Retired plumber Keith Durward kindly volunteered his time and skills to help out with the project. He spent over a month onsite with Chumrarn imparting his specialist plumbing skills and knowledge. His mentoring not only ensures the work is done to Australian Standards, but also gives Chumrarn an insight into best-practice techniques to achieve quality outcomes that are rarely seen in Cambodia.
Sunshine House was built over a number of years and often with very poor quality materials (as these were the only ones available at the time) – as a result, we had pipes going all over the place. When we fitted the water filtration system and started to monitor its use we found we had some big leaks underground. The only way to fix the problem was to simply start again and make it all one system. A big job, but had to be done.
With just a few taps in need of replacing, Stage 2 is now all but complete. This stage saw all of the old water piping replaced and fed into one full system, which now allows us to purify all of the water from across the property at one central location.
Stage 3 will see all of the sewerage linking into one place. This stage is the largest part of the project and involves trenches being dug right through the whole property. The digging works are currently under way and the workers are digging under the paths so the children have no problem with safe access and also so that we don’t damage the electrical cables that were laid along the sides of the paths.
Despite a couple of weeks of unseasonal rain and some very hard digging through clay we’ve made great progress – the trenches have all been dug and we are only a week or so away from filling them in and levelling the site.
I don’t think the kids will be happy when it is all filled in… they have loved the adventure playground with tunnels and pipes! Chumrarn will be pleased though, because he has to ensure the site is safe and this means rechecking the pipes each morning to make sure the little adventurers haven’t moved anything… well, boys will be boys and we have a lot of them!
After all the sewerage is collected in one place, it needs to be made safe and this is Stage 4. We have put in a series of settling tanks and will be turning the old duck pond near the road into a reed bed. This will then create an environment where nature does its thing, with the final result being clean water that can be safely disposed of.
We’ve dug the old duck pond out and it isn’t in good condition, so it will need to he remade but at least the hole is there.
With strong support from the Tim Purcell Cambodia Scholarship Fund and Australian medical professionals, Graduation House welcomes four scholarship students to the program. Two students will be studying agriculture and two will train to be the doctors of the future.
Our inaugural students are now living at Graduation House and have begun their university studies.
Meet our future doctors and agriculture specialists
Students pictured in front of their homes before coming to Graduation House
Our House of Progress Manager, Vanna Nheb, put together a wonderful celebration concert which was hosted by Pisey and Samnang – two of our Graduation House students. The program was jam-packed with singing, traditional Khmer dances, a Christmas nativity play, dancing and much more, making sure that all of our children and students were able to take part in the festivities. The highlight for me was seeing the young girls (8-9 years old) from Sunshine House performing their first official Khmer traditional dance – all dressed up with make-up, their hair done and wearing traditional outfits. They were super-cute AND did a great job.
After the concert came the gift-giv
ing, which, of course, was a highlight for staff and students alike (who doesn’t like presents?). Lunch followed shortly after with an incredible and very delicious spread prepared by the
Sunshine House and House of Progress staff. And let me tell you, it was truly a feast fit for a king!
Our thanks go to not only our amazing staff who made our Christmas Party a great success, but also to our generous donors, without whose support the celebration would not have been possible. I have no doubt that this special day has created wonderful memories for all of our children and students – for which we thank you.
FREEDOM without a FUTURE
is simply another form
of SLAVERY
We see the children of Graduation House as the future leaders and professionals that Cambodia so desperately needs in order to rebuild as a nation. Graduation House represents the final step in the educational journey for Awareness Cambodia’s children.
This project provides young adults with a home in which to live independently (but within the support structure of Awareness Cambodia) whilst they attend university or technical training.
Rescue is not a moment or event, it’s a process. The journey from being rescued at Sunshine House to upper high school at House of Progress and onto G
raduation House allows orphans to access higher education within a supportive and structured environment.
Today’s orphaned students are studying disciplines such as Civil Engineering, Economics, Computer Science, Architecture and English Literature.
With the outstanding success of the Graduation House project and the new Graduation House complex almost complete, we have extended the program to not only our Child Development Programs but also to offer scholarships to poor, rural marginalised young people who show academic excellence and a passion for social justice. These scholarships are offered in agricultural studies and medicine. Awareness Cambodia believes that a person’s desire and ability to heal should not be determined by how much money they have.
We reduce SUFFERING by providing OPTIONS for forgotten children.
We’re very pleased to announce the launch of a new education program.
From next month, four select students from the country’s poorest provinces will receive a majority-funded scholarship to complete tertiary studies in agriculture and medicine.
These financial lifelines will help enable students from underprivileged backgrounds to reach their full potential to further assist much-needed services in rural communities.
Agriculture
About 65 per cent of the Cambodian population is engaged in agriculture, which makes up around one-third of the country’s economy. Productivity in the sector is very low, with about 35 per cent of the rural population also below the poverty line.
Awareness Cambodia (ACI) is looking to boost this sector by funding 80 per cent of university fees for select students – in partnership with Tim Purcell Cambodia Scholarship Fund (TPCST).
Once graduated, students will be appointed work within a provincial project for two years, before receiving a bonus to help kick-start their career.
