Riverkids Project

We've moved online!

2010-10-29T03:16:00.000+08:00

Our blog is now hosted at our main website, Riverkids Project.

We left this up as a lot of websites are linked to older posts, but all the content was copied over to the new blog. Thank you so much for your support, and we hope you enjoy reading about our work in the Cambodian slums with children at high risk for trafficking and exploitation.

I give up – take my baby.

2010-04-29T13:02:00.000+08:00

Two women came to us last week to say that they were giving up their babies. Exhausted, abandoned by their families and trapped in abusive work, they saw no hope except to give up their babies.

They could have gone to traffickers and sold their babies for several months’ income. They could have just left their babies somewhere and walked away. They could have done either of those things months ago.

Instead, they came to Riverkids to ask if we would take the babies for them. One we’d been working with already, the other had heard of us from the community.

Read the rest at: I give up – take my baby.

Monday Mix: Missing child, smart money, weddings, ballet and grim news about rape

2010-04-26T17:04:00.000+08:00

Read more links and news about Cambodia, NGOs and child trafficking at Monday Mix, on our website news blog!

One of our volunteers, Jane Boyle, wrote about us at Pay It Forward. Sadly, the little boy she wrote about (his name has been changed), has been missing for over a month now when his mother took him from school and fled. We’re following up with relatives, and are hopeful that both of them will come back, but it’s been tough on the staff and children who were close to him. Such a sweet serious kid, and always kind to the other children in Weekly Boarding.

Children in Riverkids celebrating Khmer New Year!

2010-04-20T16:26:00.004+08:00

The Khmer New Year just flew pass and staff in Riverkids, Cambodia have just returned from their hometowns. Ever wonder what the kids in Riverkids were doing or how they celebrated the New Year?

A week before everyone went back to their hometowns to reunite with their families, the kids from Railway II, Blum and Alexandra projects gathered at the Family House. Staff and volunteers danced, played games with the kids and handed out toys, snacks and drinks for them to enjoy.

We and our donors want the kids under our care to be happy, not denied; studying and not loitering; playing safely and not working dangerously.

We’re fortunate. Our children who are mostly from dysfunctional families had been able to do all that because of the generous support from our donors. The smiles on their faces that day simply showed how happy they were despite their circumstances.

Thank you donors, for putting gifts in their hands and big smiles on their faces.

Contributed by: Sophon

Banks Making Big Profits From Tiny Loans

2010-04-20T12:12:00.001+08:00

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/14/world/14microfinance.html?pagewanted=1

Competition and greed might be the main culprits for the atrocious rates. When did an organisation cross from “let’s help the poor get out of poverty” to “how to make more money”? What drives the microfinance institution? How did an organisation lose the essence of its existence and digress to fight for the top lending position? Check. At the end of the day, what kind of question did the top guy ask his employee? Was it, “how many people did you help today?” or “how much interest did you make for the company today, have you hit your KPI!?”

We do a 10% flat which is shockingly low, but we are lending in a way that is barely lending - it's so screened and supervised, because failure has such a high emotional impact on them. It's certainly not to make a profit, every loan is an immediate loss from risk and the work to supervise and help.

Oh, did anyone say, “No harm charging high interest rates, it’s win-win anyway”? Well then, should it be named “microfinance” in the first place?

Help Sokie and her family go further

2010-04-16T13:04:00.006+08:00

A slightly-built tall woman with a quick smile, Sokie* is one of our housemothers. She's particularly calm and capable with our teenagers and weekly boarders, gently guiding them to work together in the houses on their chores.

Sokie's husband went to jail recently. They have five children, three at school, and the eldest with another NGO, and the youngest little boy recently arrived. It wasn't an easy birth, and Sokie had to take more leave and had unexpected medical costs.

We were able to help through our community nurse and food boxes, but Sokie ended up like so many families living on the razor edge of poverty, borrowing money.

In March 2010, she shared her difficulties with us. The little bit she had borrowed was already rising rapidly and she didn't know how she could make the repayments.

We made an emergency loan of US$50 under our Community Loans program, and she was able to repay the loan in full, and repay the Riverkids loan at a regular and much lower interest rate. Our Community Loans program means she'll also get basic financial skills training and lots of support to make her payments.

In April 2010, Sokie made her first repayment - without having to choose between feeding her children or repaying debt.

Sokie's life is hard. Limited by education - Sokie is barely literate - and skills, she has to support five young children.

