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March 2007 |
The Family Festival of Krousar Thmey : 6th Prachum Nheat in Kampong Cham On April 7th, 8th and 9th all the children under the care of Krousar Thmey, all the staff of the centers and the head office, etc. met together at the Kampong Cham school for deaf or blind children in order to celebrate the 6th Prachum Nheat. During this event which occurs every two year, the 17th anniversary of Krousar Thmey has been celebrated as well. In 2006, for the 15th anniversary, His Majesty the King opened the ceremony. This year, it was Mr Khiev Kanarith, Minister of the information who launched the festivities. « Prachum Nheat » in khmer means « Family Festival ». This festival aims at creating a family spirit between the children, the teenagers and the adults of Krousar Thmey. The goal is also to promote the work that the staff is accomplishing everyday. Some of them are working for Krousar Thmey since the beginning in 1991. And the result is here: the children are happy and their well being is striking. Many activities have been organized during these three days: a general knowledge contest, singing contest, drawing contest, poetry… The children from the Sihanoukville 2 family house won the general knowledge contest and they brought the trophy back with them (last year, the blind children from the school of Chbar Ampov who won the trophy). This trophy represents the queen Indradevi (Angkorian era). Indradevi embodies the intelligence and knowledge. But the children were rewarded with a computer as well. Children from the Siem Reap and the Takhmao protection centers completed the podium and were rewarded with digital cameras and other gifts. There was a very familial and good ambiance during these three day festival and children were very glad to be all together. In the evenings, the field and stage became a big place to dance and everybody moved to the rhythm of the music. More information and pictures of the event in PDF format (1363 KB)* Global Campaign for Education Last April 27th, the Global Campaign for Education took place in Phnom Penh. Le 27 avril 500 children, parents and teachers gathered at the Olympic Stadium. One young blind girl from the school of Chbar Ampov made a speech in front of the audience, saying that only education could help children, even handicapped, out of ignorance. In addition, our deaf dancers and blind musicians performed and the audience was really pleased. Many children, from the streets, part of a family, from ethnic minorities, jailed or handicapped do not have access to education. In Cambodia, only 84% of children aged 6 to 14 are in school (source from the Ministry of Education). One important goal of this day was to establish a strong feeling of solidarity between the countries and to promote Education for All in the countries where education which is a basic human right, is not yet acquired. The Global Campaign for Education follows the objective decided in 2000 in Dakar: 100% of children at school in 2015. IT training for our students and staff… Thanks to the support of ON NET, the Dr Wiraman, a Thai IT teacher for blind people, came to Cambodia to train three of our blind students and two people from the Braille workshop to new computer tools adapted to blindness. The training took place in April the 25th, 26th and 27th in the ABC Technology Center. ABC is one of our partners and the collapsing of the school of Chbar Ampov does not allow to receive this kind of training any more. Our communication officer and computer specialist, Mr Chetra Khiev took part in the three days training as well. The students have been initiated to new specific tools such as Pac-Mate or Braille Note, which would ease the way they take notes and the learning at University. This experience will be renewed in the future. |
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February 2007 |
Annual meeting of integrated classes From 22nd to 23rd February, all the integrated classes’ Directors and teachers gathered at the School for blind or deaf children in Siem Reap in order to do an assessment of the first semester. During this meeting, the accomplishments and also the obstacles encountered were mentioned in order to find together adapted solutions to remedy it. Moreover, new activities as well as strategies were also planned to improve the specialized education within the integrated classes in the remote areas. Improvement of the working condition of the blind masseurs On 10th February, Krousar Thmey signed a new agreement with De la Paix Hotel, one great hotel in Siem Reap, in order to improve the job conditions for our blind masseurs. Thanks to this new contract, their salary will increase from 9$ to 13.5$ per hour. Fund-raising for the Prachum Nheat (Big Family Festival) After having obtained agreement of the local authorities, all the Krousar Thmey’s staff is ready to conduct a campaign to collect the funds to organize the 6th Prachum Nheat, the family festival of Krousar Thmey which will take place from 7th to 9th of April. The companies, the public and private establishments, the institutions… are our target. The donations obtained will be much more important than in 2006 (the 5th Prachum Nheat) as the public recognition towards the Krousar Thmey’s activities increases gradually. |
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January 2007 |
Workshop on the right to education for persons with disabilities Mrs Cheam Kosal, The director of Krousar Thmey Cambodia, attended a workshop about the education for handicapped people and their integration within the society from January 16th to 18th. This seminar follows the Dakar Forum decision taken in 2000 about EFA (Education For All) by 2015. The meeting was organized by the UNESCO. ABC (Association for the Blind in Cambodia) supports Krousar Thmey’s sports activities At the end of January, representatives from the NGO ABC came to Krousar Thmey to give sports material for the blind children: sound soccer balls with little balls in it, ping pong rackets and sound ping pong balls. This adapted equipment reinforces the integration of handicapped children within the society and is a recognition of their abilities. Blind students moved to Chbar Ampov school for deaf The students from grade 7 to 12 of the Chbar Ampov School for blind moved on 28th January to the Chbar Ampov school for deaf due to a lack of space in the school for blind children. A building which is near the river bank has been taken apart because the river bank keeps on falling down. Thus, the students have to study in the classrooms of the building located on the other side of the land. The space is lacking and children are studying in an uncomfortable environment. The Chbar Ampov School for deaf lends 3 classrooms to the blind students so they can keep on studying until the new school opens its doors. |
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November 2007 |
