Dear Friends,
We hope that you are well.
Not sure how many of you know that we have returned to Cambodia, we had a good but tiring trip here and managed to test negative through the PCR test, rapid test on arrival, and after a voluntary 5-day quarantine, another negative rapid test on our own to make sure we were not a threat the people of Cambodia and our friends due to covid.
We have been working post quarantine for 10 days and have connected with many friends, families, kids and contacts here. K.I.D.S. work has continued throughout the pandemic with infrastructure projects, ongoing programs, and helping families with food and supplies to survive, which we will update you on soon. It has been great for us to get back in the saddle, so to speak, and to put students back in the saddle…of bikes that assist them to have easier access to schools and education.
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We have purchased 180 bikes this past week and delivered half of them with the rest to be put in the hands of students in the coming days.
A bike is a key component of a Cambodian student's access to education, which is dependent on having a bicycle due to the distance from school. We purchase reconditioned second-hand bikes from Japan. These one-speed bikes are real workhorses for Cambodians not only for students to get to school but for going to market, work or transporting just about anything it seems. Over the years we have met many students and adults who never had access to education because the $70 cost of a bike was too much for the family to bear.
We have also started to deliver school supplies to students at a few schools. The budgets at schools for notebooks, pens and other school supplies are very limited in the rural areas and for poor families, the purchase of school materials is often difficult to achieve. So students and teachers are always happy to receive any materials that K.I.D.S. can supply.
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Thank you for your donations and for extending kindness to these students to help them access education.
Till next time,
Rick and Adrianne