By Catherine Louise Geach | Founder
Dear friends and supporters of our school,
Thank you all so much for having participated in our project "Help Our Blind Children get an Education".
Eighteen of you donated to this project, with one very kind person donating twice to help us reach our goal. We are so grateful for your generosity and support and we feel very happy that you felt able to give to our project.
We did not reach our final goal, but we raised over one third which is an important step. This will help us support our Braille teacher for the coming months. If you feel you would like to help more by telling others about this program, you can do so by visiting our Global Giving main project page Education-Arts-Orphaned-Disabled-Children-Cambodia / project number 16371. We will be participating in the International Youth Week Campaign in August to fundraise for our school. Nearer the time we will be sending out a report which will include more detailed information about this...so keep yourselves ready!
Our blind children and partially sighted children are making very important progress with their Braille teacher. They will all be participating in National Curriculum exams in two months time. This means that they have the speed and capability to follow sighted children during lessons, which is amazing. Our students attend state school alongside sighted children and their Braille teacher supports them through the lessons. They do all subjects including Khmer language, mathematics, geography, history, science and geometry. Meanwhile back at our school our blind students learn English, and computer skills in Khmer language. Of course they also learn traditional Cambodian music and one of our partially sighted children learns dance too.
In this way they have the chance to have a wide-ranging education which meets their needs and trains them in different areas. As they grow older they can choose to specialise in what they are best at, whether it be music or academic studies. The Cambodian Government has agreed that a certain percent of blind people, if they are well trained, can work in the civil service.
Education means liberation from poverty and suffering. It means dignity and the ability to make an informed choice. One of our partially-sighted children was so severely abused by her extended family that she lost the sight of one eye. She was hit accross the face with a bamboo stick. Education for her is vital. It is a way out towards a better life. She also dances beautifully and plays music. We know that music and the arts play a vital role towards healing and self-expression.
Every person who donates, helps keep our school open and running, providing essential training and care for our many children. You have all helped in a very important way to support our Braille project for our blind children.
From the Bottom of our Hearts we Thank You All
Links:
Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.
If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can recieve an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.
