Hygiene and Health

Dear Friends,

We hope you are keeping well and we know everyone is looking forward to spring. As many of you know, K.I.D.S. is dedicated to improving the health of those living in very poor areas. A huge issue worldwide is the lack of hygiene.

The World Health Organization states that "Poor sanitation is linked to transmission of diseases such as cholera, diarrhea, dysentery, hepatitis A, typhoid and polio and exacerbates stunting. Poor Sanitation reduces human well-being, social economic development due to impacts such as anxiety, risk of sexual assault, and lost educational opportunities".

It is a fact that "6.6 million people in Cambodia don't have access to a decent toilet and 81 percent of the poorest rural Cambodians practice open defecation" (Unicef).

Each year, thanks to your generosity, we are able to build toilets for families who are identified by the school principal who resides in the brick factory and fishing area. Our team of great builders help us to construct houses, classroom and bathrooms. The good news is that, not only are we able to improve the community, but we are also able to provide employment for this team of builders, paying them a decent living wage. They are very thankful to have the work, especially during COVID when so many are unemployed.

 

The team is busy building toilets for a number of families, another good part of providing toilets/bathrooms is that the families can often share their bathroom with their extended family or neighbours so one bathroom can serve many people.

These simple bathrooms bring dignity, hygiene, safety and are used to wash clothing.

Most of the schools in this area also lack first aid materials for the students. KIDS recently provided eleven schools with these essential supplies. The children help each other by cutting each other’s nails and washing each other’s hair with a lice treatment. The teachers tend to children’s wounds and scrapes to prevent infection. The school staff and children expressed their deep gratitude.

The simple truth is sanitation saves lives!!
Thank you for helping us bring sanitation and care to so many.

Here is a little video of gratitude!!

https://youtu.be/VUolqmE-m0s

Take care and we wish you and yours all the best,
Until next time,

Adrianne and Rick

Today is International Day of Education

 Dear Friends,

We hope you are all doing well. Today is International Day of Education. As we all know education has been challenging during this pandemic with schools closing, on line learning and children/youth having limited interactions with schoolmates and friends. In lower-income/developing countries there have also been some school closures and lack of access to online studying. The global economic slow down has sadly devastated poor family incomes and more young people are at risk of dropping out of school due to lack of funds.Education transforms lives! As many of you know a large part of what KIDS does is giving young people the opportunity to get an education.

We have been able to continue all of our education programs and education support by providing school supplies for students, which the schools, kids and families are very happy to receive.

 

K.I.D.S. recently delivered more bicycles to students, so they can get to school.

We also continue to fund the kindergarten program in Stung Treng province for 45 children, they are very happy to go to school, as there is so little to do in their village and early childhood gives them a head start.

 

K.I.D.S. English programs are going well and we are able to provide food for some of our school programs, during these hard times as many families are facing food shortages.

K.I.D.S. vocational training program continues and another 10 young people have come to live with K.I.D.S. Smart Kids manager Hak and his family in the city. Some students will attend vocational hospitality training school, while others will study electrical trades and computer technology. The young people are very excited to come to the city and have this opportunity to change their futures. We continue to fund computer programs and sponsor young people who are pursuing degrees in education, accounting, computer science and business management.

 

And finally just this week we had seven students (2 have found employment and could not make the ceremony) who have graduated from the Paul Dubrule hospitality training institute. They have pedaled thousands of kilometres through scorching heat, pouring rain and muddy rutted roads on their bikes, they moved and made tons of bricks as child labourers to get to hold those certificates. For the most part they are the first in their families to graduate from elementary school, high school and post-secondary education. K.I.D.S. has been supporting their entire education since grade 6...watching their commitment and determination has been humbling. 

 

Thank You for giving children wings
through education to take flight on
their own

This is all made possible by
your generosity of kindness.

Till Next Time
Adrianne and Rick

 

Riding Into The New Year

Dear Friends, 

We want to wish you all a Happy New Year!! As we say goodbye, to what has been a very difficult year for so many around the world, we want to also acknowledge the kindness, compassion and generosity we have experienced and observed, and all of us at K.I.D.S. thank everyone for your support.

We are pleased to say that recently we were able to start our bicycle distribution program to students and families in Cambodia. Each year, K.I.D.S. provides hundreds of bicycles that help young people get to school. Our friend and partner Kim Thol and his brother recently delivered bikes to some of the neediest children at several rural schools. The families also use the bikes to get to markets and to clinics. Needless to say, the students and families were very happy!!! A bike makes the difference between getting an education or not.

 

 

 

We also continue our COVID relief for families who are unable to provide for their children due to lack of work right now. The families are very grateful for this support during these very difficult times. 

The older students in our Smart Kids education program along with the Smart Kids Manager Mr. Hak, buy all the food and give out a small stipend to help the families get through the month.... hence the hand-drawn decorated envelopes. 

Sohing, who runs the K.I.D.S. Farm School English program also helps distribute funds and food each month for student’s families, thanks to K.I.D.S. donors.

As this New Year unfolds we are hopeful that we will all find ways to make it through these trying times. We have been getting many messages from our Cambodian friends and kids and they pass on their wishes for “ happiness, good health, good luck, a long life and success”. We echo their wishes to you all.

Take care,
Until next time,
Adrianne and Rick

Fixing Clinics and Saving Lives

 Dear Friends,

We hope that all of you are doing well and staying safe wherever you are.

