For families from broken or abusive families in Cambodia, sending a child to school with food in their hands instead of on the streets to work is an impossible dream. If you put a daily breakfast pack in the hands of a child and provide healthy snacks after their class, they'll flourish in school and their parents no longer have to struggle between paying school fees and feeding them.
35%* of Cambodia's population live below the poverty line (US$ 0.50 a day). Within Cambodia, children are trafficked for forced begging, waste scavenging, salt production, brick making, and quarrying. Parents struggling between paying their children's school fees and meals sometimes resort to selling their children into begging rings, brothels for commercial sexual abuse or into domestic slavery. *UNDP Human Development Report 20
Food and Education works hand-in-hand at Riverkids. Some children get a snack, some get food support for their families, some get breakfast and afternoon snacks. Fresh fruits are added to the diet of the undernourished to provide the energy they need so they can concentrate and learn more in class. With food support, their mothers do not have to worry about school fees and can focus in their jobs or completing their training with us, so they can support the family with a better income.
The simple truth is that a hungry child can't learn. Providing energy for over 600 children to learn will enable them to focus on graduating at high school, have better jobs and become better parents in the future. Your support for breakfast and snacks is very critical during their education period as their parents' income can be freed up for commitments such as rental, bills and food for the family, ensuring that the family gets out of poverty eventually. This impacts over 3000 family members.
This project has provided additional documentation in a PDF file (projdoc.pdf).