Medicine
There is a great need for quality doctors in Cambodia, especially in rural areas where medical services are so hard to come by.
The scholarship program is designed to enable underprivileged students who show academic excellence to complete medical studies at the International University in Phnom Penh.
Their scholarships include study materials, food, electricity and accommodation until the students successfully complete their degree. It will also allow students to complete an internship with ACI’s Operation Nightingale program, or another provincial medical project, where they will work alongside experienced medical specialists.
Costs per student are estimated to be $38,500 over seven years – or around $5500 per annum. We are asking for the generous hand of anyone willing to help us make a bit of history in Cambodia.
If you would like to financially support this pilot program, email Charmaine on [email protected]
It was all smiles and laughter when more than 1,500 Cambodian students received a special delivery from Awareness Cambodia (ACI).
Over two days, backpacks filled with life-changing school supplies were distributed across three primary schools in Cambodia’s poorest province, as part of ACI’s Case for Change educational program.
Case for Change coordinator Jessica Hull said for some children, this was the first gift they had ever received.
“The look on the kid’s faces is so gratifying. Seeing their huge smiles as they sling the new backpacks across their shoulder for the first time is truly moving,” Jess said.
It was certainly a team effort to raise the $15 needed for each backpack, with students from Atwell College, Wesley College and Lake Joondalup Baptist College, and businesses Crown Money Management, CRS Australia, Interact Club Freshwater Bay, Kayu and Kennerlys leading fundraising efforts.
Fundraising included quiz nights and money-for-chores including cooking, cleaning and dog walking. Jess says she’s looking forward to seeing more innovative fundraising ideas next year.
“Since 2008, we’ve touc
hed the lives of around 3,000 primary-aged children, and in 2014 we’re looking to raise the bar again to reach out to a further 2,000.”
If you would like to be involved, email Jess Hull on [email protected]
From the moment we arrived, children and staff welcomed us with open arms, with each day a highlight. Some of the highlights from the trip include:
Watching a sow give birth to 10 piglets at the Eco Farm.
Playing endless games of ‘tag’ (the most popular game with the kids).
Painting the girls dorm hot pink.
Joining a beautiful community of children singing together with such gusto each evening.
Cooking a humongous pile of sausages and onions for a traditional ‘Aussie Barbecue’, which the children ate with rice.
It was truly an incredibly special moment when we watched the children’s faces as they opened their birthday presents from the Perth College community. Even though they were receiving the gifts, their trust and genuine nature taught us much about what it is like to be generous without judgement.”
Kim and I arrived in Cambodia earlier this week and as you’d imagine there’s plenty to keep us occupied and at times entertained. Just have a look at what I captured on my phone through the car window yesterday.
Yes that is a pane of glass and as you can see by the clouds in the background it’s the start of the rainy season.
As per usual in Cambodia this still means temperatures in the mid-high 30s (C) interlaced with tropical afternoon downpours.
Still a Saturday off and a simple Western style breakfast to start my day has given all the inspiration I needed to post a brief message.
Talking rainy season; I do still remember my first visit to Cambodia; in particular my visit to the local tip.
It was rainy season; mud on the tip was knee high, flies were everywhere and the smell was horrific.
At 37, I’d travelled SE Asia since my late teens but it wasn’t long before something confronted me that I’d never seen before. There “nestled” in the flies, filth and stink was a piece of torn tarpaulin about 3m x 3m on the ground, 4 sticks at the corners and another piece of tarpaulin on top of the sticks. Underneath the dirty canvas was a woman in dirty ragged threadbare clothes breast feeding her baby… the contrast to home was so stark… this was the world a little child was born into and probably the one in which the child would die with almost 1 in 10 Cambodian children not making it to their 1st birthday.
I have to say the whole experience was just so disarming.
The next few years in Cambodia remained chaotic. It was like present day Afghanistan. Cambodia’s current leader led a coup in 1997 which saw gun battles and tanks rolling down the centre of the capital Phnom Penh.
There was much soul searching; what to do? Should I do anything? At the time friends and colleagues thought I was crazy. Who in their right mind would want to go anywhere where 6 Westerners (2 of them Aussies) had been abducted and killed in the previous 12 months? Maybe they were right.
What could a dentist from Perth do to make a difference in a place like this? Then again how could I treat this tragic picture like a scene from a movie? By 1999 it became clear; the best place to start rebuilding was a new generation of leaders to replace the education vacuum.
Feel free to post your comments.
Gary
Well it’s finally up and running!
A big welcome everyone to our updated website, especially those of you who’ve recently notified me the site’s been down.
You’ll notice things have changed. We’ve included more multimedia, updated links to Facebook and YouTube, an online catalogue and of course blogging.
Over time I hope the revised format creates a window that gives greater access and insight to the progress we’re making among some of Cambodia’s most marginalised.
My special thanks go to my wife Kim for her tireless ongoing efforts into collating information for the site and to Paul Pichugin for volunteering his time and skills to design and post the site online.
I look forward to building our relationships with existing partners as well as the opportunity to welcome on board new partners and friends in the year ahead.
Feel free to post your comments.
Gary
