K.I.D.S. Smart Kids Program

 Dear Friends,

We hope all is well with you and yours. We are now home and before we left we were busy winding down our trip in Cambodia; however all our programs and projects will carry on thanks to our donors. We were busy saying goodbye to many kids and those we work with. While we were in Cambodia we went out to visit our Smart Kids Program, which we visit several times while we are there. This was one of our very first education programs that we started fourteen years ago.

Over the years we have had the privilege to watch many, many students go through this afterschool and weekend English training program. It has been very rewarding to watch as these very poor children attend this program and learn English as well as finding their strengths and supporting their dreams. All the students come from the very poor countryside families in the brick factory and farming area, they often live in very primitive housing.

Our manager and principal at the school they attend choose the kids from the poorest families to attend. Each day after school and Sundays they come to class to study English as well as learning life skills. Thanks to our donors we have been able to educate these kids to go on to post-secondary education and training. We have a house in the city where our K.I.D.S. manager and his family live and when the students graduate from high school they move into their house with Hak’s Family to attend post-secondary training.

Each day after school and Sundays they come to class to study English as well as learning life skills. Thanks to our donors we have been able to educate these kids to go on to post-secondary education and training. We have a house in the city where our K.I.D.S. manager and his family live and when the students graduate from high school they move into their house with Hak’s Family to attend post-secondary training. Hak and his family are very kind and K.I.D.S. pays for all the expenses for the house and the students. This year we have been able to build an extension to Hak’s house which included a larger kitchen as well as a more room for students to study.

It is truly heartwarming to watch these young people go from working in factories for slave labour wages and go to working in different industries for decent wages. Where many of the girls would have become young mothers in their teens they are now managing front desks in hotels and working in different businesses and trades, all the students are happy and independent and they also help their families once they are making decent wages. Thanks to our donors we have been able to take these young people out of poverty and change their lives and often the lives of their families. They are so grateful and so are we. Thank You!!!

Till Next time
Adrianne and Rick

Cheers to World Water Day

Dear Friends,

We hope all is well with you and yours and happy World Water Day. One of the things that we notice when we are working here in Cambodia, is how often we realize what we take for granted where we live in Canada. One of those things is clean drinking water. As the temperature rises here to the mid-30s, we need to drink more water…at home, we can just go to the tap and drink to our heart's content; however, here, people often have to buy water, especially in the rural villages. Even in the nicer city homes and businesses, people still buy large containers of clean water.

As many of you know, one area that K.I.D.S is dedicated to helping is to bring clean water to those in need. Thanks to K.I.D.S. donors we have once again been able to bring villages and schools clean water.

This past year alone we were able to put in six more clean drinking water systems. We put five at rural schools and one at the Department of Education in the city, hard to believe that the administration staff had to buy their drinking water while at work.

It is also hard to believe that in rural areas families do not have access to clean water and have to buy water. Thanks to K.I.D.S. donors all these people and communities now have access to clean water and everyone is so grateful. The gift of water improves the lives of many and we thank you for your support and bringing health and well-being to thousands of people every day. The provincial school district office gave K.I.D.S an award, for its dedication to improving the water situation at so many schools in Siem Reap province which we share with you.

With this year's new projects, your generosity has brought a total of 37 clean drinking water projects to many thousands of children and families.

We are raising a glass to you and to those we have all helped.

Cheers,
Until Next Time,
Adrianne and Rick

Fulfilling Youth's Dreams

 Hello Everyone,

We hope all is well with you and yours. We recently visited a great program in Siem Reap called Youth Dreams Fulfilment Association (YDFA) founded and run by Makara. It is a hospitality training program for young people from very poor families. Makara has over 20 years of experience in the hospitality industry in Siem Reap and has deep connections in the city and across the country to find work placements for the graduates. We met Makara a long time ago when he ran a similar program at another NGO before starting YDFA a couple of years ago.

This year YFDA has 62 students recruited from very poor rural families in and around Siem Reap. If the students homes are too far away to commute to the program they are given free room and board to attend the 1 year training program to become front desk managers, chefs, housekeeping staff and along the way are taught computer skills and English.

Earlier this year K.I.D.S. helped with umbrellas to provide shade for the training cafe, 15 bicycles for students that did not have transportation, two computers for the from desk and a computer server to power their administration and front desk training program software.

The students cooked us a delicious lunch which we ate with Makara and the teachers and they were very thankful and appreciate of K.I.D.S support.

In the spirt of International Women's Day, K.I.D.S. also sponsored an all female soccer tournament taking place on April 11th, between NGO's in Siem Reap which helps the young women in YDFA and other programs to learn team building and self esteem and also promotes friendship and collaboration amount NGO's. Everyone is very excited about it. (These are some photos from last years tournament.)

