Changing kids' lives with hip hop, education & art

As the end of the year approaches, we are thankful for many things but first among them is the fact that this has been our best year yet for individuals like yourself donating to Tiny Toones. This has been essential - it is harder than ever to find funding from grants or institutions, so we need individual supporters like you to keep going.

That's why we launched the 100 Club as an exclusive club for individual givers who donate every month. Most of you are members and your support is invaluable in what remains a challenging future for us.

Your support has had an immediate impact: in November our teachers received a very overdue payrise thanks to you, one that they utterly deserve and is also essential to keeping their incredible services. We are also busy recruiting for a much needed new teacher thanks directly to you guys.

For those of you who haven’t seen our Facebook post yet, we have started work on the Wall of Fame, our tribute to you, our regular supporters. As we said on Facebook, it was quite emotional, as the first name KK wrote was Savoeun Sek, a Cambodian American who sadly died 2 years ago. He gave a lot to Cambodia in his lifetime, supporting local education, and Sonya joined the 100 Club so his contribution will continue in his memory.

You’ll also see Yuko Ichikawa's name, who has been donating every month for many years - our longest serving individual giver. Everyone else’s names will be added in the months to come. 

We are so grateful to all supporters from all over the world, for believing in our work and our kids. 

Happy holidays, a wonderful new year, and thank you to every one of you.

Love 

The Tiny Toones Family

First off, a huge thank you to all of our generous supporters who have helped the Tiny Toones kids with not only an education but also the rare opportunity to be creative and have fun.

It's been a very exciting period for Tiny Toones. Not only did we enter our tenth anniversary year and host a very exciting birthday party featuring many Cambodian superstars (many who got their start in the music industry with us), which was covered by all major Cambodian newspapers, but we secured the core funding to cover our rent for the year ahead.

Unfortunately, we now face a major challenge in teaching. In a very competitive and uncertain environment, we are struggling to raise the money to pay our teaching staff - which is already too small. For that reason, for the rest of the year we will be focusing our efforts on a) revamping our social enterprise, The Cool Lounge, in order to bring in new income, and b) a major individual fundraising drive.

The 100 Club will be an exclusive club for individual givers who donate every month. They will receive a personal card every year written by KK (our founder), a teacher and a student. They will also receive exclusive videos and be featured on our wall of fame, a permanent art work at the heart of our Phnom Penh centre. If you already give every month then you are already part of the 100 Club. If you don't, but think you can afford just $10 a month, then please sign up. Just $10 is enough to pay a teacher for a whole day and bring education to 40 kids.

Check in on our website or Facebook page for the latest news.

The children that come to Tiny Toones receive little support or guidance at home, at school (for those that attend) or in their community. Meanwhile, hip-hop is immensely popular amongst Cambodian youth. Break-dancing hooks their interest because it’s part of a culture that feels young, exciting and relevant to their lives. Its appeal provides the basis for all of Tiny Toones wider work on personal development, social integration and education.

Break-dancing is physically and mentally demanding. It promotes active lifestyles, inner-strength and a sense of achievement and self-worth. The change that takes place in terms of confidence and self-esteem is visibly apparent and transformative for the children involved.

These children become part of a positive community. Our dancers perform throughout Cambodia and beyond. Their achievements – both as dancers and through the education they have gained – inspire the next generation.

Tiny Toones’ students are aged 5-24 and are particularly vulnerable to drug and substance abuse, sexual and labor exploitation, domestic violence, and gang involvement. A quarter of the children at Tiny Toones report never having attended school. They all face multiple barriers to attendance and progress as a result of their difficult backgrounds, the fees involved and being compelled to generate income. From as young as five many of these children are begging or collecting cans from garbage, or working as garment workers.

As the project has grown, Tiny Toones has maintained its grassroots appeal by employing former students in all of the creative teaching posts. They are perfectly placed to understand the needs of the next generation, to build strong relationships and to act as positive role models.

Thank you for being part of this journey.

Links:

• Our Facebook page for latest news