HOME

ABOUT US

PROJECTS

NEWSLETTERS

CONTACT US

MAKE A DONATION

VOLUNTEERS

SPONSORSHIP

NEWSLETTERS

NEWSLETTER Six

Posted September 2009

Dear Friends of Singing Kites,

Here we are again to bring you all up to date with happenings at TCEC.

Much has been going on at the school since our last newsletter, and progress continues to be made!

We continue to move forward because of the support from so many people, who in many different ways contribute to our project of bringing education to the children of Tanop.

As I have mentioned before, without this support, the children at TCEC would have a bleak and an unknown future. That thought is the catalyst that keeps me going. When the hill seems to be a steep climb, I think about the faces of the children who always beam a smile my way, and whose eyes light up with hope and joy at the journey begun.

TCEC NEWS

OUR FIRST SCHOLARSHIP!

THE RED DESIGN GROUP SCHOLARSHIP FUND

“Red Design Group”, a Design company based in Melbourne, has offered funding which has allowed us to offer our first scholarship to one of our students to attend University in Phnom Penh. The scholarship will pay for the student's tuition, accommodation and keep. It will be known as the “Red Design Group Scholarship Fund”.

The student who met the selection criteria is 18 year old Touch Chhoeun from Tanop Village.

Touch Chhoeun

Touch was forced to drop out of high school because of his families' financial difficulties. A sponsor was found for him so that he could finish year 12. He has been travelling 12 klms a day to attend Bati High School, and has attended TCEC in the evenings for English classes. He graduated last month.

Touch is the first member of his family to receive an education. Without a scholarship Touch would never have been able to afford to go to university. He and his family are deeply moved by the opportunity given to him to further his studies.

He began at Built Bright University in Phnom Penh on the 7th of September, and will study for a Bachelor Degree in IT/ Management.

On behalf of the Singing Kites team, I want to thank Red Design Group for their wonderful gesture. Their generosity has allowed a student who would never have had the opportunity to study at tertiary level, to make life changes through education. Touch can look forward to a career and a future and to becoming a mentor and role model for other students in the years to come.

We are all excited for Touch, and very grateful to Red Design Group for making this opportunity available to him.

THE IRRIGATION CHANNEL

We were asked by the village chief, Khut Khan, if we could help the villagers with a small donation towards building an irrigation channel to carry water to the rice fields.

The water was brought from 10 klms away, and a bridge crossing was needed so that the villagers could cross the channel in safety.

TCEC donated $30.

One of our wonderful supporters, Ken Duong, who has the Hot Basil Thai Restaurant in Toowoomba, contributed another $80! The villagers have done an amazing job in constructing the rock wall and bridge crossing.

It is so important for us to make positive contributions and support local projects as much as we can.

We are an important part of the wider local community.

TCEC FENCE

The teachers have for some time, been devoting their spare time to constructing a fence around the school. They have done an amazing job, and today the final stages are being put in place with the erection of the gates. This now makes the student’s bikes much more secure.

Bikes are an essential means of transport for many of our students, who have to travel quite long distances to school at times.

Thanks must go to Tith, the teachers and Jem for undertaking and completing this project!

CD PLAYERS

We have purchased two CD players with rechargeable batteries so that the students can now access the CD's that accompany their text books. These CD players can be charged during the few hours at night we have power.

VISITORS

Since our last newsletter we have been able to welcome many visitors to our school. Visitors and Volunteers are always welcome, and play a very important part in the day to day life of our students.

VISIT BY TOOWOOMBA NURSES

In mid July, Josie Skewes and Lynne Abell, two nurses from the Toowoomba Hospital’s Renal Unit, along with Lynne’s niece Kim, a trainee teacher, travelled to the school to spend the best part of three weeks investigating health issues, and generally helping out with classes and school activities.

They initiated water testing of the local water supplies to establish whether the arsenic levels found in many areas of rural Cambodia was to pose a problem for us in sinking a well at the school. It was interesting to note that the arsenic level of water in the area was not a problem, thus making the sinking of a well feasible. Further investigations into this project will follow.

