From preschool through high school, hand washing is part of the CFC students’ daily routine. Soap socks now hang by the water taps to ensure the students use clean water and soap when washing up.

The Health and Dental Committee, and the Education Committee have prepared books along with fun “hands-on” activities to reinforce the lesson that germs can be harmful.

For many of us, sparkling clean water is a given. For others, it’s a precious gift.

Asia Water Foundation has donated and installed micro-filtration systems in five of our schools. Our students, teachers and their families now enjoy more than 10,000 liters of clean drinking water every day.

Bright Smiles, Bright Futures is a signature CFC program that aims to provide all 5,900 students with 3 toothbrushes per year. After each school meal, students are required to brush their teeth; teachers demonstrate how to brush correctly, and conduct lessons about good oral hygiene for the families.

In Siem Reap, a toothbrush can be a luxury. Luckily, Caring for Cambodia has volunteers from around the world collecting toothbrushes and toothpaste so that our students can be healthy and avoid dangerous oral infections Brushing teeth is part of the curriculum.

Each day, students start school with a healthy meal Vision screening. Our biggest health news for 2010: The Health and Dental Committee has partnered with International Medical Clinic (IMC) in Singapore to conduct vision screenings for our students. In early December, IMC sent a senior management team — three doctors and three nurses — to Siem Reap. Alongside CFC staff and volunteers, they evaluated more than 750 students. The team measured and weighed the students, and screened them for vision problems. They identified 32 students in need of further testing, and perhaps glasses. Of all the children they saw, only one child already owned glasses.

Upon their return, the IMC team reported that they trained our very willing nurse Savin; that the warm and enthusiastic CFC translators assisted them greatly; and that their meetings at Angkor Hospital for Children were very productive. “We’re already planning our next trip with IMC,” says Barbara Levy, chair of the Health Committee. “This partnership brings a new dimension of well-being to the students. We’re very excited, and extremely grateful.”

Years ago when Jamie Amelio first opened a school in Siem Reap, she knew that Caring for Cambodia had to tackle the chronic problem of malnutrition among the students. “Around midmorning each day, we noticed the kids were fidgeting and having a hard time concentrating,” Jamie says. “We looked at each other and said, Maybe they’re hungry.”

Today, each CFC student starts the school day with a nutritious meal, prepared by local cooks who use local products. The children proud and full, wash their bowls and utensils before heading off to their classrooms. For many volunteers, serving this meal is the highlight of their trip to Siem Reap. It’s incredibly moving.

Food for Thought would not be possible without generous donations from Capital Group Companies and annual Egg-a-thon fundraisers.

Each day at Caring for Cambodia schools, we strive to make our students safe, well nourished, healthy, and clean. All CFC students receive instruction on good hygiene — practices that we hope ripple back to family life.

In a way, it’s a simple plan: get the children healthy so they can become good students. In practice, it’s more complicated: we rely on devoted teachers, willing families, consistent contributions, and lots of volunteers to get the job done.

CFC is an organization run almost entirely by volunteers. We are extremely lucky to have a base of over 3000 people worldwide who donate their time and skills in various ways that keep us moving forward and growing.

It’s funny; as time goes on I love to see people helping others. It just doesn’t matter if you do something for a day, a week, a year, heck…even a moment. It just all counts! CFC allows people to bring their heart in to doing something so right.

Sometimes these people are able to work with us for only short periods of time, but everyone brings a new perspective, a new history and helps shape our growth for the future.

What do volunteers working with CFC take away from the experience? Usually a host of new life-long friends.  The experience of aiding the recovery of a country in crisis, and often a set of new skills they can take with them in their future endeavors.

We hear our volunteers talk of their experiences as positive, rewarding and life changing, but the one thing we hope they take with them is the knowledge that they have changed a life, given hope where there was none, and that we are all truly grateful they decided to work with us.

Jamie Amelio

Every year in Cambodia the rains come. Whilst the Cambodian people are unbelievably resilient and they know what to expect, some years are worse than others, especially in a country where the infrastructure is seriously challenged by the extremities of Mother Nature.

This week floods tore through CFC’s Kong Much school, perched on the rivers edge. Despite carefully planned flood protection, the principal, teachers and CFC staff were unable to save much of the ground floor. The school is now surrounded by waist deep, bacteria laden water that is yet to recede days later.

CFC has allocated $2000 in immediate relief to provide food and emergency supplies for families located in the village directly surrounding the school, and will assist in sourcing and delivering these supplies.

CFC is an organization run almost entirely by volunteers. We are extremely lucky to have a base of over 3000 people world-wide who donate their time and skills in various ways that keep us moving forward and growing.

It’s funny, as time goes on I love to see people helping others. It just doesn’t matter if you do something for a day, a week, a year, heck…even a moment. It just all counts! CFC allows people to bring their heart in to doing something so right.

Sometimes these people are able to work with us for only short periods of time, but everyone brings a new perspective, a new history and helps shape our growth for the future.

What do volunteers working with CFC take away from the experience? Usually a host of new life-long friends. The experience of aiding the recovery of a country in crisis, and often a set of new skills they can take with them in their future endeavours.

We hear our volunteers talk of their experiences as positive, rewarding and life changing, but the one thing we hope they take with them is the knowledge that they have changed a life, given hope where there was none, and that we are all truly grateful they decided to work with us.

World-wide statistics on child mortality are terrifying. Nearly 10% of children under 5 die every year. Acute respiratory infections, mainly pneumonia and diarrhoea are among the leading causes of childhood death.

How many of these are preventable simply by teaching children and their parents how to wash their hands correctly with soap and water?

One of CFC’s founding programs teaches just that. To find out more, or to download educational materials please look at our Health and Dental page, located under Programs on this web-site.