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January 2011 |
The visit of the Prime Minister to Phnom Penh Thmey School for deaf and blind children On January 6th Samdach Hun Sen, the Prime Minister of Cambodia, accompanied by his wife Lok Chomteav Bandet Bun Rany Hun Sen, who is the President of Cambodian Red Cross, and other key people within the government ranks visited the Phnom Penh Thmey school for deaf and blind children. The Prime Minister has provided his faithful support to Krousar Thmey for many years. Thus, he wanted to visit Phnom Penh Thmey to discover the new school and to find out the current developments in special education. The Prime Minister and his wife offered the students a hearty lunch. Being concerned with deprived children and disability issues, he also offered to contribute to the Krousar Thmey program and to support the schools. After the discussion with Mrs Neang Phalla and Mr. Hang Kimchhorn, the directors of the Phnom Penh Thmey school for the deaf and blind and the Chbar Ampov school for the deaf, the Prime Minister decided to increase his donation to these two schools to meet their needs. Furthermore, the Prime Minister also discussed the process of including an Officer of Krousar Thmey in government-related ministries. Before lunch and his departure, the Prime Minister and his wife gave Krousar Thmey's staff and children gifts and had some pictures taken with them. This event is a sign of a manifest involvement from the country’s highest authorities in special education and Krousar Thmey’s activities. Khmer Sign Language Dictionary After two years of work, the first volume of Khmer Sign language Dictionary was finally completed being compiled and is ready to be printed in February 2011. Thanks to the donor CBM and the hard work of Madam Kong Kanitha, a partner of the government and Mr. Hang Kimchhorn, the deaf education coordinator of Krousar Thmey, many meetings within the working group were conducted during the project period to systematically improve and correct the meaning as well as the signs drawn regarding Khmer grammar. By the end of January 2011, 540 pages of sign language, which equal 2,502 signs, were compiled into the first Khmer sign language dictionary. This achievement will be very useful for teachers, students, parents and other people who are interested understanding Khmer sign language better. This will foster better communication between deaf and non-deaf people. Although the compilation of the first volume of Khmer sign language dictionary was finished, it only lists entries from the first Khmer letter up to the eleventh letter, so a second volume of the Khmer sign language dictionary is needed to be compiled to ensure a complete dictionary. Making it roll in Siem Reap Since the beginning of January, the children of the Permanent Protection Centre in Siem Reap have been looking at their bicycles differently. After conducting inquiries into the children’s wishes and their availability, Krousar Thmey agreed to welcome Bruno, a French mechanical engineer, who came to offer us his time for a mission to train the children in mechanics. With the roads around the centre being in poor condition, the children often come back from school wheeling their broken bicycle. Screwdrivers and wrenches in hands, they will all soon be able to fix their flat tyres, test their brakes and understand everything about ball bearings...Their bicycle shall no longer hold any secrets from them. By the end of the training in March, each child will be responsible for taking care of their 2 wheels. Apart from allowing Krousar Thmey to save some repair costs, to make the children more responsible, this training aims to open the children's minds and to encourage them to consider a technical field which is often badly perceived but which offers many vocational opportunities. “Seeing in the Dark” Krousar Thmey is currently organising many events for the celebration of its 20th anniversary in April. The latest one, entitled “School in the Dark”, is absolutely new to Krousar Thmey and to Cambodia. The idea is to invite participants to a light-free environment and asking them to participate to various activities in the dark in order to advocate the everyday reality faced by the blind. Far from pretending to recreate the handicap in a 10 minute experiment, the objective is to simulate the environment of blindness. Already conducted in India and Bangladesh, the project will encourage the country’s authorities to step up to the challenge of special education even more. Krousar Thmey also intends to seize this opportunity for staff training, advocacy among the families that include blind children, and even fundraising too. VIPs among the representatives of the national authorities, members of the pedagogical teams, and relatives of the blind children studying at Krousar Thmey and potential donors are all invited to participate. This is all in preparation at the moment, more details about this project will come soon. |
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December 2010 |
Although we reported several setbacks in our quest for funding last quarter, the end of the year has brought good news, particularly concerning the success of online donations in France. Krousar Thmey now plans to introduce this service in Switzerland very soon, and has received favourable and encouraging responses to other proposals for the future. On this positive note, 2010 comes to a close. Once again, we thank you for your support of Krousar Thmey, and we wish you the very best for 2011! Drawings for a united world from all around the world Children from Krousar Thmey's three temporary welcome centres are currently busy with their pencils participating in a project launched by NGO Children's Drawings. The aim is to collect drawings from children all over the world to support the participating organisations in their quest for funding. How? Through a book featuring the best of the drawings alongside presentations describing the political situation in each country. The children have been asked to draw their country, and their efforts are producing drawings that are quite revealing. Some drawings have been completed already and are displayed on the NGO's website at www.childrendrawings.org. NGO Deaf Children of Cambodia in action Deaf Children of Cambodia wrapped up its 19th mission to Krousar Thmey's schools demonstrating the teamwork, enthusiasm and effectiveness for which the specialised NGO is known. Team members saw nearly 500 deaf or hearing impaired children (current students and older alumni) for biannual checkups, testing and equipment fittings. Collaboration with on-site personnel is continually being fine-tuned and is expected to improve further through monthly information exchanges aimed at making care more responsive. In addition, the NGO's speech therapists have underscored the problem of demutisation, emphasising how important it is that teachers associate speech with sign language, especially in the youngest classes. Oral stimulation in young children is indeed crucial for their development. What was different about this mission was that a general practitioner joined the group. His evaluation of the general health of the children will be extremely useful to us in improving our health programme and defining our priorities more accurately. During a meeting between our director Mr. Auray AUN and His Excellency the Ambassador of France to Cambodia Mr. Christian CONNAN, the latter expressed a desire to observe the activities of Krousar Thmey in person. The team therefore organised a visit to a special school (Phnom Penh Thmey) and a temporary welcome centre (Psar Depot) during which the ambassador appeared very enthusiastic. The ambassador very soon returned to Krousar Thmey, this time to show the activities to the Secretary of State for Youth and Voluntarism Ms. Jeannette Bougrab, who on her first official visit to Asia chose to come observe voluntary organisations in Cambodia. The former chairperson of HALDE thus visited the above-named locations in Cambodia and was able to become more familiar with the realities on the ground. She also took advantage of this opportunity to provide a printer to the school. The visits were followed by a meal in which the notable participants were Prince Tisso NORODOM and Ms. Kerya CHAU SUN, representative of the APSARA authority and a member of the Krousar Thmey board of directors. These meetings allowed us to strengthen our ties with the French embassy and French authorities, and opened up new funding prospects for the foundation. A touring exhibition A little over a year ago, Krousar Thmey organised an exhibition at the French Cultural Centre entitled, "Louis Braille and Cambodia". The event's success with the public was so great that we had but one desire: to reproduce the event and raise awareness among even more people on the subjects of blindness and special education. Today, that process has been launched. The Phnom Penh Thmey public secondary school, which receives visually impaired and blind students at mid-day, was the first to introduce its young students to all aspects of how Braille works in an event orchestrated by Mr. Ratha TEP, the person in charge of Krousar Thmey's awareness-raising campaign for specialised education. Once the necessary authorisation had been obtained, signs were made available around the school and specialised computing tools and teaching materials were provided. The exhibition was inaugurated in the presence of the deputy director of the district Bureau of Education and the director of the secondary school before the various classes of that establishment were welcomed one by one. For three days, Ratha and members of the Krousar Thmey teaching team served as guides, providing information to visitors who clearly were enthusiastic. The exhibition gave rise to numerous exchanges with Krousar Thmey students, who naturally were involved, inviting visitors to write their first names in Braille, demonstrating the use of the abacus, and brightening the atmosphere even further by playing some of their best artistic compositions. This is only the beginning. Ratha is reaching out to the various authorities in charge to arrange for this temporary exhibition to be set up at other schools in the country in as many provinces as possible. In particular, Krousar Thmey intends to organise the events in schools which already host specialised classes for blind children (inclusive classes and integrated classes). |
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November 2010 |
Labelling IDEAS, guaranteeing transparency and efficiency After a long and rigorous certification process, Krousar Thmey France received the coveted label. Issued by the Institute for Ethics and Development of the Action for Solidarity (IDEAS), the aim is "to develop philanthropic convergence: to meet the expectations of donors and funding requirements for united action." The aim is to guarantee the transparency and effectiveness of the philanthropic actions of an association to donors. The initiative helps to encourage associations to develop transparent and ethical practices in accordance with the predefined values, thereby encouraging donors to support actions implemented on the ground by the organization. In October 2010, Krousar Thmey France officially received the label from the French institute. It will help us to increase the number of potential donors and to further support Krousar Thmey activities. The KrousarThmey Cambodia Board of Directors The second board meeting in 2010 was held on December 3rd in Phnom Penh. The European members of the board made the trip to Cambodia: Remi Duhamel, President of Krousar Thmey France, Renée Schneider, Representative of Krousar Thmey Switzerland, Christiane Le Lidec, new member of the board and Sylvie Bedat, head of medical issues joined Bénito in Phnom Penh. Everyone visited the centres and schools with the headquarters team. These visits were rich in exchanging information and everyone was able to observe the progress of projects. It was also a good opportunity to strengthen the relationship between the different actors of Krousar Thmey Cambodia, France and Switzerland. Willing to affirm transparency, the audience at the board meeting was a large one: program coordinators and all the members of the offices of finance and communication were also present. The board began with the screening of new film about Krousar Thmey. It is still under development but will be available soon. Then the key points were discussed: presentation of the new 2011 budget, revaluation of the salary scale, recruitment of a health manager and finally, the 20th Anniversary of Krousar Thmey. Health Operation: Vaccination and Dental Care In order to improve health and disease prevention, Krousar Thmey recently launched a vaccination campaign. This campaign began in the Takmao protection centre. 