End of mission for Melanie Lemaire For one year, Melanie Lemaire has been a volunteer in communication for Krousar Thmey Cambodia. Last 15th November, her contract ended. Her position will not be replaced as Cecile Vilnet finishes her contract at the end of May with Olivia Breu, finance controller. Concerning Anne Broggi, her contract as communication officer ends at the end of July 2008. Alexia and Celine, the volunteers who will replace Olivia and Cecile will arrive respectively at the beginning of January and at the end of February. 1 meter separates the Chbar Ampov school for blind children from the river Due to erosion, the school is on the verge of collapsing into the Tonle Bassac, a Mekong tributary. Hundreds of houses have already succumbed to the mudslide and thousands of people have lost their roofs. Filling in of the new plot More than 900 trucks have already filled in the new plot for the school for blind children in Phnom Penh Thmey. The construction of the buildings will begin when the ground has been be flattened. The opening of the school is foreseen for the next school year. This new school will welcome the blind children from the previous Chbar Ampov school. It will also enable more space to meet the increasing number of children registrating each year. Training of a teacher for deaf children in Singapore Thanks to our partnership with the NGO Enfants Sourds du Cambodge Boeur Chandara, a teacher for deaf children at the Chbar Ampov school spent 1 week in Singapore to attend a free of charge training in Siemens Medical Instruments (SMI). He has developed his abilities in the auditive domain, especially concerning the hearing aids: earmold making and hearing aid repair. The enthusiastic reception that he received from his french foster families as well as from his Siemens colleagues made him feel comfortable very quickly. Training of teachers for deaf children in Thaïland From the 11th to the 17th of November, 6 teachers for deaf children have participated in a training about the education system for deaf people. The Christoffel-Blindenmission association organised this training in Bangkok and covered all the fees related to the trip. Opening of a computer class for deaf children in Siem Reap At the beginning of November, 34 students including 10 girls from grade 4 to grade 6 are receiving a one hour science computer lesson in the Siem Reap school for blind or deaf children. Thanks to the support of La Voix De l’Enfant (VDE), 11 computers are at the children’s disposal, including 1 for the teacher. English lessons are also given to the children for them to use the software. |
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October 2007 |
International Teacher’s Day Last October the 5th, the entire world celebrated its teachers. Cambodia was not outdone, as a special event had been co-organized by the INE (National Institute of Education) and Aide et Action, one of our main partners. This International Day was created in 1994 by the UNESCO in order to raise people and Governments’ awareness of the major role the teachers play in their own country. Some children from the school for blind or deaf children of Chbar Ampov actively participated to this event. In fact, our young dancers and musicians opened the ceremony with traditional music tunes and the blessing dances. It was a great day which allowed us to understand the importance for disabled children to receive an education. Moreover, it helped to understand the importance of the teachers' role in their education. Mrs. Cheam Kosal attends a training in Sweden The director of Krousar Thmey, Mrs. Cheam Kosal attended training in Sweden from the 8th to the 11th of October 2007. This international training took place in Stockholm and was organized by the Swedish government and Save the Children Sweden. During this week, the trainees who were coming from different South East Asia countries tackled the issue of children in especially difficult conditions in order to find the most adapted solutions. Moreover, they started to establish a precise schedule for the next training which will be held in April 2008. Two other Cambodian people attended this training: one from the CCPCR (Cambodian Center for the Protection of Children’s Rights) and one from the Ministry of Social Affairs. What about our first blind graduate More than one year after getting their diploma, what about Vibot, Sothey and Sovannary, our first high school blind graduates? The three young men successfully finished their first year of university and reached the upper level at the beginning of the school year. In fact, Vibot and Sovannary are attending the second year of a degree in Khmer Literature and Sothey is now attending the second year of the first degree of English. Step by step, our three students are taking their independence and are becoming more autonomous in spite of their handicap. We hope they will get their diploma very soon. Pchum Ben, Cambodia celebrates its dead people Like most Buddhist countries, Cambodia celebrates dead persons. This religious celebration called Pchum Ben makes the dead people spirit free from hell. This year, it took place from the 12th to the 14th of October and it is very respected by Khmer people as it means a lot for them. On this occasion, many people go on holiday and see their family in their original province. All our centers and family houses followed the tradition as the educators and parents brought the children to the nearest pagodas to make offerings to the monks. Respecting the cult and the religion is also a traditional Khmer value which is passed on from generation to generation. |
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September 2007 |
Training for the deaf students Three months ago, Artisans d’Angkor took 20 of our deaf students from Siem Reap for training in silk painting. They are now working there on a trial-basis for three months. As they earn a minimum of $30 per month, Krousar Thmey does not accommodate them anymore. If all goes well, they will be hired permanently. Our graduates have chosen their path The 6 young people who graduated last month in the final exam have chosen what they would like to do in the future: Out of the 3 blind students from Chbar Ampov, 2 will be trained by Krousar Thmey to become teachers and the third one is joining the Royal University of Phnom Penh to study Khmer literature. As for the three sighted graduates, they are taking very different ways: - The girl from Takhmao protection centre has been offered financing for her catering studies at Pannasastra University by a dentist from the World Family Organization. He also wants to finance her lodging, transport and daily expenses. - The young man from Siem Reap protection centre has now left the centre to live with his wife. He is currently looking for a job. - As for the boy from the Kampong Cham I family house, he has just enrolled the Royal University of Law and Economics in Phnom Penh, choosing Economy and Computer Science as options. His parents from the family house finance his scholarship but he now lives with his uncle and family. Brand new T-shirts for the streets’ educators We now have new bright yellow T-shirts for our street educators. It will be easier to see them both during the day and night. Those T-shirts were financed by Mekong Espoir through Krousar Thmey France. |
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August 2007 |
