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News
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December 2005 |
Donations, donations Dark and Light's financial aid has increased from $20 000 in 2005 to $30 000 in 2006. This organization supports the Blind School and Braille bookmaking workshops in Kampong Cham. Faiveley Company undertakes to finance the new family houses in Battambang for 3 years at about 7 000 Euros per year. New school bus for the blind or deaf children in Phnom Penh The Chabr Ampov's blind and deaf children school bought the new van at the end of December. It is financed by "La Voix l'Enfant". 40 blind or deaf students will benefit from this vehicle every day. The van will start to pick up the children from 1st January 2006. The blind children prepare for the second juvenile music festival 20 children from the Chabr Ampov's school for blind children will participate in the Cambodian juvenile music festival on 14 January. During the last two weeks of December, the children trained to play Khmer traditional music and to sing the song in Khmer and in Japanese. This festival is organized by the CJCC (Cambodia-Japan Cooperation Center). Exhibition of the products made by the schoolboys in Siem Reap The schoolboys from every primaries school assembled on 30 December for the exhibition of handicrafts such as baskets, woods sculpture, scarves, etc. The students of Siem Reap's school for blind or deaf children participated to this event. They showed the scarves made by the blind children, the computers for blind people and played traditional music. Prevention Campaign in Siem Reap Krousar Thmey, with the cooperation of TDH (Terre Des Hommes), organized a campaign against human trafficking on 12 December in the Kralan district's school situated at 60 km from Siem Reap. 980 persons were at the show. 38 students of the School of Art in Sisophon play different scenes which talk about how the trafficker deceived the villagers. The audiences were also invited to take part in the quiz, dissertation, painting and poem contest. The subject of this competition is "Fight against the human trafficking". |
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October 2005 |
International day for deaf persons 100 deaf children of Krousar Thmey, accompanied by the blind children and staffs of the blind or deaf school of Chba Ampoeu , took part in the international day for deaf persons on the 30 September 2005 organized by the NGO DDP (Deaf Development Program) in collaboration with other organizations. 300 persons walked on the street in front of the Royal Palace and stopped in front of the pagoda opposite to the National Assembly where day. The deaf children from the different NGOs enjoyed the Cambodian popular games and in this occasion, the deaf children dancers from Krousar Thmey showed the Cambodian traditional dances. Publication of two manuals Two books of grade 2, "Sciences, 84 pages" and "Khmer Language, 186 pages" will be printed in two weeks. 1000 books of each subject will be produced. Signs Languages Creation Comity works for one year to make four manuals of grade 2. Two of them were approved by the Ministry of Education and now they are in the printing house. The comity is correcting the other two books (Mathematic. Social Science) but the date of printing is not fixed. The protection centers , the street children centers and the familly houses participated to the "Pchum ben" All the centers of Krousar Thmey and the family houses brought the children to pagoda during the "Funeral Ceremony" days, 2,3,4 October. This ceremony is considered as a big event in Cambodia . It was celebrated 15 days along. The last three days are very important. Every Cambodian people, who hasn't gone to pagoda, must go there to make an offering. In this period, the spirits were freed to come to the find the food that their relation offered. In Buddhism, after death, the spirit was brought to hell and they would judged by the king of the hell. So if they were found guilty, according to their culpability, they go to jail or they are allowed to rebirth (human or animal). |
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September 2005 |
No Rest for The teachers During the holiday of their blind and deaf students, the teachers from KT schools, as the one from integrated classes and from the public schools with which we cooperate, worked hard: like every year, the annual teacher training was going on. This summer, 136 teachers improved their teaching methods, their sign language or their knowledge of Braille writing. Among these "students", there was a ministerial representative and one from an NGO called "Goutte d'Eau". At last, despite of important floods, the training of the teachers for the deaf finally took place in Kampong Cham, while the one of the teachers for the blind stayed at Chabr Ampov. Visit of Charlotte Muffang From the 15th to the 28th of last August, Charlotte Muffang who is in charge of the training for the blind masseurs for KT, came for her annual visit at Siem Reap. She considers that technical training is now well designed: she tested their massages with a friend and she were both really satisfied. However, a good massage is not just based on technical aspect, that is why Charlotte used her visit to insist on the setting of the massages: the welcome and the answers to give to the requests of the customers. There are indeed many sexual requests. As she knows all of the blind children for a long time, she could really discuss about this problem with them. All of them went through this experience, both girls and boys, so they really have to know how to refuse it and not to consider it as a shame or a trauma. Charlotte also had to return to upkeep and hygiene of the place: it was not always acceptable in regards of the price. She finally gets down to making the place aesthetically pleasing. |
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August 2005 |
Summer jobs for the youngsters of protection centres At Takmao and Sisophon protection centre, the youngsters are working hard. Thus, in each of those centres, the teenagers have the opportunity to find a short time job in order to gain professional experience as well as to earn a little bit of money. For instance in Sisophon, 10 teenagers found an occupation for the summer. Two of them worked for ten days in the rice field, two others worked in the building construction in Poïpet, two worked at Sisophon market as ice seller and one was a waiter in a restaurant. The length of those jobs is of approximately tend days, only three girls managed to find a two months position in beauty salon where they learnt how to do make up and how to do the hair. Those centres create contact with local companies and therefore help their youth to become autonomous and to become responsible adults threw early work experience. Assessment of the kindergarten for deaf children of Chabr Ampov After one year of functioning, the kindergarten for deaf children located in Chabr Ampov was assessed in order to measure its real impact on the children. The outcome is very good, the parents noted real changes in their children's behaviour : « Before they shouted to ask for something, now they sign." The hearing teacher estimates that she managed to teach 80% of the national kindergarten program and the deaf teacher Ela, saw great progresses in sign language for the children who attended at least three months of schooling. The main problem encountered by those two teachers is the lack of attention of the children which is linked to deafness. The main recommendations for next year are to launch groups of studies by sign language level and according to the age of the children. The weekly sign language lessons for the parents will be maintained and more signs will be taught. |
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Juillet 2005 |
Cambodia month by month A recent study made by IOM (International Office for Migrations) assessed the outcome of both repatriations and deportations of Cambodian people, victims of traffic, from Thailand to Cambodia. According to this report, between the 1st July 2004 and the 31st March 2005, 137 persons who used to be victims of traffickers were supported by IOM, among them 95 were repatriated and 42 deported. 72% of the returnees used to live in Bantey Meanchey province before their migration to Thailand, this fact shows the relevance of spreading our campaign against child trafficking in this region. 37% of traffic victims went to Thailand under the influence of a stranger but the majority of the victims went to Thailand voluntarily and became victims of traffickers once they reached Thailand. 41% of the victims work as beggars, 19% of them work in factories and 5% of them work in prostitution. Once those victims are repatriated by IOM, they are sent to temporary centres of various NGO such as Goutte d’eau, Don Bosco, Friends, Krousar Thmey… Krousar Thmey was in charge of 8% of the children sent to NGO. In those centres, family reintegration is always the first solution considered, it was the adopted solution for 57 persons. If the family reintegration is not possible, long term care solutions are organised within each NGO. Krousar Thmey took care of 2% of the children in need of long term care. All the family reintegration done by Krousar Thmey were successful. Lower secondary school final exam for the blind children Eight blind children from Battambang school and three blind children from Chabr Ampov school currently studying in Grade 9 (which is the last year within the lower secondary school) finished the year by taking a final exam. This exam took place on the 11 and 12th of July 2005, in the whole Cambodian public schools. The exams were translated into Braille by the teachers of Krousar Thmey and contained the 7 official topics which are : Maths, Khmer, Biology, Social sciences, English, Geography and History. The results will be available by the end of the summer. The troupe performing the campaign against trafficking changed its itinerary The students who are studying within the Krousar Thmey school of art in Sisophon and who participate to the Krousar Thmey campaign against trafficking, went to Svay Rieng province (close to the Vietnamese border) in order to perform the play of the campaign. This destination was chosen on purpose as human trafficking is also very important between Vietnam and Cambodia. Those journeys are very long but are also essential in order to prevent trafficking as much as possible. |