37 children were vaccinated in late October 2010. Recommended vaccines are diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, polio and hepatitis B. The vaccination schedule is programmed by Sanofi Pasteur (Roussel du Cambodia). The next injection will take place in December. In collaboration with the Cambodian World Family Organization (WFC), blind and deaf children as well as those in foster homes in Kampong Cham received free dental care. WFC has setup a mobile clinic with modern equipment. We have been working with this organization for several years to monitor the dental care of the children living in Phnom Penh such as those in the Takmao protection centre and Chbar Ampov school for blind children and deaf. New dormitory at the Siem Reap Protection Centre Thanks to contributions from the Conseil Régional d’Île de France and the Foundations Mamax and Mirja-Sachs, the new dormitory for girls in Siem Reap Protection Centre has been built. Construction of the new dormitory was completed even earlier than expected. This allows girls to be in a new room which is larger than the previous one on the first floor of the main building. The new two bedrooms building is located in a quiet area behind the main building. The rooms will soon be furnished with small furniture. All the girls at the protection centre would like to thank all the donors and everyone who made this project happen. The promotion of Krousar Thmey’s internal staff Veasna was appointed communications officer in early October. A young 26 year old, he worked as assistant to the general director at the Krousar Thmey headquarters. He studied marketing at the National Institute of Management, then earned a Masters in Development Management. Sreypov, 27, was assistant to the child welfare program coordinator, Mr. Phanna Sok, for 3 years. Upon completion of the recruitment process, she was appointed manager for vocational training. Sophorn, Krousar Thmey’s multi-talented courier since 2003, also submitted his application for this position. He has therefore joined Sreypov and now shares his time between his new role and his previous responsibilities. Both have the responsibility of finding vocational training for the youth of Krousar Thmey, including young people who are blind or deaf. They also aim to help these young people get into the world of work. Congratulations and good luck to everyone! KrousarThmey’s young deaf and blind in Japan Last October, -Sovannara IENG, a young blind teacher and former student of Krousar Thmey, went to Japan and Malaysia as part of a -computer skills program. This year is the third time that Sovannara has been invited to attend this most recent program,focusing on the use of computer aided special software called JAWS (Job Access With Speech). Then he learned to program and create websites. Since 2008, Sovannara has been teaching blind children English in Chbar Ampov and Phnom Penh Thmey schools. Also, two deaf teachers from Phnom Penh Thmey and Chbar Ampov schools, participated in a meeting to exchange experiences and knowledge on the topic of leadership in Japan. This trip is sponsored by JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency). Photographers’ shots Framing and focus, portraiture and coverage will soon have no secrets for the deaf children's from Chbar Ampov school and children at the Takmao protection centre! Throughout November, twenty of them have enjoyed taking photographer François Legeait’s course, organized in partnership with Action Aid. Theory lessons, practical exercises, field reporting during an excursion in the great royal necropolis of Oudong, children had a field day. Then, they carefully chose and captioned forty photos for an exhibition held on November 26th at Chbar Ampov school. An excellent introduction to the use of a camera, a good omen for the future: the photography workshop organized by the Melon Rouge agency with Krousar Thmey is going to start in January, and the best pictures will be included in the photo slide show for Krousar Thmey’s 20 year history on April 4, 2011! Now you can donate online on the Krousar Thmey website Now, for those who wish to financially support the activities of the foundation, online donation is available via Krousar Thmey France! Just log onto the French version of Krousar Thmey website (www.krousar-thmey.org) and click "Donate"; choose “in France” and finally click on "Donate Online" or click on Error! Hyperlink reference not valid. (French version only). You can make a transfer using your Visa or Mastercard, or through your PayPal account. Of course a tax receipt is sent to each donor in France before March 31st of the year following the donation. Since its launch 10 days ago, generous donors have already responded! Tragedy during the Water Festival in Phnom Penh 345 people were killed and about 500 others (official figures) were seriously or slightly injured in the stampede on the bridge that connects Phnom Penh to Koh Pitch Island. The reasons for this disaster are difficult to determine and speculation is rife. There is a rumour about the bridge collapse whilst others say a fight between gangs led to the fatal stampede. The Cambodian government has declared November 25 as a day of national mourning to honour victims. Each family who lost one of its members will receive five million riels (1000 dollars) from the government. Fortunately, no child or member of Krousar Thmey has been affected by this terrible event. |
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October 2010 |
krousar-thmey.org in English Having achieved the long process of writing and page-setting our new website, we were still faced with the considerable task of translating no fewer than 21,000 words into English, without departing from the content and spirit of the original texts. Well it is almost done now, thanks to the enthusiastic and efficient work of Marc Séjourne, a Sihanoukville-based translator and friend of Krousar Thmey. Under his supervision, 18 experienced English-speaking translators worldwide gave up their time to translate the website together, live and online, thanks to our partnership with Lingotech - a brand new system which allows a clever mix of collegial and interactive translation, while sticking to our key words and expressions. Thanks to this tremendous teamwork and solidarity, the translation, which had at first appeared a Herculean task, was finally accomplished in a matter of weeks. We only hope the result matches your expectations! The English version will be online shortly, soon to be followed by the Khmer version... Phnom Penh – New Delhi From 24 September to 3 October, four members of the staff for the education of blind children went to Dehradun, India, to exchange experience and skills with the Sharp Memorial School for the Blind. The staff who went on the trip were: HEM Sangva, the coordinating assistant, TEP Ratha, head of the awareness-raising campaign, YIM Phally, a teacher at Battambang School and CHAP Meng Leang, a teacher in Phnom Penh Thmey. The exchanges were about ophthalmologic techniques and access to them, educational methods, teacher training and inclusive class management. It goes without saying that the trip was very instructive for both sides. Our team was particularly interested in equipment and educational techniques for partially sighted children. Wenhui – Unesco Award for Educational Innovation 2010 In October, we were delighted to learn that the Chinese National Commission of UNESCO had decided to give Krousar Thmey the Wenhui Award for Educational Innovation 2010! This prestigious honour, which comes with a cheque for US$20,000, is suitable recognition for the long process of creating and improving Khmer Braille and sign language. We couldn’t resist telling you the good news, but don’t miss next month’s newsletter for further details; as we are writing these words, Ms NEANG Phalla, Director of the Phnom Penh Thmey School and Coordinator of our Educational Programme for Blind Children, is in Hanhzhou, in the South-East of China, to accept the award in the name of all Krousar Thmey staff, past and present! Three things seemed clear right from the start: art is absolutely fundamental to helping children integrate and express themselves; we needed to present a various range of shows to celebrate Krousar Thmey’s 20th anniversary; and the campaign to raise awareness about education for the blind and the deaf led by Phnom Penh schoolchildren was a success. These three points led us to an obvious conclusion: we should teach more artistic disciplines, and set up an awareness-raising campaign company in every one of our schools! No sooner said than done! Of course, already existing traditional dance and music classes are encouraged more than ever. But thanks to this decision, since the start of the school year, our Phnom Penh Thmey school has echoed to the sound of Yike theatre rehearsals, supervised by teachers from the Kok Thlok association. In Chbar Ampov, students are attending their first photography workshop, and there is already a first exhibition coming. In Siem Reap, the school company is working on new traditional dances. In Battambang, almost fifty children joyfully invade the Phare Ponleu Selpak association’s big top twice a week for a festival of acrobatics and juggling. And in Kampong Cham, now home to one of Phare’s teachers for a few months, every one of the children now attends circus lessons! The students’ house at Tuk Thla Since the start of the school year, Sarom, a young high school graduate whose interview you read in last month’s newsletter, has joined Chanrith and Heng and settled in the student’s house. Located in the quiet district of Tuk Thla, only 10 minutes away from the Royal University of Phnom Penh, the house offers students the chance to live in free and decent accommodation during their studies, while managing their daily lives independently but in a friendly atmosphere. Right now the walls and railings need a little painting, so the three boys will be giving the house a lick of paint over the next few week-ends, whilst waiting for other students to maybe join them. |
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September 2010 |
Summer training for the teachers Every year, summer holidays are an opportunity for all the teachers at Krousar Thmey to have training. All the teachers of the five special schools, the teachers of the inculsive classes (working in state schools located nearby), and the integrated classes (working in state schools in remote areas) gathered together in August in the buildings of the foundation in their respective provinces. They then all came to Phnom Penh in September for two weeks – to Chbar Ampov for the specialists in education for the deaf children and to Phnom Penh Thmey for the specialists in education for the blind children respectively. This training is very important for Krousar Thmey as it allows the new teachers to get to know the pedagogical methods related to special needs in education and the communication tools developed by the foundation. This year, the teachers educating the deaf children have also been trained in a new pedagogical method which aims to facilitate the teaching of the sciences. Called “La Main à la Pâte”, this pedagogical method adopted by Krousar Thmey aims to help children to observe and manipulate objects and phenomena in surrounding environment, encouraging the students to ask questions about science. The children’s experimentation allows them to understand more easily knowledge that is difficult to explain in sign langage. In view of the enthusiasm among the children towards the experimentation, Krousar Thmey has recently purchased this method and trained its teachers to use it. 12 activities have been introduced by the trainers of the National Institute of Education: Electricity, states of material (solid, liquid, gas), mechanics (pulley system), etc. Portrait: Veasna*, 23 years old, young high school graduate in Takhmao Veasna grew up in Poïpet with his uncle. Aged 10, he followed his uncle to Phnom Penh where he finally lived and worked in the streets. In 2000, he was integrated into the Premanent Protection Centre of Takhmao and started school at the age of 12. This year, he graduated from high school! “While you lived in the centre of Takhmao could you go to school? Yes, I had never attended school before. My parents could not read or write, but I, I wanted to learn. At the begining, it was difficult as I was very old! I was 12 when I arrived in grade 1! Now I am happy because I’ve finished! How was the exam? It was OK. It was when I was waiting for the results that stress was really high! When I heard that I got it, I was really happy! I went to take a copy of my certificate to the city hall and we have organised a party! What do you intend to do now? I plan to continue to the University (Royal University of Phnom Penh) to study Sociology. I want to work for an non-governmental organisation, I want to help children. I want to work in the streets, meet the children, show them the way to school and make sure they have clothes and food. Will you stay in the centre? No, as I got my baccalaureate and want to be independent, so I plan to leave the centre. But I will go to live in a house owned by Krousar Thmey with other students of the organisation. Krousar Thmey will continue to help me a little. The person in charge of the vocational training helped me find a small job in a restaurant. Thanks to Krousar Thmey and unlike my parents, I could study. I wish I could help Krousar Thmey as well some day.” |
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August 2010 |