A message from Makara and YDFA:

We, at YDFA, sincerely thank K.I.D.S NGO for generously supporting us with 15 bicycles, two computers and a computer server for documentation and system management, as well as supporting the all girl's soccer tournament. Your valuable contribution will greatly benefit our students by improving their knowledge and enhancing our administrative efficiency. We deeply appreciate your continuous support in empowering Cambodian youth through education and skill development. Your generosity makes a meaningful impact on our organization and the lives of our students. We wish you all the best in your future endeavors and continued success in your mission. We look forward to your support for the next intake and future collaborations. Thank you to everyone for helping these young people live a better life and flourish just like the beautiful plants in our gardens and communities. All the best to you and yours.

And as always K.I.D.S. would like to than you for your kind and generous support.

Till next time,

Adrianne and Rick

 

Helping Kids to Blossom

 Dear Friends,

We hope all is well with you and yours. We know some of you are experiencing winter snow and cold weather, and we hope that spring will soon be upon you all and that the plants, trees, and flowers will start to bloom. Thinking of blooming flowers, we just returned from visiting K.I.D.S kindergarten/preschool and computer program in a very poor province in northern Cambodia. Many years ago, we met Chan, who developed a women’s silk weaving centre and visited him. The centre made beautiful silk scarves, and many poor women worked there for decent wages. It was difficult for them to work and parent their small children, so we decided to fund a preschool/kindergarten. Fast forward fifteen years, sadly, the weaving centre had to close due to Covid and cheaper imported scarves from China. K.I.D.S and Chan decided to keep the kindergarten/preschool running, as many poor families from surrounding villages needed support for their children. The daycare has been a gift to the children and families.

When we arrived at the Centre the children came running out to greet us with smiles and hugs. The teachers are amazing and the children are so happy. We visited for a while and realized they needed some materials, so off we went, with a couple of teachers and bought little chairs for the main play area also pillows for nap time and lots of new games, books and toys. Needless to say, the kids and teachers/staff were thrilled. The school also offers the children a healthy meal every day and there are showers for the children to use daily as well. They have classrooms where they learn to read and write and an inside play area. Years ago, we also set up an outside play area.

The children are so happy and are learning and playing rather than wandering around their small poor village with nothing to do. The parents are also happy as they can work more.

A few years later while we were there visiting the preschool we realized that not many young students and graduates in the area knew how to use computers, so we opened a computer lab at the centre. The young people are very happy to learn this most needed skill. Both these programs are greatly appreciated by the students and their families.
We are also happy to day that thanks to your donor's, we were able to provide 10 more computers, so more young people can study daily to learn needed skills that will help them with their education, as well as future employment.

Thank you to everyone for helping these children and young people live a better life and flourish just like the beautiful plants in our gardens and communities. All the best to you and yours.

Until Next Time,
Adrianne and Rick

Emergency Project

 Dear Friends,

We hope all is well with you and yours. As many of you know, one of our long-term programs is the Smart Kids. The program is in a poor rural area where many people have to work at brick factories for low wages. For many years now we have been running the Smart Kids Program that teaches 52 students English daily after their regular school day and all day Sundays. The kids love the program and we also assist the poorest children with bikes, uniforms and school books, housing and sanitation.

Recently,our program manager Hak contacted us with some bad news, one of the student’s family’s very simple small wooden house caught fire and burned to the ground. 

The Parents spent many years working in Thailand for poor wages in construction and were able to save enough to buy a small piece of land and build this simple wooden house.

The family have nothing left and are still very poor. We paid for new clothes and needed food and household supplies for the family and thanks to our donors we have enough funds to build them another house.

Upon hearing the news of the fire we contacted our builder and arranged to have a new house built, hired an excavator, cleared away the burnt ruins and foundation and started building the new house in less than twenty-four hours.

 

Needless to say the family is incredibly grateful and they should be in the new home in about eight weeks. The villagers are helping them out with accommodation until the house is finished.

Thank you for being able to support this family and build them a decent new home.

Wishing You and Yours all the very best,
Until Next Time,
Adrianne and Rick

Computers for Change

Dear Friends,

We hope all is well with you and yours. As you know, helping to improve the education of young people here in Cambodia is one of our main goals. Each year thanks to the kindness of K.I.D.S donors we visit high schools that are in need of computers, both in the city and in the rural areas. In this day and age learning computers is essential to be able to find work. Most high schools in rural areas cannot afford computers even though they do have teachers who can teach computer skills. Some of the school administration and staff often do not have computers either.

Thanks to our donors we are able to change this situation by providing computers for high school and university students and administration staff.

When we go to visit the schools the kids are very excited and so are the staff to be able to have computer classes as well as computers to help the teachers and admin staff with their work. Recently we travelled to a rural village where the high school had 700 students. We brought computers and set up a classroom for computer studies, the students were very excited and so were the teachers.

Over the years we have collectively been able to give thousands of young people the opportunity to learn computer skills. Many of them have gone on to university and post-secondary training. The graduates have found decent jobs in hotels, offices and companies. Instead of slaving in brick factories and other labour intensive jobs for poor wages; they are not only changing their futures, they are also helping their families to live better lives.

Until next time,
Adrianne and Rick