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June 2005 |
Cambodia month by month The first of June was celebrated the International Child's day. On this occasion, King Norodom Sihamoni decided to devote deprived children a full morning. On early morning that day, the King received 300 hundred street children and one NGO Krousar Thmey. 27 blind children, 6 deaf children and 9 Krousar Thmey staff discussed with the King for three or four minutes. Then the King thanked the audience for coming and thanked Krousar Thmey for its actions towards underprivileged children. At the same time, at the Wat Phnom in Phnom Penh 80 Krousar Thmey children from various centres attended the speech of the Prime Minister Samdech Hun Sen. A national policy for special education From the 30th of May to the 4th of June, the department for special education of the Ministry of Education organised field visits. The goal was to visit the various NGOs achievement in the field of special education. Four NGOs were there : DAC, New Humanity, Jesus Service Cambodia and Krousar Thmey. It was an exchange of skills on special education. For Krousar Thmey those visits are really important as they show the involvement and commitment of the Ministry of Education in the education of handicapped people. Moreover, those visits will lead to a National Policy for Specialised Education. Chabr Ampov kindergarten for deaf children The kindergarten of Chabr Ampov has nearly been working for one school year. The two teachers Pharann and Ella are still there and the number of children has doubled, we started with 6 children and we now have 12. It is a great success. Chabr Ampov braille bookmaking workshop The translation and the edition of the Grade 12 (baccalaureate) handbooks just started within the Braille Bookmaking workshop. Once all those handbooks will be translated it will be a great achievement for Krousar Thmey as the blind students will be able to attend their schooling from grade 1 to grade 12 with the adapted tools. The production of the workshop could be diversified and offer to children leisure books. The achievements of the sign language committee The committee has been working on the translation of the school handbooks for grade 2 for 8 months. They just finished the Khmer and the sciences books. In order to create the necessary signs the committee works with teachers, specialists and a deaf teacher whois the key to the creation. Actually he approves or modify the signs according to his understanding of the word. About the edition process, a young artist, a former students from Krousar Thmey school of art, Thai San, draw the signs on the books. The printing should be launched soon. |
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May 2005 |
Sport Lessons for the Blind of Chabr Ampov A new French volunteer has been training in sports the blind children from Chabr Ampov for two weeks. Those lessons take place three times per week and last one hour each time. The volunteer brought with him a Torball which is a ball making noises while moving so that the blind children can play football and other ball games. The children do enjoy this new activity. Vocational Training for the Deaf Maiden of Krousar Thmey Since the beginning of the month, a vocational training of painting on silk designed for young deaf girls has been launched by the NGO Artisans d’Angkor. Krousar Thmey sent to this training 16 girls, 4 from Chabr Ampov, 4 from Battambang and 8 from Siem Reap, they are aged between 15 and 19 years old. This training is a real opportunity for those girls, as there are very few trainings for the deaf in Cambodia. |
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April 2005 |
Krousar Thmey's New Year The Khmer New Year was celebrated on the 14th , 15th and 16th of April. We just entered the year 2549, Happy New Year to you all. All centres partied for Khmer New Year like every Khmer families in Cambodia. Each centre invited bonzes in their home in order to ask them to bless and protect their house. Some offerings were cooked and given to the pagodas; everybody participated in consideration of their means. Some of the centres also organized parties where they invited other Krousar Thmey centres and some volunteers. Each time, the children danced all evening long in a great atmosphere. Property Transfer of the Sihanoukville Maritime Training Centre Following the will to focus on childhood issues, Krousar Thmey decided to transfer to another NGO the activities of Sihanoukville maritime training centre. Actually this training was made for adults and not for children and this is not the main goal of Krousar Thmey, moreover a part of this training was made for experienced fishermen in need of technical knowledge. In order to maintain those activities in the future, Krousar Thmey chose a skilful and experienced NGO in the field of vocational training, to transfer it. The chosen one is PSE, “Pour un sourire d’enfant”, they will take over both the centre and the house. It is Alain Courau who is incharge of the transfer. We are happy to say that PSE proved us its ability to maintain this project and to keep it a sustainable one. |
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March 2005 |
The beginning of the «Advocacy» program Following a partnership between Aide et Action and Krousar Thmey Cambodia, a new dimension was given to the program of educational support. It was decided to launch a program to raise awareness of the Cambodian population towards the necessity to school blind or deaf students. Its name is “Advocacy Campaign”, an In charge of advocacy was hired for this purpose. His first tasks will be to set up the Global Campaign for Education (in collaboration with other NGOs and local authorities) and the Krousar Thmey advocacy Campaign. This campaign will have the pattern of an itinerant show mixing a play, a music performance by the blind children and a dance performance by the deaf children. After the show posters will be distributed, explaining with pictures (so accessible to illiterate persons) the stakes of the schooling of blind and deaf students. Deaf students and blind students will perform the play, annually, during their summer holiday. This advocacy program already started in September with the launching of a news bulletin on television in sign language, on TVK, every Sunday. Surgery for the blind from Kampong Cham Five blind students from Kampong Cham school had the chance to have eye surgery last month. The operation was done in Takeo in two times. The two surgeries were successful and will offer to those blind children the opportunity to improve their sight at least partially. |
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February 2005 |
News Flash La Casa keeps expanding. Ms Kosal Cheam has recently hired a new assistant, 24 year old Ms Sangva Hem, to help Mr. CHAN Sokieng with his workload. Ms Hem started work on February 1st. A new school manager started work at Chabr Ampov’s school for the deaf on February 7th, 61 years old Mr. Soeung Mam. Mr. Mam has extensive experience in education and previously he held the position of school manager at Takhmao’s public school. He was referred to us by Mr. Sinath Ouk, Takhmao’s protection center manager. We wish them both a warm welcome. The movies "Dogora" and "Holy Lola" showing in Cambodia Dogora, the movie from French director Patrice Leconte was shown in Cambodia on January 23rd, 2005. Banned by the Cambodian authorities, the movie had to be shown at the French cultural center behind closed doors. About 150 Krousar Thmey children from the Chamcar Mon, Psar Dépôt and Takhmao protection centers and the Tuk Tlaa family house had the opportunity to watch the movie and they were all very moved by it. The movie director also attended the showing and was eager to sound the children out on their impression of the movie and received varied feedback. Some children identified with the movie but others didn’t because in their opinion the movie focuses too extensively on the poverty and degraded environment of the country. All the children however liked the movie and many became aware of their opportunity to have a roof over their heads and be able to wash and go to school every day. The showing of Holy Lola, also attended by the movie director Bertrand Tavernier, was held before all the Phnom Penh French community. A debate organized after the showing triggered much emotion amongst many participants who were seeking to adopt a child in the country and who identified strongly with the characters in the movie. An English/Khmer computer dictionary for the blind A new project was launched in January at the Chabr Ampov’s school for the blind. Mr. John Wright, a computer programmer from the U.K., came to Krousar Thmey last September with a proposal to develop a computer English/Khmer dictionary for the blind. His computer program will enable blind students to widen their vocabulary relatively easily. By putting the mouse on a letter on the screen, the computer will then enunciate all the words starting with that letter. The student can then locate a particular word and have it translated either in English or in Khmer. This project is sponsored mainly by the British embassy which is also monitoring it. |
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January 2005 |