New success of Krousar Thmey At the end of July, 11 deaf pupils from Chbar Ampov School and 9 blind pupils from Phnom Penh Thmey and Battambang Schools took their exam as did all high-school students. It was an emotional moment when the students and all Krousar Thmey staff received the exam results: 19 students passed the baccalaureat. Now these students are considering continuing their education at university or enrolling on vocational courses. Their success is the result of a wonderful synergy between the teaching team of Krousar Thmey and the state schools, the will and the motivation of the students, and everyone’s support. Their teachers emphasised how serious and determined the young deaf and blind pupils have been since they attended school. Even if the recognition of deaf or blind education is improving in Cambodian society, there is still further progress to be made. In order to provide a sustainable future for these young students, Krousar Thmey is currently developing a proposal for the Ministry of Education so that graduating students can obtain a scholarship to go to university. After this understanding with the Ministry is confirmed, access to higher education will be easier for blind students. Some of them would like to read literature, philosophy or sociology, while others wish to improve their knowledge of traditional music. As for deaf students however, post-baccalaureat opportunities are a big issue because of the lack of human resources and facilities for deaf people. Therefore, only vocational training will be considered at the moment. This matter is currently under review and it represents a big challenge for Krousar Thmey. Advocacy campaign: a good means of widening the world of blind or deaf children Every year, the advocacy campaign takes place during school holidays, because the blind or deaf students from Krousar Thmey schools are the main characters of the show. Several performances of traditional dance and music are performed in different rural areas. Some theatrical plays have been introduced into the programme. The main goal of the advocacy campaign is to inform people in remote villages about the educational opportunities for blind or deaf children. At the same time, it is a great way to show the ability of the children to a large audience. At the beginning of August, the advocacy team carried out 5 presentations in 5 villages of two northwest provinces of Cambodia, Pursat and Battambang. The results of these campaigns are encouraging: about 2500 villagers attended the shows. 2000 leaflets and guides on blindness were distributed during the presentations. 50 people chosen from the spectators were invited to express their ideas about special education for blind or deaf children. 90 % of them mentioned that this type of education was very important as it enabled blind or deaf students to acquire knowledge and jobs in the future. After having watched the show, nine of ten spectators who were interviewed thought that blind or deaf children have the same capability as other children. Cambodian Youth Arts Festival Cambodian Living Arts and its partners organised the 2010 Cambodian Youth Arts Festival from 7th to 11th of August. It was held at the National Opera Chaktomuk in Phnom Penh. Concerts, theatre plays and other artistic shows have been offered presenting traditional and contemporary performances to the audience. Several organisations working to promote Khmer arts were invited to this fringe festival: on that account deaf students from the advocacy campaign demonstrated the ‘Apsara dance’ accompanied by blind students playing music. A large audience including tourists, Cambodian families, and friends enjoyed this great event. A new volunteer at Krousar Thmey On the 19th of August Anne GUILLAUME joined Krousar Thmey at the head office. Her arrival is linked to a big event which is approaching: the 20th anniversary of Krousar Thmey on April 2011. The communication office needed reinforcement to ensure effective management, particularly to organise the future celebration. Thus, she has quite different role to the 2 other volunteers. A traveller and cinema enthusiast, Anne is in charge of broadcasting communication material for the foundation. Moreover, beyond the usual tasks of communication officers, she will have to negotiate all the partnerships needed to create the shows that will be performed by the children for the 20th anniversary, and she will ensure the event is well advertised. TEP Ratha, in charge of the advocacy campaign Former teacher at a pedagogical school in Kampong Cham, TEP Ratha was hired by Krousar Thmey in 2002. First, he was in charge of teaching the blind children at the school for blind or deaf children in Kampong Cham. Two years later, in order to respond to urgent needs in Phnom Penh, he was transferred to the school for blind children in Chbar Ampov. Besides teaching, he spent a lot of his free time assisting the advocacy campaign team. From that moment onwards, he became more and more involved with this work. Very motivated, active and interested in this field, he was promoted in 2009 to manager of the awareness campaign. To manage better his team, he decided then to resign from his post as a teacher. |
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July 2010 |
Kampong Cham School: the work is now complete In December 2009 the construction of a three-floor building started in Kampong Cham School. This new building helps us to cope with the increasing student numbers and the lack of accommodation facilities. The impressive extension of the school consists of six classrooms and a large meeting room. During the school year 2009-2010, 168 students (including 92 blind children and 76 deaf) attended school. Teachers used to teach up to three grade levels at the same time, in the same room. Now students will enjoy the new classrooms from the start of the new school year in October and teachers will be able to work in better conditions. End of the school year and exams As early as July, the scent of the beginning of the holidays wafts through the school, however, it is also time for exams. In the first week of July, the exams for children from grade 9 took place. There were 17 deaf children and 12 blinds taking the exam. Ten deaf and 9 blind students were registered for the final high school exam. We are still waiting for the results. In 2006, 3 children from Krousar Thmey passed the Baccalaureate. They became the first blind or first students with poor vision to graduate in the history of Cambodia. This year, 2 of them finished their academic course in Khmer literature at the Royal University of Phnom Penh (the third one will complete the course next year). They plan to become teachers of literature. To improve their skills and abilities, they would like to be integrated into the National Institute of Education. We are currently in discussion with the institute about creating a partnership. First meeting with ‘Ny Familj – Kambodja’ in Phnom Penh It all started last year after a trip to Cambodia, when one Swedish couple showed some interest in the activities developed by Krousar Thmey which increased their awareness of the problems children in the country face. Back in Sweden, Ninna, who works part-time for the municipality, wished to do something on her own. She chose Krousar Thmey and, very imaginatively, initiatives emerged very quickly and a structure was built out of that. For 7 months now, “Ny Familj – Kambodia” is a lively association based in Helsingborg in Sweden whose only objective is to support Krousar Thmey. Managed by a board composed of Ninna and 4 other members, where Ninna is president, “Ny Familj-Kambodja” nowadays enrols 70 members and they do not lack ideas on how to raise funds. Cambodia also came to Rutger’s mind, the husband and important supporter of Ninna, who doesn’t hesitate to use pepper from Kampot in traditional meals served in his restaurant! One thing was still missing though. By now, no Ny Familj member had ever seen the activities developed by Krousar Thmey in the field. But they have now. Ninna and Rutger Lindblad spent a week examining every aspect of our Cambodian foundation. Almost all their holiday was devoted to Krousar Thmey, with visits to the centres, discussions with main representatives, purchases in the local markets to organise sales in Sweden. Apparently very impressed by all the activities in the centres, they then returned to Sweden with even more motivation to continue their initiatives, with the satisfaction of having a more concrete idea of what was being done on the ground. CHHORN Bora and PHEAP So Pherk Both are former teachers from state school. Since last October, Mrs CHHORN Bora and Mr. PHEAP So Pherk have been teaching blind students in grade 4, 5, 6 (secondary school) and 10, 11, 12 (high school) in Phnom Penh Thmey School. According to them, the school move occurred without any major difficulty. The new mode of organisation, schedules for children and teaching methods, have been inspired by the school of Chbar Ampov where they used to work. Motivation of the two teachers comes from their daily work with the children. Student success is very encouraging and raises awareness of special education in the country. Nevertheless, they underline one difficulty which is common among the students: the need for specific conceptualisation of scientific subjects and adaptation of teaching methods. They also confided that sometimes blind children express their feelings in a more intense way than other children. The teachers have to be aware of this kind of behaviour and be able to adapt their approach. It is a particular challenge to teach blind children but the two teachers told us that it is very stimulating. |
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June 2010 |
Arrival of the new General Director and reinforcement of the staff After a transitional period of 3 months, Mr. AUN Auray has been recruited as the new General Director of Krousar Thmey in Cambodia. Having been the former regional Director of Aide et Action in South-East Asia, one of our faithful partners, Auray already has a lot of knowledge about Krousar Thmey’s programmes. His experience and good knowledge of the field are essential tools, which will enable him to supervise and ensure the foundation’s activities are well run. He is a very dynamic, creative, sociable and deeply committed individual. Just two days after his arrival, he conducted a tour of provinces with other members of the Executive Committee to introduce himself to staff and to observe the activities in all the centres. In addition, he often contacts Mme Kosal, former General Director, in order to develop a better understanding of working documents and to obtain advice so that he can manage Krousar Thmey well. It is almost a month since his arrival, and new ideas, methods of work and strategies are being launched to improve the Krousar Thmey’s current situation. In the middle of June, Krousar Thmey recruited a new vocational training officer for young people to facilitate the integration of young children into Cambodian society. SEANG Pisak, a young boy aged 24 years, has graduated from university in Natural Resources Management, and had professional experience in the field of the community development. His responsibilities are to study the employment opportunities for underprivileged adults or those with special needs, by contacting NGO partners, public and private vocational training centres so that he can advise young people on how best to look for work. The foundation hopes that his presence will broaden professional possibilities for the underprivileged children in the Krousar Thmey’s care. Measures against the flooding The rainy season has arrived! The rain begins to fall, and the centre needs to pump water out to avoid infection, the degradation of buildings, gardens and the kitchen, all of which are consequences of the annual flooding. This is what every member of staff in the permanent protection centre at Takhmao had regrettably to announce to the children. This year, it has changed. Thanks to the fund raising organised by Krousar Thmey France during the play ‘7 of the City’, hundreds of truckloads of and have been used to fill the trouble spots at the centre since the beginning of June. We therefore hope that the chronic problem of flooding has been resolved. The staff and the children have reorganised the garden to improve the aesthetics of the centre, and the kitchen garden has been reorganized to serve the centre. First Aid training In collaboration with the Cambodian Red Cross, "First Aid" training was organised on 14th and 15th of June for 28 employees from all centres of Krousar Thmey. The main objective of this training is to allow the participants to apply techniques to provide emergency assistance to people, particularly the Krousar Thmey’s children… The invited specialists firstly presented the theory of first aid before allowing participants to put techniques into practice. At the end of this training, written and practical tests were completed to assess the level of participant understanding. Photo exhibition: Bamboo Shoots- children at risk The International Organization of Migration (OIM) in cooperation with On Photography Cambodia Company (OPC) organised an exhibition on the theme of the children in danger in Cambodia: "Bamboo Shoots". The main purpose of this exhibition is to raise awareness of the various types of danger which children face, and the various forms of support which children may receive through NGOs (Non-Governmental Organisations). The identities of the children in the photos were not provided, and the photos are accompanied briefly with their stories. Three organisations working in the field of child protection are introduced, namely Damnok Toek, Mith Samlanh (a local branch of Friends International) and Krousar Thmey were also displayed in this hall (Hereby the family of Kpop Veng that participated to the initiative). This photo exhibition was inaugurated on June 26, 2010 at the Royal University of the Fine arts and will end on July 11, 2010. |
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May 2010 |
A family project to discover: “One day at one school” “One day at the school” is a project organised by Christophe Larrenduche-Lervoire's family with the purpose of helping their children and French pupils to discover the everyday life in a school in Asia; this is supported by Aide et Action, one of the main partners of Krousar Thmey. The project also encourages French families to sponsor children. And why not support the deaf or the blind children of Krousar Thmey? On 21st of May, Christophe, his wife (Isabelle), and their three children (Lou, Lila and Gabi, 9½-years-old, 8½-years-old and 5½-years-old), visited the school for deaf or blind children at Siem Reap. The three children spent a lot of time getting to know Krousar Thmey’s children and were interested in the Sign language developed by Krousar Thmey. As a result, they knew how to introduce them-self using Sign language. Finally, the Larrenduche-Lervoire’s family wrote an article about the school. We hope that this article will promote Krousar Thmey’s activities to the French pupils and families. Construction, construction… As we wrote in the last internal letter, thanks to Mrs Bun Rany, the Prime Minister’s wife and the director of Cambodian Red Cross, a lot of donations have been received for the new school for blind or deaf children of Krousar Thmey. The work in the courtyard of the school is still ongoing; the main part has been completed. However this is not all of it! To improve the aesthetics of the school, the project to tile the remaining part and to improve the pond will commence in the following months. New temporary electrician at work Whilst travelling around East Asia, Tony BERRUTO, a French electrician, contacted Krousar Thmey when he arrived in Cambodia to offer his services. The main purpose of his mission is to improve the electrical wiring in all Krousar Thmey’s centres, including the Main office, so that electrical hazards are avoided. He spent 2 weeks working to fix and rearrange the electric system in many centres. In addition, advice on how to avoid common hazards was given to staff as well as children of the centre. |
