Education for 300 Urban Poor Children

Overview:

Sunshine Cambodia (SC) was working with 300 children (Male: 149, Female: 151) from 200 families from 4 poor communities in Phnom Penh.  

Through this project 300 children have been able to exercise their rights to education, protection, health care and general well-being.The children are supported to attend formal education in both state and private schools, received school materials and extra tuition for English, Mathematics, Chemistry, Physics, Khmer and Computer skills.  It is a common for poor students in Cambodia to be unable to afford this.  SC uses a community-based approach and there is a weekly children’s club and a quarterly youth club in each of the four project areas (Sansom Kosal, Stung Mean Chey, Thnoat Chrum and Prey Tea).  At the clubs, the children learn about Christianity and various topics relevant to their lives, and also do creative activities such as arts, crafts and music.  They also take part in special clean up days in their communities.

SC also works with the 200 families of the children (approximately 1,042 family members) to build parental responsibility and self-reliance.  SC’s programs include a Case Management and Visitation, Counseling, Food subsidy, Parenting Skills Training (Mother and Father Clubs), Vocational Training & Job Placement, Micro- Enterprise and Development and Start-up Capital, as well as Emergency and Disaster Relief programs. In the Parents’ Clubs, they learn parenting skills, child rights, health care, economic empowerment, etc.

Here is a story of a youth from Sunshine Cambodia programm.

Kunthea, 15, shyly shares her dream to be a brilliant accountant. But as she recalls her past, the tears flow as she remembers not being able to join kindergartners in their smart school uniforms because her family was too poor to send her to school.  Her father was an alcoholic and then her mother died from a long term illness.

When Sunshine Cambodia’s program was introduced to her village, Kunthea joined the children’s club and found a level of love and care which she had never experienced before in her family.  “I have made more friends and I have great teachers who love, encourage and guide me,” says Kunthea.  “The Sunshine staff have encouraged me to have a dream for the future.  But if I can’t be an accountant, then I’ll open a hairdressing salon.”

Kunthea says Mr Deth, SC’s Children Development Facilitator, always encourages her to study hard so that she can achieve her dreams. His support means a lot to her as her own family, including two older siblings, have not been positive role models for her.

Here is another story of a family from Sunshine Cambodia programm.

Preytea Village is an industrial area close to Phnom Penh International Airport where different types of work are available.  Many people come here from the provinces looking for a better life.

Srorn is a 45 year old spinster from Prey Veng province. In 2006 she came to Phnom Penh with a few of her neighbours, looking for work in a garment factory. Her living situation at that time was very difficult because the rented room they shared was very cramped and she didn’t have enough food, leading to poor health. Three years later, she adopted a 3 year old boy, Chhay Li, and eventually stopped working at the factory because she didn’t have enough time to care for him when she was working.

‘’At that time, I borrowed money from a Microfinance institute to buy a sewing machine.  I walked from house to house to collect clothes for sewing.  Even though I was paid for my sewing services, life was more difficult but I was still happy to live with my adopted son‘’.

After Chhay Li was accepted into the SC program in July 2014, their lives improved a great deal.

‘’I feel very happy now because Sunshine has helped us a lot with school uniforms, study materials, food subsidy, English lessons and many other things. I have also learned general knowledge and parenting skills through Parents’ Days and how to run a small business.  I even got start-up capital from Sunshine to improve my business.  I used it to buy more cloth to make clothes to sell. Now I have three sewing machines in my business and I also rent one machine to my neighbor. More than this, I have a plan to save more money to buy a clothes shop. Finally, I really want to say thank you very much for Sunshine’s support to my family.

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