News from Aziza's Place - May/June 2011

Dear friends of Aziza's Place,

In this edition of Courtyard we want to highlight the progress of AP’s resident children as they step-up and extend themselves through the variety of programs and activities that are an integral part of life at Aziza's Place. As each child grows and expands their horizons and capabilities, we, the Staff and Volunteers are also pushed to adapt and modify our programs to keep or get a few steps ahead of each resident child’s tireless quest to learn and grow.

A first and significant major development is our good-fortune in convincing Rob Rushworth to sign on as a permanent English teacher for the four AP English classes. Many of the AP residents have been studying English for more than four years with the help of our many volunteers who eagerly took on the teaching responsibilities during their time spent at Aziza’s Place. Our very varied volunteer universe provided our resident children with an incredible opportunity to learn English while also exposing them to the volunteers' different backgrounds and experiences. While each child made tremendous strides in learning the language, particularly their speaking abilities, we recognized that for further improvements and for the children to step up to new levels, they clearly require a skilled teacher to lead them by developing a consistent and structured English program.

Another major development last month was the opportunity for the eldest residents to attend a leadership and personal development training course and learn skills which they’ve since had a chance to employ by playing a role in organising the May Family Night and in other fun activities with the remaining residents. See below for further details.

Our final important endeavour this month was coming to the aid of the family of an AP resident who reached out to Aziza's Place for support when their house collapsed into a pile of wooden planks and rubble with the onset of Cambodia’s rainy season, which typically begins in May/June every year. Aziza's Place supplied some much-needed building materials as part of our continued commitment to help our resident children, their families and their communities.

Other highlights featured this month are: a warm welcome to Elodie Douillard-Potet as an intern from the Université De Franche - Comté(France); and grateful acknowledgement of a $6,000 ’Enterprise’ grant, received from Global Fund for Children (GFC), an organization dedicated to help many worthy projects around the world that focus on improving the lives of children.

Yours Gratefully,

Aziza's Place

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Thank you for your contributions in May/June:

Special appreciation is extended to Bridie Ryan, grandmother of previous volunteer Hayley Carter.  Her donation to Aziza's Place was made in memory of her husband, Jim Ryan.

Thank you also to: Peter Tabri • Stephanie McMahon • Thomas Ragot

AP is delighted to receive support from the Global Fund for Children

AP residents prepare to take a bow after their role-play

performance during May's Family Night event. 

Aziza's Place is honored to become a recipient of a $6,000 'Enterprise' grant from Global Fund for Children (GFC), an organisation that 'provides capital to strengthen innovative community-based organisations serving the most vulnerable children and youth'. GFC awarded their first grant in 1997 and now Aziza's Place is priviliged to join nearly 500 other GFC grant recipients and partners who come from 78 countries around the world. In assessing eligibility for the grant GFC prioritises organisations who focus on the most vulnerable children; organisations who are rooted in their community and operate with community input; organisations that illustrate effectiveness and that empower children being served; those that emphasize innovation, strong leadership, adaptability, potential for sustainability; and those that have a recognised and trusted reputation. The 'Enterprise' portfolio focuses on programs that recognise the holistic educational, economic and social skills that vulnerable children and youth require to develop into productive adults.

The funding from the GFC grant will go a long way in strengthening the programs offered at Azíza's Place. We are delighted to be able to use the funding to deepen our life-skills programs for the eldest AP residents, to invest into holistic counseling programs for all the children, to improve staff capacity through training courses, and to contribute towards the salary of our permanent English teacher. We look forward to fulfilling these opportunities and to building a long and successful partnership with GFC.

AP English Program is Advanced to the Next Level

Rob with the Beginner English class -

Ream, Sreynak and Lina.

Exciting news for the Aziza's Place English program came about in early May when we welcomed Rob Rushworth to the AP team as a permanent English teacher. Rob’s enthusiasm for teaching English is infectious and the children have all been challenged and inspired to learn more through projects he has initiated in each of the four classes. Rob originally hails from England, but has been living in Cambodia for the past six years and has wide-ranging English teaching experience in Phnom Penh schools as well as in less formal teaching environments - including his own initiative, teaching the children in his residential neighbourhood.