The girls returned home with many ideas of improving the health and well being of the students and villagers.

I want to thank the girls personally for dedicating their time in helping us endeavour to improve the health of our students and the local community in general.  As we have said before, education is very important, but without healthy students and staff, it won’t be effective.

A difficult task lies ahead for us, but without the girl’s input and ideas, the path would not be as clear.

I will ask the girls to write a report on their time at Tanop, and their findings for our next newsletter.

VISIT BY TARA AND JUSTIN

Justin Whyatt, Tara Gutman and their two young sons Maxim and Remy visited the school in July.

This was a special time for everyone, as they had not been able to visit the village since making a donation of land for the school in 2007.

Both Tara and Justin are lawyers who have lived in Cambodia for many years, and were instrumental in introducing me to a country and it's people I have grown to love.

They have moved to America , where they will live for three years before returning to Canberra.

VISIT BY UNIVERSITY STUDENTS

On Saturday the 8th of August a group of 14 university students and their teachers from the Royal University of Phnom Penh made a visit to the school.

They donated supplies of books and stationery, and brought gifts of food and clothing for our younger students, many of whom cannot afford these basic needs.

It was a wonderful day, and I think both groups of students benefitted by the interaction.

We would like to thank the students and their teachers from the Royal University of Phnom Penh for travelling to Tanop, and for their generous contributions to our students at TCEC. Their kindness will not be forgotten. We thank these young people for the generosity shown to our students.

It gives our staff and students hope when people take the time to visit and show interest in all that they are doing.

OUR SPECIAL THANKS!

*To Frances Holmes , Toowoomba, for donating the beautiful TCEC flag. Another piece of Toowoomba flying high in rural Cambodia!

*To the Highfields State School for their donations of Educational CD’s and resource materials.

*To the children in 6/7 MB for being so willing to communicate with our students, and to show interest in supporting us.

*To Margaret Pask, Carolyn Watt and Peter MacGregor at Matrix in Melbourne, for their wonderful donation of resource materials and for their support.

*To June Moro for donating the much loved games of “Snakes and Ladders”. No “waiting list” to play the game now!

*To Lou Ferguson and the Westbrook School for their generous donation of books, teaching aids and stationery.

*To Trish May and her class JMT-year 2/3 at St. Augustine's Primary School at Currumbin Waters. We thank you all for the special games you have made for the students at TCEC. You have done an amazing job! I know the children will love to play these games.

BAGS AND MORE BAGS!

Our bag count is mounting! To date we have a total of 185 beautiful bags for our students.

We have had another two shipments sent in from Riverton, Wyoming in the USA. Jackie and her army of “ creative bag makers” are still hard at work!

Our special thanks must go to the following:

From America:

*The First Baptist Mission Support Group from Riverton.

*Sandy Ransom, an artist from Riverton.

*Jackie’s  two  little “Helping Hands”.

From Australia:

*Estelle Dempster from Mt Lofty, Queensland.

*Jean Fernando from Highfields, Queensland.

*Alison Wirth, also from Highfields.

These ladies have all made really beautiful bags! I greatly appreciate their contributions and the time they have devoted to creating these bags for our children.

The plastic bags are fast being replaced!

CHRISTMAS IS FAST APPROACHING!

People have so generously supported us in our fundraising efforts to date, and we greatly appreciate that, as it is hard for people to donate to the many charities that need support, year after year.

In the New Year we will begin raising money to build our multi-purpose room. This will house a library/computer room/ consultation corner, and be used for community meetings etc. This is a much needed project, and will finish stage two of our Education Centre.

We have some wonderful ideas for Christmas gifts. More on this in the October newsletter.

FINALLY!

A WORD FROM OUR VOLUNTEER JEREMY TUCKER

Jem has been living in Tanop village now for almost four months. I cannot thank him enough for the tireless job that he is doing to help make a difference in the lives of our students. He is an amazing young man, and takes every challenge in his stride. The contribution he is making to the school is invaluable.

