Rainy Season

Dear Friends

We hope all is well with you and yours. Here on Vancouver Island, the rainy season has begun. The rainy season, which is coming to an end in Cambodia, is very challenging, especially in rural areas. Many students have a difficult time getting to and from school however they endure the flooded roads as do the teachers. Sometimes the schools have to close if it is too dangerous for children to walk or ride their bicycles. A bicycle helps, which we buy for the kids who travel long distances.

Recently we heard from our friend and K.I.D.S. partner that there was a small rural classroom that had a roof that was leaking and has been leaking for a long time. The classroom also has a dirt floor, which gets muddy during the rainy season. The school asked us for help. We will start replacing the roof as well as put in a cement floor in the next few weeks. The teachers and students will be very happy!!!

One of the women we know sent us this picture of her at work!! Yes! That is her standing and working in her office, she is booking hotel rooms for when the floods subside. We are always impressed with the endurance the people have and they rarely complain.

On behalf of all of us at K.I.D.S. we want to Thank You for making life much easier during the rainy season.

Until Next Time,
Adrianne and Rick

Giving Thanks

Dear Friends,

Here in Canada today is Thanksgiving, a day when family and friends gather to share food and appreciation for what and who we have in our lives. Today all of us at K.I.D.S. would like to sincerely Thank You for your support, kindness and generosity. Together we can celebrate the difference we have collectively made in many children, youth and families’ lives

We regularly hear from students, teachers, medical staff, and other people we have been supporting. Their message is always one of gratitude. They are thankful that collectively we can help them with some of the basics in life such as clean drinking water, bathrooms, bicycles, education, decent housing and receive needed medical assistance. Over the years we have seen how the ripple effect of kindness and giving changes lives and the lives of future generations

Today we Celebrate All of You and Thank You for helping to make the world a better place for so many.

Happy Thanksgiving,

Until Next time, all the very best,

Adrianne and Rick

TLC

 Dear Friends,

We hope you are all doing well and enjoying the summer. One of the programs we have been involved with since its conception is The Lake Clinic, Cambodia (TLC). As some of you may remember in 2002, we volunteered at The Angkor Hospital for Children in Siem Reap, Cambodia. We met Jon Morgan, the director of the hospital, an amazing man, who was about to leave the hospital as he wanted to start helping people who lived in the most isolated part of the country the Tonle Sap Lake.

We went out to the Lake with him in a long-tail boat and were incredibly moved and shocked by how people had to live. Being fishing families, they lived in basic shelters on the Lake in small villages, in incredibly poor conditions, with no bathrooms, running water or access to health care or education.

We decided that we wanted to help Jon Morgan build a floating clinic. So with the support from K.I.D.S. donors, that is what we did. We hired local people to help us build the clinic at the city port. Jon started The Lake Clinic organization, and today we are pleased to say they have five floating clinics and serve hundreds of people each week on the Lake and the Stung Sen River (another isolated area). Also, thanks to K.I.D.S. donors, we have been able to build two floating schools so children can get an education, which has made a world of difference to the kids and the families in these floating communities.

We have seen many difficult situations through the years. However, none can compare to trying to live and survive on water. Without medical care, so many people died needlessly because they could not access or afford medical treatment. Now women have pre and postnatal care, families can get free medication and medical care. TLC also offers dental services, mental health support, family planning and home visits. The exceptional medical teams live in the clinics for three or four days a week, and they travel to different villages, as there are now five floating clinics. The trips can be grueling, especially in the rainy season. K.I.D.S. has also helped to bring a clean water system to one village and other smaller water filters for families.

Words cannot truly describe what a positive, life-saving difference TLC has made. KIDS provides support for nursing staff and, when we can, other needed support for medicine, care and equipment. These pictures say it all. We cannot Thank You enough for bringing health care, hope, life and care for children and families. TLC stands for The Lake Clinic and they truly deliver Tender Loving Care!

Until Next Time,

Adrianne and Rick

Tragedy Into Hope

 Dear Friends,

We hope all is well with you and yours. We recently heard from Hak, K.I.D.S. Smart Kids Program manager; as you know, our Smart Kids program provides education and English lessons after school and on Sundays, and as the children graduate from high school, we support them with post-secondary training. The principal and Hak choose the kids that are very poor and in the most need. We also assist some families with other support such as houses, bathrooms, bicycles, and medical support when needed.

When Hak contacted us, he told us about a boy in the village who was playing soccer with a few friends in the field by his house; he fell and broke his arm. The grandmother took him to a local doctor, and they did not do much. A few weeks later, his arm became infected, and they called Hak, who took him to the city hospital, where sadly, his arm had to be amputated above the elbow. The boy's father died two years ago in a motorcycle accident, his mother had to go to Phnom Penh to work at a garment factory to help the family, and the boy and one brother live with the grandmother.