Aziza's Place education program recognizes the importance of learning the English language, particularly when considering the job-market opportunities that English skills open up. In the past the AP residents have enjoyed the different insights and contributions from our volunteers who have all provided their own uniqueness in teaching the English classes. However in order to make our English program a priority we recognised that the benefits of hiring an experienced English teacher on a long-term basis are essential. Rob's expertise and experience will nurture the children's English capabilities in a structured way, focusing on all aspects of English learning including speaking, listening, writing, reading and grammar. He has already provided insight into simple ways to improve the program such as developing a pace of learning suitable for each class, restructuring the classes for balance and variety and to place each resident in their appropriate level. He is also developing a project-based approach that incorporates all aspects of language learning whilst combining other vital skills such as internet research for the eldest classes, and creativity in presentation with colorful posters produced by the youngest classes.

Rob, we welcome you to the Aziza's Place team!

AP’s 9 Eldest Residents Attend 'Attitude Forum'



(Top) AP's eldest residents attending the

Attitude Forum.  (Bottom) Chiev in front

of the ACE entrance.  

In early May, AP’s 9 eldest residents attended a 2-day “Attitude Forum” training course, conducted by Sokchea Saing, the director of the ‘Attitude Centre for Education’ (ACE). ACE is a Phnom Penh based organization with the mission to equip young people with the leadership skills and the confidence to bring about positive change in Cambodia, and to support them in becoming effective role models in their communities.

The “Attitude Forum” focused on many aspects of character development and learning to understand the world around you as a young adult. Some elements of the course included:

• the effectiveness of conflict resolution

• the importance of developing good relationships between family, friends and the community

• improving self confidence, bravery, and leadership capacity

• utilizing teamwork to build social and working network

• embracing change in a positive way

After the course, the participants shared their newly acquired knowledge and skills with the rest of the AP residents and staff in a presentation. Chiev was enthusiastic in sharing that "the best part of the training was learning to open my mind to learn how to communicate with other people", while Rotha reported that he enjoyed everything about the course - "I was really interested in learning about how to make a plan for my future". Theara talked about the value of having a positive attitude. It was a treat to listen to each of the attendees share all they learned and see how passionate and keen they were to share their information with the rest of the team.

Our residents were thrilled to participate in this creative, dynamic and participatory course and they returned to AP enthusiastic, empowered, and excited! They are filled with love and forgiveness, understanding and compassion and are ready and well equipped to build a harmonious and cohesive community around them. We would like to extend our thanks to ACE for providing our 9 eldest residents with such a positive and enriching experience, and we look forward to working with them again!

AP Residents Working Together Results in Successful Family Nights; and Delicious Spring Rolls!

AP residents enjoy a 'spring-roll making' competition. 

(Top left) Competition is underway. (Top right) The winning

team celebrate. (Bottom left) Vegetable preparation. 

(Bottom right) Sreynat smiling brightly.

As a way to put the learning from activites such as the Attitude training into practice, we have been focusing on ways for the AP residents to be leaders, take on responsibilities, and work together. Family nights have become one way for our eldest residents to take on greater responsibilities. Each month two of the eldest residents will take charge and work together to choreograph / arrange the performances, decide who will act as MC's and develop the structure of the evening's events. The team in charge reports their plans and progress updates at two staff meetings during the month prior to the event. Chiev and Rotha took responsibility for May's Family Night, with a karate demonstration and a role-play being the main events of the evening. They also took charge of the decor, setting up the stage with curtains and decorating the walls with balloons. It was heart-warming to see the young adults stepping up as leaders among their peers and working together to create a successful family night event.

