By Catherine Louise Geach | Founder
Where we come from
Beyond our program to help orphaned children, (some affected with HIV and epilepsy) and our blind children, we also help very poor children and youth from local villages on the outskirts of Kampot.
Many of our village children come from very difficult circumstances, not only because they are poor and some of their parents have gone to Thailand to earn a living, but because many have family-members who are addicted to alcohol and to gambling. Many of Kampot's youth within the town are addicted to drugs and to glue-sniffing, because this is a society which has broken down after one of the 20th century's worst genocides. The Khmer Rouge led by Pol Pot from 1975 - 79 forced the entire population into the countryside, creating vast concentration camps. There were no hospitals, medicine, clean drinking water, mosquito nets, nor sufficient food. Thousands perished from disease and starvation and thousands more were tortured and put to death, until a pre-war population of 6.8 million lost nearly a third of the populace. Adults suffering from Post-traumatic stress have never had relief and the Cambodian government has never really bothered to promote the truth or create reconciliation, because some of their top members are former Khmer Rouge.
Why should the arts, especially music be of importance when children are poor or after a genocide?
Because music and the arts can express that which words cannot.
When a person has difficulty expressing their grief, frustration or anger they can speak through music or dance. When a child is faced with poor role-models and a crumbling society, then coming to learn music and art to a very high level is like a beacon of hope and light for them. Music and art can actually lift depression and anxiety and is good for mental health as well as emotional well-being.
The children and youth from local villages come when it's raining or when the weather is fine and they study really hard, they want to be artists and they want to be professionals. Already the older, teenagers help our Pin Peat master perform for religious occasions in the Pagoda and have begun earning money and the older Mohori students can assist their master to perform at weddings.
When we do our Traditional Shadow Puppet performances, they assist us with our Pin Peat music. Recently we hosted the Official Ceremony of the International Kampot Writers and Readers Festival and our students came to help our resident students in the important performances we had to give.
Finally, because Cambodia's ancient cultural heritage was so badly destroyed, teaching it to the next generation helps preserve it. Modernization is good, but keeping one's cultural identity is good too.
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By Catherine Louise Geach | Founder
By Catherine Louise Geach | Founder
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