December / January News

Hello Everyone!

Happy New Year! And Welcome to the Aziza’s Place Courtyard, a platform for the world to stay in touch with the dynamic lives of the19 children living at AP.
The children and staff will now deliver a slice of their life to your inbox monthly – whether a field trip to Angkor Wat, a student first in their public school class or a historic birthday cake fight! We are thrilled to show you the success and progress of AP children and programs and look forward to growing as we approach our 2nd year anniversary.
As we continue to grow, we still need your support. A donation of $40 per (£30) a month from100 supporters is sufficient to cover our monthly operating costs. Signing up is easy, all the information you need can be found at the end of this newsletter.
Thank you for your continued support! We wish you the very best in 2009!

Sincerely,
Aziza’s Place

New Residents at Aziza’s Place
At the beginning of the month, we welcomed two new children to Aziza’s Place. Hello to our new friends! Som Ven and Sreypov!

Most of the children who live at Stung Meanchey, Phnom Penh’s dumpsite, have had a spotty education. Some children go to school for a few hours a day, some work with their families in the dumpsite. An Australian woman doing research at Stung Meanchey has assisted us by keeping her eyes open for children who are eager to study. Early this month, she introduced us to Sreypov, a 14-year old girl who was forced to leave school in the province and come live and work with her older sister at Stung Meanchey. We all felt really good about her and were excited to have her come to AP. She has been making friends, studying hard and is nothing but smiles now. Her hair is making waves; all of the other girls are pining for bangs now.Also in the beginning of December, we met two brothers on their way back from a long day picking garbage. After a brief conversation, we learned that they were not going to school, but were eager to study. It became clear when we spoke to their mother that the oldest brother, Sophy was ready to come to AP. His mother visited the school and was thrilled. Sophy was enrolled in public school and has been having a wonderful time at AP; he loves soccer and art, and has been giggling nonstop.

December & January Activities

Field Trip to Angkor Wat


Our biggest trip of the year and by far the most culturally important excursion for Aziza’s Place was our journey midmonth to Angkor Wat. It was the maiden voyage for all of the children and staff, so this experience was huge for all of us.

The two-day trip was sponsored by a very gracious and vibrant volunteer from England, Zita Tulyahikayo, who wanted to do something special for her birthday, which coincidentally is the same day as Aziza (Dec 9).

Prior to leaving, the children were familiarized with the Angkor civilization and the temples. Their excitement was uncontainable as we made preparations to leave.
Our trip was filled to the brim with unforgettable memories. We stopped to feast on spiders in Kompong Cham, then visited the night market in Seam Reap. But of course the main attraction was Angkor Wat. We set out early on the first day to explore Bayon the temple made of stone-faced towers. The children posed for pictures with the Apsara dancers and sketched on the steps. In the afternoon we went to Ta Prom the wonderfully mysterious temple overgrown with trees. The children drew a crowd as they sat on the rocks and sketched.

On our second day we visited Angkor Wat, exploring the massive recesses of the ancient structure and taking hoards of pictures. The children brought their XO laptops that were donated through the One Laptop per Child program (http://laptop.org/en/ ) and were able to shoot video, take pictures and write about the experience. A fantastic resource, and guess what, the claims are true, they really are waterproof. But be warned the computers don’t come with a Socheat (our house administrator) who was brave enough to fish a stray XO out of the pond at Angkor Wat.





Where the Elephants Weep – Khmer Rock Opera"


Where the Elephants Weep" has been hailed as the cultural event of the decade, so we were very fortunate to be able to see it. Some of the boys were even moved to tears. A huge thank you to Cambodian Living Arts, Peter Mayer and April Johnson for not only setting us up with tickets, but also for inviting the children to Peter’s sound studio at CLA, where they were able to assist in a live recording of traditional Khmer instruments!