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April 2010 |
“Code of conduct for visitor” displayed in our centres and schools During the last Board of directors on March, the Child Protection Policy was approved. In order to inform all visitors of the code of conduct to adopt during their visits of the schools and centres, Krousar Thmey made a poster that is listing the 9 main points of the rule. The poster also indicates Mr. IN Pothra’s contact details – the director of the street children temporary centre Psar Depot – in case of abuse or suspicious cases. Here is a few extracts of the policy: “Always be accompanied by an employee/volunteer of Krousar Thmey (...)”; “Use any computers, mobile phones, or video and digital cameras appropriately, and never to exploit or harass children or to access child to pornography through any medium.”; “Before photographing or filming a child, assess and endeavour to comply with local traditions or restrictions for reproducing personal images.” Meanwhile, each person who is visiting our centres must register and take acknowledge of the code of conduct. Khmer New Year 2554: year of Tiger The Khmer New Year was held from 14th to 16th of April 2010. School for blind or deaf children of Phnom Penh Thmey, Cbhar Ampov, Temporary Street Children Center Chamkar Mon and Psar Depot have organised a ceremony and party for children. A monk, who was invited to attend, has blessed all children and wished them all good luck for this New Year. All members of Krousar Thmey would also like to wish you happiness and prosperity for this Year of Tiger! Building site in Phnom Penh Thmey In our previous letter, we informed you about the visit of Mrs. BUN Rany, Prime Minister HUN Sen’s wife. She gave to Krousar Thmey a significant donation of food and funds. She also promised to find a solution to improve the situation of the school ground which is flooded during rainy season. Therefore at the end of April, the works have begun under the responsibility and supervision of Phnom Penh municipality. The playground will have some concrete from the entry to the refectory, to allow pupils and teachers to easily circulate without troubles between the different buildings of the schools. Portrait: Phonn Kim Hean She was born in 1988. She is the fourth of 6 child sibling. During the repatriation from Side II refugee camp to Phnom Penh, her parents had lost each other. Living as a widow, Kim Hean’s mother (Mrs. HENG Sareth) has worked in a dump with her children to earn money for supporting her family and all children’s school fees. Even her family is very poor and needs her children to work, Mrs. Heng never wants them to stop their studies. In 2004, the Temporary Street Children Centre of Chamkar Mon supported the family as an “outside case” and welcomed the youngest brother to enable him to take a rest. In 2007, the mother of Kim Hean asked Mr. SOK Phanna, coordinator of Child welfare program, the possibility to support her daughter’s university studies. Indeed, Kim Hean has passed successfully the final high school exam and would like to go at University. Mr. SOK Phanna accepted and now, the young girl is studying in third year of Chemistry Faculty at Royal University of Phnom Penh. |
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March 2010 |
Cambodian First Lady visits Phnom Penh Thmey On a personal initiative, the President of Cambodia Red Cross, who also happens to be the wife of the Prime Minister Samdech Hun Sen, came to visit our new school for blind or deaf children Phnom Penh Thmey on March 26th. In spite of the heavy rain that day, the visit went along well. Ms Phalla, director of the school, and Ms Bun Rany Hun Sen gave a speech before visiting the special classes for blind or deaf children. Apparently interested and touched by Krousar Thmey activities, she then offered to the children a generous meal under the cameras of the national television channel Bayon TV. Ms Hun Sen made the most of her visit by giving a significant donation in food and funds, and the promise to renew it annually. It also came with the decision that all staff working in Krousar Schools will be registered on staff lists from the Ministry of Education, which is a significant step forward for Krousar Thmey. Indeed, this commitment very important as it appears as a sign of recognition and reinforced cooperation from authorities. Please note that this visit was organised after rough negotiations with the highest ranks or the State authorities concerning the official opening of the school initially foreseen in October 2009. This event is finally postponed to next year. It will take place on April 4th and the Prime Minister, who will have his birthday that day, has confirmed already that he will be there. This day will not only mark the opening but also the launching celebration of the family party and the 20 years anniversary of Krousar Thmey will take place on April 4th, 5th and 6th. French friends on tour in our centres February and March have been lively in all Krousar Thmey structures. Many visitors have crisscrossed Cambodian roads to complete diverse missions. Doctors Bernard Trutt and his wife Martine have conducted a medical health check to every child registered in our child welfare programme. They ended their visit with the family houses of Kampong Cham together with Brigitte Benichoux and Raymond Vu-Van both active members in the French NGO called “Amis des Enfants du Monde” which supports disadvantaged children all around the world. The latter then came along the monthly tour of the centres in Battambang and Sisophon. Finally Bénito and Alain Couraux also came in all the structures in order to ensure everything is working alright and prepare the Board Meeting that took place on March 29th. Leisure activities and smiles in all Krousar Thmey structures All along March, two clown volunteers have given of their energy and good mood to delight the children in all Krousar Thmey centres of activities. After visiting Siem Reap, Sisophon and Poipet, we had the pleasure to welcome Bibine and Cacahuète in Phnom Penh. In total, over 1 000 children (and staff) laughed during their performances. The two volunteers will now go to Kampong Som (Sihanoukville). Very active in Belgium within “Cliniclowns” (www.clinicclowns.be), an organisation that develops animations for children in hospitals, the two Belgian clowns this time chose to use of their talent to the benefit of the Cambodian children. They all showed fits of laughter and enthusiast joy. Krousar Thmey reinforce the skill of its staff We have already mentioned recently the participation of some staff members of Krousar Thmey to trainings. Through the multiplication of trainings, congresses, seminars and meeting, we can say that the wish to reinforce the skills of the staff in being fulfilled. End of February, several staff members attended to a congress organised in Phnom Penh by the Ministry of Education. The goal was to assess the evolution of the actions led in the field of education and compare them to the respective national strategy plan whose goal is “Education for all”. A seminar was also organised to discuss specifically about inclusive education that the government intend to promote. In the field of child welfare, M. SOK Phanna (director of Chamkar Morn Centre in Phnom Penh and general coordinator of the child welfare programme) and M. ING Pothra (director of Psar Depot Centre) gave training to all the staff members working in that field in Krousar Thmey. The aim was to reinforce communication and develop the means to facilitate the exchanges between the teams and with the children. PHOUN Sophearith During a visit of all the centres, several staff members of Krousar Thmey have been very happy to come across PHOUN Sophearith, a former child taken in charge at the permanent protection centre Sisophon. Leaving the centre in 1999, Sophearith stopped scholar education to attend a vocational training in cooking with the support of Krousar Thmey. After carrying out the training successfully he worked as a responsible in the casino/hostel/restaurant Nagaword in Phnom Penh. Nowadays he works in Siem Reap as a desk coordinator in a hotel. Sophearith’s story embodies social and human achievements and is very encouraging for Krousar Thmey, which can see here the concrete long term results of its actions. We all wish to Sophearith and the woman he intends to marry next month Moreover he will get married in April all the best for the future. |
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February 2010 |
Educational Support Programme Through Images A new presentation book has been edited by Krousar Thmey to present its educational support programme designed for blind or deaf children. This new tool aims at giving a global vision of the special education programme provided by Krousar Thmey through pictures with short description. Thank to Mr. PIRMEZ and the coordination of Mr. CHINI, 200 copies of this book were printed in Singapore. This book is available in Khmer and French and will soon be for public use in France, Switzerland, and Cambodia. This 60-page book details the organisation of the extensive educational system designed for children with visual impairment or hearing impairment. It presents children’s activities, their learning, as well as the special and essential services provided to students with disabilities such as hearing aid, speech therapy, etc. Braille Book Making Workshop and Khmer Sign Language Committee, which are considerable elements of our programme, are also introduced in the book. Krousar Thmey plans to produce similar books in the future to present the other programmes of activities: “Child Welfare” and “Khmer Art and Cultural Development”. Tale Stories for children of Krousar Thmey On his individual initiative, Mr Nicolas GARNIER, currently residing in Cambodia, offered to Krousar Thmey to tale several stories to our children. Experienced with oral traditions from the five continents, the visitor absorbed all attention of his audience in our temporary street children centre Psar Depot (Phnom Penh) and our school for deaf or blind Phnom Penh Thmey. Together with music played by the narrator, the stories are told in French before being translated into Khmer by a medical student eager to delight the young children while practicing his French. The action cached children's attention, invited them to participate and develop their imagination. What will happen to Babar the elephant, the Indian girl Moogi and to the other characters? Portrait - CHHAM Makara CHHAM Makara was born in 1995. He is born blind and his parents passed away in his childhood. He is living with his aunt in Kampong Speu province. He has 3 brothers and sisters. Before school, he had difficulties in moving and was very dependent on his aunt who had to look after him. He did not have any friends. In the special school, he learns Braille, Khmer, Mathematics, Social Sciences and Natural Sciences. In addition to these subjects from the National Education programme, Makara also attends to additional classes such as Orientation and Mobility, computer, English and Khmer traditional music. He can now manage living by himself and has become very autonomous. He can play with his friends, walk alone without assistance, take a bath, and wash his clothes. Makara said that before going to school, he did not have friend and felt difficulties to walk alone. However now, he has a lot of friends either sighted or blind and can move from one place to another. In the future, He wishes to be teacher of English. |
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January 2010 |
Construction of a new building in Kampong Cham The School for deaf or blind children Kampong Cham opened its doors in 2002. It welcomes 171 students, including 67 deaf and 94 blind children. These students attend school from grade 1 to grade 8. However, the lack of classrooms obliges the teachers to teach up to three grade levels at the same time. In order to meet these needs and cope with the increasing student numbers, a decision was made to start a new construction project; a three-floor building will be composed of six classrooms. In this way children will be able to pursue their education until grade 12. The new construction will be able to accommodate pupils living far away from the school. In addition, every two years the school is the scene for a big gathering, that is the ceremony of “Bon Prachum Nheat”, the family reunion. Children and their families, as well as Krousar Thmey teams will meet up during this ceremony. Thus, the extension of the school will better accommodate people. After a survey of the ground, work began in December, and should be over for spring 2010. New volunteers welcomed in Krousar Thmey Like every year, Krousar Thmey greets two new volunteers in its office in Phnom Penh. Alexandre LE CHIPPEY joined the finance team as a financial manager on 15th of December. After a postgraduate diploma in Business Administration and a master’s degree in Management, he has turned toward the NGO sector and takes over from Amail BENDEDDA whose contract ends at the end of February. The communication office, composed of Chetra KHIEU, Prasith CHIN and Julien STRENS, has benefitted from a feminine touch since 8th of January in welcoming Pauline BONNEL, who replaced François-Xavier AUTRIC. She has completed a degree in Anthropology and already has experience in the humanitarian domain. The Flower Ceremony On Saturday 16th of January, the school for deaf children Chbar Ampov organised, for the first time, a “flower ceremony”. This fair is a time for the school to receive donations from the students’ parents and also from the neighbourhood. This initiative provides an opportunity to reinforce local financing and the involvement of the community in the running of the