Aziza's Place News: April/May 2012

Our Mission:  Enable each child to reach maximum potential by providing residents with a safe environment, a range of creative educational, developmental and recreational programs, nurturing individuality, character and community while preparing each child for onward challenges and success, whether they involve university education, vocational training, or gainful employment.  

Dear Friends of Aziza's Place,

  This edition of Aziza’s Courtyard is filled with exciting goings-on at Aziza’s Place over the last two months!  First and foremost is the glorious news of our House-mom Mom Phat’s wedding that took place on April 29th, filled with joy and celebration!  Also no less important, is the move of the nine eldest Aziza’s Place residents into new accommodation (five boys in a roomy flat down the street from AP and four girls into the adjacent former volunteer flat) providing them a degree of independence in a safe and controlled environment as well as tasking with taking on greater responsibility in looking after themselves.  This project represents a significant step for Aziza’s Place as well as our eldest residents in the preparation for their eventual departure from AP.  This important initiative also impacts all current residents by opening up room for new, younger children to enter Aziza’s Place.
  As a consequence of these changes, existing staff members have taken on new responsibilities and two new staff members, Mom Sarik and Chamroeun, have joined the Aziza’s Place team.  Mom Phat’s new responsibility will be as House Manager for the new boys’ residence where she will live with her new husband while also working full days at Aziza’s Place during the weekends.  Mom Sarik  will take on Mom Phat’s previous role as a House Mom at AP during weekdays while Chamreoun is welcomed as a weekend staff member who will provide extra supervision and support for the children’s weekend activities, enabling our full-time staff to have full weekend breaks.  Read more about Sarik and Chamroeun below.       
  Rounding out the full roster of activities this past month, AP’s younger children competed in the annual ISF Football Tournament, while all the residents eagerly participated in the creative art workshops led by visitor Barb Devine.  The children and staff were also delighted to see Co-founder Amjad Ghori and his friends Mark Arnold and Cindy Turcott this month who timed their visit to coincide with Mom Phat’s wedding.  They all jumped right in to the fun and activity at Aziza’s Place.  Read on for more detail!        

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Eldest Residents On the Move to New Housing Premises

Top:  Eldest AP Boys on the balcony of

their new residence, with House Manager

Mom Phat.
Bottom:  Eldest AP Girls relaxed in their

new housing next door to Aziza's Place.

  Significant and exciting changes for the eldest AP residents have been on the horizon for some time and early May saw these planned changes put into action.  Consistent with our Vision: Aziza’s Place children to develop into responsible adults with the life skills to become productive citizens of their community, economically self-sufficient and socially empowered, we undertook a major initiative to help prepare them to eventually live on their own, fully equipped with the necessary skills required to do so.  The primary objective is to offer an environment where our eldest residents can develop greater independence, more responsibility for their well-being, while remaining accountable to Aziza’s Place guidelines within the framework of their peer group.  
  The first group to move were our five eldest boys (all of whom are 16 and older) who took up residence in a separate house located on the same street as Aziza’s Place but two blocks down.  Mom Phat will take on the role of live-in House Manager, supervising the boys in their new residence.  The four eldest girls (all 15 and older) moved to the small apartment rented next door to Aziza’s Place that had served as the volunteer flat for the past four years.  The AP teenagers were all excited about the moves and set about to transform their respective living spaces with their personal stamp.  Cheng says "The new house is perfect!  It's bigger, it's quiet, and I'm excited about the new things like cooking, that we will learn to do ourselves."  Chiev said "We have already made our own schedules and plans for cleaning and working together."  Sreypov and Ny said about their new place "It's nice to have more freedom.  It's quiet without the younger girls, and much bigger than our old room!".
  We are excited to see our AP teenagers grow and mature into young adults.  New housing will give these residents (most of whom have been with AP for five years) the opportunity to act independently while still adhering to AP rules and oversight.    With the eldest residents moving to new housing, space is also opened up for new, younger children to enter Aziza’s Place.  This new transition will eventually impact all AP residents, current and future, in their preparation for departing Aziza's Place as confident, responsible and self-sufficient young adults.   

Welcome Sarik and Chamroeun to the Aziza's Place Team

Top:  New House Mom Sarik. 

Below: Weekend staff member

Chamroeun, and Ream.

  Alongside the current changes taking place with the eldest residents we welcome two new staff members to the Aziza's Place team.  Khut Sarik has started working as a live-in House Mom for the younger AP residents (previously Mom Phat's role).  Phin Chamroeun  has also started working as a weekend assistant on Saturdays and Sundays.  These changes have been put in place to adapt to the accommodation adjustments for the eldest residents and also to ensure AP’s full-time staff are given sufficient weekend breaks to be energized for the working week. 
  Sarik has already moved into Aziza’s Place and is quickly adapting to her new role of caring for the children, and helping with cleaning and cooking.  She comes to AP from the nearby province of Takeo, previously working at a local hospital where she would clean and prepare food.  Sarik herself has one son, aged 21years.  She has a calm and caring nature, and is quickly settling in to life at Aziza's Place.   
  We welcome Chamroeun to the AP team as a weekend assistant.  Our previous weekend assistant, SreyMom, is now working full time in her role at a beauty salon.  The weekend role has been extended to both Saturday’s and Sunday’s to enable our full time staff to have full weekend breaks.  The new schedule will be beneficial for both the children and staff, with fresh ideas and support from Chamroeun and Mom Phat who now supervise and coordinate the children's weekend activities.  Chamroeun has experience working with children as a High School Economics teacher.  He was quick to join into games of volleyball and basketball and getting to know the children on his first day at Aziza's Place!  
  We are delighted for the positive impact both Sarik and Chamroeun will bring to Aziza's Place as strong role models for the children and extra strength and support for the AP staff team.  

