Dear Friends,
October has been a month of comings and goings at AP. The month began with the children enjoying a week-long holiday at home with their families to celebrate Cambodia’s Pchum Ben festival. Loosely translated as 'Festival of the Dead', Pchum Ben is a traditional Buddhist festival when people remember and pay homage to the spirits of their ancestors. The roads were busy as people travelled far and wide to visit their home provinces to see family and to enjoy spending time together in celebration and festivities. Many Cambodian families also followed the Pchum Ben tradition of remembering the spirits of their ancestors by visiting pagodas and giving food and gifts to the monks.
After a week away, the AP residents returned back ready and raring to jump into a new school year at Toul Tompong public school. We are very proud to announce that all of our AP students are advancing into a new grade, with three students moving two grades ahead to come more into line with grade levels for their age. We ask you to join us in wishing our students all the best as they study hard in the year ahead.
In this issue of the Courtyard, we celebrate new opportunities being embarked upon for the wider AP community. We welcome a returning student, 14-year old Chantou, into our daily education programme. Removing her from a harsh factory job, we have once again been reminded of the vulnerabilities and difficult realities that our children face. Our Community Outreach programme also helped crystallize a new income-earning opportunity for the family of one of our residents. We are looking forward to seeing how a sewing machine will make a positive impact on their social and financial circumstances.
With Gratitude,
The AP Team
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This month we give a special thanks to:
Lauren Seaver • The GE Foundation on Behalf of Erik Granskog • Anand & Anita Gangadhran
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