Renewal of the agreement between Krousar Thmey and the Ministry of Social Affairs Agreements between NGOs and the Ministry of Social Affairs must be renewed every three years. On August the 9th, Mr. Benoît Duchâteau-Arminjon, Mrs. Cheam Kosal, Mr. Sok Phanna who is coordinator for the “Child Welfare” program and Mrs. Neang Phalla, coordinator for the “Educational Support” program went to the Ministry of Social Affairs to re-sign the agreement allowing Krousar Thmey to continue its actions towards deprived children. Nowadays, Krousar Thmey has 14 programs and 77 centres of activities in 12 provinces of the country. These programs allow the association to take more than 1,200 children in charge and to support 3,200 others. The mission ends for Marie-Noëlle Bergue, Isabelle Roy, Bopha de Lopez and Nicolas Anquetil Isabelle Roy, Marie-Noëlle Bergue and Bopha de Lopez, our three speech therapists left Cambodia after a successful mission. For just over a month, they had to evaluate the work done by our four schools for deaf children. The objective of their mission was also to pass on their technical and theoretical knowledge to the Cambodian speech therapists during the annual training of Chbar Ampov. The exchange turned out to be very rich and positive for both teams. A mission to carry on. Nicolas Anquetil also spent one month in Chbar Ampov. With the Sign Language Committee’s members, he created a digital Sign Language dictionary. He also trained some people who from now on can complete the dictionary. It is a big step forward and a new communication tool for all the deaf children and teachers too. Final exam’s results The final exam’s results for 2007 have at least been announced and they are rather encouraging. It’s a relief for our young candidates. This year, Krousar Thmey counted 6 new graduates. The 6 young people (3 blind from Chbar Ampov, 1 from Kampong Cham 1 family house, 1 from Siem Reap protection centre and 1 from Takmao protection centre) have now finished with secondary school and are ready to start university. They still have to choose their specialty. From August the 6th to the 8th, 58,983 candidates took part in the final exam in 115 centres. The national success rate is of 72.8% for this year, which represents a 5% drop compared to 2006. This drop is mainly attributed to an increase in security during the exams, so that the candidates could not cheat. The awareness campaign The awareness campaign aims to promote access to education for all blind or deaf children throughout Cambodia. In 2007, 10 performances are scheduled to make the population aware in 4 Cambodian provinces (Prey Veng, Svay Rieng, Battambang and Banteay Meanchey) This year, the provinces targeted are different from previous years. This can be explained by the opening of new integrated classes for blind or deaf children in Prey Veng and Svay Rieng provinces. However, the first performances will take place in Battambang and in the Banteay Manchey province because there already is a school for deaf and blind children in Battambang and because there has been requests from the population of Sisophon. In these two provinces, we make people aware of the opportunities to study for blind or deaf children in either Battambang or Siem Reap. |
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July 2007 |
Nicolas Anquetil and the sign language dictionary Teacher of drawing in a school for deaf children nearby Paris, Nicolas Anquetil is working for Krousar Thmey in Cambodia for 1 month and half in order to create a computerized dictionary of sign language in French and English. He is working in close collaboration with the sign language committee located at the Chbar Ampeov School. He also foresees to upload his work on the web to share his researches with other countries. The dictionary will comprise about 220 filmed signs corresponding to the first letter of the Khmer alphabet. 3 French speech-therapists in Cambodia Marie-Noëlle Bergue, Isabelle Roy (picture on the left) and Bopha de Lopez (picture on the right) are in Cambodia for a 2 months mission. They are here to help the Cambodian speech-therapists to improve their abilities by bringing them their knowledge and trying to solve the problems encountered when teaching to young deaf children. In August, They also will attend the meeting about the training of the deaf teachers which will be held at the Chbar Ampeov School. Certificate of general education success 2007 is really prosperous for the Chbar Ampeov school as the students who sat the certificate of general education at the beginning of July passed it all. 4 deaf students and 7 blind students could from now on continue their studies in secondary school for next school year. Moreover, 10 children from protection centers as well as from family houses have also succeeded in this exam. This is a big success for the association as its work related to education tends to be more and more recognized by the public authorities. Getting of the Salabay certificate After having followed a one year vocational training in hotel business and catering at Salabay, 4 young children including 1 girl from the Siem Reap protection center have got their certificate. They applied for a job to the hotels and restaurants of Siem Reap and thanks to the Salabay director’s support, we hope that they will soon find a job. Krousar Thmey still supports them for 3 more months and then, thanks to their salary they can stand on their own two feet. Cases of dengue In Cambodia, the health domain is still precarious. Most of the Cambodian population, above all the children, is hit each year by serious diseases such as dengue and tuberculosis…This year, lots of children living in the province and particularly the one from Siem Reap, are hit by dengue and some of them died from this illness. Some children from the Siem Reap protection center have been infected by dengue but they have been well treated and are now fit. The school for deaf and blind has nevertheless decided to close the school 2 weeks prior to the holidays to avoid a spread. A new building in Siem Reap After 7 months of construction, the new building in the Siem Reap school is ready to welcome the students. Financed by Krousar Thmey Switzerland, this new building composed of 6 classrooms will reduce the overloaded number of students per class and thus the children could study in better conditions next school year. Besides, the computer class will be installed in this building. Flooding in Poïpet From May to October, this is the rainy season in Cambodia; winds are blowing towards the Indian Ocean. Rain represents is a positive point for this agricultural country as thanks to it, farmers can cultivate the rice. Conversely, it is not in favor of the staff and the children from the Poïpet street children center. Last July, it has rained everyday in the area and this has led to the flooding of the center. The water evacuation system in the town does not function very well that is why the water can’t correctly drained out of the center. One of the important problems caused by this flooding is the spread of diseases such as scabies which infects most of the time the youngest children. |
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June 2007 |