Sokie has the courage not to give up. She works hard, at her job and at riasing her children. She has patience and hope, rare traits in the slum.

And although Sokie does not have family to help, or even her children's father, she has friends and Riverkids.

Sokie didn't give up when life got incredibly hard. She didn't sell her newborn or push her teenager into trafficked labor.

Her children are still too young to work legally, but her oldest son works as a street garbage collector after school. Sokie has hopes that she will somehow be able to keep all of them in school, to give them the chances she didn't get. Her household income isn't enough for food and rent, let alone anything extra like new clothes once a year or medical care.

What does Sokie need? Help and a loan. For her youngest children, another food box ($30 a month, US$360 for a year) would stretch her family budget so her son can concentrate on school, and not worry about his little brothers and sisters go hungry.

Soon, we hope to work with Sokie and her daughter who is graduating from vocational training at another NGO, to start a small business together with a $100 loan, so they'll have real stability.

We're so proud of how far Sokie's come.

Help us bring her and her children towards a bright future, not just for her, but the other families in the communities.

US$360: Twelve months of food boxes to keep Sokie's son at school and off the streets, and all the children healthy and safe.

*Due to our child protection policy, pseudonyms have been used.

Contributed by: Sinoy

Seeing hope for a better future despite many challenges

2010-04-10T13:31:00.004+08:00

When an opportunity arose to travel to Phnom Penh for a week and document Riverkids various projects through photographs, I jumped at the chance.

I first heard about Riverkids through a newspaper article, and when I looked further into the organisation I was impressed with how much it seemed to be achieving on a tight budget.

But to see first-hand the huge smiles on these children’s faces, as well as the clear appreciation of Riverkids’ work in the surrounding community, was inspiring.

So many little things showed me how important Riverkids has become to this area of Phnom Penh - like the pride with which the weekly boarders wear their state school uniforms; the joy on the face of an 11 year-old as he executes a flip in gymnastics class and receives a high-five from the volunteer instructor – and his determination to flip higher next time; the concentration on the faces of a group of young women as they listen to the community nurse’s sex education talk; the waves of greeting to Riverkids staff as they pass through the community on their way to visit a mother with a malnourished baby or a family which is struggling to keep a child at school because they need the money he would otherwise earn scavenging tin cans; the giggles as a group of young girls struggle to balance during a breakdancing class; the urgency in the voice of the HIV-positive and cash-strapped mother, as she explains that the huge hole in her roof means the family cannot sleep when it rains….she was all I could think of that night when a thunderstorm suddenly hit Phnom Penh.

I expected my trip to be confronting and depressing and although in some measure it was both of these, the overwhelming emotion I felt was hope – hope that the children whose families are involved in Riverkids programs may, through access to education, financial, medical and social support, escape the poverty trap and map out a safer future.

I felt privileged to be welcomed into the homes of families with so much less then me, yet who were still ready with a smile and gesture of greeting to a strange Australian wielding a camera.

I felt fortunate to be able to see, in such a short time, so much of what Riverkids staff do – and they certainly do a lot!

And I felt honoured to be alongside a team of staff who are so dedicated to their work and who are making such a difference to so many lives.

Thanks to all the Riverkids staff for their warm welcome, and particularly to Sophea, who made sure my camera captured so many of the different projects undertaken by Riverkids, and to Sopheak and Mel Sakorna who made sure I always crossed the road safely, translated constantly so I understood what was going on, and introduced me to Cambodian iced coffee.

Contributed by: Caroline

Happy Khmer New Year!

2010-04-10T13:21:00.007+08:00

The Khmer New Year is round the corner and some of our colleagues had made their way back to their hometowns to celebrate the New Year with their families.

Thida and I have been planning to give the vulnerable children in our Weekly Boarding a surprise during the New Year. We have been storing up some clothes and toys contributed by donors in the storeroom.

This week, we took the clothes and toys out to distribute to 16 children in the Weekly Boarding. Each child gets two to three sets of clothes and the children in Alexandra and Blum Projects got some soft toys. Their smiles and laughter simply told me how happy they were despite the challenges they were going through.

From the bottom of our hearts, we want to thank all our donors for their continuous support.

Happy Khmer New Year!!

Contributed by: Pheakdey

It ain't sexy, but it works

2010-04-09T16:30:00.000+08:00

I just signed up for health insurance for our staff, and requested a quote for another policy that will allow part-time staff and family members of our staff to get insurance through us, paying for their own policy but getting a lower group rate. We're trying to get insurance coverage for two older staff members, but they will have higher premiums.