He has now come and joined the Smart Kids program, we also took his friend into our program as he is afraid to ride a bike with one hand, and his friend can come with him daily to the K.I.D.S. program and learn English as well, so they can come together on his friend’s bike.

Although this is a very sad story, thanks to our donors, we will be able to give this boy an education and support. Luckily the hand he lost is not his dominant hand, so he will continue to write and learn and get a good education, which will give him greater opportunities in the future.

Thanks for being a part of K.I.D.S. and helping to turn a tragedy into hope.

Until Next Time,
Adrianne and Rick

Building Bathrooms for Better Lives

 Dear Friends,

We hope all is well with you and yours. As many of you know, one of K.I.D.S. goals is to bring sanitation and hygiene to students and families in Cambodia. According to a United Nations report, half the world's people don't have access to toilets. People often relieve themselves in the bushes or a field. Only 30 percent of the world uses toilet paper. Alternatives include hands, water, sand, small rocks, mud, leaves, rope and seaweed. Many people become sick or die due to poor hygiene and sanitation. It is hard to believe that many schools do not have toilets or hand washing stations. One of the key deterrents for girls continuing with their schooling is the lack of toilets/bathrooms.

Thanks to our donors, K.I.D.S. build as many toilets/bathing facilities as we can for families and schools. We cannot truly express how grateful families are to get a decent bathroom; although they are simple, they provide safety, hygiene, and dignity and deter infections and diseases. The families in the villages also share their bathrooms with other nearby families that do not have a bathroom.

This past trip, we also built bathrooms and a hand washing station for a rural school with 600 students and teachers. The students, teachers and staff were incredibly happy to receive this basic need. The bathrooms are life-changing for the school community.

Having access to bathrooms is something we mostly take for granted, until we don't, and then we realize how important they are.

Thanks as always for your support and for changing lives for the better.

Until Next Time,

Adrianne and Rick

World Water Day

 Dear Friends,

We hope you and yours are all doing well. Today is World Water Day, a day to focus our attention on the importance of clean water. Sadly, billions of people around the world don't have access to clean water. "Up to 80% of illnesses in the developing world are linked to inadequate water and sanitation" (Government of Canada). Clean accessible water not only improves the health of individuals and communities it helps to improve the environment, reduce poverty and is essential to helping people survive.

For the past 10 years, K.I.D.S. has made it our priority to bring clean water to schools and communities. Each year we build as many clean drinking water systems as we can. We build them at schools, so children and teachers have free access to clean water daily. Most people have to buy drinking water, which many can't afford. Thanks to K.I.D.S. donors, families and community members can come to the school and fill their water jugs so their families can drink safe water at home.

This past year K.I.D.S. was able to build four more clean drinking water systems for rural schools and communities. When we visit the schools to see the new systems, we are met by hundreds of students and the teaching staff. They are incredibly grateful and always ask us to pass their gratitude on to you!! We also want to acknowledge and thank Kim Thol (K.I.D.S. water project manager) and the clean drinking water team that builds these very effective systems. K.I.D.S. is also committed to making sure that the water systems are maintained and repaired when needed.

So today, when you go to the tap for that glass of water, please think about the thousands of people that you have helped to be able to do the same.
Wishing you and yours all the very best.

Till Next Time
Adrianne and Rick

International Women's Day

 Dear Friends,

Today is International Women’s Day. It is a day to celebrate women around the world by acknowledging their achievements and also a day to recognize the struggles women face, especially in developing countries. K.I.D.S. is dedicated to improving the lives of girls and women through education, opportunity, empowerment, technology and improving health care.

Through our educational programs, we support education by providing daycare/kindergartens, after-school tutoring, English lessons, computer programs, computers and post-secondary training. Watching these girls go through school and still support their families by doing part-time work as well as helping care for siblings is inspiring.

Where normally, by a young age, they would have dropped out of school, they are now young adults and have decent jobs/careers in hotels, accounting, teaching, and electrical engineering. Without an education, these girls would be having children in their mid to late teens and spend the rest of their lives toiling to help feed their families.

When we visit their mothers in the villages, they are incredibly grateful that their daughters have been able to have a better life, and as well they can help their mothers out financially once they get established in good-paying jobs.

We remember asking one of the girls KIDS was sponsoring to go to university… Do you want to get married? And she said: First I want a degree, then find a good job and help my family and then I will think about getting married and having children; and so the cycle of illiteracy and poverty is broken.!!
Thank you for supporting and changing these Girls' / Women's lives.Happy International Women's Day!!!!
Until Next Time,Adrianne and Rick