Hot lunches for 500 Cambodian children and youth

Hello from Cambodia.

I just wanted to write a quick note to thank you again for your donations that help M’Lop Tapang to continue to provide hot lunches for disadvantaged Cambodia children and youth. With your support hundreds of children that are attending education and training programs here don’t have to worry about hungry stomachs and can concentrate on paying attention in the classroom instead.

One of the children that your donations have helped is “Vannak” (name and photo changed for confidentiality)

In 2012 our Outreach Team met 10-year old Vannak who was out in the streets scavenging for plastic bottles, beer cans, and other recyclables. Vannak, like all the children M’Lop Tapang works with, came from a family living in poverty. His alcoholic father and unemployed mother would send Vannak and his siblings out onto the streets to collect trash in order to support the family. Even at just 10 years old Vannak had begun using drugs (sniffing glue) to try and cope with the hardships in his life.

Jumping ahead three years to 2015, Vannak’s life is very different. He has been off the streets for a couple of years and has stopped using drugs. He is now 13 years old and attending Grade 3 classes at our Education Center every day (his teachers tell us he is a very keen student), making new friends, and is getting the support and encouragement he needs. Each day he has lunch with at our cafeteria with his school chums.
From all of us here at M’Lop Tapang, thank you again for your past donations and investing in the futures of these children.

All the best,

Eve Saosarin, Director