These school children need your generous support
Story and Photo by LEAK Ratna

Sitting back to back without a partition wall under a zinc-roofed and bare-wall meeting hall on a hillside in a remote village, two different classes take turn to have lessons from a teacher. They are in Grade 2 and 3 this year.

It is in Rumduol Thmei village, Chambak commune, Phnom Sruoch district, some 60 km west of Kampong Speu provincial town.

Mr. Prum Chim, a primary teacher assigned by the Education Ministry to the area, described his challenges in teaching two different classes in the same hall and the same time. “It’s very difficult for me to manage the time,” he said. “I write down lessons or assignments on the board for Grade 2 students and explain to them. While they are copying the lessons to their notebooks or doing the assignments, I rush to teach Grade 3 students in the same way then back again to Grade 2.”

Chim teaches three classes a day—Grade 2 and 3 in the morning and Grade 1 in the afternoon. The total number of Grade 2 and Grade 3 students is 28 and 25 respectively.

Though Chim has a heavy workload, he is committed to continue his job. “Because I see that these children are eager to study, I will not quit,” he said.

On the left hand side of the meeting hall, a contract teacher Mr. Mey Huot is teaching first grade students under a wooden shelter roofed by coconut leaves. There are 41 pupils under the shelter. It was built by Huot and Chim early this year. Huot also faces similar challenges like Chim in his job.

“When it rains, these children have to move to stay in the hall together with the 2nd and 3rd graders,” Huot said, adding that their study was suspended.

The lack of school buildings and teachers is a major challenge for this village. Chim made a request to the local authority and the provincial education department for a teacher to help him and a concrete school building several times. But, no response has yet been made so far.

Many Thanks to Cambodian Education Excellence Foundation (CEEF)

A few hundreds of poor students from four primary schools in four villages of Phnom Sruoch received study materials from LWF Cambodia’s Phnom Sruoch Integrated Rural Development Project last month.

The study materials were donated by the US-based Cambodian Education Excellence Foundation (CEEF) through World Bank staff member Mr. Bou Saroeun. The materials were given to 326 poor students from Rumduol Thmei, Chrak Sa Em, Preah Khae, and Sdok Chrey primary schools. These included 740 notebooks of 120 pages each, 180 pencils, 180 erasers, and 180 small packs of color pencils.

Some students got 2 notebooks and a pencil, some got 2 notebooks and a pack of color pencils, and the others got 3 notebooks, an eraser and a pack of color pencils.

On behalf of his students, Chim expressed his sincere thanks to CEEF for their generous assistance.

Mr. Khim Vichet, LWF Cambodia Project Manger appreciated the CEEF in support of rural poor students. He said this was a significant contribution to improve Cambodia’s education sector.

To get full DVD, please contact us at ratna@lwfcam.org.kh.

To get full DVD, please contact us at ratna@lwfcam.org.kh.

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Give a farmer field school

LWF Cambodia’s four-month Farmer Field School empowers Partner Households to:
• increase crop yields using new varieties of plants
• improve animal husbandry
• increase family consumption of nutritious home-grown
   food
• generate more income

FFS members participate in an annual Integrated Farming Management course.
After planting season, FFS members meet to share lessons about how to:
• manage insect infestations and plant diseases
• prepare the soil for increased crop yields
• construct and manage fish ponds
• plan future production

F1: Sponsor a FFS Establishment Meeting (three days at $5/day) 15 USD
F2: Sponsor FFS Training Sessions (8 days at $5/day) 40 USD
F3: Sponsor a FFS Demonstration Day 70 USD
F4: Sponsor a FFS Field Day 50 USD
F5: Sponsor an entire FFS cycle 175 US

Give birds

Chickens and ducks are low cost and easy to raise for most farmers. Families can feed their flocks with local vegetation and rice. The popularity of chicken meat and duck eggs make for a favorable market for these foul.













F6: Chicken, 5 hens & 1 cock 30 USD
F7: Duck, 9 female & 1 male 40 USD

Give family pond

The gift of a fish pond provides a family with improved nutrition and income. The pond also offers water for gardens, an important contribution in a country with a significant dry season. LWF Cambodia shares the cost of digging and preparing the pond with the household and trains the householder to raise the fish.


F8: One pond (including digging, young fish and training) 195 USD

Give a Pig

Piglets improve families’ incomes and are less work to care for than cattle. Pig farmers use their own wood, nails and cement to build shelters for their pigs.


F9: Piglet 35 USD

Give seed

Seeds are essential to successful home gardening projects. Gardening projects cultivate small vegetable plots near to the family home, turning otherwise idle land into productive plots. With gardens, families save on food bills, earn additional money, and most importantly, improve their health through a more nutritious diet.


F10: Chinese Radish 10 kilos 15 USD
F11: Cucumber 10 kilos 15 USD
F12: Eggplant 10 kilos 15 USD
F13: Chinese Kale 10 kilos 15 USD
F14: Ten kilos of each seed 60 USD

Give tools

Tools make farming easier and more productive for rural Cambodian families. Most vulnerable households, including women headed households, benefit from this support. Tools can also equip a new Farmer Field School.


F15: 8 Hoes 15 USD
F16: 4 Watering Cans 12 USD
F17: 12 Rakes 10 USD
F18: 1 Water Barrel 9 USD

Give a Rice Bank

Rice banks increase a village’s food security. Farmers and families facing food shortage can borrow rice at modest interest rates. Communities manage the banks and can sell surplus rice to reinvest in the bank’s future. Funding this gift provides training for administering a rice bank, materials to build one and rice seed to fill it. Villagers contribute local materials and labor to build the rice bank.

F19: Rice Bank 1,500 USD

Give School Furnishings

Some Cambodian children do not attend school because they have to sit on a dirt or concrete floor during class. As requested by Village Development Committees, LWF Cambodia supports the construction and furnishing of community schools. Gifts of furnishings ensure that children and teachers have desks to sit and blackboards to write on.





S1: Student desk 14.50 USD
S2: Teacher’s desk 15.00 USD
S3: Two blackboards 30 USD

Give a Scholarship

A scholarship sends a rural child to school equipped for learning. One scholarship provides books, pens, school bag and clothes for a student.











S4: Sponsor one child 7 USD
S5: Sponsor three children 21 USD
S6: Sponsor ten children 70 USD

Give Non-Formal Education

Many adults in rural Cambodia never had the chance to attend school. Adult illiteracy is 26.4 percent. This gift provides basic education to poor adults. Classes teach reading, writing and math skills. Each course takes from 6 to 12 months.







S7: Remuneration for one contract teacher: 25 USD per month

Give a Well

LWF Cambodia works with the poorest people in the remote areas to empower them to manage the development process by themselves. As part of LWF component of food security, Partner Households are encouraged to construct wells. Each well benefits a Partner Household and their neighboring families. This gift contributes cement and stone needed to build a well.



H1: Open Well 100 USD
H2: Deep Well 1,900 USD

Give online

Give at http://donations.lutheranworld.org
When donating online, specify which catalogue gift you are giving in the comment section. Example: “F16: Piglet.” If you would like to donate to a general project, put the name of the project, such as agriculture, education or health. Or give a gift to whatever area needs funds by writing “general gift.” If you prefer another method of donation, such as transfer or payment by cheque, contact Barry Lynam, Finance Coordinator LWF DWS Geneva, at bly@lutheranworld.org for instructions.

Receive

LWF Cambodia appreciates all gifts. Since mail from South East Asia is very expensive ($10 or more a letter), gifts purchased from this catalogue will be sent thank-you letters via email, including pictures of the activities you have supported. Gifts over $100 will be sent a thank-you card by mail.