Global Roots' Tamoung Pha-em Primary School Project

Southern Cambodia

• Location: Cambodia
• Individual or Group: Group project
• Group size: 7

During his travels, Global Roots' senior volunteer Patrick Firouzian learned of a small school that had been destroyed three years ago by a typhoon in the southern plantations of Cambodia. While supplying a nearby orphanage on a Global Roots' supply mission, Firouzian met with the people of Kamping Som.

Patrick sensed a profound desire from the leaders of four villages for a proper school to be built. The village still had a wonderful teacher who was supplied by the state but there was no money to re-build the school. Though she worked very hard, the teacher (she is interviewed in the video below) was forced to cancel all classes during the rainy season because the destroyed school had no walls.

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Video

This video will walk you through the making of our school. Please enjoy!

Location and Population

• Southern Cambodia, 3 hours south of the capital city Phnom Penh
• Village Tamoung Pha-em, surrounded by four other villages
• Two teachers, paid by the Cambodian government
• Eighty children, between five and fourteen years old
• Nearest government school: Fifteen kilometers of dirt road in the jungle and plantations

Previous Condition of the School

• There was insufficient space to accommodate all the children. Only 30 out of the 80+ children in the surrounding villages could study because there was only one classroom.
• No classes were conducted during rainy season, strong winds, or extreme heat waves due to unsafe conditions. With no concrete floor and walls, rain would flood the school and wind would pass through the school.
• Teachers had no adequate black board.
• Children had only a few books to share among themselves, and could not bring them back home to do their homework.

This is the condition of the school as of October 2009 before Global Roots Service Corp. volunteers rebuilt it:

Current Condition of the School

• Elevated classroom floors to prevent flooding.
• Concrete floor.
• New beams on the roof.
• New roof using metal and, doubled with wood for additional insulation.
• Side walls in solid wood, with adequate ventilation.
• Solid doors (2)
• Solid windows with locks (8)
• New black boards (2)
• New student desks (20)

This is the school as of December 2009.

School supplies:

• 60 books “Khmer level 1”
• 60 books “Khmer level 2”
• 60 books “English for beginners”
• 1 map of Cambodia
• Pens and pencils
• 100 notepads

Impact made by Global Roots

Classes now operate daily in maximum capacity, with seventy children attending regularly.

Teachers are motivated by our humanitarian efforts and are now paying more attention to the quality of their teaching. They also value their contribution to the children's future.

Parents are also paying more attention to the future of their children and are more willing to allow them attend school, rather than keeping them at home with daily chores.

Financials

Note: "Food and Water" includes a celebration dinner at the completion of the project, with participation from villages neighboring the school.

Contributors

Global Roots Service Corps. volunteers:

• Ben Broadbent
• Travis Gearhart
• Francesco Franchin
• Clarkie Crawford
• Patrick Firouzian
• Chankui Heat

Project directors:

• Rick Montgomery
• Patrick Firouzian

Project managers and lead volunteers:

• Patrick Firouzian
• Travis Gearhart

Content advisors:

• Rick Montgomery
• Van Lam
• Hong Lam
• Daniele Mattioli

Cambodian advisors:

• Maggie, Sarin (MLop Tapang)
• Eva (Youth Star)
• Jacques & Anne (Monika nursery)
• Mov Lean (Institute for Development)
• Robert M (French consulate)
• Heng Somol (plantation foreman)
• Ship of Life
• Alfredo P (Red Cross)

Special thanks to the Tamoung Pha-em community for their support.

Camera and editing:

• Patrick Firouzian (http://www.picto.asia)

Next Project and Opportunities

This is a first step for Global Roots in this Cambodian community. The teacher Dany insists on having volunteers returning to her school to provide continued assistance:

• Teach English and foreign culture: Basic English is ok, as these children speak very little English.
• Maintain the condition of the school: School needs to be painted every year, around February, just after the rainy season.
• Bring supplies for the children. Anything will make a difference: books, pens, paper, clothing, toys, and food. This school is located in a very poor area.

Help us stop the exploitation of children in major Southeast Asian urban centers!

Our Director has researched the subject of street children extensively (his life was threatened in Bangkok’s soi Cowboy when he interviewed a girl who had been kidnapped from a village in China) and believes that the condition for these unfortunate children is only getting even worse.

We are running out of time. Wealthy foreigners are buying up children as fast as they can (from unaware parents who are told their children are going away to work in factories) for the thriving sex markets of major Southeast Asian urban centers.

Please help us set up and staff a new home in Cambodia so that we can get these helpless children out of harm's way.

Please email Rick if you are interested in helping Cambodian children: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it