All Village Earth Feeds

June 09 Update!

Thu, 25 Jun 2009 19:07 GMT

Dear Friends,
So much has happened, and I am relieved to finally be taking the opportunity to share some of the great progress we have been making. Once again, I apologize for not communicating more regularly. On several levels, my e-newsletters make the events real for me, since they connect me to my community(s) outside of my life in Cambodia, and are a great opportunity for me to reflect on a life that all too often moves too fast.

Since I last wrote we had a few milestones; Aziza School had it’s 3 year birthday on May 1 (and 3+ years since I went to Cambodia), Lakeside School turned 1 on June 1, and June 24th was the 4 month mark since the of many of our students families from the Dey Krahorm slum.
Three years brings with it an opportunity to reflect on our accomplishments and a chance to share with all of you what we do. We also have the challenge of growing pains as we take on initiatives in all directions, and a longer list of great opportunities to invest in our student’s futures.

Two noteworthy accomplishments that I am proud of are (#1) the community involvement that we see with our student team leaders, who are the primary force behind the operations of the schools. These students are amazing, and as they volunteer they get work experience and extra opportunities to learn. The other accomplishment (#2) is our medical clinics and dental services, which we offer weekly, not only for our students but for the whole community. We treat and educate a lot of sick people, ease their suffering, and prevent disease from spreading or their problems from getting worse, which is the root of much poverty. The medical training we have been offering to our older students and staff, as well as other NGOs, is designed to have them be a front line resource for their community (aka barefoot doctors), complete with certificates, taught graciously by Dr. Annie Chen-Green from New Zealand.

These results are on top of our regular classes of English, computers, and leadership we provide to over 200 students at our 2 schools.

Our focus is not only on skills that we know will bring job opportunities, but also on life skills and holistic education. We have many great partners and volunteers who bring our students art, photography, soccer, dance and yoga. One great partner is Kundalini Yoga Cambodia, who has trained 2 of our students to be yoga teachers. Read about this great program and our opportunity to support our student to become a certified teacher of kids yoga.

The Eviction: Village Earth previously sent my letter of some of the events and trauma we were experiencing after the eviction, and I have now posted a student’s letter regarding her experience of the eviction; see the Student Letter posting. Reflecting back, little good came of this for the people we work with, but there are many instances of human triumph, and I am convinced that nowhere is the human spirit stronger and more resilient than in the slums of Phnom Penh. Our photography teacher Maria posted some moving pictures and comments on her blog (a true work of art). http://blog.onphotographycambodia.com/2009/01/27/bassac-river-front-in-phnom-penh-cambodia-before-2-am-24th-of-january-2009--after.aspx

In the aftermath of the eviction, many of us fought hard to serve those who were too traumatized to take care of themselves and their families. Our student team leaders had an excellent opportunity to demonstrate their leadership skills, and worked very hard to help their community. While we only helped a small portion of the people that were evicted, Aziza School was an emergency response center, and it was a time where I worked harder and with more focus than I ever have. Many, many thanks to the people who have donated so we could help people in crisis.

My friend Nader, who passed away in March, was a big help during this crisis, and will be missed.

An unfortunate reality is that you rely on me to paint the picture of what our students are like, and I truly cannot find the words to express what beauty and greatness they possess. I wish I could just open my mind and you could see what I see. We hope that you will “invest” in them, and their potential.

Our little organization isn’t as small as it once was, and we produce results more than ever. To do what we do requires the compassion and commitment of you, and we hope that you can give, find others to give, hold a fundraiser, or do what you can. We need people to invest in the futures of young people with great potential. Let me know how I can assist you.

Thank you,
Drew & the Aziza Team

PS – There is a video by Al Jazeera English that I am in; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emYlQf-7piA

Aziza Yoga Program

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 18:08 GMT

We have many great partners and volunteers, including the Kundalini Yoga Cambodia, who has trained 2 of our students to be yoga teachers (www.KundaliniYogaCambodia.org). It’s not so much the yoga style that’s popular in the west with strenuous contortionist poses, but rather a series of stretching and strengthening with controlled breathing designed to bring mental clarity and inner peace. The classes are well received, and the feedback is that the students feel refreshed and the yoga helps them with stress; a reality of life in the slums.

