Update for Feb 07!

New School – The Rudi Boa Center!

On January 2^nd the new school, the Rudi Boa Center, opened to the Boeng Kok community. Boeng is Khmer for lake, and the school is on stilts over the water of a lake in Phnom Penh. If you drop your pen and it rolls between the floor boards, it is gone – into the nasty water below. Nearby is the train station and the railroad tracks which, like the lake, are littered with trash and lined with dirty kids. The school is close to the base of a peninsula going into the lake where people farm snails, fish, frogs and various greens. The waste of 20,000 people flows directly into the water, and skin conditions are common. Kids swim right next houses whose toilets empty directly into the water.

The Rudi Boa Center is there because Aziza was a success, and this opportunity came to us because of that. Thanks to all the donors for planting the seed that is still growing.

Rudi Boa and his girlfriend came to Cambodia as backpackers during Christmas 2005, and volunteered in the same slum as Aziza Schoolhouse. Had I been able to change my previous flight home at that time, I would possibly have met them. But our paths never crossed, physically, and after Cambodia they traveled to Australia where Rudi tragically died. He was 27 and was known as being an all-around great person with a big heart.

His family wanted something good to come from Rudi’s passing, and I was able to connect with them, and proposed a school. I arranged for them to partner with an NGO call Bridges Across Borders, www.bridgesacrossborders.org, a contact I made here. I felt they would be the best managers since they are permanently based here, and also bring a lot of experience to help the community. The teacher from Aziza, Phana, did most of the work to find, rent, renovate and decorate it to where it is now. It is very cute and is a great learning environment; a new house twice the size of Aziza with a nice bathroom, and only $45 per month.

There are countless children in the neighborhood, and classes were instantly filled with 40 children each. The kids started out really wild, and they would pierce my ears when I was in the school. Now they have been taught the rules and the classes are orderly yet fun. Phana has even begun trimming their nails and getting them to wash their hands and feet. Most of the students are of primary school age, with evening classes for older kids just starting now.

There are limitless things that can be done to help these kids and the community. The community will very likely also be moved in the next year or two to make way for development in the city, as plans loom to fill in the lake and build expensive condominiums.

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Old School – Aziza Schoolhouse

I can always say that there are more things happening than I will ever be able to tell. I so enjoy my time at Aziza Schoolhouse as I become more comfortable with the people in the community and create bonds with the students. There are a million stories since I wrote last; teeth have come out, students were invited to dance for the newly-arrived Peace Corp volunteers, international and local volunteers have infused ideas and life, a few hundred pieces of art were created, tens of thousands of smiles, connections, laughs, learning, dancing and a few fights and tears. Oh, and 2 dogs ran into the school in the middle of a class and began to fight. All the girls screamed and the dogs ran out, continuing their play-fight.

Some great volunteers just left. James from Australia had the best attitude and flowed right into our scene, carving out his own niche and bonding with the kids. Two Mexican girls, Ena and Sandra, came and did science experiments every night for the older kids. Mixed with the science was a LOT of fun. These girls know how to party, including their trademark dancing/singing routine “chew-chew-wa, chew-chew-wa, chew-chew-wa-wa-wa.” Yeah, the kids loved them, and so did I. They are like, from a world where people aren’t beat down, jaded, and ruined. Also they all had incredible personal experiences and fell in love with the kids.

While I was out of town the Ena and Sandra took the lead on hiring a new teacher to replace Chay who started university. We created “Teacher Idol,” where the 3 top candidates came and answered questions before the students in the Leadership class (story coming). The students voted, and Sambath became a clear winner.

Another big happening is the Leadership and Management Training that Sokchea (one of the teachers) just finished. It was 25 hours, 3 days per week during their lunch break from public school. There was a final exam, and only 17 of the 20 who made it the whole way through passed (harsh). The kids loved it, telling me repeatedly that Sokchea did an excellent job (it was all in Khmer, so I have to take their word for it). It was a lot of participation, presentations, and peer feedback on life goals. We are now planning to roll this out to the new school, as well as offer another Leadership training at Aziza, focusing on qualities within.

I have been making plans to return home, but decided to stay through the eviction, which is set for late April. I want to be here for the final days. I will make a request to the developer and/or government to allow everyone stay until the end of the public school year in late June. So I am not sure when I will make it to the US, and am not yet ready to return anyway. I do miss family and friends.

Part of my planning to leave has been finding someone to take my place, and I found 2. Ann and Sam, a German-American couple, will take over for me when I leave and will take things to another level I am sure. Ann is a teacher and Sam a nurse. I know that they have great hearts. After the neighborhood is moved I hope that the infrastructure will relocate to another neighborhood.

The volunteer art teacher is named Sihtara, from Iran, and she is incredible. She has worked a lot with street kids and taught them photography. She has an incredible blog documenting her therapeutic/artistic project; www.cambodian-kids.blogspot.com

Together we are creating a children’s story (she is doing most of the work). The school flies away, leaving problems behind… You can look forward to some version of this, possibly online.

Here are the current programs we are offering;

• English classes at various levels for anyone from the community; mostly kids from 6 to 20 years old. 4 classes per day, 2-hours each, Mon – Fri.
• All the dental care any kid needs, health and medical assistance programs.
• Daily art and activities classes.
• Saturday fun time/safe space; singing, movies, and snacks until 11 PM.
• Sunday morning volunteer lecturers on hazards common to life here, and how to avoid them (pedophilia, prostitution, pregnancy, AIDS, drugs…), as well as life skills, character building, and hygiene.
• Reading and story time: to promote literacy in Khmer language.
• A Women’s group for teen girls to discuss and learn about all the things that this culture leaves a mystery. Also leanring to swim at a public pool.
  
• Leadership training for teens.
• Scholarships for 8 very poor students to attend “public” school, including uniforms.
• Football (soccer) team: 30 teen boys pile into a tuk-tuk to have fun, bond, compete, and get out their aggressions in a healthy way.

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If we get in touch with the suffering in the world and are moved by that suffering, we may come forward to help the people who are suffering, and our own suffering may just vanish.

Thich Nhat Hanh