes of rice farming. This is an economic catastrophe in the making for many poorer families. The school survived, high and dry and since then construction has resumed on the computer classroom and of the rainwater tank at the orphanage.

For the full PDF version of the  October Newsletter - click here. (It is 1MB so it may take quite a few seconds to load.)

Below - for a while it looked like volleyball was off in favour of swimming at Savong's School.

 

Steph is a 15 year old from Melbourne and she was really keen to get to Cambodia and volunteer teach. With her energetic family coming on the same journey (and loaded with lesson plans, and creative ideas,) this crew has taken the school by storm. Activities have included:

• Creative activities including mural painting, photography and music.
• A fabulous day for the orphans who were taken out to the Angkor temples, then to Tonle Sap lake on a chartered boat. The journey ended in an inpromptu swim and later dinner at a local-style restaurant.
• Read Steph's blog and you'll see how wonderfully everybody connects.http://stephcambodia.blog.com/

Meanwhile the economy continues to deteriorate in Cambodia, with two trends really hurting the educational opportunities for rural children. Inflation has made the cost of living soar, and many more families are below the poverty line this year. An outcome of that is the strategy by many families to take their children out of school and put them into the family business to help earn an income. Understandable perhaps - but many children as young as 7 or 8 are now part of the workforce.

For more September News - click here for the PDF version: SEPTEMBER 2009 SAVONG SCHOOL NEWSLETTER

• Paperwork continues for the licensing. Stamps, ID, forms...! The Ministry of the Interior is widely developing a register of all schools and orphanages which will enable informaiton gathering (and planning) and the capacity to oversee the standards of all organisations. Good move. Among the conditions is that each organisation show it has a credible bank account.
• New motorbike. What's red, quiet, more powerful and great to ride. On August 7th Savong and a group of advisers selected a new (second-hand actually) motorbike for the orphanage.
• Alan Crombie a teacher in a really good international school in Malaysia has visited Savong and is looking to organise a major visit by at least 27 students and 5 adults from his school to Siem Reap. They've raised funds and Alan contributes a lot of educational expertise also.
• August is holiday season for much of the nothern hemisphere, and peak time for tourism to Cambodia - and for volunteers to the school. This month Savong has had a busy, enjoyable time meeting volunteers from Japan, UK, Australia and many other countries.

• Sponsorship was found for one of the orphan boys Seyha - thanks to a kind Singapore family.
• Savong has completed the kitchens at the school and at the orphanage. It's great to have a floor above ground level during the rainy season.
• Paperwork has begun to License to school and orphanage under new Government regulations.
• We have an excellent volunteer from Japan staying at the school.