school. Children, parents, teachers, Mrs. Kosal CHEAM, and the neighbours were invited to attend the ceremony performed by monks, who honoured the assembly with jasmine flowers. This day was also a moment for teachers and families to meet at a lunch served by the children. Good humour and generosity were present at this “flower ceremony”. Srey Len SOK, 17 years old The “child welfare” programme accommodates children whose only income was from the streets. Krousar Thmey sees this as a long-term responsibility, and thus offers vocational training to children aged at least 16. Owing to an agreement with VCAO NGO (Vulnerable Children Assistance Organization), six teenagers from the temporary centre of Chamkar Morn have been integrated into a professional training centre. We recently met one of them. In 1999, Srey Len met the educators from Chamkar Morn centre in Phnom Penh. She lived in the streets for 5 months, by begging and by other means. After some time in Chamkar Morn and an assessment of her family situation, she was able to be reintegrated back with her family. She became what we call an “outside case” and consequently educators often visit her. With Krousar Thmey’s support, paying for her schooling, notably her uniform and others school fees, she was educated for two years. In May 2009, educators had an interview with her about her situation and her future. Her family situation had improved and her family life was stabilised. Srey Len has talked to her parents more about her wish to stop school, because of her late start in the educational system. In consultation with her educators, a better solution was found for Srey Len in vocational training which will enable her to get a job quickly. Thus, her application was submitted to VCAO which enrolled her in sewing training. Shortly after this, she really felt at ease in the sewing workshop. From her teacher’s point of view: “She has shown initiative and motivation in this subject. She is able to make shirts in her own style. I believe she has a real talent for this job.” As far as her future projects are concerned, Srey Len confided in us that after her training, she would like to carry on her learning in the centre to get some training in fashion design. Krousar Thmey will meet the director of the centre to discuss this possibility. |
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December 2009 |
Special day for our children December 3rd marked the International Day of Persons with Disabilities and the Ministry of Social Affairs organised an event under the patronage of Samdech HUN Sen, Prime Minister of Cambodia. As in previous years, Krousar Thmey was invited to participate at this event. The troupe of deaf dancers and blind musicians presented their show combining traditional dance and Khmer music. In addition, Krousar Thmey exhibited its books in Braille and Sign language as well as posters illustrating its programmes. Fifty children who are blind or deaf attended the parade in the streets. In his speech, the Prime Minister announced that all television channels should be encouraged to disseminate news in sign language. He noted that, presently, only one national channel was broadcasting in Sign language weekly, and this was late at night. Training day on special education Several training days were held in the province of Siem Reap and Battambang last December. Dr. Maliwan, a Thai specialist in Education for the Deaf who has previously been involved in our programmes, conducted the training. This aims to improve the quality of the education provided by the teachers for the deaf children in Krousar Thmey schools. After observing the activities in the classes, Dr. Maliwan provided the teachers with useful feedback and advice on how to improve the quality of their educational support. Transparency, accountability and professionalism Transparency, accountability and professionalism were the subject of a training session organised by the Cooperation Committee for Cambodia from December 21 to 24. KHIEU Chetra, communication manager at Krousar Thmey, attended this training, providing him with knowledge on various topics such as the roles and responsibilities of the Board of Directors, the establishment of a strategic plan, project evaluation, human resources and finance. We have already mentioned the activities of the CCC in a previous edition of the internal letter. In order to develop and ensure the highest quality of activities led by the NGOs in Cambodia, CCC highlighted 25 evaluation criteria which could be used to encourage and ensure best practice. Any organisation that complies with these criteria will receive a certificate of "NGO Good Practice". Krousar Thmey intends to follow the process and hopes to be certified as early as 2010. Thy Sreylak, 16 years old THY Sreylak has been deaf since birth. She lives in Kampong Cham and travels every morning by bicycle to Krousar Thmey School for Deaf Children. Having heard about the activities of the foundation from her neighbours, she is currently attending grade 7. Recently, she was fitted with a hearing aid. Although she sometimes has a headache when using hearing aid, it does help her to express herself orally. She practices it regularly with the speech therapist. When she is with her friends, Sreylak prefers to speak in Khmer sign language. According to Sreylak, attending classes in state school is difficult, but important because it opens a window for her in the world. Fortunately, Krousar Thmey teachers sign the lessons given in public schools. Because of communication problems, she has few links with children from state schools. Relationships are much easier to develop within the Krousar Thmey school where she now has very good friends. In the future she intends to open a store where she can design and make dresses while her friends offer cosmetic services. |
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November 2009 |
Many people at La Casa ! Many of them were present: Benito, founding president of Krousar Thmey, Alain Courau, Chairman Krousar Thmey France; Mariejo Duc, founder and secretary general Krousar Thmey Switzerland; Helen Brame, Santhary NOP and Melchior de Matharel, all members of the Board of Administration Krousar Thmey France. This was an opportunity for them to visit various programs of Krousar Thmey across the country including the new school in Phnom Penh Thmey. Furthermore they have met the Cambodian management, teachers, school students and volunteers on the ground. They all enjoyed the professionalism of teams and progress throughout the organization in particular on the development of specialized classes. Also, they used their presence in Phnom Penh to visit the two exhibitions "Louis Braille and Cambodia" and "Without a Gaze". A flower festival in Battambang The school for deaf and blind children in Battambang has organized a festival of flowers in the school grounds and surrounding streets from the school to raise funds for the foundation. Accompanied children and teachers have walked through the streets to reach out to the people of Battambang. The operation's main objective was to sensitize the local population to the education of deaf or blind children in Cambodia while encouraging fund raising at a local level. A volunteer a few special Since arriving in Cambodia in early November in the school Krousar Thmey, Genevieve Henry-Courbin carries for four months in a mission related to our activities in the field of speech therapy. First, it performs an audit of our methods of speech and more generally the rehabilitation of deaf children. The first phase of observation allowed to meet Genevieve speech present in schools, share their practices on rehabilitation and answer their questions. Following this initial analysis, the speech therapist wants to improve rehabilitation techniques for deaf children as speech. Already some recommendations are expected as the systematic participation in speech therapy from a very young age children who beginning to speech. Board of Directors The Board of Directors Krousar Thmey Cambodia met November 21 at the headquarters of the foundation to make a first assessment of 2009 and discuss the many projects to come. Some changes in the organization are to note: these include the creation of an Executive Committee which will validate at the highest level important decisions and monitor the progress of field activities, the appointment of Sokim, currently assistant in finance, as referring to human resources and the validation of code of good practices for example related to supervision of visits to our centres and schools. |
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October 2009 |
First classes at the new school of Phnom Penh Thmey! At the beginning of October, many fully-loaded pickups were making their last journeys between the school for Blind Children Chbar Ampov and the School for Blind or Deaf Children Phnom Penh Thmey. All furniture and equipment were transported to the new site. The students are very pleased with the idea of finding a larger building and starting classes - over one hundred deaf or blind children - discovered their new environment in serenity. Some deaf children from grade 1 to 6 living in close proximity to the school started classes in the right wing of the school, while blind children did the same in the left wing after attending some orientation classes on arrival. Everything is now going well. Ms. Phalla (who used to be the director of the school for blind Chbar Ampov) is now in charge of leading the new school as well as Krousar Thmey’s special educational programme. She has extensive experience in special needs education having worked with blind children in refugee camps since 1991 and is best able to manage this new school. The date of the official opening is still uncertain. Two Exhibitions about Krousar Thmey in Phnom Penh We have already announced in the previous release that Krousar Thmey has launched two exhibitions in Phnom Penh this October. The first one, entitled “Braille and Cambodia”, opened its door at the French Cultural Centre on October 15th. The official opening was very successful, with over 200 people present for the event obtaining information about the life of Louis Braille, his work; and the adaptation of the Braille system for writing and reading in Cambodia by our team at Krousar Thmey. Consisting of didactic boards, tools used in the education of blind people and a reconstitution of the Braille bookmaking workshop, the exhibition also presents various activities led in the field by Krousar Thmey in order to support education of blind or deaf children; to protect Cambodian street children; and promote Khmer Culture and Arts. This exhibition is a wonderful opportunity for us to exchange views on these subjects, promote our activities, and increase awareness among local people and authorities, about our special education programmes and its uncommon tools. A conference help on October 22nd also allowed people living in Phnom Penh to come to meet specialists in inclusive education and blind students who have successfully passed their High School exams in the past few years. Some of the participants have become teachers for Krousar Thmey, others decided to continue their studies at university. In any case, all received their education in the schools of Krousar Thmey. During the conference, we also presented a new short movie exclusively related to the adaptation of the Braille system in Cambodia and the activities developed by Krousar Thmey in the field of specialised education for blind children. Finally, didactic workshops will also be organised at exhibitions for students from local public schools and blind children of Krousar Thmey. There again, the aim is to increase awareness of the problems related to blindness and disability in general in Cambodia while presenting our activities to as many people as possible. On the occasion of the Book Fair, organised by the French Cultural Centre in Phnom Penh, Krousar Thmey presented its publications: school textbooks adapted for deaf or blind children, watercolours and various other printings for sale were shown during four days from October 22nd to 27th. Even if this event did not really allow us to make huge profits, it was a good opportunity to promote our activities to Khmer people as the exhibitions did. |
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September 2009 |