South-East Asia Tsunami Cambodia was spared by the deadly Asian Tsunami, which occurred on December 26th, because it was shielded by the golf of Thailand. Our partners and sponsors, who are for the most part active in the South-East region hit by the tsunami, were all able to successfully mobilize their resources to bring quick and efficient assistance to the victims. “Aide et Action”, already very active in India, has concentrated its aid in over there, (return to school programs for child victims). Furthermore, “Terre des Hommes Netherlands”, which has its South-East Asian base in Jakarta, has for its part targeted Indonesia for assistance. The Sisophon Harvest Last week, the children of the Sisophon Protection center were hard at work harvesting the center’s 10 hectare rice field. This represents quite a task and everybody was working with great energy. Ms Mak Yom supervised the work and prepared the meals while the younger ones went to-and-from in the fields looking for cut rice plants which had been inadvertently left behind. In all, 24 tons of rice were harvested. A visit from the hearing aid specialists Hearing aid specialists have once again come to Cambodia to celebrate the New Year and stayed for about 10 days, from December 27th until January 5th 2005. They started by testing children from the Chabr Ampov and Kampong Cham schools before turning their attention to the Siem Reap and Battambang school children at the Siem Reap school. Their aim is to test the hearing abilities of new children in order to supply them with hearing aids in the future; to fit with hearing aids those children who had been tested last year during the visit of the “French doctors”, as they are called here; and finally to repair faulty aids previously fitted. This time they supplied 36 children with hearing aid, including 4 kindergarten students from Chabr Ampov’s school, and tested 77 children. |
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November 2004 |
Cambodia along each month November 9th is an historical date for the kingdom as it represents Independence Day and celebrates the achievements of the previous King, Norodom Sihanouk, also known as "Father of the 'Independence". This year, the first and last days of the 3-day celebrations were presided over by His Majesty King Norodom Boromneath Sihamoni, recently crowned. Cambodians will also be celebrating the Water Festival held between the 25th and 27th of November 2004. New computer course at Battambang school Beginning in the second week of November, an experimental computer course has taken place at Battambang School. Two computers were set up in the school and the person in charge of the manufacturing of the books in Braille of that school, Ms. Chenda, received training at Chba Ampeou School in order to lead this pilot project. She is about to attend a computer technology and communication training course for visually impaired people in Thailand on November 22nd. We look forward to the return of Ms. Chenda and we hope that she will be able to provide the school with new computer skills which will benefit the blind children of Battambang who are hungry for today’s technology based knowledge. Student numbers for the 2004-2005 school year A total of 3347 children are schooled by Krousar Thmey. This number
is made up of the following: In addition, 1287 youth from Sisophon each attend one hour a week classes in drawing, sculpture, shadow theater, music or dance at the Khmer School for the Arts and Culture. |
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October 2004 (only in french) |
Le Cambodge au fil des mois Le mois d'octobre 2004 restera un mois historique pour le Cambodge, car il marque la fin du règne de Norodom Sihanouk. En effet, ce dernier a annoncé son abdication (à laquelle il a préféré le mot "retraite") le jeudi 7 octobre. Tout juste une semaine plus tard, son successeur a été élu par le Conseil du Trône. Le nouveau roi du Cambodge s'appelle désormais Sihamoni. Inconnu du peuple cambodgien, le fils préféré de Sihanouk est un novice en politique. Danseur, homme de culture , il a passé l'essentiel de sa vie à l'étranger (Prague, Corée, France.), mais il semble que les Cambodgiens apprécient ce choix car le prince a toujours pris ses distances avec la sphère politique, ce qui vient conforter le principe d'un roi placé au-dessus des partis. Son intronisation sera célébrée le 29 octobre, la veille de l'anniversaire de sa Majesté Sihanouk. Après 13 ans d'activités, Krousar Thmey a choisi d'évaluer son action En 2004, nous avons décidé de relever un nouveau défi en lançant un processus d'évaluation de tous les programmes de Krousar Thmey. L'objectif est d'évaluer le chemin parcouru depuis 13 ans vers la réalisation de nos objectifs, et de mesurer l'impact de notre action dans nos 3 domaines d'activités. La qualité du management et les principaux problèmes rencontrés dans la gestion de l'association seront aussi évalués. Un consultant d'un institut spécialisé (CRD, Cambodian Researchers for Development) est chargé de réaliser cette évaluation, en lien étroit avec Krousar Thmey. L'évaluation a débuté le premier octobre, et l'équipe se rendra dans plusieurs centre de l'association tout au long de ce mois, pour interviewer des enfants, des éducateurs, des professeurs, des parents d'élèves... Le mois de novembre sera consacré à la synthèse et à l'analyse des données, et les conclusions seront présentées en décembre. Nous espérons que ces conclusions permettront d'améliorer nos programmes et d'ajuster les plans d'actions stratégiques pour les prochaines années. Une rentrée pleine de nouveautés En janvier dernier, des cours d'anglais avaient commencé pour tous les enfants aveugles et leurs professeurs dans les écoles de Chabr Ampov et de Kampong Cham. Cette initiative a été généralisée à toutes les écoles cette année. Les enfants apprennent le Braille anglais, et des méthodes d'apprentissage sont traduites dans l'atelier de production de livres en Braille implanté à l'école de Kampong Cham. Hélène avait lancé des programmes d'orthophonie dans trois écoles pour enfants sourds sur 4. Aussi, cette année, Véronique va débuter ce programme dans l'école de Kampong Cham, et le poursuivre dans les autres. Enfin, suite aux observations sur les sourds en niveau 1, il a été décidé de mettre en place ce niveau en 2 ans pour les sourds. En effet, il semble primordial de leur donner un moyen de communication, la langue des signes, avant de leur apprendre à lire et à écrire. Ainsi, les deux premiers mois d'école seront presque exclusivement consacrés à l'apprentissage de cette langue, puis ils pourront commencer le programme national dans de bonnes conditions. A l'école de Chabr Ampov pour enfants sourds, une heure par semaine sera consacrée au dessin, afin de donner aux enfants des nouveaux outils pour s'exprimer. Développer la langue des signes khmère Depuis le lancement du programme « éducation pour enfants sourds », un comité est chargé de développer la langue des signes khmère et de représenter les nouveaux signes créés en images. Mais jusqu'à présent ce comité, composé de professeurs, ne pouvait consacrer que quelques heures par semaine à cette activité, et seuls les livres du niveau 1 avaient été adaptés au programme national et illustrés en langue des signes. A partir d'octobre ou novembre 2004 un comité travaillera à plein temps pour créer de nouveaux signes et traduire les manuels scolaires niveau après niveau en langue des signes. Pour cela, ils reprennent tous les manuels officiels de l'Education Nationale et ajoutent à chaque leçon les signes qui n'ont pas encore été enseignés dans les niveaux précédents. Des cassettes videos seront aussi enregistrées afin de présenter les nouveaux signes créés. |
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Septembre 2004 (only in french) |
Août-Septembre: préparation de la rentrée à tous les niveaux Août est un mois privilégié pour les réintégrations des enfants des rues dans leur propre famille ou dans un centre permanent de Krousar Thmey. En effet, l’année scolaire vient de finir, et les enfants ont encore tout le mois de septembre pour s’habituer à leur nouvel environnement avant de prendre le chemin de l’école. Ainsi, 19 enfants des centres d’accueil temporaire ont été réintégrés dans leur famille, avec le soutien de Krousar Thmey. Les éducateurs continueront bien sûr à suivre régulièrement ces enfants. 9 autres enfants vivront désormais à Takhmao, 1 au centre de protection de Sisophon et 1 dans la maison familiale de Sihanoukville 2. Krousar Thmey prépare activement la rentrée scolaire : tout le matériel scolaire pour l’année prochaine vient d’être distribué dans les centres : 1070 cartables, plus de 14.000 cahiers, 728 compas, 886 ardoises… et beaucoup d’autre matériel pour assurer une scolarité dans de bonnes conditions à nos enfants. Diffusion du premier journal télévisé cambodgien en langue des signes Dimanche 5 septembre a été diffusé le premier journal télévisé cambodgien en langue des signes. Trois staff de Krousar Thmey s’entraînent tous les jours et participent au comité de langue des signes afin de créer ceux dont ils auront besoin et qui n’existent pas encore en langue des signes khmère (vocabulaire de la politique, noms de lieux…). Ces 3 personnes se relaient pour traduire ce journal télévisé, qui est un résumé des nouvelles de la semaine. Un nouveau salon de massage à Battambang Demain marquera l’ouverture du salon de massage à Battambang. Il sera entièrement géré par trois jeunes masseurs aveugles de Krousar Thmey qui viennent de suivre une première formation de deux semaines avec Charlotte Muffang, (la 4ème jeune aveugle a du arrêter la formation car elle était trop faible pour pouvoir masser correctement). Deux anciens masseurs de Siem Reap passeront les mois prochains à Battambang afin d’aider les nouveaux à lancer ce salon. |
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August 2004 |