While we can’t counsel every student and the many challenges they face, we can encourage them to come to yoga weekly and have an opportunity rest their minds, which we feel will give them an opportunity to see solutions to their problems. We also see our yoga students as seeds of positive change for the community.

We have some great opportunities to further our yoga program, including; 1) a women’s yoga class, in a rooftop yoga studio, complete with snacks after class ($25 per month), 2) have our student, Sela, who has been taught to be a yoga teacher (he’s now our yoga teacher), become certified to teach children’s yoga ($200), and for Sela to travel abroad for his 1st time to attend a yoga festival in Bangkok ($400). While these may seem like large amounts of money, we believe these opportunities will enable Sela to have a career as a yoga teacher in addition to being a great teacher for our organization. Please donate to support our yoga program!

Drop me a note if you want your donation to support our yoga program; drewmcdo AT msn.com

Lakeside School: 1 Year Anniversary!

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 14:13 GMT

We opened Lakeside School in June 2008, in another slum of Phnom Penh, Beoung Kok. The school was started when 3 of the Aziza staff, Sokchea, Sokim, and Sreang approached me and said they wanted to start a new school. I said I didn’t think it was a good idea, since we were so busy and I felt scattered with so many of our students needs unfulfilled. As you can see, they won me over, but only by doing all the work to find the community, the house to rent, and the hundreds of logistics to start a school. It was a great sign of local involvement and passion, and I am grateful for their efforts.

I became involved as well, and had to help persuade the commune leader to let us come and help the youth in their community. I also needed to kick start some of the initiatives to keep things alive as the community transitioned and we lost students due to the forced eviction of part of the area. In time our own house, immediately on the edge of the lake, was evicted. We were notified around the 10th of March that we needed to be out by the end of the month. It became a nail-biter as the end of the month drew closer and we didn’t yet have a suitable house, but then we received some great news and were able to move into a bigger house just behind the previous house. The new location and improved space has made us stronger and more popular in the community. The students and staff worked hard through a very hot weekend to paint it and give it charm, and it looks great. Our art teacher, Nawath, continues to work with our students to create art throughout the school and make it an expression of our student body.

It would take pages to even highlight the accomplishments and interesting stories over our first year, so I’ll just recap a few:

When the water level of the lake rose after the rainy season in October, our floor became 4 inches (10cm) of water and lake life. We temporarily moved to a pagoda, but the head monk decided we hadn’t gone through the right channels and he didn’t like our female students being around the monks, so we were kicked out and weren’t even allowed to finish the first evening’s classes (while I appreciate Buddhism and have had many positive interactions, I’ve now met 2 monks with power who seem to be less than enlightened, but that’s just my opinion). It turned out that the students preferred staying in the flooded school anyway. This way they didn’t need to walk past drunk men to get to the pagoda, and didn’t seem to mind the humidity, which seemed unbearable to me. An above-water walkway was set up in the aisle with bricks and planks, and students kept their feet above the water on the desk’s supports. After a week the water went down and things went back to normal.

In December, it seemed like the right time to start a computer lab in the school. The time had not been right until then because we didn’t have control, hadn’t organized our students, and didn’t have students involved in the operation of the school yet. We didn’t want to buy computers until we knew that they would be cared for. The culture of the school is more important than anything in my opinion, though the culture won’t be right unless everything else is in place. The laws of cause and effect are as present in poor communities as anywhere, though perhaps somewhat more forgiving.

After Sokchea taught his level 1 and 2 leadership class, he started a Team Leader student group, and they were fired up and ready to take control of their school. And it is a beautiful thing, to see them meeting, finding solutions to our problems, making requests that we do more to give them education and opportunity for their future. How can I say no? So, with the Team Leaders ready for action, we needed to start a computer lab to give them responsibility. Sam and Anne at Chibodia provided funding, and Chris Merritt lent his technical expertise. In time it turned out to be one of the more successful endeavors we have been a part of. When the lab opened, only a few students had even touched a computer. Now many are quite competent and are advancing quickly, volunteering as teachers, and will soon be sending emails as they are now learning Internet and email.

