Merry Christmas to you
Leng, Sry On, all the children under the ODA Umbrellas & the
Village Teachers wish a Very Merry Festive season to you.
They all wish for you that 2014 will bring you Good Health,
Happiness & Good Luck for your Whole Life.
This years Christmas card was painted by Trai Vet who has been at ODA since 2004 – he is now the
oldest ODA family member. He works with many of the younger children encouraging them & teaching
them painting techniques & along with his brother Trai Van & Chea they are now a great support to
Leng in running ODA. Great to see them wanting to lead & encourage & make things happen here!
Trai Vet has completed his 1st year of Civil Engineering at University & is into the heavy maths that all
that entails, but he works very hard & is managing well. His brother Trai Van is in his 2nd year of IT also
at University. He has taken over the task of entering the names from the visitors book into the
newsletter data base & often battles with western writing & spelling of names that are completely
foreign to him etc - but now knows most of the internet email providers all over the world plus the
spelling of many names (despite the challenges of handwriting & squiggles!!) – all great skills for him to
bring to employment in the future. Tola is Lengs cousin & teaches computers out at 2 of the village
schools & at ODA - so between Trai Van & him, they have all the children at ODA so much more
computer literate now. So wonderful to be pushed aside by a 10yr old to get the TV, computer &
speakers working harmoniously together far faster that we can do it. They absorb it so easily!!
SUZIE WONG COMES TO ODA!!!
Nancy Kwan the wonderful Eurasion film star – with The World of
Suzie Wong, & Flower drum Song & other well known movies to
her name – made contact to ODA to ask if she could visit & could
we come to her hotel to talk with them. She was heading up a
tour of friends family & fans to visit film locations from her career.
She had been particularly taken with Cambodian children while
filming at Angkor Wat so decided to bring support to the ODA
children! AMA Waterways touring had very kindly put us forward
to her.
Leng
met
with her & her dynamic fund raiser Sylvia
& other key people who asked for a list of
needs & wishes. Leng & I conferred
quickly to make a list of many & varied
things for ODA & the Village English
schools for them to choose from. We
delivered the list & prepared for their visit
to ODA.
They all fell in love with the kids & were
very taken with their dancing & how well
cared for & happy they all were – so they
Nancy with the children & ODA art works to be auctioned invited the ODA dancers to their Auction
Cocktail Party fund raiser at the Sofitel to perform more of their Cultural Dances for Nancy’s guests.
You can imagine the kids excitement at visiting a 5 star hotel & the beautiful gardens – particularly the
beautiful Lotus Flower Lake. Like the veterans they are there were no nerves – they performed
wonderfully & were given a huge ovation!
Then the Auction of Memorabilia started & suddenly –
NANCY HAD RAISED ENOUGH TO BUY EVERY SINGLE THING ON OUR LIST!!
Solar panels & all the equipment that accompanies those power additions, Computers, student text
books for ODA & Village students, Uniform packages for the Uniform Project, bags of rice & Protein
foods, & other household items. Just an amazing amount of money & goods!
Leng was totally blown away – he had hoped for just some of these items. And the loveliest thing of
all was that Nancy quietly struck up genuine friendships with the kids. She has a very lovely, kind,
welcoming nature!
Nancy’s favourite Film Director Brian was her Auctioneer – maybe he has a new career in front of
him!!!
Nancy – you wanted to give some support to disadvantaged Cambodian children – well you exceeded
your wildest dreams! The children at ODA & Village Schools will have lasting benefits from your
wonderful visit & some exciting pics & memories as well. Tom Tom Akun to you & your lovely guests
from them all!
NEW ADDITIONS TO THE ODA FAMILY.
Early this year a Commune & Village chief came to
beg Leng to take 3 very young kids 2,4 &6yrs old
who had been abandoned. Mother has had 7
husbands & 11 children & she & the older kids had
taken off - it’s unusual to see little kids left alone in
Cambodia – older siblings usually take on the
responsibility for younger kids when tragedy strikes.
Anyway they were living on the edge of a forest on
the side of a small road & eating dirt & leaves to
survive. Leng had to go the last distance by moto as
the road was just a forest track & it was also in land
mine territory so the Village Chief took him in to get the kids.