Health insurance isn't sexy.

Feeding babies, teaching children, taking a sick woman to a hospital - these are things we can see and imagine ourselves in. These are moments of grace in a world of tragedy, where one person can help another directly.

But - probably because I've chosen to be one of those people! - someone has to do the boring stuff too. To inventory the baby food, to make sure there's stationary and chairs in classrooms and to file medical reports.

And health insurance?

One of our part-time teachers, a sweet and dedicated woman, is in hospital in Vietnam right now. She had no health insurance and Cambodia has no real public healthcare. Her entire family are now in massive debt for the surgery and treatment she will need. Most likely, one of her siblings will give up on university or they will sell their home.

We're holding her job open and keeping her on half-pay as long as we can. Our insurance premiums are US$2,645 this year, less to cover our entire office than her hospital bills so far.

And she has family willing and able to help her.

She's considered lucky.

So health insurance may not be sexy, especially for donations, but it works. It's more than just our staff missing fewer days to illness because they're not terrified of going to see a doctor. It's being able to attract and keep great staff long-term because we have decent wages and health insurance, and having them work hard and long hours in return. It means we do better work, and more of it.

Thank you for understanding why the boring stuff counts too.

Cambodia Office's Focus for April

2010-04-05T16:57:00.003+08:00

Meeting everyone at Riverkids, Cambodia.

This month began with a meeting involving all part and full time Riverkids staff in Cambodia, with a focus on Staff Policy and Safe School, presented by Sophal and Ritthy respectively.

On Staff Policy, we touched on self-discipline, responsibility, team spirit, co-operation, staying vigilant, integrity and client confidentiality.

Safe School means that we will work closely with the teachers to create, not an abusive but friendly, happy and conducive environment for children to learn and play in. We also want to ensure that the children have the materials and supplies that they need for school.

It was a fruitful meeting and Sophon took the opportunity to thank all staff for their hard work and commitment. Without everyone working together conscientiously as a team, we would not be able to intervene in a crisis, implement the necessary programs and keep the children safe from trafficking.

Contributed by: Sophea

Riverkids at NUS for Sex trafficking forum!

2010-04-05T14:53:00.006+08:00

On 24th March 2010, Dale Edmonds gave a talk to over 60 invitees on what can be done to fight human trafficking in the Singaporean context as part of the forum: ‘Sex Trafficking: So What and Who Cares?’. The forum centred on explaining issues of trafficking, the role inspired students can play in eliminating trafficking and how every responsible and socially conscious move made contributes positively to reducing the same. Dale elaborated on responsible travel by staying in child safe hotels, buying ethically from fair-trade shop outlets, researching into the causes of sexual exploitation and understanding them better and keeping an eye out even in Singapore for abuse and violence.

Fellow speakers included representatives from UNIFEM Singapore and HOME who elaborated on the causes, trafficking routes and stories from Southeast Asia. Riverkids is ecstatic at the initiative taken by the group of students calling themselves – Traffick Lights! They banded together to shed more light on human trafficking and setting out to play an active role as socially conscious citizens. We wish them success on this admirable new venture!

Want to help us do more? Find out how in the Advocate section in our new website!

A very grown-up night for very little kids - 17 March 2010

2010-04-05T09:12:00.012+08:00

(Snapshots by Dale's oldest daughter)
Yes, it was a great meal - the amazingly rich chocolatey dessert I had especially - and there were lots of wine, thanks to Elaine Ee who donated enough for us to raise our glasses several times in good cheer, but that wasn't why we ended up staying to midnight at Krish at Rochester Park.

Take a group of people passionate about protecting children in Cambodia, and put them round a table with good food and wine, and there's a lovely alchemy that results in far-ranging conversations, laughter and new ideas.

From the dinner and thanks to some lovely donors who couldn't make the date, we're a lot closer to starting our first kindergarten class at Blum!

The dinner ended with some immediate donations, a promising start with another fundraising group that are looking to take us on and some more volunteers and coverage. To the following donors and their friends who attended the dinner event, we want to say, “Thank you so much for making this possible!”:

Colin and Carol
Julius and Elaine Ee
Matthew and Tatiana
Therese Chan
First Hand

Contributed by: Dale Edmonds

Moving on to a more cost effective and efficient internet connection

2010-04-03T14:17:00.002+08:00

Recently, our Cambodia office has been experiencing an extremely slow internet connection. As a result, our correspondence with them was disrupted and responses have been delayed.

