News from Aziza’s Place – October 2010

Dear Friends,

October has been a month of comings and goings at AP.  The month began with the children enjoying a week-long holiday at home with their families to celebrate Cambodia’s Pchum Ben festival.  Loosely translated as 'Festival of the Dead', Pchum Ben is a traditional Buddhist festival when people remember and pay homage to the spirits of their ancestors.  The roads were busy as people travelled far and wide to visit their home provinces to see family and to enjoy spending time together in celebration and festivities.  Many Cambodian families also followed the Pchum Ben tradition of remembering the spirits of their ancestors by visiting pagodas and giving food and gifts to the monks.    

     After a week away, the AP residents returned back ready and raring to jump into a new school year at Toul Tompong public school.  We are very proud to announce that all of our AP students are advancing into a new grade, with three students moving two grades ahead to come more into line with grade levels for their age.  We ask you to join us in wishing our students all the best as they study hard in the year ahead.   

     In this issue of the Courtyard, we celebrate new opportunities being embarked upon for the wider AP community.  We welcome a returning student, 14-year old Chantou, into our daily education programme.  Removing her from a harsh factory job, we have once again been reminded of the vulnerabilities and difficult realities that our children face. Our Community Outreach programme also helped crystallize a new income-earning opportunity for the family of one of our residents.  We are looking forward to seeing how a sewing machine will make a positive impact on their social and financial circumstances.  

With Gratitude,

The AP Team 

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This month we give a special thanks to:

 Lauren Seaver • The GE Foundation on Behalf of Erik Granskog • Anand & Anita Gangadhran 

Seven Residents Advance Grades in Khmer Public School

Aziza’s Place education program heralds the beginning of this Khmer public school year a great success as seven resident children advanced into higher grade levels. Accelerating children who have had a late start in public school is the primary goal of the AP education program. Supplemental classes and tutoring–along with the hard work of the students has proven successful for these seven.

In August, the Courtyard highlighted Theara, a 17 year old resident who was enrolled in Grade 2. Had she only advanced to Grade 3 this year (rather than into Grade 7 where she has been placed) she would not have graduated from high school until the age of 27! Early this summer, staff and teachers evaluated which students were most set back in school. Then, AP Assistant Director Soy Socheat set out to establish relationships with the directors of local schools. He successfully located a primary and high school that would place students in a more appropriate grade after paying hefty registration fees and taking an assessment test.

This year marks the first time AP residents have advanced grades. In addition to Theara, AP is happy to announce the placements of Chanthy (15), Chiev (15), Somely (15), and Srey Ny (13). Each began Grade 7 on October 1, the first day of this academic year. Also, Roth (12) and Sengkri (12) both advanced from Grade 3 to Grade 6 in primary school. AP can now proudly say its education program is effectively reaching its goal of advancing its residents through public school with the aid of supplemental classes and tutoring. We wish the students all the best this school year.