Children's Day on June 1 was also a fun, simple and innovative way for the children to demonstrate their ability to work together in friendly competition with each other. All 21 AP residents were split into three teams and participated in a 'Masterchef'-style competition with the aim to make the most delicious spring rolls! Each team had their own style as they raced to the market to purchase vegetable-fillings and return to AP to chop the food and prepare delicious and beautiful cuisine for the staff to taste as the judges. One team illustrated efficiency and effectiveness with specialised roles for each team-member, while another team showed off their skills in creating artistic decorations and the third team tried mixing up the flavours with their fillings and sauces. The event was a great success providing an opportunity for the children to work together and demonstrate their skills in developing strategies and teamwork - while also revealing an unprecedented enthusiasm for eating vegetables! See more photos on the AP facebook page. We all look forward to the next round of competition.

Rainy Season brings Housing Emergency for Family of AP Resident

Through the Aziza's Place Community Outreach initiative we keep in close connection with the families of AP resident's. With regular contact with these families we reiterate our commitment to support them as a facilitator/connector to services in their living quarters and their respective communities.

With the onset of the rainy season in May, one family approached Aziza's Place to request support for the rebuilding of their house. The typical housing of families living at the Phnom Penh city dumpsite in Stung Meanchey is a simple one or two room structure, built on stilts to lift the house above the dirt and the rubbish underneath. The first rains of the rainy season quickly makes apparent the flimsiness of the wooden structures that have degenerated in the harsh environment. The family’s meagre income gained from collecting and selling recyclables provides little room for funds to be used during such emergency situations. When the house of one AP resident collapsed Aziza's Place contributed to the repair and rebuilding by providing nails and roofing materials. The family was able to contribute some of their own funding, while accessing some further support from other local NGO's. Such emergency situations make us painfully aware about the vulnerability of the families of the residents of Aziza’s Place and proud of our ability to help out as necessary.

Elodie Douillard-Potet Returns to Cambodia for Internship Role at Aziza's Place

Elodie begins her Internship role at Aziza's

Place.

Aziza's Place is privileged to welcome Elodie Douillard-Potet who has joined us as an Intern from the Université De Franche-Comté in France. Elodie is helping to re-shape the Internship/Volunteer role at Aziza's Place. Previously, English teaching had been a large element of the volunteer role and now with the a permanent English teacher in place, our volunteers will have the opportunity to work on other projects during their stay and can apply their specialist skills to best suit the needs for supporting the children and staff.

As a component of her univeristy studies focused on Project Management, Elodie's internship involves developing projects with the AP children and staff. Elodie has been involved in wide-ranging roles, including: drawing up individual profiles for each of the children, working on ideas for connecting with other NGO's, teaching staff English classes, and coming up with some great ideas for the children's activities including the implementation of a first aid training workshop to be run by local staff from the International SOS Hospital.

An added feature of Elodie’s talent was showcased when she surprised the staff and children with her Khmer language skills within the first few days of her stay. Little did they realize that this was Elodie’s second visit to Cambodia and that she’d previously lived in Cambodia for nine months volunteering at an orphanage on the outskirts of Phnom Penh, approximately a year ago. Consequently, she seamlessly transitioned to the rhythm and way of life at Aziza’s Place and in Phnom Penh - as evidenced in her hiring of a moto within the first week of arrival! We thank Elodie for her dedication and hard work and for already coming up with many thoughtful ideas suited to the needs of the AP residents. We are thrilled she will remain at AP until the end of August and all look forward to enjoying the next three months learning, sharing and working together at Aziza's Place.

How to Help Aziza's Place - Support • Volunteer • Connect

Are you interested in supporting the children and programs of Aziza's Place? We invite you to become a part of our growing global community by donating, volunteering, or simply connecting us to your network of friends and family.

Click here to make a donation via PayPal. For donations over $400, please click here for wire transfer information. U.S. donors receive a tax credit receipt for your contribution. UK donors may elect the Gift Aid option so the tax-gross up is received by the charity. If you are a perspective volunteer, please take a look at our volunteer needs on idealist.org, or simply contact us.

Thank you for supporting the children and families of Aziza's Place.