However, this problem is expected to end because our contract with the current Internet Service Provider (ISP) will cease by the end of this month and our contract with another ISP will take effect from May 2010. The latter provides unlimited access at double the speed and comes at a lower price. In addition to using the existing skype for international calls, the package provides free iFone talk with 250 min per month for calls to Singapore at only $0.02 per minute.

This is a tremendous savings for us and it makes our communication more cost effective and time efficient. It’s especially useful when we need to respond to a crisis immediately.

Working across countries has always been a challenge especially due to different languages and time zone. Thus, a steady and reliable line of communication is so important to help us stay connected at all times.

We will be paying $108/ month instead of $152/ month starting in May 2010. Hence, it would be great if you could support our move to a better and more efficient communication platform.

Without internet access, we wouldn't be able to do nearly any of our work. Thank you!

Contributed by: Sophal

Here's how your donations have helped

2010-03-29T14:01:00.006+08:00

Riverkids children enjoy school because of you!

We transport 25 kids from the Railway II Site to Kolap Primary School by tuk-tuk everyday. Our Housemother prepares breakfast for them, brings them to school and hands the snacks she prepares and the bottled water to the children during their break.

Gradeschool cost for a child which includes school supplies, healthcare provision and relevant staff support is about USD19.29 per month. We are grateful that with the support of our generous donors, these children have been able to continue receiving education in school and are kept safe from trafficking.

Contributed by: Pheakdey

A mother and her baby urgently need help

2010-03-25T12:26:00.003+08:00

Nuch* is a female baby in our Baby Bellies Program. This month, she stayed in Kunthabopha Hospital for 5 days due to malnutrition.

She was diagnosed with Malnutrition Protein-Calorie, a severe protein deficiency condition and thus has to be brought to the hospital frequently for check ups. As her uvula has not developed, the doctor recommended an operation when she turns 5.

Her mother’s health isn’t good too. During the hospital stay, she gave a lot of blood to Nuch and as she did not have enough money for food, her health deteriorated and she left the hospital abruptly without telling us.

In view of the situation, our Community Nurse and Social Worker gave her some money for food upon visiting her.

Accordingly, the mother is supposed to have a longer stay in the hospital but because she does not hold a job now, she found it difficult to support the healthcare cost for her baby and herself.

We are monitoring this case and have contacted Khen Klang Hospital to discuss how best we can help her.

Contributed by: Ms Sakona

Nutritious breakfast for kids

2010-03-20T15:20:00.003+08:00

A healthy breakfast enables a kid to concentrate better in class

Soya milk is exceptionally rich in vitamins such as B12 which has good metabolic functions. It also has health benefits such as reducing cholesterol levels, controlling osteoporosis and reducing cancer.

For these kids who come from poor families, providing them with healthy breakfast means a lot to them because it enables them to concentrate in class, perform better and behave well.

On other days, our Housemother prepares alternatives such as egg, banana, pumpkin dessert, bread with milk and porridge with egg, etc…

We are glad that with our donors’ generous support, these kids are able to learn effectively in school.

Contributed by: Pheakdey

We received an order to make 600 bracelets and 600 earrings!

2010-03-20T14:17:00.004+08:00

With $4/ day from Micro-Business Department, she is now able to provide more for her new born baby

One of the women in our Micro-Business Department who had been learning to make necklaces and bracelets to support her family is delighted that today, her 2-month old baby is chubby and healthy.

While she was on maternity leave a month ago, we supported her healthcare fees. Being thankful and wanting to provide more for her family, she requested us to give her additional work.

As we have recently received an order from a customer from Canada amounting to 600 bracelets and 600 earrings, she is glad that she can be part of the team to fulfill this big order.

She is now earning $4 per day from this order.

Contributed by: Sinoy

Volunteer wished for more time with Riverkids children

2010-03-17T13:12:00.005+08:00

"...You find much more here than you would if you were just a tourist." said Riverkids Volunteer, Richard.

Hello, my name is Richard Bellis. I’m 18 years old and live in North Wales in the UK. I’ve been volunteering at the Riverkids project for 5 weeks. This week is my last week at Riverkids and I’ll be very sad to leave. The time I’ve spent here has been very rewarding and I really enjoyed teaching the children.

It was difficult at first. I’d never taught English before but you soon get used to it. I’ve taught several different classes whilst I’ve been here. It has been really interesting to see the children learning English at different levels and ages. I hope that I’ve taught each class something new and that they also remember it in the future!