Bikes to go Forward! Thanks to a donation received by Krousar Thmey France, 50 bikes have been bought for the children of some family houses, of protection centres and also for death children from the integrated classes. These bikes will allow them to go more easily to school. TV news in sign language Henceforth, the TV news on the national channel TVK will be translated once a week in sign language. Benito, Mme Kosal and Mme Phalla have drawn up on Wednesday 11th August a draft treaty with the direction of TCK and the Ministry of Information. The new minister of Information, Mr Khieu Kanharith, declared: “We must not exclude the death and the dumb who, like everybody else, have the right to access to knowledge”. It is a big recognition for the death, and a huge step done by Krousar Thmey for the integration of these persons in the Cambodian society. Teachers training: taking advantage of the summer Since the 2nd August, the 117 deaf and blind children teachers of Krousar Thmey are gathered for the two months of annual training. The opening ceremony has been shown during the different TV news on national channels. All the teachers go deeper into their knowledge of the Khmer sign language or of the Khmer Braille and develop educational tools necessary to specialised education. Véronique launched for all the teachers of integrated classes and for the teachers of grade 1 (45 people) three weeks of training on the memory work essential to do with death children. Indeed, she is training also the group of 6 people in charge of the speech therapy program, in order to deepen their knowledge in this domain and to give them the means and more ideas to set up an efficient re-education for death children (auditory education, speech re-education, reading lips…). 3 new blind young people have passed the G.C.S.E. Like last year, 3 blind students achieved with success their school cycle. They passed their “diploma” in Braille, and will begin their schooling in secondary school in September where they will meet again their 3 predecessors who will enter in grade 11. |
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July 2004 |
Behind the screen… Hélène and Yann will finish their volunteering times at the end of this month. Welcome to Véronique, the new speech therapist who arrived on 2nd July. She already went in the schools of Battambang and Siem Reap to review with Hélène the work that has been done and of course meet the teachers involved in the project. Cambodia along each month Almost 1 year after the national election on 27th July 2003 and after many meetings and quarrels Cambodia eventually put in place an executive body on 15th July. Hun Sen was re-conducted Prime Minister of the new government composed with the CPP (Cambodian Popular Party) and the FUNCIPEC (Royal Party). Norodom Ranariddh, President of the FUNCIPEC was re-elected President of the National Assembly. Theatre workshop for deaf children Finally 45 deaf children from Chabr Ampov discovered theatre thanks to a 1 week workshop organised by an Australian actor also deaf himself. This proposition originated from NGO DDP (Deaf Development Program) where he also intervened. Deaf youth were delighted with this new activity! Preparation of the annual teachers training On the 2nd August will start the annual training for deaf and blind children teachers. A ceremony shall officially open the training. |
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June 2004
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The 9th family house opens On 21st May 6 children moved in the brand new family house #2 located in Sihanoukville on a beautiful piece of land shaded by big coconut trees. The parents and their 3 children already settled in the house 2 weeks before. 4 other children should join the family in the months to come. The same day in the afternoon all the children with the 2 fathers of family houses went for a swim in the sea. A well has just been built in the garden thanks to the support of Enfance et Partage du Houlme. It enables pumping fresh water 40m deep and insure a good water quality even during dry season. Children will have to wait October 2004 to attend public school because it is now to late due to the end of school year. In the meantime parents will teach them some lessons and ask private teachers to come and teach at the house. Wanna, a new professionnal musician Wanna, the young blind Cambodian from the refugee camps just came back to live in Takhmao center where he used to stay before. Indeed his work as blind masseur in Siem Reap didn’t suit him whereas he was more enjoying himself by playing music. Thus M. Sinath offered him to come and teach new music styles with the present blind music teacher of the protection center. He also proposed him to take guitar or keyboard lessons in order to integrate more easily a music band playing during ceremonies or weddings. Wanna seems delighted with his new situation, a new step in his life and we all hope he can earn his leaving with his new skills. So good luck Wanna! |
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May 2004 |
Medical check up Dr Sylvie Bedat ausculted around 200 children during her 15 days trip to Cambodia. She also managed meet other Cambodian organisations specialised in medical care in order to start setting up a local medical check up of our children. It was also decided that Krousar Thmey would no longer accept donations of medicines other than paracetamol, bétadine and plasters. This because the staff doesn’t always know how to use them but also because it is very long to sort them out and after difficult to find someone else to accept them. A ploughing machine for the ricefield of Sisophon center Thanks to a real mobilisation of French villages named Cantenay, Feneu and Soulaire et Bourg (Maine et Loire), the center of Sisophon received a ploughing machine in order to improve the ricefield yield and decrease production costs. Thanks to this new tool, the ricefield was ploughed on time and they could sow this week. Now remains the rain to come and the rice to grow… Diplomas presentation at the vocational training center of Sihanoukville 16 diplomas of initiation to fishing techniques were presented to young people having followed the sailor vocational training in Sihanoukville. The training started in January 2004 and finished early May. This month is dedicated to their professional integration. During the ceremony 42 diplomas and 8 attendance certificates were given to fishermen who followed continuous training at the center during year 2003. National TV news translated into sign language Following an offer by TVK, the only Cambodian TV channel, the national evening news will soon be simultaneously translated into Sign Language. This program should start next July, one evening per week. To carry out the work 2 teachers from Chabr Ampov school already skilled in Sign Language are following a training together with NGO DDP (Deaf Development Program). This should help them to control the grammar and tricks of the language (for instance adverbs should no longer be translated using signs but face expressions…). |
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April 2004
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The Family party : more than 1'000 children together Prachum Nheat as the Khmer say means Family Party and was a great time for everyone in Krousar Thmey. In total 1'232 people gathered to celebrate the 13th anniversary of our Foundation. The atmosphere was joyful and all the children show great enthusiasm in the various competition, shows and games. The general knowledge contest was won this year by… the blind from Battambang ! By wining the contest they not only got the trophy but the gratitude from all the other children. They became real actors of their own integration inside the Cambodian society. To us, it means a great symbol of success regarding Krousar Thmey’s actions towards schooling of handicapped people, this after 10 years of hard work!! Panoramic pictures of the party This party has been an outstanding event for all of us, thus we wish to share it with you through a small document (PDF 485 KB). Coming back from Morocco Ms Thannat, with the help of Mr Phanna and Mr Rop, wrote their final report following their visit of our partner BAYTI in Morocco. This report dwells upon the fact that this exchange was very useful to them and pointed out new ideas to investigate and possibly implement here within our programmes. Among those, the set up of a more detailed history card for each child, the creation of a psychological support and outdoors (sports, walking…) structures and increasing the time of stay of new comers in our temporary shelters to improve investigations on their background and family but also allow them more time to better stabilise. A geometry tool kit One of the most difficult subject for blind children is mathematics. They get on well with arithmetic thanks to their abacus but geometry remains a real challenge. Teachers build their own tools to facilitate learning but it is still an issue. This is the reason why our partner ON-NET just built a training tool kit in Braille. 2 people from Krousar Thmey will join a special training from 21st April to 8th May in Bangkok to learn the basics of the kit. Once back in Cambodia they will have to pass over their knowledge to our teachers. We hope this will improve the quality of our schooling for blind children and enable an easier access to this subject. |
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March 2004
