Aziza's Place Welcomes 22nd Resident Child

Say 'Hello!' to Ream, Age 10

On 12 September, Aziza's Place welcomed 10 year old Ream to the family.  Ream has seamlessly morphed into life at AP, quickly making friends and finding mentors in the older boys. He is eager to learn and wants to try out all of AP's extracurricular activities. He says he is most excited to learn how to use a computer and has never used one before.

     Ream previously lived in a dilapidated shanty house in one of the most slummy parts of the Steung Meanchey dump site. He was fortunate to have his first grade public school education sponsored by People Improvement Organization (PIO), a local NGO serving children in the Steung Meanchy community. But, in order to help make ends meet, Ream would have to pick through trash for recyclables in the afternoons with his older siblings. His single-mother works strenuous hours in a garment factory and so Ream and his siblings were charged with cooking meals for themselves everyday.

     His family is already a big part of Aziza's Place. AP resident Sreypov is Ream's aunt and Sreypov's older sister, Sreymom is also part of the AP team working as a weekend caretaker for the children. Ream's mother is active in the AP Community Outreach program and is invested in making sure her children have a bright future. AP is a great match for Ream and his strong desire to learn. We look forward to watching him grow in our program over the years to come.

Darley Tom Joins AP as Education Program Officer

Aziza's Place welcomed Darley Tom as our Education Program Officer in September. Darley is a graduate student from Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts where she is studying Sustainable International Development with a concentration in developing education programs. For the next six months, she will evaluate and help implement new ideas and structure to the education curriculum and program. Darley and the AP team will work together to establish a series of methods to create a dialogue with children, teachers and volunteers to ensure a more effective and sustainable education curriculum. We are excited about making these positive changes and are so happy to have Darley's expertise on the ground here in Cambodia.

Child Savings Plan Kicks Off With Banking Orientation

Mr. Mony, a representative from AMK Bank gives a

presentation on banking and savings to the children

A representative from Angkor Mikroheranhvatho Kampuchea bank (AMK) came to Aziza's Place and provided an orientation on banking and savings to the resident children and staff. Aziza's Place and AMK are working together to develop a child savings program, an idea proposed by AP Intern Michael Johns. The public school system in Michael's native country of Australia offered a child savings plan to students and he grew up understanding the importance of saving. While researching Micro-finance Institutions in Cambodia, Michael realized that his childhood experience of building up savings would be a positive concept to translate to the residents of AP. Currently no other child savings plans exist in Cambodia.

     AP residents receive a small weekly allowance and although their savings would initially be rather small, establishing their bank accounts will set the stage for understanding the concept of saving for their future. As the culture in Cambodia tends to be skeptical of banking, AMK and AP are working to create a foundation of trust in banking institutions. Each child will open their own account in the coming weeks and Aziza's Place will be the co-signatory for the accounts. The children will not have the ability to withdraw money until they are 18 years of age. Furthermore, AP intends to create an incentive program for the children to save throughout the year by matching a percentage of their annual savings. When residents graduate from Aziza's Place they will have a small amount of money saved up for their future and have an understanding of the importance of saving for the rest of their lives.

     Michael began researching Micro-finance Institutions in order to create a partnership for the Community Outreach program before realizing it would be a great opportunity for the AP residents. His research identified AMK's operations as one of the most notable and believed the bank to be critical to the micro-finance industry in Cambodia. In the future AP will work to teach the families in the Community Outreach program about banking and savings and use the child savings scheme as a model to for children to incentivize their families to begin saving as well.