Krousar Thmey acquires a new Braille printer Krousar Thmey’s education programme for blind children requires appropriate tools. When the foundation started its activities in the 1990’s, our teams at the Braille Book Making Workshop created a Braille system adapted to Khmer characters. Since then, they have been editing, printing and publishing, in Khmer Braille, all the school manuals and textbooks necessary to implement specialised education for blind children. Krousar Thmey recently decided to acquire a new Braille printer in order to cover the growing needs of the blind children. Directly imported from Norway, this new piece of equipment is specially designed to print several volumes. It will allow us to produce all the documents needed more rapidly (600pages/hour) and more reliably. At the end of September 2009, six members of the Braille Book Making Team and teachers from Krousar Thmey’s special schools attended a course on the use of the printer. After the three-day-training, the employees were able to make and print documents with this new equipment. The printer, now being used at the School for Blind Chbar Ampov, will be transferred to the new School for the Blind in Phnom Penh Thmey after the school year starts on October 5th 2009. Krousar Thmey has already been providing blind children and teachers with several thousands of books. This equipment will go together with other Braille printers already in use by Krousar Thmey, enabling us to meet the growing needs of blind readers in Cambodia. To come - To celebrate the bicentennial of the birth of Louis Braille - genius inventor of the reading and writing system for blind people - Krousar Thmey will present an exhibition entitled “Braille in Cambodia” at the French Cultural Centre in Phnom Penh from mid-October. A New Template for our « List of Needs » Our List of Needs really needed a ‘facelift’! This has now been done. We would like to introduce it to you in this issue. In order to facilitate donations, we have completely revised the layout and the template of the document. Our needs are organised in the following way: - The “Day-to-day Needs”, such as rice or school material. The cost is the amount required to meet the needs for 10 children annually, whereas the total cost relates to the amount needed for all the children. We remind you at the end of this document that there are various ways of making a donation in the United Kingdom and in Cambodia. As mentioned in the list, please note that in order to reduce bank transfer fees, we strongly recommend that you carry out the transfer within Europe if you reside in the European Union. Krousar Thmey has branches in UK, France and Switzerland - please do not hesitate to contact us for further details: communication@krousar-thmey.org. Note that this list allows you to select the needs you wish to support, or if you prefer, we can allocate your funds. After receiving your donation, we can, on request, send a receipt for your donation. Of paramount concern for Krousar Thmey is the welfare of the children. Your support in achieving this goal is very precious to us. We would like to thank you warmly for your support on behalf of the Children of Krousar Thmey. New High School Graduates in the Family House of Kpop Veng! The family house of Kpop Veng (Phnom Penh) celebrates the success of its residents in the High School final exam. This year three children successfully passed the national exam which took place in July 2009. This is a wonderful achievement taking into account the difficult past of these children. SOK Srey An, 19 years old Srey An is a young lady aged 19. In her early childhood, her parents were not able to pay off the loan they borrowed from their neighbours. They finally agreed to give their little girl in exchange for the debt. Srey An was then sent to Thailand to beg in the streets before being repatriated by Thai Police forces to Poipet. From there, she was transferred to the Temporary Street Children Centre of Chamkar Morn (Phnom Penh) and then welcomed in the Family House of Kpop Veng when it opened in June 1999. Well-integrated within the family and a very good student, she successfully passed every grade in the local school. This year following her success in the high-school exams, Srey An, who speaks English very well, envisages continuing her studies at university and would like to become tourist guide in Phnom Penh or Angkor. |
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August 2009 |
Krousar Thmey started in August a new research project on deafness in order to create a data base reference on all activities conducted in this field. The research is being conducted by Krousar Thmey staff and outside experts. The team hopes to develop a set of information that will create a better understanding of the world of the deaf population, especially the one hosted by Krousar Thmey and with public schools. Also, Krousar Thmey will look at isolated families which have at least one of its members deaf and had no exposure to special education, or regular education. The five main points and objectives of this research are the following: - Understand how deaf communicate among themselves and with the people in their surroundings, in order to elaborate new ways of teaching children who are deaf. The end goal is not only better our own activity at Krousar Thmey but also to spread our findings to the larger community so no deaf child and his/her family will be left without relevant information. A fruitful Seminar The training centre of kram Ngoy organised on August 17 2009 a seminar titled: Sharing Good Practices in the Implementation of Technical and Vocational Education and Training in Cambodia. The event was supported by UNESCO and reached 150 participants which included the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports as well as the Ministry of Labour and Professional Education. Krousar Thmey seized the opportunity to share its activities, and openly reach out to express its desire to cooperate with other partners with others to focus on youth educational and work opportunities. Krousar Thmey hopes to create more links with other participants in order to create a wider exposure of its work. SRENG Vanny, First deaf High School Graduate in Cambodia SRENG Vanny, 24, first to graduate from high school. Deaf from birth, she entered one of our schools for deaf, Chbar Ampov, at age 10. The chance led to a meeting loaded with hope between Miss Phalla, the school director, and Vanny’s parents that resulted in this amazing accomplishment. Hopes to success turned out to be the right thing to do, since hope turned into a reality as Vanny Sreng successfully passed every single grade with a keen interest in Khmer Literature and Mathematics. The artistic activities that are infused in our programs have made Vanny become an ambassador of special education. Vanny does dance while others are singing using sign language. At this point Vanny would like to stay with Krousar Thmey and become a teacher as she gets on with her adult life. Vanny thinks it is a way to be grateful to Krousar Thmey and its work with disabled children. She hopes in the future every single disabled child will have the same opportunity that she had with Krousar Thmey. |
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July 2009 |
Soutien à l'éducation des enfants sourds au Cambodge Nous vous invitons à prendre connaissance de l'article publié le mercredi 30 juillet 2008 sur le site de l'UNAPEDA présentant l'action de Kousar Thmey au profit des enfants sourds au Cambodge. Community Day Organised by KPMG in our Centre in Takhmao The children of the Permanent Protection Centre in Takmao and those of the family houses of Kpop Veng and Prek Kat welcomed the staff from KPMG, who carry out audits for us. Fifty local residents came to organise a day full of activities in order to celebrate the Community Day on July 17. The children were divided into groups according to their age. Each group was asked to brainstorm several topics such as the “Basic hygiene”, “future plan”, “How to avoid domestic violence” or “How to be a good student”. The discussion was followed by a short presentation on each topic by the children themselves. The children of Krousar Thmey were proud and brave enough to talk in front of an audience of hundred people about their ideas on each topic. After lunch, the group of KPMG staff screened a cartoon film for the small children and played several games. The visit was an opportunity to bring rice, food, soft drink for children of the centre. At the end of the celebration, Mrs. CHIN Bora, director of the centre, thanked the KPMG staff who organised this enjoyable event. This kind of event clearly attracts Cambodian people and encourages them to engage in charitable activities. It is certainly a good model which could be employed by other companies too. Children from Krousar Thmey passed the national exam! At the beginning of July, all the children in grade 9 under the care of Krousar Thmey obtained the national junior high school certificate. Thirty three children living in our centres or studying in our schools attended the examination and all of them passed it. Krousar Thmey always endeavours to offer its children the highest quality of education. All centres set this objective as a priority and the examination results can only encourage our teams to continue in their activities. In order to achieve this objective, several measures are taken such as: - Supporting courses in the evening ; Donation from Médecins Sans Frontière Belgium (MSF Belgium) After almost twenty years in Cambodia, MSF Belgium has decided to leave the country. This departure benefits greatly Krousar Thmey. Our teams have contacted MSF Belgium and received as a donation of all kinds of office equipment such as desks, chairs, white boards, safe, cupboards, among other things. In the coming weeks these materials will be distributed to the centres around Phnom Penh. We mentioned this in our previous edition. We are pleased to announce that the Cambodian legislation on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities has been signed by the King of Cambodia at the beginning of July. The law is thus now in effect. Medical Check-up for the Blind or Deaf Children by a Future Young Doctor A French Medical student, Benjamin AUTRIC, presently in year five came to Cambodia during his holidays for two weeks to provide a medical check-up for children with disabilities and boarded in the special school of Krousar Thmey. Nearly two hundred children received a general medical check-up. According to Benjamin, the children’s health is generally good but he recommended that the guardian and relatives should pay more attention to dental hygiene. He also said that the school staff should talk with parents of the blind or deaf children about vaccinations. During the visit, Benjamin also provided a health record for each pupil. LUNH Meng Hong, 6 years old … Meng Hong was born blind on February 11 in 2003 in Prey Veng province. His parents are farmers. He is the oldest son in the family and he has got two brothers. His two brothers are not blind so they go to school in the village. Meng Hong wanted to follow in his brother’s steps but there was no class for blind pupils. “At home, my mother and my grandmother help me a lot. They feed me. They help me put on clothes, take a bath. They give me a hand in everything. They love me very much. Before entering school, I did not play with other boys. I don’t know why, maybe because I was too young to go out and play with others. I only played with my other brother. When I was six years old, my parents brought me to Chbar Ampov School for the Blind. There I learnt many things such as how to move around an unknown environment, and how to do things myself. At school, I learn Braille, music and I wish I could learn about computers too. I am very happy studying there and now have a lot of friends. What makes me happy is that I can do more things myself. I can do everything by myself like eating, walking, putting on clothes.” |
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June 2009 |
A Playful Day in Two of our Centres Every single year, June first is dedicated to the International Children’ Day. Two of our centers did celebrate that event, the 54th of its kind. At Psar Depot, one of our temporary shelters for Phnom Penh street-children organized some fun games for the children such as races, ball games and the arduous watermelon tasting!!! Without using hands! Many little gifts were given. Children had a blast and so did we. In Sisophon, the governor was invited to join the celebration. The center that offers a permanent home life to children was joined by the Krousar Thmey School of Art and Culture as well as children from a nearby orphanage. Due to the rain, children did not play as much as in Phnom Penh but still managed to have fun and get some gifts. New Strides on Legal Issues It is a huge victory for people with disabilities and others that fight along with them that have been won. The Cambodian Senate has approved a new law in favor of people with disabilities “Protection and Promotion on the Rights of Persons’ with Disabilities”. As soon as the King ratifies the law, the law will provide persons with a disability the right to work, the right to health care and the right to access a free and appropriate education. The concepts of inclusive or/and integrated classes in public schools are already in place by Krousar Thmey. If this step is promising, one can see that much is needed to be done in the field of special education and inclusion of children with disabilities. Having a law in place will allow all persons with a disability to have a positive visibility in the Khmer society. You may be able to see the legal document on the following site: www.dac.org.kh/2006/pwdlaw.htm Veasna, 16 years old While his mother was pregnant she used prescription drugs that turned out to be devastating for him. Veasna was born deaf. At first Veasna was isolated from his peers and family. As his sisters and brothers he participated in daily chores but was bored and had not much to do besides staying at home for extended periods of time. Communication with his family and local children was light at best. His parents were saddened by this condition, felt helpless, and somehow found a Khmer NGO Cambodian Disabled People Organization (CDPO). CDPO offered him with a new alternative to communicate using sign language. In 2002 Krousar Thmey opened a special education class in a public school nearby. Veasna and CDPO seize the opportunity to access education. Now in grade 5, Vesna has many friends in his class, and at last can communicate with his family without the help of others. It is important to note that communication with “able” students is still a challenge. However, Veasna hopes to join an inclusive class in his public school and to be able to communicate with all children able or not. Veasna loves hands-on activities; he does not seem to like literature especially Khmer literature. Veasna would like to become a jewelry creator and sell his products. He feels that this trade is easy to learn. This trade would allow him much freedom and make a decent living. |
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May 2009 |