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The King gets involved into Krousar Thmey's work Beginning of year 2004 King Norodom Sihanouk offered 5000US dollars to Krousar Thmey in order to develop our actions towards Cambodian deprived children. A ceremony to receive this gift was held in Chabr Ampov school presided over by the minister of the Royal Palace, Bénito, Ms Kosal, deaf children from the school and many other journalists. Letter from the King informing Bénito of this present. Cambodia along each month 2004 symbolises the achievement of 10 years schooling towards disabled children in Cambodia ! Krousar Thmey is still the only NGO to have built and set up schools offering access to education for blind and deaf. Thinking about vocational training programs for those children becomes a main issue today. We work on that matter together with other NGOs such as ABC (Association for the Blind in Cambodia) or DDP (Deaf Development Programme). A new family in Sihanoukville This is done : a new family just settled down in Sihanoukville. Indeed last Monday M. Phanna, Béatrice and Yann accompanied 9 children coming from Psar Depot, Poïpet et Sisophon centers into the new family house. The parents who moved in with their son a week before were waiting for that day and they warmly welcomed everybody. They even took them for a swim in the sea the afternoon! 8 boys and one little girl are now brothers and sisters. We would like to integrate one more girl to balance a bit more the brotherhood. The children should start school within 2 or 3 weeks. Another family should enter the second family house in May still in Sihanoukville. The kindergarten project for young deaf children Three more teachers were recruited to teach at the school for deaf in Chabr Ampov. So far each teacher was in charge of several grades and therefore were looking after a lot of pupils. Besides these new employees will free some time to the teacher presently trained by Hélène concerning our speech language therapy project. This teacher will be full time employed and focused on speech language therapy matters within several classes and already started to practice what she just learnt. … and a new school for deaf children We were also thinking of building a new school for deaf in the north of Phnom Penh. Indeed it seems relevant if we wish to welcome more deaf children in suitable conditions. Kosal is searching for a piece of land and if it is big enough we will think of dedicating part of it to a new school for blind children. |
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February 2004 |
Press review "L’oeil et la main" : the only French program translated simultaneously in Sign Language (every Saturday morning on France 5). A film director of this program who has travelled in Cambodia during December 2003 and visited our school for deaf in Siem Reap decided afterwards to make a TV report on the Khmer Sign Language. She and 2 other reporters have been working on the project since end of January. They regularly go to our Chabr Ampov school for deaf and work in close link with DDP (Deaf Development Program). Broadcasted on France 5 : Saturday April 17th at 9:15 am and Thursday 22nd April at 10:40 am. «Leading children towards an independant and self supported adult life» This short phrase so many times written in our communication documents really apply to Sam Buntheoun, a former child from Krousar Thmey. Indeed up until today he was living in a small house belonging to his uncle and close to the protection centre of Siem Reap where he spent 10 years of his life. The great news is that he just bought a house for him, his wife and their son. We all wish them a happy new life and settlement in this new home sweet home. |
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January 2004
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The Krousar Thmey Team in Cambodia wishes you a happy new year 2004! Rice harvest in Sisophon End of december the rice field of Sisophon protection centre was harvested. Miss Mak Yom employed workers to achieve this work and all the children helped gathering the sheaves. The rice is now drying up and the sheaves will be threshed to separate the grains from the stalks. This year as last year the yield seems to be average : we produced 15 tons of rice out of which 45% will be discarded during threshing. On the remaining quantity will be kept 1 ton for next year’s seeding. It is planned to eat this rice during the next Family Party. English lessons for the blind chidlren and their teachers With the financial help from our partner ON-NET, we just set up english lessons for all blind children in our 2 schools of Chabr Ampov and Kampong Cham. The children will learn to speak english but also write and read english in English braille. Moreover all our teachers from those 2 schools will benefit from 3 weekly hours of english lesson to improve the quality of their own training. To do so 2 english teachers have been employed. The same program should also start next year in our 2 other schools in Battambang and Siem Reap. We are convinced that writing and speaking english will strongly contribute to a better integration of our students into their social and professional life. The Kampong Cham school: a pilot school through various projects The low vision children attending Kampong Cham school since last november are all progressing fast. Some of them already manage to read normal letters by reading very closely to the books. We are now working together with our partners specialized in low vision education in order to improve our own education quality. Hearing aid specialists campaign As expected the team of hearing aid specialists came to Cambodia from 24th December to 3rd January. They auscultated all deaf children from our 4 schools. A different organization was used this year as to reduce their transportation time they only worked in 2 schools, Siem Reap & Phnom Penh. Children from Battambang came by truck to Siem Reap whereas children from Kampong Cham came to Phnom Penh. Another change this year is the fact that with the number of deaf children increasing year after year they only adapted hearing aid to new children below 12 years old. For those kids a clinical test and an ear print were carried out. The devices will be built in France soon and given to each child during their next visit to Cambodia in May 2004. Regarding all the other hearing aided children they made a sound assessment in order to adjust the settings of the devices. They also checked the children’s ears to detect any infection, prescribe medecine or get rid of some ear wax cork. |
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December 2003 |
New school year 2003 statistics Recent datas from the new school year 2003 just came out : today Krousar Thmey helps 1025 children and indirectly supports 2597 outside cases. 765 children benefit from our action through the street children program. 623 deaf and 159 blind receive adapted schooling. Opening of a classroom for low vision children in Kampong Cham Following auscultations in Phnom Penh of 12 children from Kampong Cham considered as blind it appeared that 7 of them could actually see a little bit. The doctor ordered glasses for them to improve their sight. Also a special classroom for those 7 children with "low vision" opened in Kampong Cham school. They will learn Braille as any other blind children but will also learn to read and write in Khmer. Helped with magnifying glasses on top of their glasses they can distinguish normal letters. This action gives new possibilities to those children and better hopes for their future. If this schooling reveals efficient it is expected that new classes of the same type will open in the other Krousar Thmey schools. |
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November 2003
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Prix des droits de l'homme de la République Française 2003 L’association Krousar Thmey – Nouvelle Famille vient d’être désignée comme lauréate du Prix des Droits de l’Homme de la République Française 2003, en reconnaissance pour son action de soutien aux enfants et aux mères de famille de la ville-frontière de Poïpet au Cambodge. Ce prix, doté de 15 000 euros, sera remis par M. le Premier Ministre Jean-Pierre Raffarin à M. Benoît Duchâteau-Arminjon, Fondateur de Krousar Thmey, et à Mme Cheam Kosal, Directrice Générale au Cambodge. La cérémonie se tiendra le jeudi 11 décembre à 15 heures, au Centre de Conférences Internationales – 19 avenue Kléber – Paris 16e. Annonce officielle et Lauréats 2003: Commision Nationale Consultative des Droits de l'Homme. La ville de Poïpet, à la frontière entre la Thaïlande et le Cambodge, est une véritable ville de far-west. Des casinos luxueux, destinés à une clientèle asiatique fortunée, y côtoient des bidonvilles sordides où s’entassent des milliers de familles cambodgiennes. Ces familles, attirées par cet eldorado, tentent de vivre autour de l’activité de commerce et de jeu de la ville : porteurs, cuisiniers, chiffonniers… Les enfants, mis au travail, sont en proie aux trafics de la frontière : travail clandestin, contrebande, drogue, prostitution. Le taux de scolarisation est dérisoire. Pour venir en aide à ces familles, et en particulier aux mères de familles seules, Krousar Thmey a établi en 1996, au milieu des bidonvilles, un village visant à offrir une maison et un lopin de terre à des mères élevant seules leurs enfants. La seule condition qui leur soit imposée est la scolarisation de leurs enfants. En 2002, le village comportait une population de 101 habitants (20 mères et 81 enfants). Kao Rithy, a new graduated Kao Rithy, a young from Sisophon protection centre, passed his « A level » in last July and got it with mark C. Motivated to carry on studying he came to live in Phnom Penh and study now at the ITC (Institut de Technologie du Cambodge). He will also be the night watchman in Chba Ampeou School : Krousar Thmey pays him 50$/month enabling him to support his personal expenses. Workshop on working children On 6th and 7th October was organized in Phnom Penh by The Human Rights Committee a workshop on the theme «Working children ». Children from different Cambodian NGOs attended and talked about their own story. Two children from Krousar Thmey participated to the workshop : one child from the street children centre in Poïpet and one from Poïpet village. They both worked in the past as goods porters. Among all those children three were chosen (no child from Krousar Thmey) to attend the same sort of workshop but in the Philippines. Drug consumption in the streets is rising According to Mr Phanna’s recent observations, drugs consumption among street children is heavily rising. Most of them use glue but some others use Yamma, a pill coming from Thailand also nicknamed « crazy pill ». Earning 6000 to 7000 riels per day (1$ = 4000 riels) by begging or recycling metals or other things, they sometimes spend 5000 riels to buy this pill... In Krousar Thmey we are not really qualified to deal with addicted children and try therefore to work as much as we can with other NGOs more specialized in this type of situations. The integrated classes network keeps on spreading The expected 17 new integrated classes scheduled for this coming school year have indeed open. The first integrated class for blind children opened in Sihanoukville inside a public where two integrated classes for deaf children already exist. This program of integrated classes was especially developed in Kompong Cham province : again this year 9 classes started within 9 different public schools of the province. However one of the classrooms in Takeo province had to close as not enough children attended the daily courses. Thus 28 integrated classes welcome everyday 212 pupils who have now access to education close to their house. |