The work that Riverkids has been doing is very important. I remember visiting the area where the children live with Soklee. It was a very sobering experience but it helped me realise just how vital it is to educate these children for the future. I know that in 5 weeks I can only contribute a small amount, but I’m very happy that I’ve done something to help. The work that’s done by all the staff at Riverkids really makes a difference to these children’s lives.

In the future I hope I will be able to come back with some of my friends to show them the work that Riverkids is doing. Cambodia is an amazing country to visit. Being a tourist here is great fun. But by volunteering you find much more here than you would if you were just a tourist. I just wish that I could spend a few more weeks here!

Contributed by: Volunteer, Richard Bellis.

147 kids braved teeth extraction!

2010-03-16T14:35:00.002+08:00

147 kids braved tooth extraction!

On 5 March 2010, a group of 15 dental volunteers came through i-to-i to Riverkids. They provided their dental service such as cleaning of the mouth and teeth. Fluoride was added for better protection against tooth decay and to make their teeth more resistant to acid attacks, plaque bacteria and sugars in the mouth. 147 kids braved teeth extraction that day!

The volunteers did not just provide dental service but assisted to check on the children’s health. 4 boys and 4 girls had small problems with their private parts due to negligence in hygiene practices, so one of the volunteers prepared some medicine for them and handed it over to our community nurse to treat and follow up with the children.

On behalf of the community nurse and Riverkids staff, we would like to say, “Thank you” to the volunteers for their kindness and generous work.

Contributed by: Ritthy

Let's volunteer and make a difference

2010-03-11T14:12:00.004+08:00

Volunteers teaching children in Riverkids

We’re two 18 year olds from a small town in Wales. We decided we wanted to do some volunteer work and found Riverkids through the organization, i-to-i.

When we arrived in Phnom Penh, we were pretty taken back with the culture compared to at home. We had no idea what to expect but were looking forward to meeting the kids and getting started with teaching.

We were told that we would be teaching 3 different groups of 6-9 year olds, we were pleased with this as we realised we could repeat our lessons with each class. We did some brain storming of things we could teach the kids over the next 3 weeks but found there was no record of what they had been taught before. We decided to base our lessons on vocabulary as the children’s level of English was not to a high enough standard to tackle sentences.

Throughout the lessons we tried to incorporate games and songs to keep them interested and not lose their concentration. We found that a drawing exercise always kept the kids entertained whilst we continued to test their knowledge on the topic. During our time teaching the kids, we found that in each class there was a wide range of ability and this sometimes meant the better children were held back by the less able. We loved the enthusiasm of the kids and how welcomed they made us feel.

Being so young, we were not use to being called “Teacher” but we got use to it and knew it was the children showing us respect. Everything we needed was at hand and all kinds of assistance given to us by the Riverkids staff and for that we were very grateful. During our time here, we were lucky enough to visit the community that some of the children live in. This was a real eye opener but made us realise why they need our help so much.

We hope we have made a difference to the children at Riverkids and have got so many experiences from this and they will never leave us. We have met some amazing children and made some great friends whilst here in Phnom Penh and can definitely recommend it to anyone who wants to volunteer and make a difference.

Contributed by volunteers: Sally Chubb & Katie Picton

A T-Shirt for you, an Education for a child.

2010-03-05T14:23:00.004+08:00

The Micro-business department in Riverkids not only manages the making of craft products, it makes T-shirts to raise funds for children’s education. Yesterday, 18 T-shirts were sold to Americans who visited Riverkids at the price of $5 per unit. With the funds, more kids can now get extra meals, books and stationery!

Contributed by: Sinoy

Best practices for book-keeping

2010-03-03T17:48:00.005+08:00

With the donation we receive from all our donors, Riverkids is able to pay for food and school fees for the children, transportation for family visits and children who are ill to the hospital…etc.

We are also grateful to our Accounts Company that provides us with valuable advice on how thorough checks can be done in our book keeping so that we can report accurately to our donors.

Thank you for all your donations.

Contributed by: Pheakdey

Riverkids' Microbusiness Loans help keep families safe

2010-02-25T15:13:00.001+08:00

What would you do for a woman who is HIV positive, knowing that despite medication, her time may be short and eventually her children may be trafficked? The best time to intervene is now. We figured that if the family could earn a sustainable income and keep the children in school, a bleak end is most likely avoided.

