ONYX Under the hand of God
Remember the saying in English: “You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink.” But DOVE can make it drink because we give the horse some salt first to make it thirsty, then it look for water to drink by itself. The Bible said: “ You are the light and salt of the world," meaning, that in our teaching we will put salt in students mouths and light in the students mind. The self-discovery method is a good way for this in this cognitive, rational, information-laden modern society.
Pray with us for more satellites in provinces in Cambodia. Your assistance will be sustainable because leaders with integrity and self-confidence are self-producing. Giving for sustainable outcomes is a blessing, not a curse like some assistance from overseas. Corruption is the biggest problem in Cambodia. But it is not only the Cambodians who are guilty, but also some of the donor countries who teach the crocodile how to swim. Here is some photo of the onyx retreat. What is the different between the Onyx and Diamond?
A jeweller shapes a diamond. A good shape depends on the skill of the jeweller who makes a decision on how many facets would make the diamond more valuable. But an Onyx is different from diamond. The jeweller just polishes the stone according to the shape of the gem. He does not have much influence in shaping its form or the way it looks. He wants to keep the original shape of the gem as much as he can. In other words, we do not train young people according out pre-set ideas of how or who they should become. We do not indoctrinate them into our ways, but we help them to grow according to where the spirit leads them in each classroom session, retreat, fieldwork exercise, field trip, or in their peer-mentoring group. Therefore, Onyx is really different from Diamond Program. We are now living in the era of information. Everywhere you go one is hit with information. Therefore we do not try to dump more information on students like we did in the past. God shows us new ways of leading students to discover new skills and knowledge.ALONGSIDERS CAMBODIA
We walk alongside those who walk alone.
Every week, we have a new group to share with when invited to a local church. The Alongsiders Coordinators will meet with the pastor in advance to share about how Alongsiders can serve their church. After that, the Alongsiders Coordinators make a time to meet with interested Christian youth from the church and share God's heart for the poor, and in particular for vulnerable children. Youth (over 17) are shown the simple steps to forming an Alongsiders group within their church and begin to pray and discern which child in their own community God might be calling them to walk alongside.
On April-June, we shared with many different churches in Kampong Chhnang province. And there were about 60 pairs new Alongsiders sing up (registration become an Alongsiders) for last three months. Thank God for new Alongsiders (young Christian) who volunteer to serve the Lord by becoming an Alongsider who will commit to visiting and encouraging their little brothers/sisters and walk alongside them.
Here is noted from — Pon Hak (Kampong Chhnang province)
My name is Pon Hak and I am 18 years old. I just become an Alongsider last month. My little sister's name is Tona and she is 12 years old. The reason that I choose Tona to be my little sister is because Tona has no father. She lives with her mother because her parents were divorced. Because I live in the same village with her, I knew her life situation. She was unhappy in her life and I always saw her do housework a lot and some time she felt lonely because she told me that no one takes care her or encourages her so when I heard Alongsiders shared the vision at my church, I was thinking about that this girl must be Tona. After that, I went home and prayed to God and then I choose her to be my little sister.
I am committed to walk alongside Tona, and will try to visit and encourage her as much as I can. And I hope that in the future, Tona will believe in Jesus and become a good person and I believe that God has plan for her future.
LIGHT OF THE WORLD
Every week, we have a new group to share with when invited to a local church. The Alongsiders Coordinators will meet with the pastor in advance to share about how Alongsiders can serve their church. After that, the Alongsiders Coordinators make a time to meet with interested Christian youth from the church and share God's heart for the poor, and in particular for vulnerable children. Youth (over 17) are shown the simple steps to forming an Alongsiders group within their church and begin to pray and discern which child in their own community God might be calling them to walk alongside.
On April-June, we shared with many different churches in Kampong Chhnang province. And there were about 60 pairs new Alongsiders sing up (registration become an Alongsiders) for last three months. Thank God for new Alongsiders (young Christian) who volunteer to serve the Lord by becoming an Alongsider who will commit to visiting and encouraging their little brothers/sisters and walk alongside them.