A 16th mission for the NGO Enfants Sourds du Cambodge Arriving in Cambodia on the 1st of May, the 11 representatives of the NGO Enfants Sourds du Cambodge came for their 16th mission and stayed in our schools about 10 days. Because of His Majesty the King Norodom Sihamoni’s Birthday (13th, 14th, and 15th of May were public holidays in Cambodia), the effective period of work of the NGO was shorter than during their former missions. This time restriction was not a problem for them and they completed successfully the examination and the fitting of the deaf children from our 4 specialised schools. During the mission, the specialists from Enfants Sourds du Cambodge were accompanied by new recruits to allow them to discover the work of the NGO in Cambodia, and also in order to form progressively a new team made of competent and motivated persons. The second mission in 2009 should take place in December in order to carry out the follow-up of the children and to give them the hearing comfort they deserve. When the cinema meet our children The Bophana Centre, Audiovisual Resource Centre based in Phnom Penh, aims to collect archives related to the History of Cambodia and is working on the maintenance of Cambodian heritage. The centre also organises regularly some film projections in Phnom Penh and in Cambodian provinces, most of them take place into schools or associations. On 2nd and 3rd of May, the team of the Bophana Centre went to Sihanouk Ville province and they stopped in one of our two family houses. A 2-hours projection, combining cartoons and documentaries, brought together the children and parents from our two family houses located in Sihanouk Ville. That kind of cinematographic projections should be more regular during the next months. For any further information on the work done by the Bophana Centre in Cambodia, consult the following website: http://www.bophana.org One day of information about Cambodia Last 30th of May, the association Friends Without A Border (FWAB) in collaboration with the municipality of Le Touquet (town located in the North of France), organised a day of information about Cambodia in order to make the population from this area (and the other visitors) aware of the Cambodian reality beyond a simple touristic point of view. Via numerous activities – some lectures, exhibitions, debates and even a craft sale were planned – the associations present during that day, around twenty and among them Krousar Thmey France, had a perfect occasion to communicate around their activities and so, to highlight the work of their teams in the field. The big media coverage makes this day an essential event for all the associations involved in Cambodia, and which are permanently looking for funds. |
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April 2009 |
A new booklet to present our activities For several weeks already, a new information brochure presenting our activities has been available in Khmer, English, and French. Bringing this principal document up-to-date became necessary so that we can follow the progress of activities of our NGO, and provide information to everyone coming into possession of this updated brochure. It is also available in PDF format, so please feel free to contact us (communication@krousar-thmey.org); we will be delighted to send you the booklet in the language of your choice. Krousar Thmey received by Mrs. Bun Rany and His Majesty the King Norodom Sihamoni Krousar Thmey was pleased to be received by Mrs. Bun Rany, wife of Prime Minister Samdech Hun Sen, to discuss her potential support of our future programmes. Eventhough the president of the Red Cross in Cambodia, Mrs. Bun Rany, is also perpetually looking for funds, has declined our offer to become the « godmother » of our next « Bonn Phcar » (« Flower festival » in Khmer), this meeting itself was recognition of Krousar Thmey’s activities in Cambodia. The principal message we would wish to pass on about the importance of increasing involvement of Cambodian people, has been approved. Some local « Flower festivals » should see the light of day at the end of 2009 thanks to Krousar Thmey’s impetus. Moreover, the reception of His Majesty the King Norodom Sihamoni was really warm and he agreed in principle to his participation in the inauguration ceremony of the new school for deaf or blind in Phnom Penh Thmey, next November. Already aware of Krousar Thmey’s activities, HM the King renewed his confidence in our organisation by making a donation for the deprived children in Cambodia. A play to the benefit of Krousar Thmey It was in 1957 that a group of friends made a daring gamble: to use their talents to defend a cause. Since then, the theatre company « Les 7 de la Cité » adapts and acts every year in a play benefiting several charitable and humanitarian organisations for many years, and among them Krousar Thmey. Last March, on the Parisian stage of the ASIEM theatre, the play « Le Bel Air de Londres » (« The Beautiful Tune from London ») written by Dion Boucicault and adapted for the occasion by the company, was performed 17 times and the profit from all performances was collected for the benefit of 29 associations working in various fields. On the 25th March, the show was dedicated to Krousar Thmey and, for that occasion, the auditorium with seating for 400 was full. It is a great award for this kind-hearted theatre company and recognition of our organisation which will receive greatly-appreciated financial help. For any further information about the theatre company, please have a look at the French website: http://www.les7delacite.com |
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March 2009 |
A meeting on integrated classes Last 19th and 20th of February, 42 directors of our integrated or inclusive classes and 30 directors of district education office (from Phnom Penh and 12 other provinces) attend a meeting in order to share experiences and ideas about the education inside these classes. It was the occasion for them to speak about: It was a good opportunity for Krousar Thmey to present the four short manuals just published on specialized education for blind or deaf children. The rice harvest for 2009 is good After the rainy season, and when the paddy fields are again accessible, that is the beginning of a new adventure for our team in Sisophon. This center is the only structure within Krousar Thmey with a paddy fields property. That means, every year, the harvest of 10 hectares had to be done. The harvest of Krousar Thmey’s rice is a very important and expected moment for the children as for all the team. This gathering is the appropriate time to be together and to share joyful moments. This year, the harvest was quite late because of the heavy rains which made the paddy fields inaccessible and also delayed the rice drying. However, the harvest 2009 is a good one with 207 bags of rice collected (i.e. around 2 metric tons). It will be enough for the Sisophon center to be self-sufficient until next harvest, and that is good news for Krousar Thmey as the price of rice is still high at the moment in Cambodia. The annual medical visit The doctor Sylvie BEDAT, one of our voluntary workers in Switzerland, arrived in Cambodia last February the 16th, for a two weeks « medical trip» period. Since 2005, and the instauration of health records for all the children Krousar Thmey takes care of, one annual medical visit is planed almost every year to check the sanitary situation of our children. Sylvie’s mission aims at: This year, Mr. CHIN Prasith, the « health guardian » for Krousar Thmey and Mr. SOK Phanna, the coordinator of the « Child Welfare » program, were the two persons who help Sylvie to complete successfully her medical tasks. |
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February 2009 |
The Cambodian sign language dictionary is on line! Nicolas ANQUETIL, a French Applied Arts teacher, fond of informatics and audiovisual creation launched this project during the summer 2007. Since the first steps of the project, the sign language committee set up in the School for blind of Chbar Ampov (Phnom Penh) has done a huge work, making possible the creation of this « revolutionary » tool, which wants itself to be usable by anybody. This digital dictionary, already available to our students in 3 languages (French, English and Khmer) was originally expected on line and it is now possible thanks to the beta version. Made up of 220 signs, the tool will progressively be completed with all signs detailed in the paper version (around 900 terms). The dictionary has been devised to be interactive thanks to a filmed sequence presenting each sign. With free access around the world, this dictionary is a perfect communication tool to show the sign language developed in Cambodia. An article published on Ka-set, an information website about Cambodia, put the emphasis on the important work done. We really incite you to have a look on the website link below and for the most motivated to give it a try! http://ijs.92.dico.free.fr/dictionnaire_langue_signes_sign_language_khmer_cambodge/index.html An audiovisual project about Krousar Thmey in progress After several stopovers in Southeast Asia, two European volunteers and experienced film-makers, Jeanne NADAL and Niels TERWINGEN, were looking for ways to support one NGO with an audiovisual project and on a voluntary basis. They offered their services to Krousar Thmey and, finally, the project was launched at the beginning of January. It was a good occasion for Krousar Thmey to update its « filmography » and to put stress on its daily field work, through pictures. For several weeks, Jeanne and Niels traveled around the country, going from centers to schools and meeting our staff in order to illustrate the whole work realized every day and the daily life on the field. Many hours of interviews and images have been recorded and now is the beginning of a long editing work. The final version should be ready in April. We will inform you as soon as we put some extracts on our website. |
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January 2009 |
One workshop dedicated to the inclusive education Aide & Action, one of our principal partners for the promotion of blind or deaf children’ education organized, last December 22nd in Phnom Penh, a workshop which topic was « the inclusive education ». The aim was to show all the achievements realized, year after year, by the partnership between Aide & Action and Krousar Thmey, on specialized teaching in the inclusive classes (an inclusive class = a class set up in a public school in which blind or deaf children are mixed with the other children). The material created by Krousar Thmey was presented: books in Braille, sign language dictionary, etc. Some NGO partners and the Ministry of Education joint the workshop in order to plan the future actions for the years to come and to get them involved in the projects. The Ministry of Education promised to set up a new politic in order to improve the knowledge of these classes among the teachers of the 24 Cambodian provinces. Furthermore, the new teachers will be trained to the specialized education to acquire the capacity to tackle specific problems encountered by blind or deaf children. A special committee will be formed to check the set up of these new measures. A new mission for the NGO Enfants Sourds du Cambodge The team of Enfants Sourds du Cambodge - mainly made up of specialists in hearing aid, of ENT specialists and of pharmacists - arrived in Cambodia last December 28th. This mission which will last two weeks is the 15th mission Enfants Sourds du Cambodge does inside our schools for deaf children. The main objectives are: - To check the audition of every young deaf or hearing-impaired, and also to see if hearing aid is well adapted to the problem of each child, - To do a follow-up of the actions set up during the previous missions. After one week in Chbar Ampov school, to meet the children from Phnom Penh and Kampong Cham schools, the team will go to Siem Reap in order to take care of the children from Siem Reap and Battambang schools. They will also go and meet our children studying in integrated classes and the ones working for Artisans d’Angkor, a company dedicated to traditional Cambodian arts and crafts in which some of our deaf students are in internship. |
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December 2008 |
The beta version of the online Khmer/French/English dictionary - Khmer Language Sign [KLS] is now available! http://ijs.92.dico.free.fr/dictionnaire_langue_signes_sign_language_khmer_cambodge/index.html A simple and intuitive graphical interface allows to watch a video as well as the sign drawing of the selected word. The Khmer area of the site contains as well the definition, the use and the elements of the sign, along with a sentence as an example. With more than 200 entries which corresponds to the first consonants of the Khmer alphabet, this dictionary is an amazing tool for the promotion and recognition of the Cambodian deaf community. |
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November 2008 |
When music and solidarity merge Last November 19th, Krousar Thmey Switzerland organized a concert at the Conservatoire of music in Geneva, on the occasion of the International Day on prevention of child abuse. The evening performance was dedicated to Johannes Brahms ’s work and, Pascal Rogé, a pianist internationally renowned, surrounded himself with 8 of his friends in order to give one concert of high quality, in aid of Cambodian deprived children Krousar Thmey takes care of. It was the second time Pascal Rogé offered Krousar Thmey one of his concert: availability and generosity warmly appreciated. The audience, made up of 180 persons, came and supported directly our cause as all the money raised will help to finance the new school for blind or deaf children in Phnom Penh Thmey. The amount of money collected should exceed 25,000 $ (first valuation), a very welcomed aid to face the big expenses due to the school building. A “live” recording of the concert will be available soon: Pascal Rogé offers his royalties to Krousar Thmey. On behalf of all our Cambodian team, a warm thanks you to our volunteers in Switzerland, to the artists and partners, who were all deeply involved and make this concert a success. Christmas gifts to help Krousar Thmey Cambodia Christmas is coming soon and it is time to think about the gifts to be done… that’s why our branches in France, Switzerland and United Kingdom are organizing some Christmas sales in order to collect money in a “ludic” way (you are not only giving money but you are also buying something). To give a “Cambodian” touch to these sales, and to score a maximum success, many artisanal articles and accessories from Cambodia, such as stoles, scarves, table runners made of Cambodian silk, and also small decorations, china and so on, were sent to our branches. If you can assist to one of these sales, please do so, your expenses will be very useful to support our projects as the whole profit will benefit Krousar Thmey Cambodia! Thanks a lot to all our volunteers for their investment and the very precious time they spent to organize these important events, not only for Krousar Thmey communication but also for the finances of the NGO. |