AP Football Stars Participate in Annual ISF Football Tournaments

Pre-match photo with the seven AP girls who

played in the 2012 ISF Girls Football Tournament.

  The Aziza’s Place children hit the football fields in force for the Pricewaterhouse Coopers/ISF U13 Boys Tournament and Barclays Capital/ISF U16 Girls Tournament in March this year.  Our parner NGO,  Indochina Starfish Foundation (ISF) organizes these two annual competitions as one component of their tremendous work all around Cambodia, giving hundreds of children from more than 30 NGO’s the opportunity to play sports.  Aziza’s Place is privileged to be part of the ISF football program, enabling our residents to practice football twice a week, to be taught by skilled football coaches, provided with uniforms and shoes, and transportation to the practice field.  The sports program is a valuable opportunity for the AP children to learn skills of teamwork, confidence, leadership and the benefits of physical fitness and healthy living.     
  This year three AP boys and seven AP girls competed with children from other NGO’s to form teams in the boys and girls tournaments.  The other AP residents all came along to support the players with their cheers and tactical advice during each match.  Sokty, Lina and Sreysros were all proud to have scored goals for their respective teams!  We were also delighted to meet ISF sponsors Terry and Jill Nolan who have supported Aziza’s Place and enabled us to participate in the ISF program for the last four years.  They brought extra support to the Girls Tournament with their attendance and cheers in all the girls matches!  Take a look at photos of both tournaments on the Aziza’s Place facebook page.

Ceremonies and Celebration for Momphat's Wedding!

Top: Mom Phat and her husband

Sophal.

Below: Everyone gathered together

to celebrate.

  In the last few weeks Aziza’s Place has had an air of anticipation as we all looked forward to attending Mom Phat’s wedding on April 29th in her home province of Takeo.  Phat has been a House-Mom at Aziza’s Place since we opened in 2007.  She is a central figure in the Aziza’s Place family and we were delighted to share in her day of celebration! 
  The weeks preceding the big event were full of excitement.  Thanks to a generous contribution from Craig Nethercott, the children all went on a major shopping spree at all the markets to find perfect outfits for the occasion.  AP’s Co-founder Amjad Ghori, and visitors Mark Arnold, Cindy Turcott and Barbara Devine also arrived in time to attend the wedding festitvities.    
  The day began with an early wake up in order to meet the 5AM departure time from Aziza’s Place.  Despite the early hour the girls looked beautiful and the boys very handsome.  The entire troupe travelled by bus to Takeo arriving, still a bit sleepy, to a brightly decorated wedding tent and greeted by Mom Phat and her groom, Ven Sophal, who both looked stunning in their brightly colored traditional wedding outfits. 
  The day was filled with traditional Khmer wedding ceremonies, including an exchange of rings, blessing from the bride and groom’s parents, and a hair-cutting ceremony representing the new start the couple were making with their union.  Interspersed amidst the many ceremonies were formal sittings for vast amounts of food, another feature of Khmer weddings!  After the second major feast of the day, the afternoon was time for everyone to rest up while the older girls made a trip to the local beauty salon to prepare their hair and make-up for the Main Event (the evening party), and the ever-energetic boys enjoyed a game of volleyball.
  By 4pm it was time to celebrate and eat, again!  Everyone put on their new outfits and looked stunning!  Plenty of photo’s were taken (see the AP facebook page) as we all made our way back to the wedding tent where we all ate, sang and danced well into the night before the final fruit-cutting ceremony ended the blissful evening and signalled it was time to leave.  The entire day was filled with joy, and love, energy and excitement as we all congratulated the happy couple and felt privileged to share in Mom Phat and her husband Sophal’s special day!

Barb Devine Leads Creative Art Workshops for AP Residents

Sengkry welcoming Barb to Aziza's Place.

  This month we are delighted to welcome Barbara Devine from Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.  Barb heard about AP through her friend and AP’s co-founder, Amjad Ghori.  With her experience in teaching Art and working in Graphic Design, Barb has already found many ways to help out at AP during her three week stay including workshops with the children, and supporting Art teacher Moeurn Chorn in developing ideas and techniques to jazz up the AP Art program.  Barb’s workshops have offered unique and fun ways of expression for the children with the first two workshops focused on lino print-making.  They were big hits as all the residents enjoyed and attended. 
  With her warm and friendly nature Barb has quickly become friends with the AP residents and staff.  She has especially connected with some of the older AP residents, encouraging them in each of their creative interests. We thank Barb for sharing her time and offering creative inspiration for all of us at Aziza’s Place! 

Thank You

Special thanks to Nancy Baker, and Stella Hetelkidis and her husband Mark Johnston, for supporting the first year's operations of the Boys/Girls AP Youth Houses in 2012.  
 
Thank you for your generous contributions in March-April 2012:
 
Craig Nethercott  •  Jan Testarmata  •  Scott Stafford  •  Laura Landry  •  Emmanuel Cantel and Family   

How To Help Aziza's Place

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. 

Our Part-time Volunteer position has opened up for the remainder of 2012.  Take a look at our volunteer needs on idealist.org or simply contact us.

Easy ways to provide financial support:

  Please click the "Donate" button to make a donation via PayPal. For donations over $400, please click here for wire transfer information. U.S. donors can receive a tax credit receipt for your contribution. If you are a UK donor please click here. You may also elect the Gift Aid option so the tax-gross up is received by the charity.

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