A vocational training for the deaf children of Siem Reap Since 15th May 2007, 20 deaf students of Siem Reap School are attending a vocational training in painting on silk at "Artisans d'Angkor". Among them, 4 are in grade 7, 7 in grade 6, 3 in grade 5, 3 in grade 4 and the last one is in grade 3. All of them are aged between 17 and 22. During the first three months of the training, these students are paid 30$ per month. Then their salary will increase up to 80$ if they are recruited to work there. In addition, Krousar Thmey still offers them accommodation as well as meals until the end of the training. That is a great success for Krousar Thmey which allowed them to begin a real professional life. Sponsorised by Krousar Thmey France and the French High School of Singapore, 4 new motorbikes were bought on June 20th. It will facilitate the work on child protection field. These motorbikes will be distributed to Poipet, Siem Reap and Chamkamorn Street Children Center as well as Takhmao Children Protection Center to ease educator's work especially when they visit children in the street or outside cases. The first edition of the Capitalization After having worked more than one year with Aide and Action, Krousar Thmey has published the "Capitalization", a document which sums up 13 years of experiences in the field of special education for blind and deaf children in Cambodia. The creation of this document aims to increase Cambodian people's awareness on special education. It also allows Krousar Thmey to share these experiences with its local and international partners, especially the Ministry of Education, in order to develop inclusive education for these children. New materiel for the prevention campaign Financed by DED, 1000 new T-shirts and caps with the logo of the prevention against child trafficking were printed on the first week of June in order to facilitate the prevention campaign against this blight. The logo is composed of a white dove, representing the peace, and protecting a group of children. It means that all the children have the right to live peacefully without being raped, beaten or forced to do what they do not want to. A message "We are against child trafficking. And you?" is also written above this picture. It aims to encourage citizens to cooperate together in order to fight against child trafficking. Hundreds of T-shirts and caps have already been distributed to the people during the performances. We hope that thanks to this new materiel, Cambodian people will understand child trafficking in order to lead a struggle against this disaster. |
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May 2007 |
Arrival of hearing aids' specialists Thanks to the cooperation with "Enfants Sourds du Cambodge", the hearing aids' specialists come twice a year to Cambodia in order to conduct a medical check up for all the deaf students of Krousar Thmey. This year, the team arrived in Cambodia on 21st May to carry out their mission for around 20 days in Krousar Thmey, and the next mission will be in October. During each visit, they examine the new deaf students of each school of Krousar Thmey, and also bring the hearing aid for the deaf students who were examined during their previous visit. Until now, more than 300 deaf students of Krousar Thmey were equipped with hearing aids, and thus can get auditive and speech therapy education. National workshop for improving special education Ms NEANG Phalla, Director of the school for blind children in Chbar Ampeov, was invited to join a 3 days national workshop from 08 to 10 May. Organized by the Ministry of Education in collaboration with UNICEF, this workshop aims to create a national policy to develop the special educational system for the blind and deaf children in Cambodia. The principal goal of this policy is to insert the Braille and Sign language's study into all of the pedagogical school in Cambodia, the place where the teachers are trained. In the future, if this policy happens, the integration of the blind and deaf children into public school will be easier as the teacher will be able to understand the Braille and Sign language better. A girl from Prek Kat Family House found her future Sok Mom, a girl of 18 from Prek Kat family house (in Kandal province), got married on 6th May 2007 after having stayed for 8 years in this house. Before arriving here, she used to be a beggar in Thailand and was then sent to the Street Children center by IOM (International Organization for Migration) in 1999. Nowadays, she lives with her husband who works in military base of the Prime Minister. Mom will finish her baccalaureate in 3 months and after that, she will attend a vocational training of air-conditioner reparation at a public Institution collaborating with Krousar Thmey. It looks strange that a girl learns this course, but according to the Director of this Institute, they now want to promote girls to work in this field. Therefore, he wants her to attend this training because it will be very easy for her to find a job when she finishes her studies. For this, Krousar Thmey continues to support her 30$ per month for a period of 6 months. This is a big success of Krousar Thmey that can help her to leave the traumatic life in the street and to find her bright future. On behalf of all of Krousar Thmey, we wish them happiness in their whole life. Deluge in Poïpet During the last two weeks of this month, Cambodia was influenced by a small cyclone coming from the China Sea, which caused heavy rain in a big part of the country. Banteay Meanchey province, which is located in the North-West of the country, was the most affected region, and thus was subjected to big depressions of this province. This caused a lot of problems for the Krousar Thmey's centers in Poipet: - The street children center: Being the lowest level in comparison with the neighbors, this center was very flooded, which disturbed a lot of work in the center. Moreover, because of this flood, the majority of the children were affected by the dermatological disease. - The primary school of Prum Nimith: Built by Krousar Thmey for the poor children in this region, this school was also flooded, and thus was closed for two weeks. This closing down caused the children to lose two weeks of their course. According to the director, next year, the school will fill the land, and so the problem caused by the flood will be overcome. To reduce the school's charge, Krousar Thmey will also contribute to this action. - The Children protection center: Located higher, this center could escape from this phenomenon. On the other hand, its paddy field, which gives every year a reasonable quantity of the rice to feed the children in the center, was gravely hit by this flood. If the rain continues without stopping, the rice growing of this center will be worse, and therefore, Krousar Thmey will spend a lot of money to buy the rice for the children of the center. |
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April 2007 |
Health check-up The doctor Sylvie Bédat came with her daughter Camille from Krousar Thmey Switzerland from the 5th to the 19th of April. She saw all the children from the protection centers and family houses and also checked up a few children from the street children centers. Despite a lack of follow-up, the hygienic situation of the children is much better than before (individual booklets, vaccinations, ears and teeth hygiene…). Global Campaign for Education On the 26th of April, the Global Campaign for Education took place in Phnom Penh, this year the theme was: « Education is a basic human right ». 1,500 children, parents and teachers attended at the National Institute for Education with the participation of the Minister of Education, Youth and Sports: His Excellency Im Sethy. A blind girl from Krousar Thmey made a speech in front of everyone saying that only education could help children, even handicapped, out of ignorance. Many children, from the streets, part of a family, from ethnic minorities, jailed or handicapped do not have access to education. In Cambodia, only 84% of children aged 6 to 14 are in school (source from the Ministry of Education). The Global Campaign for Education follows the objective decided in 2000 in Dakar: 100% of children at school in 2015. |
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March 2007 |