He immediately took them to the hospital to get them checked out for AIDS & general health as is his
usual practice. They hospitalized the 2 yr old boy, Sok Lek, for a month & told Leng if he hadn’t got
medical help he would have died in a week or so! No idea what was wrong – if Leng tries to ask – he
gets told you have no medical training you can’t understand!
The 4 yr old is a girl who had taken on the role of ‘mother’ – instinct is amazing isn’t it? She still is seen
helping them in a very ‘little mother’ way. Poor little Sok Lek had a fall & broke his leg a few months
later & when he came back from hospital – she went quickly to him & laid her hand in his arm as if to say
– I’m here for you! So beautiful!! They are great kids – bright shining eyes & happy smiles & picking
everything up so quickly. They have 2 big bowls of food at lunch time & I said to Leng one day – this
must be paradise for them to have so much lovely food – he chuckled & said “Still Sok Lek eat dirt now &
then!”
Bhub who has been at ODA since he was 2 had broken his leg some years ago – so he must have decided
he knew what it was like so was on hand to help Sok Lek get around & do things. It’s so wonderful to
see them all feeling for each other & helping them adjust!
Another new arrival is Yeang – an 8 yr old boy whose parents died of AIDS but luckily he is quite clear.
He also has a huge sunny smile that lights up ODA & is learning English like a veteran. So many kids are
bright & learn so quickly!
We also have 2 sisters 8 & 10 who joined us around 4 months ago – lovely girls. A couple of weeks of
shyness & suddenly it’s as if they’ve all been there forever –all playing happily together. Quite amazing
how quickly they adapt & adopt each other.
On the other side of the coin - Leng has so many teenagers now – some of the boys at 15 are looking like
young men now & the girls are growing into very attractive young adults – amazing what a difference a
year makes in the teenage years. So many at Secondary school now & they are away from ODA a lot
more with extended classes – so it’s a changing mixing pot here now.
VOLUNTEERS & EDUCATION
Building –
So many wonderful returnee volunteers
bringing great skills & education to the
children – Reudi from Switzerland has
worked with the boys to build the most
amazing wardrobes – it looks like a high
quality shop fit out! They are 2 storey & a
new window was cut in to flood the room
with light & the boys now know how to
build so much more & at a high quality as
well – wonderful for them to learn these
skills for their future.
A place for everything – so organized & tidy!
Art - Linda from USA conducted fun art workshops early in the year with the kids experiencing many
different styles of painting. Pop Art & modern along with the traditional styles. Several other artists or
art enthusiasts have added to their skills- they love to see different styles & work their way through
them.
Many other new & returning volunteers have expanded the kids art horizons.
Education - Leng has now employed a very experienced local English teacher who takes classes each
night for 2 hours. This is very beneficial for the children not to be changing teachers every month or so
& they are really flying now. So many good teachers have worked with the children over the years but
with different ideas, styles & accents and usually only for month etc etc it isn’t easy for them – so now
they are really forging ahead.
It’s also allowed the volunteers to take a slightly less strict English lesson format & we’ve run thru early
science activities exploring their surroundings & analyzing what was found – measuring & comparing &
exploring ‘Imagination’ with fascinating feedback from the children. They have such enquiring minds so
their questions & creativity added so much more to the format.
Very hard work working in ‘ASTRONAUT’ gloves &
tethered, to prevent floating away into space!
Watching Astronaut singing ‘Space Oddity’
We also studied The Planet Earth & The
Solar System – & thanks to a great
Australian family who visited one of our
volunteers & spent their time helping
search the internet & invent ‘Space
Games’-we now have many space
videos & have enjoyed discovering how
the men landed in the moon – Robot
Curiosity on Mars & how the astronauts
live & float around the International
Space Station.
Thanks for all the cool Space games & videos
We built out own ODA Solar System & the Secondary students are also studying Earth & the Solar
System at government school - so the ODA students are able to contribute much to their school
discussions after all they have viewed! Quite the experts now! They play the Tom Hadfield Space
Oddity video almost daily – it’s a great favourite & if you haven’t seen it goolgle ‘Astronaut Tom
Hadfield & Space Oddity’ – it’s filmed in the space station & great to see all he experiences & sees both
inside & out from the International Space Station – fantastic!
