Helping Kids to Blossom

 Dear Friends,

We hope all is well with you and yours. We know some of you are experiencing winter snow and cold weather, and we hope that spring will soon be upon you all and that the plants, trees, and flowers will start to bloom. Thinking of blooming flowers, we just returned from visiting K.I.D.S kindergarten/preschool and computer program in a very poor province in northern Cambodia. Many years ago, we met Chan, who developed a women’s silk weaving centre and visited him. The centre made beautiful silk scarves, and many poor women worked there for decent wages. It was difficult for them to work and parent their small children, so we decided to fund a preschool/kindergarten. Fast forward fifteen years, sadly, the weaving centre had to close due to Covid and cheaper imported scarves from China. K.I.D.S and Chan decided to keep the kindergarten/preschool running, as many poor families from surrounding villages needed support for their children. The daycare has been a gift to the children and families.

When we arrived at the Centre the children came running out to greet us with smiles and hugs. The teachers are amazing and the children are so happy. We visited for a while and realized they needed some materials, so off we went, with a couple of teachers and bought little chairs for the main play area also pillows for nap time and lots of new games, books and toys. Needless to say, the kids and teachers/staff were thrilled. The school also offers the children a healthy meal every day and there are showers for the children to use daily as well. They have classrooms where they learn to read and write and an inside play area. Years ago, we also set up an outside play area.

The children are so happy and are learning and playing rather than wandering around their small poor village with nothing to do. The parents are also happy as they can work more.

A few years later while we were there visiting the preschool we realized that not many young students and graduates in the area knew how to use computers, so we opened a computer lab at the centre. The young people are very happy to learn this most needed skill. Both these programs are greatly appreciated by the students and their families.
We are also happy to day that thanks to your donor's, we were able to provide 10 more computers, so more young people can study daily to learn needed skills that will help them with their education, as well as future employment.

Thank you to everyone for helping these children and young people live a better life and flourish just like the beautiful plants in our gardens and communities. All the best to you and yours.

Until Next Time,
Adrianne and Rick

Emergency Project

 Dear Friends,

We hope all is well with you and yours. As many of you know, one of our long-term programs is the Smart Kids. The program is in a poor rural area where many people have to work at brick factories for low wages. For many years now we have been running the Smart Kids Program that teaches 52 students English daily after their regular school day and all day Sundays. The kids love the program and we also assist the poorest children with bikes, uniforms and school books, housing and sanitation.

Recently,our program manager Hak contacted us with some bad news, one of the student’s family’s very simple small wooden house caught fire and burned to the ground. 

The Parents spent many years working in Thailand for poor wages in construction and were able to save enough to buy a small piece of land and build this simple wooden house.

The family have nothing left and are still very poor. We paid for new clothes and needed food and household supplies for the family and thanks to our donors we have enough funds to build them another house.

Upon hearing the news of the fire we contacted our builder and arranged to have a new house built, hired an excavator, cleared away the burnt ruins and foundation and started building the new house in less than twenty-four hours.

 

Needless to say the family is incredibly grateful and they should be in the new home in about eight weeks. The villagers are helping them out with accommodation until the house is finished.

Thank you for being able to support this family and build them a decent new home.

Wishing You and Yours all the very best,
Until Next Time,
Adrianne and Rick

Computers for Change

Dear Friends,

We hope all is well with you and yours. As you know, helping to improve the education of young people here in Cambodia is one of our main goals. Each year thanks to the kindness of K.I.D.S donors we visit high schools that are in need of computers, both in the city and in the rural areas. In this day and age learning computers is essential to be able to find work. Most high schools in rural areas cannot afford computers even though they do have teachers who can teach computer skills. Some of the school administration and staff often do not have computers either.

Thanks to our donors we are able to change this situation by providing computers for high school and university students and administration staff.

When we go to visit the schools the kids are very excited and so are the staff to be able to have computer classes as well as computers to help the teachers and admin staff with their work. Recently we travelled to a rural village where the high school had 700 students. We brought computers and set up a classroom for computer studies, the students were very excited and so were the teachers.