We enabled one HIV positive woman and her sister (both in their forties) to operate their own business in the fish market. She was previously earning a meager income by fishing and that was not enough to feed the entire family. With the one hundred dollars loan we gave her, she was able to kick-start the business. Competition exists in every business but at least, they are now better off. They are able to support their children to school regularly, have slightly better and more food on the table each week and repay the loan installments regularly every month.

With the loan, they could invest, get bigger catches, sell more and generate more income.

Another woman, also in her forties, started a bread and drinks business on her push cart with a hundred dollars loan we gave her. Her daughter is now sewing school uniforms in our Bright Girls Programme and earning a percentage from the sales made.

With 6 children to support, more income earners for a family mean stronger financial support and less chance of becoming victims of child trafficking. Our loan offers a much lower rate than those offered in the market and given the extremely poor condition of the family, there is no way they could repay a loan obtained in the market.

Without the loan, the children may end up in brothels or employed in unsafe jobs in karaoke and bars. Today, their business is doing well and they even bought a cooler to sell cool drinks in Phnom Penh’s hot weather. We are glad they joined us and soldiered on.

Contributed by: Sinoy

Joe and his friends' volunteering experience

2010-02-24T12:44:00.005+08:00

Kids enjoying books and fruits donated by Joe and his friends

My name is Joe and I am from Sydney Australia. I came to volunteer at the Riverkids project to help teach and care for children in February/March 2010 for 4 weeks.

At first I didn’t know what to expect and was feeling a little nervous. I had completed a teaching course with little teaching experience and had no idea what kind of responsibility I was going to take on. However, the moment I stepped into the classroom on my first day, the children stood up and greeted me very warmly and very loudly! They were a joy! They love learning anything and everything and were all very eager to answer questions I asked. They were very well behaved (but a little cheeky at times) and absorbed information like a sponge.

The students in my morning and afternoon classes are all 10-13 years old. There were lots of fun to teach as they were all very energetic and keen to learn English and new skills like typing on the computer and new games. Their English skills were quite basic, so it is quite difficult to communicate with them at times.

However, I was fortunate enough to have the helping hand of a Khmer translator. Some of the things we learnt over the next few days and weeks included basic phrases, animals, body parts, clothing, objects and nouns. We played many different games in the classroom and I tried to make their learning more exciting and interactive. On Fridays, we had games where students get to have a day off from the classroom and played sports, games, puzzles, drew and did art.

Riverkids greatly appreciates volunteers donating resources for the classrooms and for their library. The children needed some new books and resources, so I went to a local bookstore with a staff from Riverkids called Ritthy. He showed me some Khmer story books and English books which I thought would be excellent resources for the students and teachers. When I came to the project I brought crayons, books, paper, pencils and many other resources from home. This was a good idea as Riverkids needs much more resources.

Despite the face that the students came from difficult backgrounds, they all have a great attitude to learning in the classroom and with a bit of hard work, their English skills will improve markedly over the coming months. Without the Riverkids Project and each of its dedicated staff, the children may not have a very bright future. I have made some good friends during my time here and when I go home I will keep in contact with the organization and the staff, and do some fundraising.

Contributed by: Joe

Joanne’s Volunteering Experience with Riverkids

2010-02-24T11:13:00.001+08:00

“Watching the children in the classroom every day makes you forget about all your petty worries back home and be grateful for all your blessings.” said Joanne.

My name is Joanne and I am from Sydney, Australia.

I arrived at the Riverkids project in early February 2010 to teach English for four weeks. During the first week, I taught the adorable kindergarten classes and they were quite a handful but so much fun to teach – their smiles and laughter were the highlights of the day! We taught them new English songs (like Itsy Bitsy Spider) and games for them to play. For the following weeks, I have been teaching the older children (10-13 year olds) which had also been great fun, especially teaching them about animals. It has been really interesting to get to know all the students and their individual personalities.

At first it was a daunting task being given the challenge to teach children, but the Riverkids project is a worthwhile cause. Also, seeing the kids gradually developing English skills is one of the most rewarding prizes at the end of the day. Watching the children in the classroom every day makes you forget about all your petty worries back home and be grateful for all your blessings.

We have donated some items for future volunteers and also bought dozens of new Khmer and English reading books for the students.

I am currently in my final year of university at the University of Sydney and will return to my studies once my time here at Riverkids is over. However the Riverkids project is now a cause very close to my heart and I plan to fundraise to send over computers or other computer equipment like keyboards when I get back home.

Contributed by: Joanne Lim