Empower 300 children and women to overcome poverty

Som, whose mother is a seamstress and father is a construction worker, joined in our Preschool program for a year in 2016. A five-year-old, brave, and curious child, he is one of two children and came from extreme poverty. However, studying at HHA, Som has been supporting with necessary school supplies in the opportunity scholarship program.

In preschool class, he has improved both knowledge and attitude as we have taught basic Khmer knowledge and living values lessons, which are soft skills to better his life. Particularly, his hygiene was very bad as he first came to class with no shoes and very dirty clothes. His face, body, and teeth were also dirty. After having a talk with his mother about this issue, he has started wearing good clothes, brushing his teeth each morning, and his body isn’t dirty anymore.

After graduated from the preschool class, he enrolled in grade one at a public school in 2017 and moved up to grade two this year. Simultaneously, he has been studying in our Khmer class and going to join our English class very soon. As a result, his academic performance in both HHA and public school is improving drastically and his attitude is better. He can read and write Khmer well and has never had any troubles with his friends.

Furthermore, his brother is now studying in our preschool class as well. We hope that with the support from us their lives will be brighter in the future.

Som is one of the children we support through our scholarship program while we are also supporting many other marginalized children in our community to have the same opportunity as Som.

To learn more about our achievements in 2017, please read our annual report here.