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October 2003 |
Cambodia along each month From 11th till 25th of September was celebrated All Saints Day (Prachum ben). This event starts the first day of the descending moon during Photrobot (August-September) and lasts 15 days. This is the opportunity for any Cambodian Buddhist to visit pagodas to give food offerings. In doing so they help their ancestors to gain a better karma and access to a better future life. Phnom Penh's Monks receiving an excess of food during this period of time generally dispatch the excess to people in need and especially through our street children centres of Psar Depot and Chamcar Mon. Again this year these two centres received a lot of rice, cakes, soup, etc… along with the well advised recommendations of the monks. Children of Cambodia were back to school on the 1st of October after 2 months holidays during which many of them help their parents in the paddy fields. Children from Krousar Thmey were also back on their school benches! A new truck for rice transportation The truck donated to Krousar Thmey by the Word Food Program was driven to Sisophon protection centre where it will be used to transport rice produced in the Krousar Thmey paddy field. 20 tons of rice are harvested every year end of December/beginning of January. Deaf people international day On 21st September was celebrated the Deaf People International Day in Cambodia. The event set up around the Wat Phnom (one of the biggest pagodas in Phnom Penh). Deaf children from Chabr Ampov school performed dances followed by speeches delivered by DDP (Deaf Development Program) representatives and the Queen's daughter. Finally one deaf child from Krousar Thmey's school expressed his high hopes he has towards the Cambodian deaf community. All of those speeches were delivered either in Sign Language, English or Khmer and all translated in the two other languages. For the first time ever Cambodian deaf children enter high school To enter high school (end of grade 9), any Cambodian pupil has to undergo an exam, equivalent to the French "Brevet des colleges". Thanks to the support of the Government Office for Specialised Education and in order that 3 Krousar Thmey blind students from grade 9 can attend the exam, all the exercises were translated in Braille Language by the teachers of the Chabr Ampov School. This piece of news has even been the main headline of the biggest Cambodian newspaper! Results just came out and the 3 blind students successfully passed! They will therefore attend grade 10 classes this coming school year in a public school close to Chabr Ampov. We all wish them success and a lot of courage for the beginning of this new challenge and new step in their life. And for the first time ever deaf children enter middle school!!! During 2002-2003 school year the highest ranked deaf children were in grade 6. They all passed their exams to enter middle school this coming year (middle school : grades 7, 8 et 9). Those 16 children are already used to mingle with other "normal" students at the public school but they will now have to adapt not only to one teacher but 14 of them and moreover not yet trained to Sign Language. To overcome this difficulty they will be assisted by one translator. Still a big step to tackle! |
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September 2003 |
Painting workshops The painting workshops organised by the Association “Art et Urgence” in some of the Krousar Thmey centres ended their work at the end of August. The results of this experience are really positive, and all the children want to do this kind of activity again. The volunteers of “Art et Urgence” have also manifested their will to come back next year. So this project may be relaunched, possibly about the sculpture theme. Training programmes for masseurs Charlotte Muffang, the first physiotherapist who trained some young blinds to the massage techniques, came back during 2 weeks to finish the training. Those blind masseurs have lived a difficult period during the SARS crisis because of the lack of tourists. So Charlotte may help them to improve their technique and also to launch their activity again. Music at Kampong Cham Nourn Sok, a blind student of the Chabr Ampov School, has obtained good results at his exams of grade 8, and so has just been employed by Krousar Thmey to be the music teacher of the School for blind children in Kampong Cham. In order to prepare the beginning of the courses, he will spend few weeks at the School for blind children in Battambang, to complete his formation with the music teacher of this school, who is also blind. Annual teacher training The annual teacher training is getting along well. The new teachers for deaf children (Krousar Thmey teachers and teachers of the public schools) are learning the sign language, those who already know it learn more signs, and all Krousar Thmey teachers learn more about methodology and psychology. What is special this year is the training on speech language therapy proposed to the teachers of deaf children centers. A French volunteer working as speech language therapist in France has joined the Krousar Thmey team in Cambodia and will help the teachers during 1 year. This project aims at giving Krousar Thmey staff new tools to improve communication of deaf children newly equipped with earring aid. |
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August 2003
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Reintegration period in the protection centres Holidays are often the occasion of preparing the new school year of
children. That is why many children are reintegrated at this period,
whether in their family, whether in one of the Krousar Thmey centers.
They will then have 2 months to find new marks before starting school.
Apart from family reintegrations, 5 children from Psar Depot and 4 from
Chamcar Mon will settle down soon in the protection center of Takhmao,
1 child from Poïpet and 4 from Sisophon will go and live in family
houses in Kampong Cham (2), Tuk Tlaa (2) and Kpop Veng (1). Diversification of our activities A Japanese volunteer has come regularly to play with the children of the protection center in Siem Reap last month. It gave her the idea of teaching Japanese to the one interested. 2 months long, she will teach Japanese to 8 children of the center (and 3 more from the village). After her departure, it will be possible to provide Japanese private courses to the best and most motivated students. Blossoming workshops Art et Urgence is a non profit making organization composed of artists and teachers. They propose to NGOs welcoming traumatized children to set-up artistic workshops. It is not only about painting, but also about helping the children to express themselves. For example, one workshop could concentrate on painting on one half of the sheet what they like most and on the other half what they hate most. Their work is already very interesting. 3 volunteers from the organization are currently working for 10 days in the street children centers of Psar Depot and Chamcar Mon, they will then go to Takhmao to propose the same workshops to the children of the protection centre and of the family houses of Prek Kat and Kpop Veng. Because the family house of Tuk Tlaa is less accessible, it was decided that the children of this house would go on holiday to Takhmao for 2 weeks and sleep in the house of Kpop Veng. They will be able to attend the workshops. Their participation is really important as the lost one brother and changed the foster parents in the beginning of 2003… Integrated classes, school year 2003-2004 The number of integrated classes has increased since last month, proving that the program is well corresponding to the local demand. For the school year 2003-2004, 16 new integrated classes will be launched, making a total among of 28 classes opened in 3 years ! 9 classes will be opened in Kampong Cham, 1 in Suars Sdam (Siem Reap), 1 in Sihanoukville, 3 in Svay Rieng, 1 in Battambang and 1 in Pursat. The 16 new teachers will attend the annual teacher training in order to learn sign language -and Braille for the teacher of the first integrated class for blind children in Sihanoukville-. Annual teacher training The annual teacher training will be launched on the 8th of August with an opening ceremony with the participation of the director of the department of Primary Education. He is attending the event as 33 teachers for the National Education are attending the training this cession (for the 28 integrated classes). What will be special this year is the training on speech language therapy proposed to the teachers of deaf children centers. A French volunteer working as speech language therapist in France will join the Krousar Thmey team in Cambodia and will help teachers during 1 year. This project aims at giving Krousar Thmey staff new tools to improve communication of deaf children newly equipped with earring aid. School of Poïpet We are still looking for funds for the extension of the school of Poïpet. This project plans to build 6 new classrooms -welcoming 150 to 200 new students each year-, 1 library, 1 dance and music room and one teachers' room. The construction of the first building will start soon. |