Over the years we have collectively been able to give thousands of young people the opportunity to learn computer skills. Many of them have gone on to university and post-secondary training. The graduates have found decent jobs in hotels, offices and companies. Instead of slaving in brick factories and other labour intensive jobs for poor wages; they are not only changing their futures, they are also helping their families to live better lives.

Until next time,
Adrianne and Rick

The Cycle of Life

 Dear Friends

We hope all is well with you and yours. For many of us in the world bikes are more for recreation than commuting. However here in Cambodia without a bike many children lose their ability to get to school, especially when you live in the countryside, where most people live and where the distance from home to school can be up to 10 kilometres. Much too far for a child without a bike to get to school and back home in any condition to study due to rough dusty roads in the dry season and rain and mud in the wet season and back. 

However, having access to a bike levels the playing field for them to access school in a timely manor on a day to day basis. The families also need bicycles to help them get to the market to get food. By providing bikes we all help break the cycle of poverty by making it easier for students and sometimes the only way possible for them to get to school.

One of K.I.D.S. goals is to help young people get to school by purchasing as many bicycles as we can each year. This year we have purchased more than 350 bikes, which adds up to a lot of kilometers daily getting kids to and from school.

We work with our K.I.D.S. program managers to purchase and deliver the bikes, which are very simple bicycles but last a long time. Needless to say the children and families are very happy to get bicycles and often two children can ride on one bike. A bike is only $50.00 and over the years K.I.D.S has been able to provide thousands of children with bikes.

The students thank us, and we THANK YOU for your support and for helping students continue their education and making their lives so much easier.

Until next time,
Adrianne and Rick
Co-founders

New Homes New Year

 Hello Everyone,

As we say goodbye to the old year of 2024, we are happy to say that there are four families that will be able to soon say goodbye to old broken-down houses or living onsite in the brick factory housing that is way beyond substandard. We have included the before pictures of the families and their current homes.

Together we have built many homes for families over the years, and it is incredible to watch the transition in families when safe, stable housing is provided to them. Where before the only thing that flourished was despair, soon after moving there are flowers and small gardens thriving, and pride growing. The children also have a place to play.

It is very easy to take the basics for granted as we turn the key to our own front doors, how much this essential element means in our lives. As we turn the page on 2024 and open the door to a new year, thank you for helping these children and families to also turn a page on their own lives and open the door to a new future.

Construction of the new homes is under way. Not only will the families be happy but the construction crews we hire in the villages are grateful for the work. We will send along the new home pictures when they are completed in a couple of months.

"Housing is absolutely essential to humans to flourish. Without stable shelter, it all falls apart"
- Matthew Desmond

Happy New Year to everyone and much
gratitude for your support to make these new
beginning's and homes possible.

Till Next time,
Adrianne and Rick

Back To School

 Dear Friends,

We hope all is well with you and yours. It is fall and the kids have returned to school. A time to get back into routines. The other day we watched some students on their way to school; getting off the buses, walking to school or getting dropped off by their families. The young people were carrying their backpacks, books and some were riding bikes. It is great to see our younger generation going to receive a good education, meet friends, play and enjoy their days.

In Cambodia K.I.D.S. is dedicated to helping children, youth and young adults get an education. We support many young adults to get through highschool and then post secondary or vocational training.

In poor rural areas, where we work, it can be very difficult to go to school. Many kids live long distances from the schools and have to travel on dusty, dirt roads (that are muddy in the rainy season). Often their families do not have transportation to get their children to school, they cannot afford a backpack to carry their books or a bike to ride to school.

Thanks to K.I.D.S. donors we work with, the very poor rural schools to help the poorest kids get an education by supporting them with bikes, books, backpacks and uniforms.

 

Without this support they would be starting to work in farming, fishing or labouring in factories at young ages. It is heart-warming to give the kids and families a lift up to education and over the years we have been able to watch the young people go on to do well and do well for their families.

The children, families, teachers and administrators are all very grateful. On behalf of all of them we Thank You for your support and kindness and for changing and improving children and youths daily lives and their futures. 

Until next time,
Adrianne and Rick