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The country of Cambodia is receiving support worth over 500 million dollars every year from the world community. But the disparity between the rich and the poor, and between cities and farming villages, is widening and it is said that people on the poorest level, which represent 36% of the national population, are living under harsh conditions.
In 2004, SVA began supporting children living under harsh conditions in new areas, and further in 2005, commenced educational and cultural support activities in the slums of Phnom Penh. In addition, we also held the 10th Asian Children's Cultural Festival at Angkor Wat. In 2006, we will host the festival again and will invite children from several countries to Phnom Penh for the event.
LIBRARY ACTIVITIES:
We carried out library activities for 113,000 children in 150 schools in the provinces of Kompong Thom and Banteay Meanchey. In 2005, we also conducted five seminars on storytelling and library activities, training 244 teachers and school staff. We also distributed 11,274 picture books and 540 sets of picture story-cards, and printed 5 titles of picture books. But the printing of 3 titles of picture story-cards was postponed to next year due to financial reasons. On the mobile library project, we made 58 tours in total and 15,135 children and teachers participated. The children's library that we constructed as a model library in the teachers training school in Kompong Thom province is a result of our collaborative activities with the school construction team.
In 2006, in addition to the seminars and printing activities, we plan to construct a model children's library in Banteay Meanchey province.
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SCHOOL CONSTRUCTION ACTIVITIES:
Out of 14 primary school buildings we planned in the provinces of Kompong Thom and Banteay Meanchey, 12 buildings have now been constructed, accommodating a total of 3,471 children and 59 teachers, to study in a desirable environment.
In addition to the school buildings, construction of toilet buildings and water wells is under way now. At the same time, we are striving to improve the function of the toilets by installing drain pipes to collect rainwater and relocating sewage disposal tanks. In order to reinforce the administrative ability of the schools now under construction, we have carried out a tour and seminars at other schools, with 35 people from 14 schools and 4 departments of education attending. Further, we have also completed the construction of a primary school building that was carried over from 2004, and a building for Sanlong secondary school by the request of the Cambodian government. In 2006, we are planning to construct 12 buildings.
TRADITIONAL CULTURAL ACTIVITIES:
In April, in cooperation with the Ministry of Religion, we held "National Evaluation Conference on the Buddhism Education" for the purpose of ascertaining the overall situation of Buddhism education in Cambodia. For the event, we invited 134 priests from provinces and districts all over the country and also delegates from the departments of religious education. In June in Kratie province, we also held the "Buddhism and Social Development Seminar" for 250 priests and representatives from the departments of religion of four eastern provinces. And in August, we conducted research on 50 temples in Siem Reap province to study their histories and details. Further, we reprinted books on morals and ethics (2 titles x 10,000 copies each) and distributed them to 4,000 temples and main institutions. In 2006, we plan to start activities on the preservation of culture and conservation of the natural environment.
EDUCATIONAL AND CULTURAL SUPPORT ACTIVITIES IN SLUMS:
These activities began this year. Out of the total population of Phnom Penh (approximately 300,000), about 20% is said to live in the slums, among which the largest is Basak slum (5,000 inhabitants). Currently, all our activities are taking place in Basak slum. Whereas the overall school attendance rate in Phnom Penh exceeds 90%, only about half of the children in the slums have the opportunity to attend school. For the children of Basak slum, residents have set up a shabby community school with classes from nursery school to third class, with 109 children attending. In 2005, we donated teaching materials and supported the school meals fee for the orphan students, and built additional classrooms.
At the class of traditional culture, 38 children, mainly orphans, are practicing and they participated in the Asian Children's Cultural Festival held at Angkor Wat. In 2006, we plan to open a library and vocational training classroom for women.
ASIAN CHILDREN'S HOUSE PROJECT:
This project commenced in 1995 in cooperation with JICHIRO (All Japan Prefectural and Municipal Workers Union) in order to improve pre-school education and give educational support for children under oppression. But SVA will terminate the support at the end of this year and the project will be taken over by the Phnom Penh National Kindergarten Teacher Training School. In 2005, we also supported the meal fees of 100 students in the dormitory for children from remote provinces.
ASIAN CHILDREN'S CULTURAL FESTIVAL:
In 2005, which is the 25th anniversary of SVA, the 10th Asian Children's Cultural Festival took place for the first time in Cambodia, with 130 participating children from 7 countries, at the world heritage site of Angkor Wat. From Cambodia were children from slums and kindergartens; from Thailand were children from slums and tsunami stricken area; from Laos were children from the Children's House for Culture and Education; from Vietnam were children from Hanoi Children's Palace; from Myanmar came a team representing traditional cultures of various ethnic groups; from Japan were children from earthquake stricken Tokamchi; and for the first time from Afghanistan came children from the SVA community library.
All the children lived under the same roof at the festival to deepen mutual understanding, and performed traditional dancing and singing on the grand stage at Angkor Wat, making a deep impression on the onlookers. It is scheduled to take place again in Phnom Penh in 2006. |
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