My name is Pon Hak and I am 18 years old. I just become an Alongsider last month. My little sister's name is Tona and she is 12 years old. The reason that I choose Tona to be my little sister is because Tona has no father. She lives with her mother because her parents were divorced. Because I live in the same village with her, I knew her life situation. She was unhappy in her life and I always saw her do housework a lot and some time she felt lonely because she told me that no one takes care her or encourages her so when I heard Alongsiders shared the vision at my church, I was thinking about that this girl must be Tona. After that, I went home and prayed to God and then I choose her to be my little sister.
I am committed to walk alongside Tona, and will try to visit and encourage her as much as I can. And I hope that in the future, Tona will believe in Jesus and become a good person and I believe that God has plan for her future.
Our world is divided into three parts: First world countries, Second world countries and Third world countries. The First world countries are the industrialized nations, technology savvy capitalist countries of Western Europe, North America, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand. The Second World consists of the former communist block countries of the Soviet Union, and some countries in Eastern Europe. The Third World is the developing countries of Asia, Africa, and Latin America.
In Cambodia, when people want to sell a plot of land, they would need to answer three questions: “Is your land close by water (meaning running water)? Is your land close by a passable road, and is the plot near a power supply? If you can provide all the answers to those questions and then you can talk about the price of your land. The value of the land is in direct proportion to the answers to those 3 questions. I remember one occasion when I visited the United Kingdom. One couple introduced themselves to me, saying that they are from the countryside. In my mind I thought they must be poor folk. But my thinking was wrong, because in the UK, the rich live in the rural areas and the poor lived close the main road. This is opposite from Cambodia where most of the poor live in the remote areas. But in UK, even in the remote areas, they still have access to a power supply. Have electricity is very crucial for good living conditions. Walking in the light is good.
Light is very important to the living conditions of human beings. Cambodia is one of the developing countries where most people do not have access to the electricity. They still use kerosene lamps, lights run by car batteries, and small generators. Those two sources of energy pollute the atmosphere. In the last two years DOVE has partnered with Clean Compassion to bring solar light to the people in the remote areas where there is no electricity. This is a bit of income generation project for us, and we limited subsidization from the AGM (Alternative Gift Market of Belpres). That way, we can make a little bit of income, and pass on a quality item at a low price to those who are poor and elderly in the village, at a price they can afford. We just bring a vehicle for light alone, but there is another light, the light of Jesus. I hope people will think about these words every time they turn on their solar lights. If God is willing, they will become his followers. DOVE is not interested only in the physical needs of people but we are interested in bringing spiritual meaning as well. We don’t try to proselytize people but just let them think. In other words, “food for thought,” so people are challenged to think about their lives in terms other than day to day’ survival.
We still need those kinds of gifts that provide a natural context to talk about Christ. Thank you very much for those of you who have provided this generous funding through the AGM.
May God richly bless you and your families.
DATING NOT MATING
In 2014, a local newspaper reported that Cambodia lost 2000 people in road accidents. If it were 14 more people than the existing figure of 2000, the number would be the same as the year 2014. One reason why so many road accidents happen is because of the sheer amount of so many different kinds of transportation that clog the roads (bicycles, food carts, motos, cyclos, motos towing carts of sand, cars with both left and right hand steering, container trucks, dump trucks, ATVs, etc.). The other reason is that there are so many drunk drivers on the road. One has to wonder why advertising for alcohol is wide spread if there is such a problem. Ads for alcoholic drinks constantly appear on all TV stations, billboards and everywhere else you look in Cambodia. People are just inundated with ads for alcohol, and it just it reinforces the idea that excessive drinking, no matter how destructive to people and their families, is normal, natural and even a preferred pastime.