Drawing contest On 24th March 2007, the drawing contest "My planet, my home" was organized for the children by the Ministry of Environment in Mith Samlanh. 50 children from 7 to 15 participated and came from 4 NGOs: Mith Samlanh, Krousar Thmey, Hagar and Ccasva. This competition's objective is to increase children's awareness on environment issues but also to encourage the population to take measures towards its protection. After 3 hours of drawing and 1 hour of judging, the results were announced. In 3rd place: a 10 year-old girl from Krousar Thmey School for deaf children of Chbar Ampeou. A boy from Mith Samlanh arrived ahead of her. As for the first one, a 17 year-old boy, Sam Aun also comes from Chbar Ampeou School for deaf children. This means that despite his disability, he can participate in various activities in the society and moreover win the first prize in such a contest. Finally, to reward the winners, the first received 200$, the second 175$ and 150$ for the third one. Knowledge competition for Krousar Thmey deaf children Thanks to more than 10 years of experience on deaf children's education, Krousar Thmey underlines that most of these children have difficulties to learn Khmer literature. This is why, on March the 19th, a Khmer literature knowledge competition was organized for deaf children of grades 3 and 4 in Chbar Ampeou School. Each school had short listed the three best pupils of grades 3 and 4. 12 pupils from each of those grades participated in this contest for half a day. A few days later, the results were displayed. For grade 3, Kampong Cham School came first, followed by Siem Reap School in both 2nd and 3rd places. Regarding grade 4, the 1st and 2nd places were won by Siem Reap School, followed by Kampong Cham. The winners were rewarded by school equipment such as books, schoolbags.to encourage them to study. The main objective of this contest was not only to know the best pupil of Krousar Thmey but also to find out the problems encountered by the children concerning the study of Khmer literature. Those problems will then be discussed during the deaf teachers' training, which will take place from April the 5th to the 10th in Siem Reap School for deaf, in order to find adequate solutions. The new building in Chbar Ampeou deaf school Krousar Thmey Switzerland accepted our request to build a new 3-storey building as well 10 shower rooms at the school for deaf children in Chbar Ampeou. Firstly, the land filling has to be done for the land level to be higher than the water level during the rainy season. Then we will build a high wall in order to protect the plot from water erosion and finally, we will build the new building and the shower rooms for the children. As soon as the construction will be finished, the school for deaf children of Chbar Ampeou will have enough classrooms for all the pupils. The new IT class for blind children After the IT classes for blind children in Chbar Ampeou and Battambang; blind children from Kampong Cham will also have the opportunity to have IT lessons. Still financed by ON-NET, this class is reserved to pupils from grade 3. It will be a total of 38 pupils from grades 3 to 5 who will be able to follow the lessons as soon as May. Thanks to our lengthy experience in this domain, it seems that the functioning of this new class goes smoothly in the school. 10 computers have already been installed and connected to the network in a classroom of the new building. The software "Screen Reader", which allows to pronounce in Khmer what it displayed on the screen, has already been created and the teacher is also able to start lessons following an IT training in Thailand. At the same time, 5 new computers were distributed to Battambang School for blind children to answer the needs of the school. |
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February 2007 |
Outcome of the first semester of the integrated classes The directors and the teachers of the integrated classes gathered from 23rd till 24th February at the School of Deaf and Blind children in Battambang in order to do an assessment of the first semester. The chief of the Specialized Education Department and the general director of Krousar Thmey were also present. During this meeting, the teachers mentioned about the problems encountered in their work, for example the students are quite poor, and thus abandoned the school easily. There is not any involvement from the parents. Moreover, the knowledge of the teachers on the Braille and Sign languages is limited. The directors and the teachers suggest to the Ministry of Education to find adequate solutions. On behalf of the Ministry of Education, Mr Gneat Saroeun, chief of the Specialized Education Department, answered some important points: (1) the human resources development, (2) the salary for the specialized classes' teachers, (3) inform the families having deaf or blind children, (4) offer scholarship to handicapped children... etc. After the meeting, the teachers also attended a training course in order to improve their knowledge on Braille and Sign languages. New teachers in Battambang school In the previous letter, you learnt about 8 deaf students becoming teachers. Now, the 2 new deaf teachers of Battambang confide their first impressions to us: HONG Lekhena and YORK Sochea both wanted to teach deaf children as they estimate very important to communicate with Sign languages at an early age. They teach Grade 1 and their main difficulty is the lack of concentration of the children. That is why, Socheat prefers telling them stories and play games with them as well. The children have different levels, and thus, it is sometimes difficult to manage, said Lakhena. However, they wish to work with the children of Krousar Thmey as long as possible. We wish them all the best! |
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January 2007 |
A new building at Siem Reap School for blind and deaf children The construction started early December and will be completed at the end of March 2007. The building is at the front of the existing school and will welcome six new classrooms. 8 deaf pupils become teachers Four ex-pupils of Chbar Ampeov school for deaf children, two pupils from Siem Reap school and two from Battambang school become teachers, after a six-month training course in Chbar Ampeov. They will teach in their respective school from February the 1st 2007. Two of the new teachers will be art teachers while the others will be primary teachers. Capacity building training From January the 8th to the 12th, 25 Khmer staff (directors and their assistants from each protection centre, street children centre and schools) attended a five-day training course aiming at improving their managerial skills. The objectives of this course are to allow managerial staff to have a better understanding of their roles and responsibilities within Krousar Thmey and to learn how to be more effective in decision-making. They were also told how to handle their time and workload more efficiently. The capacity building training will carry on during the year 2007. New software for blind children Khmer Screen Reader, special software intented for blind people, is able to pronounce the words typed in Khmer. It can also read entire texts. Moreover, this software can convert a text in Khmer into Braille and vice-versa. It's also able the use of a Braille printer too. Khmer Screen Reader was conceived with the financial help of the British Embassy of Cambodia. The making process started in October 2006 and will end mid-February; a trial version is already out and is actually being corrected by the IT class pupils of Chbar Ampeov as well as by Chetra in the communication team. Some problems have been observed and the final version will be ready very soon to enable blind children and the Braille workshop team to use it. Traditional dance performances Pupils from the Sisophon School of Khmer Arts and Culture were invited to perform at the international exhibition Angkor-Gyeongju in Siem Reap. They danced twice in front of the State Secretary of the Ministry of Culture and of thousands of visitors. |