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New logo, new image |
Thanks to the involvement of the School of Visual Communication (ECV) in Paris, work has been done on modernizing Krousar Thmey's image. It's now complete and we're proud to present our new logo! The main idea of the butterfly opening up and taking flight has been kept because it's an integral part of the NGO. However, the graphic has been reworked to give a more dynamic and professional image for Krousar Thmey's work. Inside the butterfly, we've kept the illustration representing Krousar Thmey's 3 main areas of intervention: educational support, child welfare and cultural development…a child reading, a child playing and a child dancing. Special thanks to Emilie Lapierre and Virgine Dhellemme for their excellent work ! |
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10-22 March 2003 |
India-Cambodia skills exchange on deaf and blind children In 2002, The NGO Aide et Action came up with the idea of a skills exchange between Indian and Cambodian NGOs. In August 2002, Mrs Phalla, in charge of the handicapped children's programme, and Mr Sopheak, director of Battambang school, spent 3 weeks in India visiting different programmes run by Aide et Action India and 6 of Aide et Action's Indian NGO partners. They came back with a better idea of how the situation for the handicapped in Cambodia could be in several years, and with lots of new projects in mind. The second part of the exchange took place from the 10th to 22nd of March. 3 officials from Indian programmes, the coordinator of Aide et Action's programmes in India, and Aide et Action's sponsorship coordinator in Cambodia came to visit Krousar Thmey's programmes. Many meeting were organized with teachers from specialized schools, public schools, integrated classes…a discussion workshop followed the field trips, to reflect together on the benefits of the exchange and on the follow-up the partners wanted to make. The Indians went home with new ideas: putting in place orientation and mobility courses for their young blind students, as Krousar Thmey has; studying the possibility of opening integrated classes in India (so far, they haven't done much on integrating children in schools but have concentrated on integration after their studies in the workplace)… For Krousar Thmey's part, we took inspiration from the Indians' experience and laws to put pressure on the government. Also, the Chabr Ampov school was equipped with two weaving machines (and a wheel to prepare the thread) and began a weaving workshop for blind students. This new activity will allow 6 students (3 in the morning and 3 in the afternoon) to train in this skill and to eventually make it their career. The training is scheduled to last 6 months, so 12 students will receive this training every year. The most important benefit of the exchange was being able to observe, in a neutral way, the programmes developed and in doing so identify their strengths and weaknesses, to take time to reflect on the direction of Krousar Thmey's work and on the different paths opening up in front of us. The discussion workshop allowed Cambodian NGOs working in the same field to meet around the theme: what are we going to develop together? |
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27 January 2003 |
Inauguration of Kampong Cham school The new Krousar Thmey school for blind and deaf children in Kampong Cham was inaugurated on 27 January 2003 by Prime Minister Samdech Hun Sen. The inauguration included speeches (by Krousar Thmey founder Benoît Duchateau-Arminjon, Prime Minsiter Samdech Hun Sen and the governor of Kampong Cham) and a tour of the school. Hun Sen's speech was broadcast on TV and on Cambodian radio stations. More than 5,000 people attended the event. This school has welcomed 33 blind children and 23 deaf children since October 2002. In all, Krousar Thmey has opened 4 schools for blind children and 4 schools for deaf children. |
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Octobre 2002
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L'exposition de Krousar Thmey sur le thème du Tonlé Sap est en ligne. Elle a pour objectif principal la sensibilisation de la population aux richesses de son environnement et la nécessité de sa préservation. Cette exposition fut itinérante pendant 9 mois à travers le Cambodge et s'arrêta dans 16 villes, du 30 octobre 2001 au 28 juillet 2002. Krousar Thmey organisa le transport et la visite d'écoles afin de toucher le plus grand nombre d'enfants... [suite] |
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Avril 2002
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La troisième grande Fête de Famille Nous étions 1'100 réunis cette année à Siem Reap pour la désormais traditionnelle Fête de Famille, marquant le 11ème anniversaire de Krousar Thmey. Cette fête, qui se tient tous les deux ans, a été organisée par les équipes cambodgiennes. Elle a réuni la quasi totalité du personnel et des enfants des 54 projets et 28 centres d'activités que compte aujourd'hui la fondation. Venus de neuf provinces différentes, les enfants ont passés trois jours fabuleux d'échanges, de jeux, de compétition sur la culture générale, sans oublier une visite des temples d'Angkor. Les jeunes du théâtre d'ombres de Sisphon avaient préparé un spectacle, ceux de Takmao également, sans oublier un groupe d'enfants sourds qui ont remporté la palme du rire avec le sketch d'un médecin qui prend successivement toutes les maladies et infirmités de ses patients. Pour la plupart des enfants, c'était leur premier voyage à Angkor et la magie des lieux ajoutée à l'ivresse de la fête, des danses, des rires, leur ont laissé un souvenir inoubliable. |
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31 Mai 2001
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Une belle surprise. Le 31 mai, les équipes de Krousar Thmey ont eu la surprise de recevoir la visite des comédiens Carole Bouquet et Gérard Depardieu. Carole Bouquet est en effet la marraine, et membre particulièrement actif du conseil de "La Voix de l'Enfant", fédération d'associations d'aide à l'enfance défavorisée, dont Krousar Thmey France fait partie. Lors de sa visite au Cambodge, son souhait de visiter nos programmes a pu être réalisé grâce à l'hospitalité de nos équipes. A Takmao, Carole Bouquet et Gérard Depardieu ont assisté à une représentation par les enfants du centre. Puis nous leur avons proposé de visiter une maison familiale, à Kpop Veng, dans la banlieue de Phnom Penh. Carole Bouquet a posé beaucoup de questions, étant particulièrement sensible aux problèmes des enfants de rues. Gérard Depardieu a beaucoup amusé les enfants en répétant phonétiquement ce que les gamins disaient (sans rien y comprendre bien sûr). Des rires fusaient de toute part! Les comédiens se sont prêtés avec beaucoup de gentillesse à une scéance photo avant de nous quitter sur fond d'un "Ce n'est qu'un au revoir" chanté en Khmer par tous les enfants. Rendez-vous est pris pour la visite d'autres programmes de Krousar Thmey, lors du prochain séjour au Cambodge de Carole Bouquet, prévu en décembre prochain. |
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Mars et avril 2001 |
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Deux nouvelles Maisons Familiales accueillent chacune depuis le 21 mars respectivement 11 et 13 enfants référés à Krousar Thmey par l'Office International des Migrations. Sortis des prisons de Thaïlande, ces enfants ont été profondément marqués par des maltraitances et par la sujétion à des trafiquants qui les ont réduits à la mendicité. Grâce à une prise en charge par un couple de parents attentifs et attentionnés, ces enfants devraient pouvoir renouer avec une véritable vie de famille et une enfance digne. Ils sont scolarisés à l'école publique: il est temps pour eux d'avoir de véritables occupations d'enfants. |
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Février 2001
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Notre Projet National d'Education Spécialisée Intégrée aux écoles publiques progresse. En accord avec les autorités provinciales de la province de Takéo, un groupe de six enseignants volontaires vient d'être constitué pour suivre, dans l'une de nos écoles spécialisées, un complément de formation les préparant à l'intégration d'enfants sourds ou aveugles au sein de leur école. Dès la rentrée prochaine, deux classes consacrées à l'éducation des enfants sourds pourraient alors ouvrir. Des pourparlers sont en cours dans d'autres provinces du Cambodge (Pursat, Prey Veng, Kompong Speu). |
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4 Janvier 2001: Début
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Amis, officiels, invités et personnels de Krousar Thmey se sont réunis à Siem Reap pour l'inauguration officielle de la troisième Ecole pour Enfants Sourds du Cambodge. La venue du Ministre des Affaires Sociales témoigne encore de la reconnaissance dont jouit Krousar Thmey auprès des institutions publiques cambodgiennes, et plus particulièrement de leur intérêt grandissant à l'égard de la place réservée aux enfants handicapés dans la société khmère. Pendant cette journée a également été inaugurée l'Exposition Culturelle "Tonlé Sap, source de vies". Le Tonlé Sap est un immense lac (de 5 à 20 fois le lac Léman selon la saison), véritable poumon d'eau du Cambodge. Il se prolonge jusqu'à Phnom Penh en un fleuve dont le courant change de sens au fil des saisons. Parler du Tonlé Sap permet de présenter ses richesses écologiques et culturelles ainsi que l'activité humaine et économique qui en découle. Cambodgiens et étrangers sont renseignés à l'aide de panneaux, photos, reproductions miniatures ainsi que d'une maquette représentant le lac et ses variations hydrauliques. Afin d'atteindre un nombre maximum d’enfants cambodgiens, cette exposition deviendra itinérante. Enfin, le Jeu Educatif et Culturel "Neakna Deung?" ("Qui sait?") a officiellement été lancé à l'occasion de cette journée. Jeu de questions réponses de culture générale, le Neakna Deung stimule les connaissances des jeunes cambodgiens de « 7 à 77 ans » et les aide à renouer avec une culture oubliée, sinon perdue, durant les années difficiles dont émerge tout juste le Cambodge aujourd'hui. |