After work when I got home one day, and turned on my TV set, I saw a scene in a Korean soap opera that airs on Cambodian TV stations and I heard, “I have to go meet my date.” The word “Date or dating” is not even in the Cambodian dictionary. When a Cambodian young person speaks about dating, they have to say it quietly because it is not an accepted Cambodian cultural practice. But with western culture inundating the Khmer youth culture after 20 years, it is no wonder they are picking up the practice- “A drip of water can make hole on rock over a long period of time.” Now Cambodian young people talk about dating among their peers as it is the most natural thing in the world, but it is very a strange terminology to their parents to hear, or think about. It does not sound good in their ears. How can we help young people to cope with this challenge? Dove organized a meeting with 60 young people in attendance to discuss how dating was relevant to the Cambodian culture. The young people who attended came from across denominational lines and Christian organizations to participate in the seminar at Friend’s Church in Phnom Penh. We gave them the principles from Boaz and Ruth’s “dating” episode from the Bible.
All cultural practices found on this planet we call earth are both good and bad. How can we evaluate culture norms or customs? The developer needs a plumb line as a guide to his keep walls and floors straight and level. We also need consider the principles of Bible concerning relationships as a plump line to evaluate our own cultural norms and ones coming in from outside. The evaluations from the seminar showed us that young people enjoyed being together discussing such a relevant topic, and that they found it useful for them as they try to figure out which parts of western dating might be appropriate.
We plan to have another seminar on the same topic soon, and dig deeper into the principles of the Bible to help Cambodian young people who are so totally naïve in terms of discerning what parts of western culture they can use to their advantage. Their practice for 15 years has been to accept everything as it comes without criticism. They are the future leaders of the country and their churches. Therefore we need to mold them and give them some tools for discernment. Cambodia’s youth culture is a sibling society that desperately needs wisdom and elders. Dating, is indeed, a need of the young people but they need mentors and wisdom to help them discern and judge which way is right and appropriate according to the Bible and their culture. If they do not understand clearly about dating it will be very dangerous for them. They will end up with mating, not just DATING!
ONYX PROGRAM
ONYX: KAMPONG CHAM
Weekly Class:
This is the fourth block, Social Justice, of Onyx course. Students are so excited for block by block. They are touched and encouraged by all the carefully-selected lessons.
“I had no idea what to deal with my tough situations without enrolling in Onyx. I’m encouraged and motivated by most of all the lessons. I honestly feel guilty to come to God for not attending church lately. And also my personal life situation I was so down, lost and lonely but after I learnt the five-love-languages, Personal Timeline and Personal Spiritual Formation I was touched, encouraged and motivated by those lessons, by those facilitators and by my classmates. I can feel some relief and joy to come to the Lord now. I love my group meeting time. I’m always looking for the class every week.” Ny Vorleak from Bethany said.
Fieldwork/Mentoring:
All Onyx students are split into small groups that meet up weekly and to do group fieldwork.
“This part is the most difficult, and exciting and insightful of the course”, some students said.
After the Five-Love-Languages block a group went to visit a disabled woman and a grandma who lived alone by their own. The students gave them a bath, cleaned their house, gave them a massage and some food and fruit. And another group also went to a poor family to pay them a visit, helped them clean their house and yard, spent some quality time with them and gave them some fruit.
The group meetings are held every week by the two peer mentoring groups at a variety of public places beside their church or their house, or even Dove’s office to reflect what they have learned in the class or in the fieldwork. They also meet up with their mentor every block.
ONYX PHNOM PENH
Onyx Saturday Classes:
The second block was "Leadership Timeline,” facilitated by volunteer Ms. Yos Bophal. Last year she facilitated these lessons in the provinces. This year, Pastor Sokha went to some satellites in the provinces to help facilitate these time-line lessons. Ms. Lynn Ogata, Ms. Yos Bophal, and Mr. Nak Phearom helped facilitate lessons in the third block about “Personal Spiritual Formation.” We are enjoying spending our time in the class together and we can’t wait to do our fieldwork and exposure trips together too.