Vacationing to Rabbit Island Thanks to Denise and Jasmine Fisher

This month the AP family took a refreshing and relaxing trip to Rabbit Island, a great getaway spot off the coast of the seaside town of Kep in southern Cambodia. The field trip was generously sponsored by Denise Fisher and her daughter Jasmine who volunteered at AP over the summer. Denise and Jasmine wanted the AP children to have the opportunity to breathe some fresh air outside of Phnom Penh. Rabbit Island was the perfect escape and adventure for the children. Traveling to the island involved a long boat ride (many of the children had never before been on a boat), hours and hours of swimming (a few had never seen the ocean before), and a delicious feast of crabs, fish and shrimp every night. We send our deepest thanks to Denise and Jasmine. The kids, staff, and volunteers had a great trip and it left everyone feeling relaxed and ready for the new school year to begin in October.

AP girls and staff posing on the beach of Rabbit Island

How to Help Aziza's Place - Support • Volunteer • Connect

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.

Click here to make a donation via PayPal. For donations over $400, please click here for wire transfer information. U.S. donors receive a tax credit receipt for your contribution. UK donors may elect the Gift Aid option so the tax-gross up is received by the charity. If you are a perspective volunteer, please take a look at our volunteer needs on idealist.org, or simply contact us.

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

News From Aziza's Place - August 2010

Dear Friends,

This month our Co-Founder, Amjad Ghori made his second trip of the year to Cambodia. His visits are balanced between playing with the kids and working as Director of The Aziza Foundation, reviewing AP's progress and programs. The record high attendance at Family Night and the kids' scholastic achievements are examples of the impact of our programs that he was able to experience first-hand. In the spirit of these successes and to keep this momentum, the Foundation has allocated increased funding to critical programs such as education, staff training and career development, and our community outreach program.

This issue of the Courtyard highlights some of the new programs and partnerships that we have embarked upon in recent months. We we would also like to highlight some stand-out performances from our children in the athletic arena as six children have been selected to participate in an upcoming Karate competition. Also, fifteen-year-old Srey Mach has been selected to join the Cambodian women's U-18 football team later this month. And the heartwarming story of AP football coach, Sreymao, was featured in The Phnom Penh Post along with some great photos of our football stars. (The photo captions mistakenly represent the AP kids as Indochina Starfish Foundation players, who are in fact the sponsor of this great football program).

Without your support, the Aziza Foundation and Aziza's Place would not be able to provide such amazing opportunities for the future of our resident children. We thank you for supporting us.

- The AP Team

Thank you to our generous supporters

Adam Cooper • Denise and Jasmine Fischer • Alex Garrod • Ben and Maria Mays • McIlnay-Rogers Family Foundation • Rafick Ramadan • Joe and Dixie Shulman

This month we would like to highlight the support of Ben and Maria Mays (UK) and Sharon McIlnay and Gifford Rogers(USA). Ben and Maria volunteered with AP in 2009 and have been loyal pen pals and supporters of our program ever since. Sharon and Gifford have supported AP since its founding and have been integral part of our progress. We are grateful for your partnership and continued investment in AP.

Local Hotel Partners with AP for Student Work Experience

Four resident children began their summer holiday work experience with the Boddhi Tree Hotels in Phnom Penh. Thida, Somley, Vun and Chanthy are working in pairs at two Boddhi Tree locations. They will gain experience rotating as cooks, waiters, finance and administration interns. Last month's issue of the courtyard highlighted AP's new work experience program and skill-building workshops that are preparing children 15 and older for life outside of AP. Now, eight residents are taking part in this program.

The Boddhi Tree, under the direction of General Manager Mr. Manuel Garcia, has been operating in Phnom Penh since 1997. Since then, it has trained and employed over 600 young adults from the largest NGOs in the community. The Human Resources team at Boddhi Tree has created a program especially for the AP students that will give them an basic overview of the hospitality business. Aziza's Place is honored to have The Boddhi Tree as a community partner.

Volunteer Susan Rosas, a social worker and graduate student at the University of Chicago, conducted the first skill-building workshop as part of the work experience program. She will host a series workshops from now until the end of September that focus on building skills such as interviewing techniques and creating a resume and/or portfolio. They will also be engaged in talks with professionals within various industries in Cambodia and learn more about how to apply for university.