Volunteers Raelan Barbosa and Peter Levitan Utilise their Expertise to Support Aziza’s Place

Peter enjoys time with Ven at a Special Dinner (left);

Volunteer Rae spent September and October at

Aziza's Place (right).

September and October brought new volunteers to Aziza’s Place, who were each able to provide support through their areas of specialty and expertise.

After learning of Aziza’s Place during her travels, Raelan Barbosa from Canada was drawn to the idea of volunteering for two months and contributing her expertise as a social worker with the AP staff who work daily with the AP residents. Rae’s volunteering at Aziza’s Place opened up an opportunity for the AP staff to evaluate our discipline and rewards strategies together. She offered valuable recommendations and new ideas that encouraged the staff as they work together to maintain a positive environment for the day-to-day life of the Aziza’s Place residents. Rae also provided extra support by working on various administrative tasks, teaching English classes with the AP Housemom’s, and tutoring support for the youngest residents. She quickly fitted into the day-to-day activities of Aziza’s Place and her two months volunteering flew by rapidly. We thank Rae for her valuable input and hope to see her back to visit Aziza’s Place sometime in the near future!

The arrival of Peter Levitan in October was also very timely. Peter’s experience in marketing fitted in well with the water pump project mentioned in our previous newsletter. Peter visited Aziza’s Place for three weeks and worked closely with AP’s English teacher Rob Rushworth to fine-tune strategies for developing the water pump project; to capture its practical application and potential to meet a vital need for many households in rural Cambodia, while keeping the AP residents involved so they learn throughout this process of project development. Peter also used this project as a focus in presenting a workshop of basic marketing concepts to the two advanced AP English classes. Peter’s input provided valuable insight for which we are so appreciative – we look forward to keeping connected!