News from Aziza's Place: October - November

Dear friends of Aziza's Place,

As the Aziza's Place residents get older, they embrace opportunities to step outside and take on new responsibilities. In this month's Courtyard newsletter the eldest AP residents are proud to share their experiences of their completed summer internships. We all saw these six residents return from their workplaces with a sense of purpose and responsibility, a sense of independence and confidence, as they all took on new roles and learned wide-ranging skills relevant to their unique areas of interest.

Another display of initiative and creativity was demonstrated by five AP residents who took up a request to put together a documentary for a local NGO in Phnom Penh. Earlier this year we connected with Attitude Centre for Education (ACE) who provided valuable leadership training courses for Aziza's Place residents. These residents look up to the ACE staff as positive and encouraging role models and were delighted to utilise their skills in film production as a way of giving something in return for their learning from ACE. Read below for further details about their film project.

Other significant news at Aziza's Place is the arrival of a new resident. Navin (Vin) is eight years old, and younger brother to one of our long-time residents Rotha. Vin has settled in quickly and was excited to join in a fieldtrip to Koh Kong in early November. This was a wonderful welcome to the Aziza’s Place family and an occasion to spend quality time with all the AP residents and staff. This trip was a three day adventure to a province of Cambodia where most of the AP children and staff had never been before. We were delighted that previous volunteer Hayley Carter could join us and for the three weeks she came to visit. We welcome Hayley back and in this newsletter say a big thank you to volunteers Raelan Barbosa and Peter Levitan. As with all our volunteers, they both brought unique insights to Aziza’s Place, providing valuable support for the AP staff and children.

Yours Gratefully,
Aziza's Place

Join us on Facebook • Watch our Video •  Visit our Website

Meet the AP residents • See photos of AP's latest activities on Facebook

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Thank you for your generosity in October and November:

Matthias Witzel • Rotary Club of Southport Links

HEROtsc • Hayley Carter's Community of family and work colleagues • Mohammad A Ashur

Michelle Dubyk • Fatma Rufai • Tara Haggiag • Marcela Granados 
 

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Aziza’s Place Welcomes New Resident, Navin (Vin)

Vin enjoyed getting to know the other AP

residents and staff during a fieldtrip to

Koh Kong.

We are all excited to welcome 8-year old Von Navin (Vin) to Aziza’s Place. Vin is younger brother to long-time resident Rotha (17years). Rotha quickly took Vin under his wing after his arrival in October, helping him study and adapt to the AP routines and activities. Although he has a quiet personality, Vin has already become good friends with the other boys his age. He has entered public school in Grade 2.

Vin previously lived in an extremely remote rural area of Battambang province with his mum, who raises her family alone after her husband passed away from illness several years ago. Without any land for growing rice or crops it is very difficult to make ends meet. Both Rotha and his mother requested for Vin to come to Aziza’s Place. After visiting and assessing their situation, AP staff agreed that Vin met the criteria to join Aziza’s Place at the beginning of the school year. Previously Vin would walk for more than 1 hour each way to access school at a local pagoda in the province. However the quality of education in rural areas is limited, as apparent with Vin still learning the Khmer alphabet after three years of study. Now Vin goes to public school with the other AP residents, a short 2minute walk away. With the supplementary classes at Aziza’s Place in Khmer, Maths, Computer Studies and English, Vin has already shown he is a bright student and will be able to advance his learning considerably in the next few years. We see Rotha and Vin strengthening their family bond and look forward to seeing Vin grow up alongside his brother at Aziza’s Place.

Six-year-old Srey Nak Joins Aziza's Place

SreySros (left) pictured with the newest AP resident,

her sister Srey Nak.

We are excited to welcome six-year-old Srey Nak to Aziza's Place. She is the younger sister of two long-time AP resident children, Sreysros (pictured left) and Roth. Srey Nak is extremely shy and timid but the younger girls at AP are taking her under their wing to make her feel at home.  As with most new residents it will take a couple of weeks for her to adjust and feel healthy.  Her previous living environment left her malnourished, with a vulnerable immune system.  Her recent doctor's check-up suggests that in the coming weeks she will be able to begin karate and dance classes.  Sreysros, age 11 and Roth, age 13 have both been at AP for almost four years and have been eagerly asking for their younger sister join them.

 

Roth, Sreysros and Srey Nak have a difficult family background that does not allow them to visit their mother very often. Their mother recently became unemployed and no longer had the means to support Srey Nak to go to school, as she is the sole income-earner. Due to the family stresses and the requests

from her brother and sister, APs Community Outreach program planned for Srey Nak to join us once she reached school age. Due to an uncharacteristically long rainy season, the road out to her house experienced severe flooding. Therefore, the AP team could not reach the family in order to bring her in before the beginning of the school year. Srey Nak is excited to sport her new pink backpack when she begins 1st grade this week. We look forward to watching Srey Nak grow strong and healthy at AP.

News from Aziza's Place - September 2010

Dear Friends,

Welcoming new children into Aziza's Place is always an exciting time. The look on a newly-accepted resident's face as he/she enters the AP courtyard is memorable as are awe-filled reactions to; the first big meal, the comfort of sleeping on a mattress, a bright clean school uniform, and the relief on their face knowing they don't have to worry what tomorrow will bring. Troubles melt away in their first night. During these times we see the beauty of the AP community unfold with the other children acting as mentors and friends to the new resident, showing them around, helping them adjust, or giving them one of their precious collections of pens and pencils. This community gives our children the unique experience of being a part of a big family and not simply living in a charity-funded complex. Our philosophy centers on grassroots ideas that will keep our center small and focused on the children and their immediate families. This is an attribute AP will never lose.

In this issue you will meet our newest resident, 10-year-old Ream, bringing Aziza's Place to a total of 22 residents. Each year we evaluate our capacity for new children based on a series of factors such as space (AP's maximum stated capacity is 25 residents), family life, living and working conditions, and age. In keeping with our philosophy to improve the lives of the families of our residents, accepting siblings of current residents is always a priority. We now have moved to only accepting school age children as this is the age where they will be able to  experience and take full advantage of  AP's programs. In this issue you will be introduced to our new resident as well as an insight into the many other great endeavors made possible by your support and ever-strengthening and growing circle of friends in Cambodia and around the world.

With Gratitude,

The AP Team