Trakiet School

Hello Everyone,
We hope that you are well and seeing signs of spring.

We want to tell you about a building project that K.I.D.S. and the Compassionate Eye Foundation, Vancouver, are working on. For a few years now we have been visiting Trakiet School in Poak District north of Siem Reap. The school is both a primary school and grade 7 to 9 middle school and serves 588 students. The staff are very committed to the children's education, unfortunately there is not enough capacity to house all the students. K.I.D.S. wanted to assist the school to address this issue and Compassionate Eye Foundations partnered with us to build a block of four new classrooms.

Some classrooms have sixty plus children in them. The kindergarten is in a small brick building that is normally the kitchen. The kitchen is now in a very rudimentary shelter outside where the teachers prepare food, donated by the World Food Program, for the very needy children, which is the norm at most schools in rural areas.

The most difficult classroom situation however is another building that we have come to call the "chicken coop" where more classes are taught. This classroom is made entirely of tin and is very hot here in the tropics.

The floor is dirt and when it is the rainy season and the school grounds are flooded the children have to put their feet on the trestles of the desks to keep them dry as there is a few inches of water on the floor under their desks.

K.I.D.S. and the Compassionate Eye decided to assist Trakiet School and the children that attend this school by building a block of four new classrooms. We started the school back in December and the work has been progressing very well and will soon be complete.

We visit the school weekly to check on the progress and connect with the main builder and the construction crew. The crew employees are mostly local men and women from the surrounding villages.

K.I.D.S. always insists that the builders pay the workers a fair, livable wage which assists local families and adds to the village economy. The villagers have been very happy to be able to work in their own community and not have to commute long distances to find work or go to Thailand as many have to do to support their families.

To watch a short video of the early part of the construction project, click the link to the Youtube video. As you will see, the work is very labour intensive.

 Trakiet School construction video

We will keep you posted on the completion and dedication of Trakiet School.
All the best, to you and yours,
Rick and Adrianne.