The majority of our advanced students are female, and they are incredible. While the Aziza School students are like family to me (I know them and accept them for their strengths and weaknesses), the Lakeside kids have captured my heart and I almost don’t know what to do. It made me realized that I need to use my skills to help them; raise money, get new ideas, push the staff, and get results.

Lakeside School is a bustling success, and has all the weekly activities as Aziza School; a medical clinic, dental, yoga, art, aerobics/dancing, a kids Apsara dance group (Cambodian classical dance), youth group, 35 hours of English, and sporadic leadership trainings, guest speakers, and field trips. Having a 2nd school is very efficient, and doubles our effectiveness with only about a 30% increase to our budget. As for the future of the school and the kids will depend in part on our ability to raise money and invest in their futures. Please consider us for a donation or become a fundraiser!

Asociacion Cerro del Quetzal

Thu, 11 Jun 2009 18:26 GMT

Hola Buen día a todos.

En las siguientes imágenes nos encontramos con los señores de la Aldea San Pablo Xucaneb, de Cobán Guatemala, dando el primer paso y gestionando para la conformación y legalización de la asociación Cerro del quetzal.

Adriana y los señores, se encuentran en la oficina del licenciado tramitand

Post Eviction Letters

Fri, 22 May 2009 22:04 GMT

These are some letters I wrote after the eviction of part of our community in January. The 2nd letter was sent out by Village Earth in February (so you may have already read it).
[3 Days After The Eviction, January 27, 2009] Dear Friends, There was some terrible events here in the community where we have been working since I arrived here, as the community of Dey Krahorm had their houses smashed with sledge hammers and crow bars Saturday morning as the home owners frantically grabbed their belongings. I watched and assisted the best I could in absolute horror, and have been on an adrenaline rush for 3 days trying to assist my friends in the aftermath of their traumatic events. We have a lot of work ahead, and I hope to take some time to write about my experiences in the coming days. Our school is ok, since we moved into the adjacent apartment building in anticipation of this eviction. I knew it was coming, but truly thought that the government and this developer, 7NG, would handle the situation better, that Cambodia was beyond this heavy handedness, but it doesn’t seem to be the case. Many of our students are currently displaced, but we also have a lot of students that did not live in the community that was evicted. The school will serve as a center offering a place for some to sleep, food, and resource center to try to find new homes, etc, and will carry on with classes as we have for almost 3 years. It is a very sad situation for many, and I am doing my best.
Blessings,Drew
[1 Month After The Eviction] Dear Friends,
It’s been 1 month since the eviction. During most of this time my ability to concentrate and work at a computer has been diminished, but I have been on the ground getting our school going again and helping our students the best I could. My inbox is very full, and I apologize for the lack of information when many of you have been concerned and have asked me for an update. I hope to write something on my blog soon, and here is something in the interim:
After the eviction the school was an open oozing wound, literally and figuratively. The oozing is the sewage problem that has arose, and the wounds are sometimes emotional, and sometimes cuts on feet, etc. Neither of them received the usual attention we give, because our problems were so mounting. A part of our daily jobs is to take care of problems, and often get involved in people’s lives on a very personal level. For the past weeks so many people all around me all had serious problems occurring at the same time, and it hurt me badly to see the suffering and not be able to help like I would like to.
For those that didn’t get my initial email, on January 24th the figurative ‘bomb’ was dropped immediately outside my school (I always say ‘our’ school, but this was personal). Maybe it could be better described as a mob of thugs (poor people) orchestrated by the government and developer 7NG. The morning of January 24th, after sleeping on top of the desks for 2 hours, I woke to the sound of chaos, and as I walked closer to the edge of the slum I saw a mass of people aimed at destruction. A destruction of houses and lives.
As the reality unfolded, my priorities were to gather information, provide logistical support, emotional support, and try to think to the next hour, 6 hours, 12-18 hours... The luxury of longer term thinking was still far off. I had to take inventory, and every resource needed to be utilized, but we had staff out of town and lots of challenges. An Emergency Response was needed to the crisis that enveloped my every sensory, in panoramic view, in the form of loud noises from houses being bulldozed, piles of rusty nail filled debris that needed to be traversed to be able to go anywhere, and a blur of things happening; my phone ringing and receiving text messages, trying to gather and disseminate information, sunburn, students crying, pressure from the officials to clear everything out, anger coming out of my body in the form of tears, irritability, not knowing what to do next, moving people’s things out of their collapsing houses… It was a day far unlike any other in my life, and I have never been called upon like I was that day.