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October 2008 |
30 children participating in Paralympics Games Every year, on the 30th of October, in Siem Reap or Phnom Penh, all differently able children are encouraged to compete against one another in various sportive activities. This year, in the Olympic stadium in Phnom Penh, different NGOs taking care of mentally or physically disabled people gathered to compete for the gold medals! Such an event reminds us how differently able children are capable of physical efforts and performing a feat as well as “valid” ones. At the end of the day Krousar Thmey was very proud to count gold, silver and bronze medals in football, 4 golds and 2 silver medals in track and field, and 3 gold and 1 bronze medals in petanque. All three activities of the day seemed too easy games for our children! Handicap: “What if school adapted itself to it?” “Exclusion is one of the most violent acts that differently able people suffer from. Schools, which are the main places for socialization, are still often excluding some children.” This sentence is the introduction of a very interesting file in the Aide & Action magazine. This file includes a one page focus on Krousar Thmey’s activities in favor of deaf or blind children. The World Day of Teacher (WDT) First launched in 1994 by UNESCO, the WDT is now celebrated in more than 200 countries. It was initiated in Cambodia in 2006 thanks to Aide & Action, one of our main NGO partners. The objectives of this event are to: - celebrate and honor teachers, This year, Mr. SE Ly Somony, vice secretary of State of the Ministry of Education and Mrs. SOUS Man, vice director of the Foreign Language Institute were the guest of honor. 16 NGOs, more than 100 students and 7 teachers gathered to celebrate this day, enjoying traditional dances, theater show, general knowledge quiz and a short movie in which Ela, one of Krousar Thmey’s deaf teachers has a main role. We really hope that kind of initiative will help the population to become aware that education is important. |
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September 2008 |
Academic results 2008 All our students had pass their exam brilliantly this year, among them 9 blind students from our schools are « newly graduate » with the precious Baccalaureate diploma. On a national point of view, the Baccalaureate results are not as good as the year before: 70 % of the students passed the exam against 72 % last year. These results are rather positive if we except all the denounced cheatings. Unfortunately, the results « don’t reflect students’ capacities » according to Rong Chun, president of the independent association of Cambodian teachers; the number of Cambodian holders of the Baccalaureate should be even lower. And yet, this enduring situation made the government to take stricter precautions this year (in particular a close watch over exam centres). However many students have been able to buy their exam subjects in advance or to take advantage from some lavish people… The environment week: first edition in Phnom Penh This event, organized and coordinated by GERES (Groupe Energies Renouvelables, Environnement et Solidarités), took place from the 15th to the 20th of September 2008 in Phnom Penh. One day was particularly devoted to the topic « children and environment ». About twenty children from the temporary centre of Chamkar Morn and from the permanent centre of Takhmao (Phnom Penh) took part in this day alongside with children from two other NGOs (Aspeca Enfants d’Asie and Mith Samlanh). The programme of this day was pretty busy: several artistic demonstrations by the children from the NGOs on environmental topics; some short sketches to make children aware of environment issues; a drawing competition to improve children’s imagination on this important topic. A rewarding day and an « intelligent » moment of relaxation for Krousar Thmey’s children and for all the other participants. The World Teachers’ Day 2008 On the occasion of this day, our partner Aide & Action chose to realize, several weeks before the event, a short film on the topic « I remember one teacher ». Among the 5 selected protagonists of this film is Ela, one of the deaf teachers. This short film has been broadcasted for the first time on the 6th of October, during the World Teachers’ Day. Later, the objective of Aide & Action is to broadcast the film on national TV channels. We really hope Ela’s story will participate in increasing awareness of Cambodian population and in changing mentalities towards disabled people in the country. |
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August 2008 |
Krousar Thmey’s sustainability put to the test Krousar Thmey has been doing well for 17 years already, thanks to the precious help of our donors. However, this year, for various reasons, the financial situation of our NGO and therefore its action, is really put at stake. Here is a little insight to the current situation: - The explosion of raw materials’ prices and the overall inflation: it is getting harder and harder to cover all our projects expenditures. For similar results, much more finances are engaged. The best examples are the explosions of prices of basic daily needs such as petrol or rice: these expenses, formerly basic are now consequent, and hard to cope with. - The drawback of some of our longtime donors: since its creation, Krousar Thmey has undertaken a lot of work and important and qualitative results have resulted out of it. However, compared to « emergency situation NGOs », it is hard for us, working in the development field to maintain indefinitely aware the same donors, for the same projects. Different needs exist in different countries for different causes and it is understandable to see funds fly away over some new places. Therefore, we need to reinforce our investment, find out new strategies and diversify our sources of incomes in order to get over these « financial gaps ». - A building site of large scale: the construction of our new in Phnom Penh Thmey is one of our major expenses for this year. Funds necessary to complete the construction are far from being acquired already as only 30 % of the school has been financed up to now. Despite the important cost enhanced, this school had to be build in order to cope with the handicap children of Phnom Penh needing specialized education. Report on the training in massage The training in massage for young blind took place in the school for blind children in Siem Reap during two weeks. Charlotte MUFFANG, a French physiotherapist, gave this training and she was able to notice the technical evolution of the students she trained some years before. The assessment is really positive since according to her « the masseurs are extremely good and professional ». The next training course is not confirmed for the moment as Charlotte MUFFANG considers the most advanced blind masseurs very capable of taking over her to train the youngest. Don’t hesitate to go and test their talents during your next stay in Siem Reap! |
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July 2008 |
Renovation works in Chbar Ampov School for deaf children This school, located in the south of Phnom Penh, takes advantage of the academic holidays to do some necessary works for the security and the comfort of the students. After the inauguration of a new building last December, it is time for all the land to be banked up. These works should be over before the beginning of the next academic year in October. The new school for blind children of Phnom Penh Thmey The main event of the next academic year will be the opening of the new school for blind children based in Phnom Penh Thmey, that is to say in the most recent areas of Phnom Penh. The construction works should be over by the end of October to welcome the students from Chbar Ampov School, which fate is unfortunately to shortly disappear in the river. The blind children had been welcomed until the end of July 2008 in the school for deaf children. Speech therapy mission, a new edition Marie-Noëlle Bergue and Isabelle Roy, two French speech therapists who came in Cambodia last year, repeated the experience this year in our schools for deaf children. Sylvie Clavier, who is working as a speech therapist in Rouen, joint them this year, thus they are three to come and support the Cambodian speech therapists in our schools for one month. After a speech in every school (except the one of Battambang where the speech therapist is expecting a baby), they are participating in the annual training which is taking place in Chbar Ampov School in August. The main objective of their annual mission is to share their knowledge with the Cambodian speech therapists by giving them some techniques of work with the aim to improve their skills and a better way to teach to deaf children. This exchange is very rewarding but requires a lot of patience and an adaptation capacity given the cultural gap. |
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June 2008 |
Signature of the MOU for the new school On Monday the 16th of June, Mr Benoit Duchâteau-Arminjon, the founder of Krousar Thmey and Mrs Cheam Kosal, the General Director of Krousar Thmey in Cambodia went to the Ministry of Social Affairs in order to sign the MOU (Memorandum Of Understanding) for the new school. It means that the Ministry of Social Affairs recognizes as legal the actions of Krousar Thmey and it gives the association the right to launch and to run the project of the new school in Phnom Penh Thmey. At this time, the construction of the new school is not finished yet but it is supposed to be ready at the beginning of the new school year in October 2008. This agreement will allow hundreds of blind or deaf children to go to school, to receive the education that every child deserves. This MOU must be renewed every three years. A new policy of recognition of the special education for the handicapped children in Cambodia The MOEYS (Ministry Of Education Youth and Sports) has developed a national policy on the education for children with disabilities to ensure the equal rights to all children to go to school and to receive a primary education on the same level as the non handicapped children. This new policy has been implemented in order to reach the goal of the Education for All by the year 2015. This policy also identifies the structures and associations as Krousar Thmey and recognizes its action. In the meantime, it will incite the government and the public authorities to be more involved in this project. - To increase awareness and acceptance of disabilities among communities, relevant institutions and stakeholders. - Provide early identification through rehabilitation services such as physiotherapy and health service. - Provide quality education, life skills or vocational trainings to children and youth with disabilities equitably and effectively. - Increase enrollment, promotion and survival rates in the schools. Moreover, this policy recognizes the quality of the teachers involved in both the public system of education and the Krousar Thmey educational system for the handicapped children. |
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March - May 2008 |
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 in 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. The next family festival will take place in three years because in 2011, Krousar Thmey will celebrate its 20th anniversary. 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. Capacity building at VBNK for Krousar Thmey’s staff DED is one of our main partner supporting especially capacity building for the staff. Last year, three trainings were held at VBNK allowing all the directors of our centers and their assistants to improve their knowledge and to acquire new pedagogical tools. This year and still financed by VBNK, our 29 directors and assistants attended one more training at VBNK. It has been held between the 5th and the 9th of May and the main topic was: Report Writing. This kind of training is very important as it helps them to synthesize the information in order to transmit it well to the donors. Counseling training The first session (out of three) of the counseling training started the 1st, 2nd and 3rd of May 2008. Financed by DED, it was held at Jane Lopacka Counseling and Mediation Services in Phnom Penh. The 19 directors of the street children and protection centers and their assistants will attend this training. The first session was an introduction of the basic concepts in child trauma counseling. They will go deeper in this concept during the other sessions. These persons work in the field of child welfare and this kind of training will help them to understand the psychology of the children in distress. The Counseling training will improve the behaviors of our staff when they meet deeply traumatized children. They will have the necessary medico psychological tools to talk to them and to help them. The other sessions will take place in the course of the year. |
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February 2008 |
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 2008 |
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 Poïpet, 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 Poïpet: - 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 Chabr Ampov 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 Poïpet. 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 Poïpet. She was saved by the Street Children Centre of Poïpet 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 Chabr Ampov’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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