I asked him to write a piece for our newsletter, and I will close with his entry.

Sometimes as I watch the twilight colours play across the early evening sky, get invited into someone's house as I meander idly by, or even after I'm playfully told I have an 'old face' by a cheerful little character of no more than 6 years who lives on Tanop's 'main drag', I realise I'm in a pocket of unadulterated beauty living amidst kind, salt-of-the-earth, kind of folk who were gracious enough to welcome me into their community.  However, for this little community, the likes of which abound in a country where urban/rural distribution is 20/80%, this removal from modernity and wealth is more curse than blessing.  In a country that is rife with inequality, where the numbers of thousands Lexus cars drive the same roads as minibuses seemingly held together with wire and duct tape, people in rural areas like Tanop work incredibly hard for their barely adequate subsistence.  People do it tough.  Many of Tanop's people are rice farmers and their families' welfare is left entirely to the fickle whims of the elements and the yield of the harvest.  The hours are long, the work is taxing and the payslip is negligible, if most of us from Australia saw a 'help wanted' sign we probably wouldn't enquire further; but for 12 million Cambodian Khmers it's life and commonly for their sons and daughters the occupation is hereditary; they're obliged to take up farming or another job in the village, the pay of which equally meagre, the hours equally long, and, most sadly, without the prospect of a light that shines favourably on a prosperous future.  I do an activity in classes where I ask the students to write in their books what they want to do when they finish school and why.  It's more as an exercise in forming ambition, in setting a goal, than testing English proficiency.  I just want the students to be able to positively state some kind of goal, an aspiration.  It is not surprising then, that not a single student wrote they wanted to be a farmer, and it is encouraging that among the responses were doctors, nurses, teachers, lawyers, architects, tourism industry work, fashion designers, the list goes on.  But because reality of the kids' circumstances of living in a rural village, they suffer from an extreme lack of opportunities.  Enter our school; the TCEC.  We're an institution that teaches English for free.  English is of utmost importance if students are to go onto further study because most of the scholarship in academic areas are written in English and sometimes classes and lectures are held in English.  Most families can't afford English classes so we teach English for free, and let me tell you, we do a fantastic job and the results are off the chart.  In the three months I've been at the school I've known kids who were flat out speaking a word but who can now put sentences together and enthusiastically inquire into what I did the night before.  Students can read a passage in the English and then translate it back into Khmer; my jaw just drops and I stand and applaud.  This shows both the hard work of teachers and the aptitude and the work ethic of the students; that these students will seize any opportunity presented and will run with it and never stop.  I believe the students so far have run a half a marathon, the finish line of which is a better life, a career, a family they can properly look after and a promising future; I'm just a guy that hands out the water and offers encouraging words and the odd correction of grammar or pronunciation (it must be said I play a damn good version of 'Give me a home among the gum trees' on guitar while the students and I sing though).  They're all undertaking to do an amazing thing in learning a language they never encounter in the lives outside the school in the name of the betterment of their own lives and I respect each and every one of them for undertaking to climb this seemingly insurmountable summit.  I look forward to tracking the progress of my friends during my next 3 months in Tanop and continuing to be inspired by their commitment to learning.

Jem

In closing, I would like to let you know that I will be leaving for Cambodia on the 20th of September, and will be away for three weeks. It will be a very special time for me, as I will be sharing the journey to our school with my three daughters, Alex, Jane and Sarah, and nine year old grandson Max Mason.

I am sure it will be an experience I will forever remember.

To our sponsors and friends please know that without you we would not exist. Please know that we greatly appreciate your support and your interest.

The students and their families thank you for the chance you are helping to give them, a chance of a future through education.

It takes many parts of the wheel to make it turn!

With gratitude and warm regards from me, and the Singing Kites team.

Lyn

"...for news of the heart, ask the face"Cambodian Proverb

 

Previous newsletter