Free education for 300 children in rural Cambodia

Dear Helping Hands Supporter, 

We’d like to start by sending a heartfelt thank you to all of you, for your continued support.  In particular we'd like to thank everyone who made a donation on 18^th July, helping us to maximise every donation through GlobalGiving’s Bonus Day. Thanks to your generosity, we raised enough funds to be able to complete the next step of our Clean Water Project, which you can read all about below

We have even more happy news to share with you, including a welcome back to a familiar face, some exciting sports events that our students have participated in, and the launch of our Monthly School Trip!  Read on for all the latest news...

Our Clean Water Project is Almost Complete! 

Having secured some extra funds from our supporters, we sought permission from the electricity boardand local land owners to put in poles and wiring between the school and the mains electricity in the village.  We then enlisted the help of some local villagers to give us a hand putting the electricity poles in place.  The electrician then installed the wiring, meaning our school is now connected to the mains electricity supply!!  This was a huge step forward for us, and all the team are very excited to be moving forward with the project. 

The final step of the project is to purchase a water pump and connect it up to the tank.  We do however, still need to secure further funds for the water pump and final bits of wiring.  Can you help us secure the funds to get this completed?

GlobalGiving are running another of their amazing Bonus Days on Wednesday 12^th September.  The Bonus Day will run for a huge 33 hours, starting at 0:00 EDT time, which is 5 am in London, 11 am in Cambodia and 2 pm in Sydney.

If you have any spare change lying around (or even a little more) please consider making a donation on 12th September, to give us a chance of taking a share of the $50,000 bonus funds available.  By donating on this day, your donation will have an even bigger impact and get us closer to our goal of having clean running water at Helping Hands!

12th September is the date to remember!  Mark it on your calendar and follow this link to take advantage of the Bonus Day!

Curriculum Updates 

At Helping Hands education is of course at the forefront of everything we do, and we're always trying to find ways to improve lessons and provide a more well-rounded education for our students, allowing each one the opportunity to pursue and excel in their different passions.

We're happy to say we've been able to introduce more variety to the curriculum this month, as well as participating in a couple of really fun sports days!  On top of this we also launched monthly school trips to recognise the hard work and commitment of some of our exceptional students!

New Subjects and Welcome Back to Sovanna

We have some really happy news to share.  As some of you may know, Sovanna who used to teach our Kindergarten class has been off on long-term sick leave and we were not sure if she would regain enough strength to be able to come back to work, but we’re very happy to tell you Sovanna has now started back at school a couple of hours a day. 

Sovanna is very musical and really enjoys singing and playing instruments.  Whenever there is a celebration in the village you'll be sure to find Sovanna providing some entertainment!  As Sovanna is so musical we've introduced music lessons for our primary school students, as well as extra classes in Khmer, arts and crafts and health and hygiene.  We're all so happy to have Sovanna's smiling face back at work, and the student’s are loving their extra classes with her

Spotlight on Sports

Our student’s have participated in a couple of big Sports events in the last couple of months, teaching them about healthy competition, sportsmanship and the benefits of leading a healthy lifestyle!

World cup fever hits Cambodia

Cambodia may not have participated in the World Cup, but on Thursday 12th July, our students took part in another very exciting football match right here in Siem Reap!   

They were amongst the many players taking part in an attempt to break the World Record for the most players in a football match!  It was a very hot day, but all our students had so much fun, and even got our volunteers and staff playing! The match spanned a total of 4 days and succeeded in breaking the world record previously set at 2357 players, in Chile in 2016.

A huge thank you to Forza Academy and Next Step for inviting us to take part in this exciting event!

Temple Run 2018

After the success of last years Temple Run, we decided to make it an annual event and held our second run last month.  The students worked in teams to complete a relay race through the village and around the old temple.  Our volunteers also joined in the fun and even got some of our student's mums racing too!  

And believe it or not, despite having lived in the village all their lives, two of the mums had never seen the old temple before!  We were thrilled to be able to introduce them to this beautiful part of their village, and they loved taking part in the day! Everyone's already looking forward to next year and doing it all over again! temple.  Our volunteers also joined in the fun and even got some of our student's mums racing too

School Trip Launch

We'd like to send a big thank you to Brenda and her family, for setting up a recurring donation to enable us to launch monthly school trips!  These trips work to reward some of our exceptional students for their hard work and commitment, as well as providing them with new experiences, build their knowledge and open their eyes to some of the options and possibilities for future careers and jobs.  

The first trip was a huge success! It was a day of firsts for the children.  The trip brought them to the town of Siem Reap, somewhere they’d never been before, and even getting to ride an escalator at the first stop was a big excitement for them.  Following a tour around Artisans D’Angkor, an arts and crafts workshop, they were given the chance to have a go at making a few things themselves, before refueling with some pizza – another first for the students!  It was a great day with both students and staff having a lot of fun!

No one can help Everyone, but Everyone can help Someone.  

You could help someone by giving them the chance of education, nutritional breakfasts and health and social care. Empower a student and give them the tools they need to grow, shine, and ultimately break out of a life of poverty.

$12.50 a month will pay for a child to have this opportunity. Can you support one child? Or two? Or maybe even more? Whatever your contribution, we are incredibly grateful, and by committing to a recurring donation on September 12^th your gift will stretch even further as GlobalGiving are matching new recurring donations by a HUGE 100%.

GlobalGiving BONUS Day!

Starts 0:00 ET 12th September
 

On top of the match on recurring donations, there is an additional $50,000 of bonus money available, so even if you're not able to commit to a recurring donation you can still make a one-off donation and help us to receive as bigger share of the bonus money as possible!

So no matter how much you have to spare, if you are able to, please consider donating on the 12th to stretch your donation further and make an even BIGGER impact!
 

https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/free-education-for-300-children-in-cambodia

Bonus Day starts 12th September at 0:00 (midnight) ET, which is 5am in London, 11am in Cambodia and 2pm in Sydney.  You can check the start time for your own time zone here. 

Make the decision today, to empower a child and give them the opportunity of a better life. 

As always, thank you so much for your continued support, we hope you enjoyed reading all our latest news and updates, please do share our news with your family and friends.

Thank you! Orkun Chran.

Jess and all at Helping Hands

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