During these times when health is on everyone minds, we are grateful that together we are able to support health services in Cambodia. Many of you have heard us talk about The Lake Clinic, which serves thousands of people living in isolated areas of the Tonle Sap Lake and the Stung Sen River. We have known the director of The Lake Clinic, Jon Morgan, for many years and together we designed the first floating clinic that provides a place for the team of doctors, nurses, midwives, dental hygienist and other support staff to see patients and to stay when serving the underserved.

Thanks to the Compassionate Eye Foundation (CEF) of Vancouver, we were able to fund the first floating clinic for TLC and since then other funders have come forward to fund three more similar clinics that work in different areas.

People travel by their boats to come to the clinics where they can get help. Pregnant women gain access to ultrasounds and prenatal care, people with conditions such as diabetes receive free medication and mothers who cannot nurse receive formula. Without The Lake Clinic, the death rate would be much higher in these areas. K.I.D.S. is grateful for the generosity of others so that we can provide two nurse/midwife salaries each year, an enormous benefit to these communities.

 

This past year, the K.I.D.S./CEF clinic, which is now ten years old and has seen better days, needed renovations. Thanks to Nina and John Cassils from CWAsia in Vancouver, a TV reality show called The Fixers was contacted and chose to renovate the KIDS/CEF clinic from top to bottom. They asked us to be a part of the team as we had been a part of the building of the clinic ten years ago. We joined them on the river and set to work. The result was impressive. The Fixers paid for all the costs for the material and hiring of local labour, and their goal - to do a project in one week - was accomplished with the help of a Cambodian team. The actors, film and sound crews did an amazing job and If you would like to watch the episode (in which we actually appear) and see life in Cambodia as well as the accomplishments of TLC, here the link to the episode - The Fixers - The Lake Clinic, Cambodia

In these challenging times, we are grateful to have medical services. Working in countries where people cannot afford treatment or medication and sometimes lose everything in the attempt to save a loved one’s life is painful to watch and reminds us once again how fortunate we are.

Until Next Time,
Adrianne and Rick

Food and Floods

 Hello Everyone,

 We hope all is well with you and yours, and that you are all coping well with the challenges we all face during the pandemic that has brought so many changes to our lives. Life in Cambodia continues to be difficult. Thankfully, the actual Covid case count is very low, but to keep the Covid count low, the economy was completely shut down. For most families who exist in poverty to begin with, and are usually perched on the edge of solvency most of the time, the aftermath of the pandemic has pushed them over the fiscal cliff. 

Our inboxes constantly deliver us messages about peoples’ challenges, but also about hope and resilience from our students, friends and families as they struggle to make do in Cambodia. It is sometimes difficult to hear their stories! However, the good news is that, together, we have again provided much needed food, household supplies, medicine, hygiene supplies and baby formula.

 We have no doubt that together, we are easing the lives and struggles of many of the students, children and families, al of whom are extremely grateful

Another complication that families are facing is the rainy season! The rains have begun in Cambodia and the waters have been rising in the villages where many of our students and their families live.

Principal at Damnak Slan School

As with all the other challenges they currently face, they are doing the best they can and go about their business knee deep. You will no longer wonder why people build stilt houses!

 

 

The great people we work with gather everyone together and distribute the supplies and some financial support to those who have very little.

 
K.I.D.S. also continues education programs from Kindergarten through to university for many students. We would like to pass along their heartfelt thank yours and add ours as well.

 Until next time
Rick and Adrianne

Back to School

 Dear Friends,

We hope you and yours are doing well. This week in BC, as in Cambodia, kids went back to school. For so many children who live in poverty, school is a safe haven, where instead of playing in the dirt or having to work in brick factories or in farm fields, or by fishing, to help their parents earn money, they can go to a place where they can learn, play and change their futures - and, in turn, the futures of their children. Thanks to K.I.D.S. donors, we continue to assist these young people to get an education and to improve their lives. 

In rural villages many people lack electricity and running water. Many large families live in small one-room houses, often without a bathroom, and have to cook outside. Recently we reopened the ECE Centre funded by K.I.D.S, which provides a full-time preschool/kindergarten for 50 to 60 children at the Stung Treng Women's Development Weaving Centre. The children attend school from 7:00 am until 5:00 pm. For parents having their children be able to attend kindergarten is both a relief and a gift. The program offers a standard pre-school curriculum, as well as instruction in hygiene and nutrition, crafts and songs, creative free time and storytelling. Children receive two healthy meals a day and have access to showers, toothbrushes and toothpaste. Some of the children's mothers work on site at the weaving centre. Other village children can attend the school if their families are struggling with poverty. The healthcare for the children and their families is provided free at the in-house clinic at the Centre. We cannot tell you how happy the kids and families are to have their kids in school. Over 100 K.I.D.S. children who study English are currently back studying in extracurricular classes, now that the COVID school restrictions have been lifted. Occasionally we have to update you on the girl named Sopeak! She took full advantage of the generous support of K.I.D.S. donors and pulled herself up from being a dirt poor and hearing-impaired village girl to graduate from both elementary and high schools, then university, eventually becoming a teacher in the same elementary school that she had attended as a child in her village. In the ten years that we have known her, she has pedaled her one-speed bike back and forth thousands of kilometers in the dusty hot season and rainy, muddy wet season. Having excelled in English, she graduated at the top of her class in university.

The determination and focus she put into her education are now being applied to her classroom, where she makes sure that the children have masks, remember to social distance, and wash and sanitize their hands in her classroom. She is also working at refinishing the school desktops, as you can see in the photo, so the desks are easier to sanitize and keep clean.

 We hope that all students both here and in Cambodia have a successful and safe school year and everyone's live return to more normal levels.

Thanks for your support and changing lives for the better!!
Until next time,

Adrianne and Rick