By Jess Robinson | Community Programme Manager
Dear friend,
We hope you and your loved ones are well and you are finding some ways to bring a little normalcy back to your lives.
We were over the moon to welcome our students back to school at the beginning of the year, and as always, we continued to look for ways to improve our programme and provide the best possible support for our students. Sadly, this window of respite and normalcy was cut short, as the virus quickly started spreading across Cambodia, and overnight a widespread lockdown was announced.
Read on, for more details on our rollercoaster few months.
Exciting Developments: Green Fingers and New Horizons
In February we introduced gardening lessons for our high school students, to teach them how to look after the land and successfully grow crops. Our students got busy planting long bean, chili and eggplant, and thanks to their hard work, our on-site garden was looking amazing!
These students took great pride in knowing they helped to grow the fruit and vegetables used to make nutritious breakfasts for our students, whilst also learning valuable life skills. In time, we hope to be able to offer these lessons to our younger students too. Watch this space!
In more exciting news, we have a new university scholarship recipient. Thanks to the generosity of the Stott family, Moun Nath, a former Helping Hands student has begun studying for a degree in Accounting at Build Bright University in Siem Reap. Due to the ongoing restrictions, Moun is currently studying online, which internet connections (or lack of), can often play havoc with. Despite this hindrance, and the heavy workload, Moun is really enjoying getting stuck into her first year, and is excited for her future in accounting.
Adapting to a Rise in Cases and Strict Lockdowns
Unfortunately, after a very positive couple of months, a sudden rise in covid-19 cases, meant schools were closed once again. Restrictions heavily increased and overnight, Siem Reap was placed in a strict lockdown. Travel across communes was forbidden, and outside excursions were limited to twice a week for purchasing food and essential items. Thankfully there have been no confirmed cases in the village, and the Helping Hands team have begun to receive their first dose of vaccine.
Although some restrictions have now been lifted, area specific lockdowns continue, and after another spike in unemployment, many families are struggling to survive. Our staff have shown incredible resilience and determination to continue supporting our students and their families through this time, and after negotiations with the Village Chief and Commune Leader, they were granted permission to distribute food, books and worksheets to students, on-site at school.
Our students, armed with bowls and containers, are now coming to school in small groups. They collect face masks and sanitise on arrival, then one by one they collect rice, eggs, and fruit and vegetables to take home for themselves and their families. Each student also collects a pack of work to take home, to help them keep up with their studies.
We’re incredibly proud of them all for remaining so positive and motivated through this difficult time.
New Uniforms Ready for Sschools Reopening
Part of our usual provision is supplying school uniforms for all our students so that they’re able to attend government school for half the day. This uniform is a requirement when enrolling at government school, but for many families, the cost of this is far out of their reach. Helping Hands has always worked to provide the best possible opportunities for our students. Never wanting to replace government school, but instead supporting our students to access these schools, whilst also supplementing their education with further study in core areas, and offering English, sport and arts lesson which are not commonly offered until high school, if at all. With the continued restrictions our usual provision of uniforms was pushed back from November, but this last week we have begun to hand out their new outfits. Despite schools remaining closed, we’re still happy to provide this new uniform for our students, and take pleasure knowing they are ready and able to attend government school once they reopen.
As always, the health and well-being of our staff and students remains our priority, and we’re very grateful to you for the support you’ve provided to help us with this. We look forward to updating you again in a few months, but please do get in touch at helping.hands@globalteer.org if you have any questions, or just want to say hello!
Take care and best wishes,
Jess, Sopheap, and all at Helping Hands Cambodia.
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