IT’S THE LITTLE THINGS THAT TOUCH YOU!
Kids sitting in the desks watching the video educational
songs & there was Paov (pronounced Pow!) – now 10 years old – he has
always been a handful – not in a bad way but his name is very apt – his
energy is limitless & a cheeky fun grin - almost like a POW hitting you!!
There they all were intent on the video program but he was absently
doing up the buttons on the 2yr olds shirt. Such simple but caring
gestures they all extend to ea other daily. Such lovely kids!!!
Traditionally in Cambodia children all wash their own clothes
– no matter how young – the big kids help the little ones
until they have the skills to do it properly themselves. I
caught sight of Sry On starting to teach the new little ones
how to go about their washing the other day – I just had to
take a pic! – such a lovely traditional mother thing to be
doing. She has also taught all the older kids to cook so when
they leave ODA eventually they will be able to fend for
themselves. She’s a beautiful gentle ‘mother’ to them all
sitting amongst them talking quietly – then bursting out
laughing with them at one of their pranks or jokes.
Wonderful big leggo type blocks so kindy donated from a
Aussie families trove of treasured toys - have provided the
kids with endless fun – all ages try to build them up to reach
the Space Station I think - & suddenly they all come crashing
down to squeals & uproarious giggles! They pull up chairs so
they can build them higher that themselves – all adding to the
construction - balancing on their tippy toes.
SO NOW TO VILLAGE SCHOOL NEWS
SCHOOL ASSESSMENTS - ODA conducts school assessments ea year visiting all the ODA kindys & English
classes – sitting at the back just observing & making our notes to our assessment points forms – that’s
getting a rather difficult task now as some of the classes have grown to 50-55 students – all squashed
into 21 desks!!! Like all good Cambodians they just squashed up a little more & fitted the 3 of us in!!
The improvements & innovative teaching methods introduced in the last 12 months is amazing. These
‘teachers’ are students from ages 17 to 20. Either at Secondary school or now 4 of them at university
thanks to wonderful donor assistance. Last year only 2 teachers spoke a good deal of English in the class
time, apart from the new vocabulary or text being studied. We issued them a challenge to catch up to
these 2 teachers – WELL!!!! – we were quite knocked out by the changes! 90- 95 % of all the classes
were conducted in English & their student talk time was 70-80% - they all had differing break out
activities where the students acted out the lessons & expanded it with their individual input all in
English. At 1 school – the teacher had one student reading sentence by sentence from the curriculum
book in English and another had to translate it immediately into Khmer! WOW!! These kids won’t have
trouble getting jobs in future – they will be at the front of the line!
There has been a directive from the education authority for government schools to teach English from
grade 4 now & Leng has had feedback that the govt teachers are frightened to have the ODA students in
their classes because they pronounce better & know more that they do! Leng was quite chuffed to hear
that!
Many of the ODA longer term students are
now winning jobs due to their English skills so
the schools are delivering what Leng always
intended! He was very heartened to have a
small group visit him recently to tell him they
had won jobs due to their English skills – he
was so pleased to think they would take the
time to come & tell him & thank him!
Sophan & some of the ODA Village English School Teachers
COMPUTER LESSONS – Thanks to AMA Waterways, Computer classes were started at their ODA/AMA
school and now another school has also been added to the
mix – the classes are 10:30-2:30 daily – the 2 schools are
close together so students can attend which ever school
fits their free period times at school. They are in & out
which means we don’t need so many computers for them
all to have access. The teacher Tola, has developed an
excellent curriculum book so they can all work at their
own pace & understanding. Leng is so grateful for the donated
computers that allow these youngsters to study such a critical skill
for our world– they would never have the chance living so far out
of town as they do! ODA is very lucky to have such great partners
so they can roll out these classes to local village students who just
soak up everything that they can access!
AMA Tour passengers visit their school so the students there have the opportunity to practice simple
conversations with them which greatly increases their confidence & skills.
