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

Housing Update

Dear Friends,

We hope this finds you well. In a previous post, we shared the work we are all doing to bring decent housing to those that endure very difficult living situations. Many families of the students in our Smart Kids Education Program work tirelessly to make a living; however, many will never be able to afford to build a good house for their families. Thanks to K.I.D.S. donors, the school principal, and the education manager of our Smart Kids program, each year we identify families that are in the most need; and we build as many houses as we can for them.

This past year, thanks to our great team of builders, we were able to complete five new houses and a big renovation of an existing home. During our time here, we travel to this poor area regularly to see how the houses are progressing and meet with the builders and families.

These These families have lived and are raising their chidlren in small shelters with dirt floors, no real windows, walls made out of plastic, palm leaves, tin or rotting wood and roofs that leak. During the rainy season one can only imagine how they endure the hardships...but they do!

One of the greatest joys we have is meeting with the families and seeing the houses when they are finished. These simple houses with tile floors, windows, good roofs and bathrooms greatly impact these famiies health, security, well being and daily lives. They are incredibly grateful.

We also meet with the building manager and all the builders to thank them for their excellent work and tell them how your generosity keeps them working and making a fair wage, which they truly appreciate. We also give everyone a much-appreciated bonus.

Even though our trip to Cambodia is coming to an end KIDS work continues. Thanks for your generosity, support and changing lives for the better.

Take care and all the very best to you and yours.

Until Next Time,

Adrianne and Rick

Riding Into a Better Future

 Dear Friends,

We hope this finds you well. We are still working away here, spreading your goodwill and generosity. In rural Cambodia, it can be difficult for children and youth to get to school. Many high schools are in the nearest town and can be anywhere from 5 to 10 kilometres away or, in some cases, further. Often the roads are dirt and walking this far can be challenging. Sadly, many kids end up dropping out of school and working just because they do not have a simple bicycle.

Over the years, K.I.D.S. has worked with countryside schools to identify students that need bikes. Each year we purchase reconditioned bicycles and we make sure the bikes are in good condition and do some repairs if necessary. When we take a truck to deliver the bikes to the schools, both the children and the parents come to pick them up.

Each child is given a piece of paper with a random number and they find the bike that has the same number written on the bike seat. The families are very happy as they can also use the bikes on the weekends and evenings to go to the market to pick up food. The children and families are extremely grateful for this simple but incredibly important bicycle.

We recently went out to deliver some of the bikes, and everyone was so appreciative. We are pleased to say that thanks to your donations, we have been able to provide 250 more bicycles to students and families this year.

Thanks for helping
thousands of students over
the years to ride into a
better future.

Sending you and yours all
the very best,

Until Next time,
Adrianne and Rick

Tragedy Into Triumph

Dear Friends,

We hope this finds you and yours doing well. As many of you know the history of Cambodia is a very sad one; between 1.5 and 3 million people were killed by the Khmer Rouge during the genocide in 1975-79. In the fight for power a civil war continued for another 20 years. It left approximately 40,000 amputees and there are still millions of landmines unexploded in Cambodia today. The good news is that there are many areas that have been demined and good programs continue to demine other areas.

One story of many, is the story of Vanna. We met Vanna about 20 years ago when the streets were full of landmine victims who were begging. Vanna was not begging he was a bookseller, selling books about the history of Cambodia, Angkor Wat, and the Khmer Rouge. Vanna was a soldier fighting the Khmer Rouge and while fighting he was foraging in the forest for food when he bent down to pick a plant off the ground and a landmine exploded taking both his hands.

Over the years we tried to help Vanna here and there, he never asked for anything but K.I.D.S. helped support his two daughters with education. His wife did laundry by hand at their small rented room in the city to help them survive. We were always amazed at how Vanna could set his book stand up and serve his customers with the two stumps he had left for arms.

When Covid hit that was the end of tourism and selling books. We were helping his daughters go to high school. Vanna had to return to his homeland in another province where his very poor family had a small piece of land. His wife stayed with their daughters in the city so they could continue school and K.I.D.S. helped them with food and rent for one room during Covid.

Meanwhile, Vanna started farming on the land, living in a small wooden shed. KIDS helped him buy chickens, seeds for a garden and put in a water well. He began growing vegetables raising chickens and selling them.

Now the good news! Thanks to K.I.D.S. supporters both Vanna’s daughters are completing their accounting degrees, his farming is going well and recently K.I.D.S. helped subsidized their savings to build a decent house so he can now have his wife come and live with him. K.I.D.S. will continue to assist the girls until they get jobs…which should be soon.

We cannot truly express our admiration for Vanna, he never gave up, never turned to alcohol or drugs, never complained and he kept working day and night to improve the lives of his family against huge odds. We know his daughters will help their parents when they become wage earners. Meanwhile, the farm is doing well.

Take care and thanks for your
support and help to turn
Tragedy into a Triumph,

Until Next Time,
Adrianne and Rick

New Hope, New Homes, New Year

 Dear Friends,

We wish you and yours all a very Healthy and Happy New Year. This time of year, there are lots of references to home. Home for the holidays, home sweet home, sharing our home with friends and family, home is where the heart is. We are also aware of those that struggle to have a home and it is difficult to see.

We recently went out to visit families in our Smart Kids Education program. Each year, with the support of our great program manager Hak and the terrific principal Mr Sohka of the school we work with, we identify those that are in most need of decent housing.

In this poor rural/brick factory area it is heartbreaking to see the conditions so many have to live in. Although they work long hours and very hard at factories, fishing or farming, and try their best to provide for their families; their salaries/incomes are incredibly low.

Thanks to K.I.D.S. donors, we are now in the process of building four houses and renovating a couple of others. We will keep you updated.

We are also pleased that the housebuilding project provides employment. Mr Pov and his great local construction team are happy to have the work. K.I.D.S. is dedicated to paying fair wages, and they are grateful to have a good salary and be able to provide for their families.

Thanks for helping to bring New Hope and New Homes to those in need.

Until Next Time,
Adrianne and Rick