News from Aziza's Place: August - September

Dear Friends of Aziza's Place,

The summer break from public school certainly doesn't mean the learning stops at Aziza's Place. These last two months have been a time of extra learning and adventures for all the AP residents and a special time for two residents who experienced many 'firsts' during their trip to the UK with Co-Founder Amjad Ghori.

August was an exciting time for visitors, with Amjad visiting AP for the third time this year. We were also delighted to meet Aziza's Place supporter Jenny Dutton who visited for the first time and long-time supporters (through Basmati), Raphaël Surber and Susanne Jäger who came as part of their annual visit to Aziza's Place. All the guests were present for Family Night during which the AP residents performed a well-practiced rendition of 'The Girl Who Cried Wolf', along with a dramatic Khmer dance performance.

As highlighted further below, all the AP residents took part in an exciting new project guided by English teacher Rob that gave the children an opportunity to think practically, problem-solve and even introduced them to physics as they worked together to build a water pump which transports water across horizontal or vertical distances, built with items found in most Cambodian households.

Just prior to the commencement of the 2011-2012 academic year at the Khmer Public Schools, the AP residents were all involved in an Enrolment campaign in the Steung Meanchey community, encouraging families to enrol their children in their local school before this date.

Finally, we want to express our sincere appreciation for the commitment and dedication shown by Intern Elodie Douillard-Potet during her time volunteering at Aziza's Palce for the last five months, and to Maxime Rovere who came to AP for all of August to experience Aziza's Place first-hand. And we were delighted to see former volunteer Emma Horsfall when she returned to Cambodia for a 10-day visit. We are all ever so appreciative of the unique contributions that each of our volunteers brings to Aziza's Place.

Yours Gratefully,

Aziza's Place

 

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This month we thank you for your generosity:

Basmati-Authentic Help - Raphaël Surber and Susanne Jäger

Jenny Dutton • John Xu and Grace Xi Chen (Give Me A Chance Charity)

Hannah Cooper, Anna Allen and Zaria McClement (South Hampstead High School)

Terranova Family • Lisa D'Aguiar

 

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AP Residents Enthusiastically Take Part in Cambodia's National Education Campaign

Chiev places an enrolment

poster on a fence in the

Steung Meanchey community,

encouraging families to

register their children in school.

As a member of the Cambodia’s collaborative NGO Education Partnership (NEP), Aziza’s Place participated in the nationwide education campaign to encourage Cambodian families to enroll their children in public school. The children of Aziza’s Place were excited to share the positive education message and distribute posters for families in Steung Meanchey (previously Phnom Penh’s dumpsite). The main objectives of NEP’s 2011 education campaign for Cambodia are to:

• “increase the enrolment rate by encouraging more parents to register and support their children for schooling;
• ensure that all children, girls and boys, have the same opportunity to attend school;
• raise awareness among communities on the importance of education as a key to break the cycle of poverty, making parents aware of their responsibility to bring children to school”.

The AP children all took these messages on board and felt privileged to share in the responsibility to talk with families in their community, encouraging others to see the importance of education. Dressed in bright white Aziza’s Place t-shirts, the AP children broke into groups of 4-5, initiating discussions with parents and children and putting up posters in prominent places among the houses built atop the dumpsite. The children at Aziza’s Place show every day in their hard work and dedication to learning that education is not something to be taken for granted in Cambodia. This was reinforced again in their eagerness to share the positive education messages to the people in their own community.