Life continued in a similar vein for the next days, until the trauma started to wear off and we could start to think about how to help on another level, when we began addressing getting kids back into public school, housing, hiring someone to cook meals, keeping our school clean, getting our sink fixed, and giving care to traumatized people… I’ve never been so focused. I didn’t talk to anyone unless there was something that needed to be said, like “can you…?”
To write what we did would take a lot of effort. We found housing for at least 6 families/people, we’re providing daily transportation to school for over 40 kids to come 20km from the relocation site, where they are homeless, give them breakfast and lunch, delivered clothing and other donations, provide a doctor, kid activities, day care, professional counseling, and a thousand other things, some of which I am not yet aware of. Our student team leaders are amazing, and what we did could not be attempted without a mass of dynamic people. Many friends came at a time of need and their efforts were true kindness. We didn’t do it to be nice, but felt we needed to be there for them because their situation was so dire, and our emotional pain drew us to help, which we did to fill our own need. Many generous donations came in as well, some from people I have never met, and for that we are incredibly grateful. I hope to write thank you notes soon.
Today the last family will move out of our computer lab, but we still have extra students living in the school and no great solution to their housing problem. Patience often is a good strategy, and they will find solutions. We’ll be here for them and do our best to make sure they continue with their education, and are stepping in with aid as appropriate. Every Aziza student’s family that was evicted has received some assistance from us.
The people that were evicted fall into 4 categories, from a housing perspective; owners with house numbers, unrecognized owners, renters, and people from the market (market stall owners). By now, the vast majority of the owners who were recognized have taken a house at the relocation site, 20km from Phnom Penh. They didn’t want this house, and many have simply put a lock on the gate and left it empty while they have found a place to stay or rent close to their jobs in the city. They are the lucky ones. There are 335 families from the latter 3 categories living without a roof over their head, in terrible conditions, and the situations is getting worse as their resources are depleted. The future of the people living homeless is unknown, and they feel they need to camp in front of the developers office, as instructed, in hopes that they will be given some compensation, such as a small plot of land somewhere undesirable. Included in this mass of haggard souls are some of our students. Beautiful, intelligent, hard working, committed to a better future, and trying to keep it together through an unbearably tough time, sleeping without security or hygiene. Some of our students living there are high school girls, and I worry about them the most. Actually, I try not to think about them because it is so sad. Their situation was tough to begin with, then a mob of men came and broke down their house while they scrambled to salvage their personal belongings, and now they are camping far outside of town with no toilets or running water.
Other stories turned out better, but in our research of the effects on students education in the aftermath of the eviction (which we will present to the government), we found 45 students had dropped out of school because of the eviction in just one small community. Others went through a tough time, but are getting back on their feet. It will be a life event for all who went through it. We have received some generous donations that made our assistance possible, but will need lots more to continue to help them. Thank you for caring. It means the world to me, and was crucial to getting me through a tough time.
Peace,
Drew
Final note:
I have no illusions that I can change the world, or that my emotions matter to those in power in Cambodia, but I want to publicly post a few words [on my blog] to the people working in the Cambodian government and at the development company 7NG. Your actions leave me with anger. You lacks of skills to show consideration to human beings are unacceptable, and if you are among the top people that directed things to go as they did, you need to make amends. You should not feel good about yourself when you go to sleep. You children should not be proud of you, and they should use the power they gain from your profits to help those less fortunate.