APT Australia & Atherton Tablelands Rotary Club fund another of the village schools & their school &
kindy teacher are also funded to University thru their kind donations – Congratulations to their English
teacher who topped his university in his first year of bachelor of English. Thank goodness he had the
opportunity to attend! These young people have so much to give – it’s life changing for them to have
these opportunities.
FLEDGELING LIBRARIES: Such a great initiative from the young Student members of The
National Honour Society from Hilltop School USA who took on the
task of collecting several batches of second hand suitable simple
English books - to start off libraries for the students at our village
schools. Their Hilltop Community members then assisted with funding one of the shelves of books
the mailing costs to get them to Cambodia for us. So wonderful to see the kids coming in & taking books
to sit & read if they can manage that, or just begin enjoying looking at them & stimulating their
experiences. We then had another very kind couple from USA who sent us another wonderful load.
Books & blocks & other 2nd hand educative materials & toys are so valuable to these kids – they have
never seen them before – it’s a visual feast for them.
UNIFORM PROJECT –
Thanks to so many of you who supported our Uniform Project – this is critical for poor village children –
No uniform – No school! Difficult to understand in such a poor country but that’s it - so this year many
of you helped 320 kids to attend school for another year!!! We are very grateful for small amounts –
they all add up, Unfortunately we were 2 months late for the new school year before we reached our
target – so Leng decided we should try to collect all year so we can distribute them the 1st week in
October to coincide with the start of the school year. The District Governor attended & gave a stirring
speech about how the whole world is changing - but particularly Cambodia & without an education in
the future their children will be unable to gain employment. . Educated himself by monks due to
poverty he urged the parents not to take their children from school to work for short term gain telling
them “Remember – once you spend your money it’s gone – but knowledge is always there for you
throughout your life!” He asked Leng to be sure to thank all the very kind people who have assisted
ODA to keep these kids at school for another year.
We thank you so much for assisting with our Uniform Project.
KINDY UNIFORMS: -
Kids arrive to kjndy in such tattered dirt
ingrained clothing that we decided to invest in
T shirts for them – we chose Purple as hopefully the high iron content in the ground water won’t show
up quite so badly in that colour! Only time will tell if it’s worth repeating annually but they certainly
look amazing right now!! Some of their little brothers & sisters fronted up wanting to get them as well –
so cute it was hard to ignore them!!!
FORMAL SUPERVISED EXAMS FOR 170 ODA ENGLISH STUDENTS: Another small but very important
step for ODA was the first formal
exams. Exam papers were developed
& submitted to the District Education
Authority for approval. They sent 2
representatives to oversee the
proceedings & first they went to each
of the 5 classrooms with 5 envelopes
showing them all the sealed papers –
they then had some students in ea
classroom sign that they were
unopened.- then opened them &
distributed them to the students.
They then moved around the
classrooms which were supervised by our teachers ensuring there was no cheating occurring!
The no 2 class at ODA also participated & one of the older ODA boys who doesn’t attend formal English
classes, sat the exam – saying he sits every exam he comes across – even if he has to pay a $1 fee to do
so! Simple proof they thirst for knowledge isn’t it?
The District Education Authority embarrassed Leng by heaping praise on to him for what he is achieving
for these village children – saying with the ASEAN Alliance in 2 years time Cambodia is well behind
Vietnam & Thailand & it’s people like Leng who will help make a difference. Leng reminded him that it’s
really people who help to support his work that are making the difference!
ODA would be unable achieve any of these projects without the kind people who hold Art Shows in their
country, visitors who purchase paintings, & the very kind donations that we receive. Just a few short
years ago Leng was struggling to feed the children & send them to school day to day. His planning &
funding model only works because of your very kind support in all these areas & he is very grateful to
you all.
Leng, Sry On & all the children under the ODA Umbrellas want to thank you for the interest & support
that you all so kindly show. They are all reveling in the opportunities that are coming their way,
whether they are at ODA itself or at the ODA Village English Schools.
Best wishes for a very Merry Christmas & Happy New Year from everyone under the ODA Umbrellas.