Sohing's Farm School

Hello Everyone,

In a rural area here in Cambodia there is a woman that we met a few years ago when she was working at a restaurant in the city. We found out that Sohing took part of her very limited salary each month to help educate children in her village by paying for school supplies and teaching them English. As well Sohing provided a healthy meal once a week to the kids, as many are undernourished. We went out to the school, which she ran under her families house and were very moved by her compassion and commitment to helping others.

Fast forward three years. K.I.D.S. continues to support this program by providing funds for: teachers, school supplies, uniforms, a hot meal program and other needs. Sohing has returned to her familly home to help with the school and care for her aging father, grandparents and help run their subsitence farm.

Visiting the school we are always so impressed with the kids and how happy and committed they are to learn. One boy Nara, who was orphaned and living on his own since he was twelve years old, has now succeeded in reaching grade twelve thanks to Sohing and K.I.D.S. Thanks to K.I.D.S. donors he will be able to move to the city next year to further his education. His dream is to teach English. This is just one story of how your support can change lives and futures.


Each year we take all the kids on an outing as they are unable to afford to see even a small part of their own country. This year we took them to a mountain area where we swam under a waterfall and visited a beautiful temple. I wish we could pass on the joy that these kids experienced.


As you know K.I.D.S. has large projects that supports thousands of kids and families such as clean water, as well we find incredible people who are changing children's lives selflessly and together we support them with their good work.
Thank you for supporting us to support them!

All the best to you and yours,
Until next time,
Adrianne and Rick

From ECE to IT

Hello Everyone,

We hope all is well with you and yours. We recently got back from the N.E of Cambodia where we visited programs that K.I.D.S. funds. K.I.D.S. has been supporting the Stung Treng Women's Development Centre for over 10 years. This outstanding program supports women, families, children and youth in a variety of ways; by teaching women weaving and selling beautiful silk scarves, providing a free health clinic, providing free early childhood education/kindergarten for 50 children as well as providing free English and computer classes. Stung Treng is one of the poorest and most isolated areas in the country and many people live in poverty. Thanks to K.I.D.S. donors we are able to offer a very progressive Early Childhood Education program (ECE). The ECE program offers kids a healthy, safe and happy place to learn and also provides children with a nutritious food program, access to hygiene as well as supporting women so they can work and have their children well cared for. It is a terrific environment, with excellent teachers to help children to learn and grow. Thanks to Kim Dara Chan, the director, for his vision and never-ending commitment to improving the lives of women, children and families in this area.


K.I.D.S. also supports a free computer program at SWDC, where children, youth and adults can come to learn computer skills. Even in the poorest areas computer skills are needed to asisit in getting jobs, furthering education and be connected to opportunities and learning online. The teachers are eager share their I.T. skills and the students are incredibly motivated to learn.

K.I.D.S. supports both rural and isolated areas as well as urban areas. In Siem Reap January 10th High School has 5400 students. A few years ago, thanks to our contact Kim Thol, we heard that the school did not have one computer, even for the teachers! We could not quite believe that this major high school was not able to provide computer skills, especially in a tourist city such as Siem Reap. We are pleased to say that over the past three years we have been able to install and provide 102 computers and there are now a thousand students a week being taught computer skills. This year thanks to a generous donation we were able to add another 25 computers and open another class, needless to say, the students and teachers are appreciative and wanted us to thank everyone for their support...it is most students favourite subject!

On behalf of K.I.D.S. thanks for bringing education, support, opportunity and healthy beginnings to these young people, families and communities. 

 Until next time,

Adrianne and Rick

School Update

Hello Everyone,

Hope all is well? Here in Cambodia, we spend a lot of time supporting children with their education by helping to shelter them, keep them healthy, supply them with school materials etc. and buy bikes so they can get to school. Unfortunately, some times, even if they are able to get to school, there is simply no school to go to.

This year we have pooled donations from K.I.D.S. donors, Healthy Role Models Nanaimo, Compassionate Eye Foundation Vancouver, Lush, The Ames family Foundation Vancouver and the Asker Norway Lions Club to build not one but two schools, with a solar-powered drinking water system on the floating school.

One school is in the brick factory area where K.I.D.S. sponsors many students. Wat Sela Primary School has 550 plus children attending daily and sadly there are hundreds more that cannot come because of a lack of classrooms to accommodate them. We started building Wat Sela in early December. The main structure of the school is built and the roof framing and roofing will soon be completed as well. Then it will be plastered, painted and finished around the end of February and be ready for students soon after.

The second is a floating middle school for the fishing village of Moat Klar on the Tonle Sap Lake. Due to the isolation and remoteness on the lake, there is simply no access to education for children once they finish grade 6. If their families have the resources to send their children away to study, which most families simply can't afford, their choices are few, go to work on the fishing grounds and or get married way too young.

There are thousands upon thousands of children on and around the lake in remote areas. The new floating middle school, grade 7 to 10, will be the first one on the lake and will allow the children from Moat Klar and nearby villages to have access to further education. We are also installing a clean drinking water project, on the school, to provide water to the students at the new school as well as the elementary school that K.I.D.S. built a few years ago.

Logistically both projects are challenging and thankfully we have the right contacts to make is all happen and skilled workers on both projects to complete them.

Building and launching the two steel scows for the floating school was one of the more challenging parts of both projects. They were welded and made entirely by hand with virtually no cranes or heavy equipment to help build or launch them. Have a look at the launch of one of the hulls at this link.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqYIRjT4jJc&feature=em-share_video_user

Thank you to the many K.I.D.S. donors and foundations for providing the funding to build the space to allow a few hundred more children to attend school and improve health through access to clean drinking water.

Will keep you posted,
Until next time,
Rick and Adrianne