Free education for 300 children in rural Cambodia

Dear supporter,

As we near the end of the year it’s a great time to reflect on all that has happened over the last 12 months at Helping Hands. It’s been a wonderful and successful year, with significant developments in our curriculum, the installation of fans in the classroom and a new toilet block amongst other things.  We’re incredibly grateful to you for the role you’ve payed in supporting us. Thank you very much.

The last couple of months have been particularly exciting with our new school year starting.  As well as welcoming new students, we've distributed new uniforms and bicycles and held a fun Sports Festival for our students and their families.. Read on for all the details.

Uniform

November marks the start of the new school year in Cambodia, and for our students to be able to enrol at Government school, they are required to have the correct uniform.  Sadly this is a cost our students' families simply cannot afford, so part of our commitment to our students is to provide the uniform necessary for them to be able to enrol and attend Government school. This year, with huge thanks to AmmanyA, we have yet again been able to provide this. Our students are therefore able to access the Government school education, as well as receive the additional support of Helping Hands.

Bicycles

The journey to and from school is a long one for some of our students, particularly those who are studying at junior high school. They rely on bicycles, often sharing rides with friends to make the journey, but thanks to the incredible Ponheary Ly Foudation and Eyes Open, we were able to provide 50 of our students with brand new bicycles last month! These new bicycles make that journey just a little bit easier! No more sharing rides with friends, and our students can be fully independent and safe in the knowledge that their new bicycles are in perfect condition and won't let them down!

Child Protection and Curriculum Developments

Earlier this month, the Globalteer and Helping Hands teams came together to launch our new Child Safety Module, which will be a part of the curriculum going forward. Child Protection has always been an important focus among our teachers, staff and volunteers, and we’re now implementing lessons for our students, which include online safety, home hazards, safe and unsafe touches, and stranger danger.

Through a variety of activities, we will bring awareness to some of the risks our students face, and ensure that close, open relationships are built between students and teachers, ensuring our students feel safe to talk to, and potentially report to, our teachers. The goal is that when a dangerous situation does arise, students will be able to identify it, and will have a support network to report it to and seek help from. Through this program they will be empowered to act on their rights.

Going forward we plan to grow this program to cover other topics such as electricity, exploitation and abduction, all of which are areas that children in Cambodia are at risk from.

Sports Festival

Last week, in partnership with the Globalteer Sports Project we held our first Sports Festival Day at Helping Hands. Students of all ages participated in events ranging from relay and sack races, to football and local Khmer games. Parents, local school Directors and the Village Chief all came along to enjoy the event. It was a huge success and so much fun for both participants and spectators! 

As mentioned above, the last 12 months have been a huge sucess at Helping Hands. Thank you so much for your support this year, we hope you are able to continue giving us a helping hand in 2020. Happy holidays and we all wish you the very best for the year ahead.

Jess, and all at Helping Hands

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