Education for 300 Urban Poor Children

“…supporting that helps a poor boy accesses to school”

Oeur was born on September 11, 2010. Now he is 13 years old and he lives in Ponhea Leang village, Angkor Reach commune, Preah Sdach district. Oeur also is not in our program or target schools. He has five brothers and he is the fifth child in the family. His four eldest brothers work as construction worker to support the family living condition because they all have low education and they all just studied in grade 1 and 2 then they all dropped out of school due to living difficulty. Oeur’s family is very poor and the family got the poor ID in level 1 because the family does not have own land for doing farming, so sometime his family did not have enough rice to eat. Oeur’s parents are a drunk person and they did not take care of children’s study. Last two years his mothers passed away because of drinking win. So now Oeur lives with his father and the youngest brother who are just two and half year in a small wooden house with a galvanized iron roof and a leaf wall.

Before Oeur’ father did not take care of children’s study, health, hygiene and protection, he just would love drinking wine with surround people in the village. He also did not encourage and send Oeur to school as other children. So that’s why, Oeur did not have opportunity to join the school although now he is 13 years old and he just spent the time to play with other the children in the village, finding frog and fish at the farm field and swimming with his friends. His body and clothes also are very dirty with bad smelling.

Fortunately, in December, 2022 the Program Team met with the department of social affairs, veteran and youth rehabilitation and deputy district governor. Then they all raised the case of Oeur’s family to the program team and they also requested Sunshine Cambodia Organization to support this family with emergency support such as food subsidy because Oeur’s family really needs this at that time. After the Program team met and got all the information about this case, the program team talked and discussed together because this family is not in the target school. Finally, we conducted a direct visit to Oeur’s family with the deputy district governor and other key local authorities such as the commune and village chief to assess the real need of the family and children on what the program could help and support as we have been working on education sector especially with the poor family and children. During home visiting, the program team also found that providing food packages is one main part, but supporting children's access to school is the most important thing to do. The program team also talked a lot with Oeur and his father about the importance of education for the future life and we encouraged the father to take care of the child's study, health and hygiene. The program team and local authorities encouraged Oeur to go to school although he was very late to attend the class. Before we provided food packages, study material and uniforms to this family, we also talked clearly about their commitment to their child’s study. It means that we provide all of these supports unless Oeur goes to school and the commune chief responds to fix or repair his old bicycle and the village chief takes him to school for enrollment and follow-up and his study and school attendance. On January, 2023 the program team decided to provide this family with food package such as rice, noodles, soy sauce, fish sauce, sugar and milk and study material as well as uniforms, bags, notebooks, pens, pencils, rulers, blackboards and a few hygiene materials such as toothpaste, toothbrushes and water bottle. All of these supports really made him happy and it also assisted him to school and one part to support his family living condition during the hard time.

Now Oeur is studying at a special 1st grade level and he also attends the school regularly. At school he is a courageous boy and he is involved in all school activities and plays with other children and he has many friends. He also is a slow learner because he has never attended the school before, but the program team and local authorities still encourage him to study hard both at school and home although he could not catch up all lessons well. Oeur said with a smile to the program team that “…I am so happy that I have an opportunity to attend the school as other children. At school I am very happy to play with other friends; teachers and I have a good relationship with them. If I know that going to school makes me very happy, I will go to school.” According to an interview with his father on February 22, 2023, he shared with a smile "…now his son has an opportunity to go to school as other children and he also does love studying and he attends school regularly. I also commit to reduce drinking and I will try to support and teach my son more at home and I hope that my son will have a better future life.” Finally, I would like to say deeply thank you to the program staff of Sunshine Cambodia Organization and local authorities that spent time and resources to support my family and child's study. I will encourage and support my son to at least finish secondary school.