Renovations and Ongoing Construction Projects


The house has been a bustle with construction this month. Thanks to generous donations from MAP (Mother’s Against Poverty http://www.momsagainstpoverty.org/ ), we are finally saying good-bye to the water damage that has slowly been eroding the bathrooms and utility room in the back corner of the house. Under the supervision of our director, Nader Ebrahimi, we have a new stainless steel utility sink, good for washing paints and many dirty hands all at once. The construction crew nearly refused to put in the blue tile stripe. Sorry Nader, they don’t understand the artist’s mind.

Before After

Welcome New Volunteers

Missy Washington joined us by way of Los Angeles, California. She came onboard in October to help teach and organize the art and English programs. A long time volunteer at a shelter for youth in Los Angeles, Missy is thrilled to be teaching again, and loves life at AP, though those morning classes are brutal and causing an addiction to Khmer coffee.


Jane Heng began volunteering at Aziza's Place in early January. Originating from Melbourne, Australia, Jane speaks Khmer, which has come in quite handy. She's excited about being in Cambodia and Aziza's Place and intends on staying for, up to, one year. Given her Khmer skills, she is now teaching the beginners English class geared towards children with rudimentary English skills.

Caitlin Strom, a camerawoman from San Francisco, California arrived at Aziza’s in January with plans to help out with a few film classes before continuing with her travels. She liked Aziza’s Place so much and the kids liked her so much that she decided to stay a whole month and has taken on English and film classes. More from our volunteers soon!

Special Visitors


Amjad Ghori, the founder of Aziza’s Place, dropped in for an exciting visit over the New Year. He treated the children to several memorable outings! On New Years Eve, we discovered the joys of pizza. Many of the children had long heard about it, but had never tried it. Fork? Hands? Ketchup? How do you do this? Afterwards we topped it off with ice cream, which generally made everyone sick. On New Years Day we took a trip to the Royal Museum and marveled at the relics from Angkor Wat and had a wonderful afternoon relaxing in the beautiful courtyard.

Ali, Amjad and crew

Ali and the children

Former volunteer, Ali Robbins also visited over the New Year. The children were thrilled to see her again and jumped right in to making Paper Mache masks, origami and playing games. Ali volunteered for four months last year with her boyfriend, Dan; they have plans to return soon. We can’t wait!

Spotting fish on the museum field trip

Cambodian Christmas

Even though the December temperatures in Cambodia are un-Christmas like, the streets still come alive with Christmas gifts and red Santa suits. The children loved celebrating Christmas; they had a small gift exchange, dug into the face paint, and danced the evening away.

Santa and his doppelganger

Happy Birthday Momphat!

Phat, our house mom celebrated her 39th birthday on January 1. The children organized a collective gift, pooling their money and finding a huge stuffed Pooh and a teddy bear for her birthday. Amjad contributed a cake that in the end wound up more on everyone’s face. Then the sugar induced a spontaneous dance party.

Momphat’s birthday. We love you Phat!


How Can I Help?
The success of Aziza's Place to date has been solely due to the generous commitment and support of our donors, who provide the necessary funds, and our staff and volunteers, who dedicate their time.
In order to ensure that Aziza's Place continues to provide the loving home and environment to our incredible resident children, we need your financial support. A donation of $40 per (£30) a month from100 supporters is sufficient to cover our monthly operating costs, including food, living expenses, medical supplies, and school supplies. Of course, we request that our 100 friends and supporters pledge to provide the $40 (£30) per month for the year so that our annual operating costs can be covered. Please consider giving generously: We need your contribution! You can contribute directly by wiring funds to the applicable US or UK accounts listed below or via PayPal (http://www.azizafoundation.org/donation.html). All US donors will receive a Tax receipt and UK donors will get the choice of electing the Gift Aid option so that the tax-gross up is received by the charity.

US Bank Information:The Aziza Ghori Charitable FoundationComerica BankABA / Routing Number:072000096Account No: 1851432573
UK Bank Information:The Aziza Foundation (UK)HSBC BankSort Code: 40 05 30Account No: 72815559

If you need further information, please contact missy@azizafoundation.org