By Catherine Louise Geach | Founder
Dear Kind Donors and Friends of our School,
We Thank you so very much for the faith and inemistable support you have given our School.
To each person who has donated, I have written personally and let each of you know how vital and life-saving your help is.
Our Traditional Cambodian Music Program, Traditional Cambodian Ballet Program, Ancient Yike all thrive. Our Blind Students are mastering the ancient art of Smoet (or Smote) Singing, used as Buddhist-sung Prayer at funerals. This Art is passed from generation to generation by the few Smoet Masters who exist in Cambodia, and requires great Singing and Music interpretation skills, as well as a deep understanding of Humanity and the Buddhist Scriptures.
We also continue to take care of those of our Children who lost their parents to AIDS and who themselves have HIV and diverse health complications.
Our lovely fruit and vegetable garden thrives and is enjoyed by us all, with our Children helping take care of it.
Today, I will write about a rapidly growing harm that is affliciting Children, especially Girls in Kampot Province and all of Cambodia.
As you all know, our School is open 24 hours a day, even though on our social-media page, specific visiting hours are given. This signifies that we open our doors to all those in need day or night, and that my dear Colleagues have received training, to be able to gestate the many sufferings, that are hidden from the eyes of ordinary society. We have excellent relations with the local authorities, who trust us absolutely and call upon us at all times. I thank with all my Heart my dear Staff, our Director, Mr Sothy for their great fortitude, compassion and giving.
However, my senior collegues always feel distressed when we receive into our care, young Girls who have endured multiple rape, sometimes even held prisoner. This is a new and terrible situation for us all. In these cases, I will gently and firmly support our director, in making sure that everything has been thought of and all correct processes carried out, as well as the emotional, psychological and medical help given to the Child in question.
The other day, Mr Sothy asked me to put forward some thoughts to a special committee that has recently and urgently been set up in Kampot Province, to address this crisis. In reflection, I put forward how Cambodian Society, once so loving with a deeply woven social structure, collapsed and was destroyed by the Pol Pot-led Khmer Rouge Genocide.and then the decades of war. The Genocide affected every single person in Cambodia and led to immense trauma, the deaths of Buddhist Monks and the structure of the Buddhist Sangha, the deaths of Teachers, Educated People and Good Community Leaders, leaving a Vacuum of Goodness, which was filled by ignorance, violence, distrust, substance abuse, loss of affectivity, abandonment of infants, institutional corruption, exploitation and repression, the destruction of Music and the Arts and a Vehicle through which to express trauma, the destruction of peace, of community, of the elderly and of spiritual vision and harmony with humanity and nature. Now, we see also the implosion of goodness around the world, not only Canbodia; where through the internet, the dark web, with illimitable access to all that is destructive and harmful, especially to our Children, the Spirit of Humanity has been gravely damaged. And not only this. As we state that there is War everywhere on the planet, we forget that War begins with the ordinary individual, who on a daily basis may argue, fight, be cruel, mean or petty, whether it be online or inter-personal, and who actively creates darkness and not Light. Thus Cambodia, particularly vulnerable for the reasons stated above, has now generations of adults who damage others.
We must strive to always remember that Children everywhere in the World, are our Children. That we are all Responsible. Upon the individual level, we must constantly strive to be profoundly Good, not in the eyes of Humanity, but in that Quiet place of Truth, hidden from the world, in that daily striving and battles won, in thought and deed and word. That wherever our foot steps upon the earth, in our next breath we try to bring Light into the world.
Thus then, covered in Flowers, Trees and Birds, with those of my beloved Staff who have been with me 32 years, may our Children find that Miraculous Healing that they so profoundly deserve, that they be Children Again and become Happy, Peaceful Adults.
From the 17th to the 20th March, 2026, GlobalGiving will kindly and wonderful hold their Little by Little Campaign, of which we will be part. All donations of up to $50 will be stretched 50% by GlobalGiving,, while matching funds remain, therefore giving very important funding help. Please kindly spread the word and if you can, encourage others to help!
Because the world has changed so much, there is no longer a system of grants or funding that will support those such as ourselves, who take care of Children without parents, who have been abandoned and abused.. Our School is therefore able to keep open and running soley because of the great generosity of individual people.
We Thank You All With All our Hearts.
Photographs kind courtesy of S. Porte. Taken with the permission of our Children and Staff at KCDI.
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By Catherine Louise Geach | Founder
By Catherine Louise Geach | Founder
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