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1 Janvier 2001
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Après dix ans d’implication permanente, Benoît Duchâteau-Arminjon, fondateur de Krousar Thmey, délègue la direction opérationnelle des programmes de Krousar Thmey à PRUM Thary., Dirigé par des Cambodgiens, Krousar Thmey peut continuer le développement des programmes dans le même sens. Autour de Benoît, de nombreux bénévoles européens continuent à assurer la recherche des fonds nécessaires, le contrôle de leur utilisation et à garantir le respect de l’esprit et de la philosophie de Krousar Thmey. |
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16 Octobre 2000
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Il y a quelques jours, benoît Duchâteau Arminjon, fondateur de Krousar Thmey était encore parmi vous pour une tournée de conférences en France et en Suisse, avec des villes nouvelles visitées (Bordeaux, Clermont-Ferrand et Orléans) ou d'autres comme Versailles où Krousar Thmey n'est plus tout à fait inconnue. Il a eu le plaisir de revoir de nombreux anciens volontaires qui se sont réinsérés dans une vie plus "normale" et, après un mois partagé entre la France et la Suisse, le revoilà dans ce Cambodge si attachant et pourtant si difficile… |
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Octobre 2000: début
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Deux formations de perfectionnement débutent, l'une s'intéressant particulièrement à l'électricité et la mécanique marine, l'autre au perfectionnement des techniques de pêche. Elles sont ouvertes aux anciens des 4 promotions précédentes et à quelques professionnels du port, et organisée en lien avec nos amis de Lorient en Bretagne. |
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Fin septembre 2000
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Comme pour beaucoup d'entre vous, et malgré la saison des pluies qui bat son plein, septembre est pour nombre d'enfants dont nous nous occupons synonyme de rentrée des classes. Les voitures ont été remplies des fournitures scolaires, uniformes, cartables et autres matériels nécessaires et les enfants reprennent peu à peu le chemin de l'école. |
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Septembre et ses pluies
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La saison des pluies, très virulente cette année ainsi que vous l'ont relaté les médias, a causé de nombreux dégâts aux cultures et infrastructures cambodgiennes. Si Phnom Penh, bien protégée derrière ses digues, est passée à deux doigts de l'inondation, nombreux sont les villages qui ont souffert de la montée des eaux. Il en va ainsi de Chabr Ampov, à quelques kilomètres à peine de Phnom Penh où notre école pour enfants aveugles et notre école pour enfants sourds ont été sévèrement endommagées par l'eau. La décrue est amorcée, mais la rentrée a du être reportée. Quelques centimètres de retrait encore et les coûteux travaux de réaffectation débuteront en même temps que la nouvelle année scolaire. Des aménagements provisoires permettront de mener travaux et enseignement de front. |
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Août 2000: 4 jeunes
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Cette année, sur 5 jeunes qui se présentaient au bac, 4 l'ont eu. Ils viennent rejoindre le groupe des étudiants Krousar Thmey qui est composé aujourd'hui de 9 personnes dont deux filles. C'est une grande joie pour nous et pour le Cambodge dont le taux d'analphabète serait de 67% selon les dernières enquêtes de l'UNICEF! |
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14 Mai 2000: Un dimanche
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Ce dimanche 14 mai 2000, Chham fait son apparition à la Casa, nom donné par tous aux bureaux de Krousar Thmey à Phnom Penh. Chham arrivait de Poïpet. Cela fait plaisir de le voir et de constater qu'après plusieurs années de collaboration il connaît bien son métier et qu'il n'y a plus à intervenir pour lui dire ce qu'il doit faire, mais d’un autre côté, tous ressentons un pincement au cœur en entendant les raisons qui l'amènent aujourd'hui… Chham, qui travaille avec nous depuis la création de Krousar Thmey, est notre coordinateur à Poïpet, ville à la frontière thaïlandaise. Depuis quelques années c'est lui qui coordonne la réception des enfants rapatriés des prisons de Bangkok, tente de les réinsérer dans leurs familles si celles-ci n'ont pas été complices dans le trafic vers la Thaïlande ou essaye de trouver une formule d’accueil dans l'un de nos centres. C'est lui aussi, qui, courageusement a fait arrêter plusieurs fois des trafiquants d'enfants, même quand inlassablement il savait que beaucoup d'entre eux seraient immédiatement relâchés contre un peu d'argent aux policiers. L'histoire de Noy, sa vie à Bangkok, l'arrestation et de la condamnation à 15 ans de prison de sa trafiquante sont parmi les premiers signes d'un certain impact de notre campagne contre la prostitution et le trafic d'enfants. Mais aujourd'hui, Chham est arrivé avec deux adorables petites filles, Noh et Théa. A 9 ans et 11 ans, les deux sœurs ont été vendues en Thaïlande pour la mendicité ou la prostitution, et c'est la police - autre signe de bon augure - qui nous les a confiées en demandant d'assurer leur réintégration. La trafiquante est quant à elle été arrêté. C’est motivant de constater que la police peut parfois faire son métier. C'est consternant d'apprendre peu après sa libération par les militaires. La trafiquante n'est pas pour autant tirée d'affaire. Elle est impliquée dans deux autres cas et nous oeuvrons avec le bureau du Comité International des Droits de l'Homme de Battambang pour la mettre hors d'état de nuire. Noh et Théa, qui ont échappé au pire, ont été momentanément placées dans notre centre de Chamkar Mon. |
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Lancement du chantier
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Début mai 2000, la situation s’étant quelque peu compliquée auparavant, la bonne nouvelle du don par le gouvernement cambodgien d'un terrain est enfin tombée. Dès le lendemain de l'autorisation officielle, nous étions à l'œuvre pour en construire les murs d'enceinte, puis les fondations des bâtiments de l'école. Depuis, 7 bâtiments sont en construction pour permettre une inauguration début janvier 2001. Idéalement située sur la route des temples d’Angkor, cette école accueillera des enfants sourds dans un premier temps et des enfants aveugles un peu plus tard. Une grande salle d'exposition attenante permettra de sensibiliser le public de passage (tant khmer qu'étranger) à la richesse du patrimoine culturel cambodgien mais aussi aux activités de Krousar Thmey au Cambodge, particulièrement en faveur des enfants sourds et aveugles. Cela permettra de faciliter l'intégration des handicapés dans la société pour poursuivre notre plan d'action en faveur de leur scolarisation. En effet, d'ici 5 à 10 ans, Krousar Thmey ouvrira des classes intégrées dans la plu part des provinces cambodgiennes. |
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Bon pratchum nheat:
la fête
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Les 1, 2 et 3 avril 2000 s'est déroulée la Fête de Famille Krousar Thmey: 800 enfants et 150 adultes ont fait le détour pour les 9 ans de Krousar Thmey. Pour ceux qui nous suivent depuis plusieurs années, vous le savez sans doute, les équipes cambodgiennes et les enfants de Krousar Thmey organisent désormais tous les deux ans une grande fête de famille. Réunissant tous les enfants pris en charge en permanence, les anciens et les équipes dans un même lieu (l'école pour enfants sourds de Chabr Ampov), cette fête est totalement organisée et financée par les équipes d’encadrement et les enfants cambodgiens. Ils ont ainsi réussi à collecter les moyens nécessaires, par exemple avec le produit de la rizière de Sisophon, des dons des autorités cambodgiennes, de commerçants, ou encore en trouvant des moyens de transports pour acheminer les enfants de tous les coins du pays. Avec les uns venant de Poïpet, de Sisophon, de Battambang, les autres de Siem Reap, Takmao, Phnom Penh ou encore Sihanoukville, nous étions plus de 950 pendant trois jours. Echanges sportifs, concours de karaoké, temps de réflexions, tous les moments qui privilégient les échanges entre les âges, afin de faire profiter au plus petits des expériences des plus grands, étaient au rendez-vous afin de créer une solidarité entre les jeunes, un véritable esprit de famille. A l’occasion de cette fête, nous avons lancé la première version d'un jeu de société khmer, jeu axé sur le développement des connaissances générales sur le Cambodge. Une version imprimée de ce jeu devrait sortir en janvier 2001. |
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Le 20 mars 2000: Remise
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Le 20 mars 2000 avait lieu à Kompong Saom (Sihanoukville) la remise des diplômes des vingt jeunes formés à la pêche. Le Commandant Alain Courau, aidé cette année par Philippe Derue, un marin-pêcheur de Concarneau embauché dans le cadre du développement de ce programme co-financé par le ministère français de la coopération, a organisé le stage pour des jeunes issus pour la plu part des rues de Phnom Penh. Après plusieurs mois d'enseignement alliant navigation, fabrication et réparation de filets, pêche, et quelques notions de mécanique et d'électricité, les uns et les autres s'insèrent dans le milieu local. La plu part d'entre eux a réussit à se faire embaucher sur les bateaux du port, pour la pêche à la crevette, la pêche au crabe et parfois même à la dynamite sur des bateaux thaïlandais. |
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