A brief round-up of recent news from Cambodia:
Playground repairs at ROHAL PRIMARY SCHOOL are finally underway but because the rains have come early, completion will now depend on the weather.
The refurbishment, paid for by Support Cambodia, involves removing all the play equipment [installed by the charity in 2021 [see picture left] building up the ground with lorry loads of earth and then replacing the equipment. At the same time, worn or damaged parts of the equipment will be replaced.
This playground for the 270-strong school has been a huge success and so popular that the children come in to use it even in the holidays!
The dental programme [top picture ] we fund here at Rohal continues all the year round and that too, has been a big success, mostly down to the conscientious efforts of Mr Bun Sarak and his excellent staff. Well done Rohal Primary!
The re-introduction of the Rice Soup Programme at TAMPOUNG [outside Battambang] after a gap of many years has also proved very successful.
Once a week, teachers and volunteers prepare and serve a meal to the children, usually after class or community activity. On Sundays, this can be extended to feed the elderly in greatest need and vulnerable adults. The total number served is between 100 and 120.
Support Cambodia initially funded this programme from March – August 2025 and private donors have now stepped forward to fund the programme for another 6 months [September through to February 2026]. We are enormously grateful for this generous offer.
Our contact in PAILIN PROVINCE, Sister Norma Esperas [Daughters of Charity] has been busy!!
She writes: “ ……………the number of babies [needing formula] has doubled reaching to 177 [compared to 95 babies last month] due to the effect of sudden unemployment of parents as they returned from Thailand where most of them go for employment. So, many came and asked to avail of milk formula for their babies as they can not afford to buy the milk.Due to the urgency to leave following the recent border problems, many of them were not able to get their salaries when they decided to come home.”
With formula milk at over $10 a can in the market [around £7.50] this is a serious issue in the areas near the border with Thailand. To those of you who support our Nutrition Fund – thank you for your continuing help.
As we reported in the Summer issue of ‘Mango’, the problems the Trustees found at SOUN AMPOU ELEMENTARY SCHOOL when we visited in January are now fully sorted: Cheot Chavorn [pictured] one of the charity’s Vocational Training students, was responsible for repairing the electrical connections! Preparations for the development of the school garden are also underway and though it may not look much right now, it’s extraordinary the difference the rains will make over the next few weeks!
To read the Summer issue of Mango please click on this link https://supportcambodia.org.uk/category/mango-archives/
Our Education Fund supports not only Vocational Training but also the families of younger students who might otherwise be taken out of school to work. Sister Norma writes:
“The school year is about to end and the students are preparing already for their final exams which might be sometime in the last week of July or the first week of August. All seven students in the village regularly received [support] including food supplies or toiletries as well as the 3 students living in the center who are in Grade 10 and Grade 11 are sufficiently provided for. Thanks so much to your continuous support as all of them are able to continue their studies.”