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December 2006 |
Land erosion The Mekong, one of the biggest rivers in the world that has its source in the Tibet plateau and across 6 countries of Asia, brings a lot of fertile soil and deposes this soil in the delta in the South Vietnam. However, it also erodes a lot of land close to its bank. This is the case of the Krousar Thmey School for blind children at Chbar Ampeov. Before, this school was 400 meters away from the Mekong. Each year, this land was gradually shortened due to erosion and now there is only 15 meters of land between the river and school. We can predict that in 2 or 3 year this school will collapse by the strong erosion of this river. Krousar Thmey has contacted the government in order to demand another land to construct another school. This year, the Ministry of social work promised to find a reasonable land in Phnom Penh for Krousar Thmey. To be continued... Psychology training course From 11th to 13th December 2006, at the Takmao protection center, a training course on psychology, sponsored by DED, was organized for Krousar Thmey staff. The objective of this course was to improve the ability of staff working within the "child welfare" program to deal with psychologically affected children. 35 Khmer staff (directors and educators from Protection Centers, Street Children Centers and Schools and mothers from Family Houses) participated in this three-day course. The purpose of the training was to enable staff to cope with different situations, to learn how to distinguish a highly traumatized child with a risk of mental illness by observing him in every day situations and to find strategies to make children talk. It is time for harvest The rainy season is completely finished. The monsoon wind has started blowing from Siberia. It is a cool season in Cambodia. The paddy fields are colored in golden colors. It is a color of ripe rice. This signifies that it is time for harvest. Farmers are very happy to harvest their rice in the field. It is the same as the staff and the children in Sisophon children protection center. At the moment, they have gathered half of their field, because the rest is not ripe yet. This year, the harvest is not as good as last year due to the flood which hit a big part of Northeast in Cambodia in 2006. After harvesting, they will sell the rice and the income will go towards the cost of the center. The cook book’s launching Nathalie Famiez, a French woman from Singapore, has created a cookbook, whose illustrations have been produced by Samith, the drawing teacher of Art school and also a painter of this book. In 19th December in the morning, he went to Singapore for 3 days to participate in the launching of this book. This book cost 25$ and all profits will go to Krousar Thmey. Dance competition of Krousar Thmey children at cultural exposition in Siem Reap Last month, we saw that the children of Siem Reap protection center and Khmer Art School of Sisophon had had the great opportunity to participate in the dance competition during the World cultural exhibition Angkor-Gyeongju 2006 if they passed the first selection done by Ministry of Culture. Now, the result is announced and the student of Khmer Art School in Sisophon can participate in this competition which will take place on 3rd January 2007 with around ten groups coming from different provinces of Cambodia. Unfortunately, the children of Siem reap protection center have not been selected as they are too young. |
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November 2006 |
Construction a new building After having waited for many months the permission from Siem Reap local authorities, we can now start the construction of the new building for the deaf children’s school in Siem Reap. Since the last week of November, we laid out the land nest to the school’s front door in order to construct a one floor building made of 6 classrooms. Apart from this building, Krousar Thmey will also build 6 toilets and 4 bathrooms for the pupils. At the next school year, these buildings will fulfill the students’ needs in this school. Creation of the “Screen Reader” for the blind students From now on, the blind student of Krousar Thmey can follow more easily the Informatics course than before, thanks to the creation of the “Screen Reader” program, sponsored by the British Embassy. Organized by Limon group since mid November, this program is able to pronounce in Khmer language when they type on the keyboard (different to Jaws program which can only pronounce in English) and also to transform the text into Braille. So the student can immediately understand what they are doing. The meeting of TDH Germany’s partner Mr. Phanna, Director of the street children center of Chamkamorn, and Mrs Pou Vanny, Director of the Khmer Art School at Sisophon, participated in a seminar, sponsored by TDH Germany, with their colleagues from 10 other NGOs partners. Organized at Rattanakiri, North-East province of Cambodia, this seminar lasted 3 days from 20th to 23rd November 2006 and aim to present the objectives’ accomplishment during 2006, to exchange experiences and also to plan the objectives for 2007. Dance competition of Krousar Thmey children at cultural exposition in Siem Reap This year, Cambodia, with the cooperation of the Korean Republic organize a World cultural exposition Angkor-Gyeongju 2006 in Siem Reap lasting 50 days, from November 21st 2006 till January 9th 2007. This exposition aims to present the cultures of about 20 countries in Asia. One of the programs in this exposition is a traditional dance competition which will take place on 20th December. Krousar Thmey’s children in Siem Reap and in the school for Khmer Art and Culture in Sisophon will have the opportunity to participate in this competition if they pass the first selection conducted by the Ministry of Culture at the beginning of December. They are now rehearsing and we hope they can pass the first selection and will have a good result for the competition in Siem Reap. The water festival Each year, the water festival, one of the important national Ceremonies of Cambodia celebrated on the 14th, 15th of croissant moon and 1st of waning moon of “Kadoek”, the 11th month of lunar calendar. This year, this ceremony fell on November 4th, 5th and 6th. We celebrate this occasion at the end of the rainy season, marked by the reverse current of the Tonle Sap River. In fact, this ceremony represents the victory of Khmer soldiers on the Cham soldiers during the Angkorian period. Boat’s competitions from the different provinces, fireworks, parade boats... were organized during this ceremony. The 53rd anniversary of Independence November 9th 1953 marked the most important event in Cambodia because this little country could declare Independence from France, before any other country in Indochina. This year, King Norodom Sihamoni lighted “the Victory Candle” in order to celebrate this ceremony, which marked the 53rd anniversary of the crusade of his father Norodom Sihanouk in 1953. The yellow booklets of the father-king titled “The total independence of Cambodia is not due to the Geneva International Conference in 1954” were distributed to participants. Surrounded by the highest executives of the country and also the Ambassadors, the King freed doves symbolizing Peace. He blew out the candle 2 days later. |
