Music Training Therapy Blind Youth Cambodia

Dear Kind Donors,

Thank you so much for your wonderful support through these difficult times.

Actually our school has stayed open and running, because we take care of very vulnerable children full-time, who have nowhere else safe to go. We take every safety precaution and we do not have visitors to our school in order to prevent Covid-19 infections from entering.

Our blind students who are mostly adolescents and youths, do have parents, although in their remote villages they have no access to education or rehabilitation. Some have also experienced unkindness and cruelty on the part of extended family or locals in their village because of their disability.

During lockdown in March, out of concern that our blind students, (some of whom have asthma) might be at risk of Covid 19, we organised that they stay with their parents until such time as was necessary. However by mid-May there were fewer cases of Covid in Cambodia and our students had started telephoning our school director Mr Sothy to say that they were bored and could they please come back to school!

Our blind students therefore all came back to school in mid May of this year. First they returned to their music studies at our school, then when state schools re-opened in September, they returned to their school lessons.Two of our youth who are blind have been accepted at the local university and we are supporting them as they stay at our school and study higher education. During high school and middle school blind students receive assistance from their Braille Teacher to get through their lessons. Our school supports the Braille Teacher. Once they get to university or college, they are autonomous in their skills at rapid Braille transcription and can manage without a guide.

A third student Piseth who is partially blind is also preparing to enter teaching college and we will support him as he does so,

We hire a special motortaxi to take all our blind students from our school to their different state schools and courses.

Until about January of this year, all our older students who are blind have been doing a course on physiotherapy (physical therapy), so that they can have extra skills, beyond music to earn a living. However due to Covid-19 this has been suspended, but will continue once it is safe to do so. Their first course was sponsored by the local Pharmacy Lida.

You can see a performance of Mohori Music  by our students on our Facebook Page.

We also welcomed two new boys who are also blind to our school as well as seven little sighted children who have suffered abandonnment, or death of their parents, or domestic violence.

We have not yet returned to teaching the many children from outside our school from the local community, because of Covid-19. The risk of infection to our resident children, some of whom have HIV and other illness is a major factor in this decision.

If you would like to continue helping us, we are participating in GlobalGiving's #Giving Tuesday campaign on the 1st December. We are inviting everyone to donate to our main project, but funds received will also benefit our blind students too. #Giving Tuesday starts at 09:00 ET and ends at 23.59 ET.

https://www.globalgiving/projects/education-arts-orphan-disabled-children

Wishing you all well-being and good health.

From us all at the Kampot Traditional Music School. 

* Photographs of KCDI students by kind courtesy of Steve Porte. These photographs were done with the permission of our students and staff at KCDI. We do not use full names in order to protect their privacy.

Links:

• Official website
• Official Facebook Page