By Barbara Rosasco | Secretary & Treasurer
Great news from Champey Academy of Arts
Mark was in Cambodia in April and here is an update on some important developmets.
Our heartfelt thanks for the wonderful support of our donors. This year, at Champey Academy of Arts the generous support of our donors has allowed us to continue to offer arts programs to our students , expand our “ community stewardship” support for several students and to make some urgently needed improvements to the school. Watch for more on “Community Stewardship” in future updates.
Table(s) please! Thank you !
A most wonderful gift came from one of Mark’s former banking colleagues who is generous supporter. This gift has allowed Champey to purchase full size tables and chairs for the drawing/painting classroom.
The photos below show how previously, since the very start of Champey Academy, the students sat on the floor and did their work on very low tables. Although it is visually charming to see the students hard at work while seated on the floor, it is not the most comfortable way to work and it can be difficult for students who may have some physical limitations. This is a wonderful improvement for our students and we are thrilled to be able to modernize and upgrade the classroom.
A new roof over our heads!
The same generous donor who sponsored the purchase of tables and chairs for our art classroom also gave a gift which allowed us to replace the sagging, leaking roof over the dance stage. This gift enabled Champey to install a corrugated sheet metal roof to replace the rapidly degrading plastic tarps held in place with steel wire cables and which had served as a roof over the stage since our school opened in 2013.
The new roof should eliminate the persistent problem of leaks and sudden floods from rainwater that collected in the tarps and which frequently occurred during every rainy season. The photo below which shows the rain pouring down the wall , flooding just one side of the stage area, does not really illustrate the problems that heavy rain caused, but it can give you a general idea. What you don't see are tarps bulging under the weight of water which often collected overnight and which then had to be emptied the next morning by students and staff pushing the tarps up with poles to cause the water to flood out.
In addition to replacing the roof, our construction team, made up of a group of CAA students and CAA staff, also worked with an outside contractor’s team to repair many broken areas of the stage floor. We are now well prepared for the coming rainy season and we will no longer have to fear that the dance stage roof might collapse under the weight of rain trapped in the folds of the tarp during the rainy season’s frequent heavy downpours.
What your support does
Because of your support, Champey Academy (CAA) continues to provide accessible (free) instruction in Cambodian traditional art, music and dance to disadvantaged children and youth. CAA gives these kids a safe space to learn, socialize and mentally escape from what are frequently very hard lives of extreme poverty. It also gives these students an opportunity to create dreams for “ some day” and to see how other students continue to work their way forward.
None of this would be possible without the wonderful support of our generous donors. Please accept our heartfelt thanks on behalf of our staff and students at CAA,
Barbara & Mark Rosasco
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