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October 2006 |
Ouverture des 2 maisons familiales de Battambang Début octobre, la maison familiale de Battambang 1 a ouvert ses portes pour accueillir la nouvelle famille, composée de deux parents (la famille Pol) et 6 enfants (5 de Krousar Thmey et 1 enfant biologique des parents). Trois autres ont rejoint leur famille mi octobre. Deux d'entre eux sont frères, 8 et 6 ans. Leur père est mort du Sida et leur mère est séropositive. Krousar Thmey a donc décider de prendre en charge ces enfants. La maison nº 2 qui marque la 11éme maison familiale de Krousar Thmey à été mise en place vers la fin de mois d'octobre. Pour le moment, seulement 4 enfants partagent le toit de cette grande maison toute neuve avec leurs nouveaux parents et leurs 2 petits frères. Trois enfants viennent du centre de protection de Sisophon qui en prenait soin depuis pas très long temps. Leur mère, qui ne pouvait plus les nourrir convenablement, a voulu les confier à de différents familles vivant autour de marché de Sisophon. Un moto-taxi (motodop), conscient de l'activité du centre de Sisophon, les a récupés et les a emmenés toute de suite au centre pour que ces petits puissent vivre ensemble. Heureusement, la nouvelle maison a été ouvert et suit la même philosophie: « Prendre en charge des enfants orphelins, très jeunes, très traumatisés...; stabiliser les enfants sur le long terme et créer une véritable famille. » Les enfants sourds s'attachent à la nouvelle technologie La première classe informatique a été ouverte mi-octobre à l'école pour enfants sourd de Chba Ampoeuv à Phnom Penh. Cette classe permet aux enfants sourds du niveau 7 à 10 d'avoir des notions de base en informatique à raison de 2 heures de cours par semaine. Aujourd'hui, 11 enfants sourds de l'école de Chba Ampeou sont en grade 9, l'équivalent
en France de la troisième. Si le brevet les attend à la fin de l'année, le Peu de formations existent actuellement pour les personnes sourdes, beaucoup sont devenus artisans. Comme, par exemple, la formation de peinture sur soie. D'autres horizons doivent pouvoir s'ouvrir et l'informatique est un moyen d'y parvenir. Cette ouverture est d'autant plus importante pour ceux qui souhaitent continuer leurs études après le bac. Avec l'informatique, on accède également à internet et à des ressources documentaires inépuisables tant sur le plan scolaire que personnel. C'est d'autant plus important dans un pays où les livres et les bibliothèques sont encore rares. |
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September 2006 |
The return of Krousar Thmey's delegates to Phnom Penh... Three Krousar Thmey staff arrived, on 18th September a.m, at the International Airport of Phnom Penh after having traveled for 15 days in France and Switzerland. There they participated first at all in the 15th anniversary of Krousar Thmey celebration where they met the staff and the former volunteers of Krousar Thmey France. Then, they visited a school for deaf and blind children as well as a reception center for homeless people in Paris. In Switzerland, they visited Krousar Thmey Switzerland's office, the Swiss Red Cross and the UN head office in Geneva. Furthermore, on their returning to Paris, they visited the Versailles Castle, the Eiffel Tower, Montmartre, Notre Dame Cathedral and other sights in Paris. After around 18 hours in the airplane, they looked tired but were very happy with their travel. High school diploma for Krousar Thmey students Seven young adults from the Krousar Thmey of which 3 low visions have succeeded their high school diploma, announced on 2nd September. Theses low vision students studied at the school for blind children at Chbar Ampeov. Krousar Thmey has asked the Ministry of National Education for a scholarship so that they can pursue their studies in Khmer literature at the Royal University of Phnom Penh. For the others, they all come from Siosphon: PHON Heang from the child protection center; and CHHORN Sokleng, SENG Chan and CHIM bunny from the Art School. For Heang, he wishes to continue his studies in mathematics at the Royal University of Phnom Penh and become a math teacher because he would like to teach the children in Sisophon especially the one from our center. Sokleng wants to study Tourism and Hotel Management in a private university in Phnom Penh, and Chan also wants to study in the capital but in Agro-development at the Royal University of Agriculture. The last one, Bunny prefers studying in the Provincial Pedagogy School in Battambang to become a teacher at secondary school in Sisophon. |
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August 2006 |
2 family houses in Battambang comes into the world The construction of the 2 family houses in Battambang is coming to an end.. In house 1, we need to build the fence, to clean the land and to install the electricity. House 2 only needs electricity. Mr. Sok Phana, coordinator of child welfare program, interviewed several couples who had applied to work as foster parents in the houses. He selected 2 couples who had a strong commitment in working with children. For house 1, the Pol family will be in charge of children. They have a 6 year-old boy. Mr. Pol is a teacher at a Battambang school and an educator in village working on child and development program. His wife is ex-instructor at kindergarten and now tailors. The Dang family will look after the children in house 2. They have 2 children. The father works for a garment factory and the mother is also tailor. The future parents for the family houses are now on training at the Chamka Morn Street Children Center in Phnom Penh. Sok Phana is very glad of their motivation and dynamism. These families will follow a two-day practice at Kpop Veng family house situated south-east Phnom Penh. The children recruitment is in process. The children selected are usually quite traumatized (orphans, victim of traffic or violent,...) The coordinator chooses 6 children (four of them come from the Sisophon Center and 2 from Poipet. They will live in family house nº 1 in September. Training on the basics of low vision 42 teachers and directors from the special schools participated in a one-week training on the basics of low vision. It was held in the school for blind children in Phnom Penh. Its objective was to guide and help teachers to prepare low vision children in our school with an appropriate education that emphasizes use of vision. The trainees learned about the role and importance of a low vision services and the role of different professionals and family members in education and rehabilitation. The trainees discussed low vision and its practical implications for educational and rehabilitation work. They learn about how a person with low vision sees, the elements of vision and basic visual skills. At the end, they study how to keep records of data on vision, use of vision and progress of each child. Ms. Chinda, a teacher from Battambang, said that after this training she learned new things on eyes illnesses especially on low vision. She added that this will help her to adapt her class for low vision student in her school in Battambang. |
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July 2006 |
Sonia PLAGNARD's mission Sonia PLAGNARD, nurse, undertook a one month mission at Krousar Thmey. She put into place a health booklet for each child in all Krousar Thmey centers. She also checked up these children's overall health, performed dental prevention sessions and contacted all the vaccination centers in each province to ensure the follow-up of the children. A simple examination such as evaluate weight, size, skin, mouth, ears and psychological situation was done on 461 children. Lak Long had a heart operation Lak Long is 14 years old. He lives in the Street Children Center in Siem Reap. He had a serious cardiac insufficiency and an operation was necessary to change his mitral valve. The child was thus brought in Phnom Penh. The operation took place on July 18th at the cardiology center of the Calmette hospital. "La Chaine de l'espoir", a Cambodian association, paid his operation. Now Lak Long is still in hospital in the children pavilion. He will go back to Siem Reap next week. First three blind students will sit in national exam for the first time ever in Cambodia Next August, three blind students will sit in the national baccalaureate exam. They are three so the most important adults in the History of blind people in Cambodia, and they are self-confident and quite optimism of their results because they worked hard together. If they pass this exam, they will go to university. Vibot, 24 years old, wants to continue to study Law. Sothey, also 24 years old, is interested in English language and Sovannary wants to study Khmer literature. They studied at Krousar Thmey school since it opened in 1994. Sothey is very glad to see the development of the school and the increase in number of students coming to this school every year. In his opinion, one the biggest success of Krousar Thmey is the inclusive system that led the blind children to integrate society. Vibot is proud of studying with the so-called "normal children" because he can show everyone that he is as competent as sighted children. Sovannary shared this idea and added that each individual has the right to access education. |
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April 2006 |
15th anniversary of Krousar thmey, family festival (Prachum Nheat) Krousar Thmey celebrated its 15th anniversary and the 5th “Prachum Nheat” on 6, 7, 8 April in Kampong Cham under the patronage of the His Majesty King Norodom Sihanomi. More than 1500 people (1354 children) participated in the Festival on the ground in front of Kampong Cham School for blind and deaf children. This Family Festival is organized every 2 years. Its goal is to enforce the relation between children of Krousar Thmey and between staff and to thank them for their hard work for the children of Krousar Thmey. General knowledge, song and poem contest were organized during this festival. The Chba Ampoeu School for blind children won all the competition. The general knowledge contest cup is represented by the statue of Queen Indradévi of Angkor. She is the symbol of intelligence and knowledge. This cup travels from one centre to another. In 2002, Sisophon Proection Center was the winner and kept the cup in the center. Two years later, the Battambang School for blind children brought this cup to school. In two year, who will be the winner? Will the Chba Ampoeu School be able to defend this cup? The audience during the competition was surprised that the Street Children Center of Psar Depot won the second prize because the children live in center for a short time and most of them study at the low levels. The third place was attributed to the Protection Center in Siem Reap. Article published in the newspaper Cambodge Soir (11 April 2006) available only in French and in PDF format (305 KB)* |
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February 2006 |
Two new family houses in Battambang Two new family houses started to be built at the end of the February. The house number1 is situated at about 500 meter from the blind and deaf school. The house number 2 is about 3 Km south of Battambang. Parents meeting The parents of all 9 family houses, gathered at Chamka Morn street children centrer in order to share their experiences. During this meeting, the parents presented the activities reports of each house and explained also the attitude of the children and their studies. In addition, they raise the difficulties they have met. New water filter Four schools for blind or deaf children have installed the new water filter. This filter can produce enough drinking water for daily use in the school. The staffs from each school were trained on how to use the filter by organization Haga for 3 days in the Kampong Thom province. Integrated class's teachers meeting Sixty directors and teachers from integrated classes participated at the meeting held on 14th and 15th of February. The goal of this meeting was to evaluate the level of education for handicap children and to solve problems which arose in first semester. Grade 2 of English Braille training All English teachers of English were trained on English Braille Grade II on 21, 22, 23 February with Mr Bun Mao, the director of Association Blind Cambodia. This form of English Braille is a shortcut version of the normal Braille in which each cluster represents a letter of the alphabet. |
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January 2006 |
A miracle occurred in the Family house of Siem Reap 2 Khun Chinda has met her cousin at her school by chance after several year of separation. Chinda is an orphan who used to live in the street of Poipet. She was saved by the Street Children Centre of Poipet in 2001 and was later sent to the Family house of Siem Reap 2. Her cousin and she are friends since one year but they did not know that they were relatives. Chinda visited her cousin family and her aunt asked her story and then discovered that she was her niece. The lady has gone to see the parents of the family house of Siem Reap 2 and asked if she could take her niece back. Mr. Phana, coordinator of the Street Children Program, will prepare the documents proving that the lady will take care well of her niece. Internet connection in Chba Ampeou’s School for blind children Internet connection in the computer room at Chba Apeou’s school for blind people has been installed. Internet will help the children to improve their knowledge and allow the children to discover the world. Sisophon’s protection center has harvested since beginning of January Protection center of Sisophon began harvesting since early January. But this year, the rainy season finished so late that the water still fills the fields. It is difficult to transport the rice to the road so they had to build a temporary stock place in the field. We expect that the rice would not be damaged too much by the water. Education for deaf people expert CBM (Christian blind Mission) agreed to pay for the experts in education for deaf children. On Frebruary 15, a group of experts will visit the Krousar Thmey schools for deaf children in the prospect of a possible future cooperation with Krousar Thmey. The dance teacher resigned One new dance teacher resigned in December because she had to move to Siem Reap for the personal reasons. Srey Ann, another dance teacher must now carry out all dance lessons alone. It is difficult to find the teacher who knows as many dances as the former teacher and who can sing. Last time, it took several months to find a good teacher in Siem Reap. |
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