The Phnom Penh Onyx students have studied three blocks of lessons already and are studying the “Leadership” block now. I always am encouraged by the students every Saturday. Their testimonies and experiences motivate me, as well each other. I see the impact on the students every week.
Onyx Fieldwork:
On July 11st, 2015, fieldwork related to the “Leadership” lessons was held in Tong Neak, Prey Veng Province. The best way to learn leadership is to “Just do it!” About 20 people including Phnom Penh Onyx students planted trees at Tong Neak village, where DOVE staff have been involved in holistic development since 2000.
Student Reflection:
Below is a reflection written by one of the Onyx students after the Personal Spiritual Formation lesson “Shalom,” during which students painted a Cambodian clay pot, broke it and glued the pieces back together.
“My name is Doeun Deang. Personal Spiritual Formation is a lesson that taught me lots. I have been living in brokenness and this brokenness always lived inside my heart, disobeying God and causing distrust. These two things were obstacles between me and God. Every time I visited my homeland, I always followed their traditions and cultural activities, so I would feel guilty and this wasn’t the right thing for me to do. But one thing that always encouraged me was that when I did these things my heart wasn't in it. I always pray and try to do positive things to show my family. I try a lot to tell my family step by step so they can understand what I believe.
When I painted my clay pot, it reminded me about my past. I was kind of happy because it reminded me of my carefree childhood life and the decoration represented my family happiness. So when I broke my pot, I didn’t want to break it because it was like breaking my family happiness and my happy childhood. And my pot was also beautiful! And I didn’t want to remake it different from the first shape. When I broke it, I felt that my relationship [with my family] was broken. When I started to glue the pieces back together, I started to build up my relationship again. But I still felt it wouldn’t be the same as before, even though I tried my best. I felt that God said to me, ‘Try to take care of your relationship from now on and you have to live with your past even though it’s hurtful.’ I felt comfort and God’s presence and knew that God is always helping and encouraging me even during times of worry and suffering.”
ONYX: KAMPONG THOM
Mentor Meeting:
On June 27, I had a meeting with the Onyx mentors. We didn’t just talk about the Onyx students whom they sent to study or just about evaluating the program, but we also tried to make a plan for how can we build more relationship with each other. We decided to schedule to meet each other once a month for fellowship.
“I am happy to see my youth willing and committed to help ministries and have new ideas to creative in my church, ”Chomrien said.
“Being a leader, I should be happy to see our people have opportunities to learn from another place and we have to give up or delegate our work to the next generation, so they can practice serving with us,” Sinat said.
“I think that I have learned a lot from my youth, because they often come to talk with me about all their homework. I do feel they respect and value thinking about their homework so much. I am proud of them. I wish I could send more next year,”
Srey Na said . “I often have a good time with them. And we are close to each other.”
Srey Na said . “I often have a good time with them. And we are close to each other.”
Drop-In Center and Business Plans:
We are excited about our new office location that will be ideal for opening a volleyball court and snack business at the Kampong Thom office. It is also useful to start a Drop In Center and Leadership Club here. We want to see this place to be a safe place and used for developing youth from the nearby high school. Also, I am really thankful to all the students who stay at the Kampong Thom DOVE office, that they are willing to help us create a Drop-in Center.
ONYX: KAMPONG CHHNANG
Exposure Trip for Onyx Program:
Mentor Meeting for Onyx Program in Kampong Chhnang:
On 23rd March 2015 we had the first Mentor meeting. There were 7 mentors who joined our meeting: Pastor Prak Vuthy, Choun Chakreya, Sok Chamreoun, Muk Channy, Seng Pisith, Morn Chanthy, and Heng Kimhai. On 20th June 2015 we had a second mentor meeting.
Alumni Onyx Program:
On 27th February 2015 we had a gathering for Onyx program alumni from two years. There were 25 participants. Our students came together to eat food and fellowship with DOVE Director, Mr. Uon Seila, and Pastor Linda Gotts from Tenth Avenue Church, Vancouver, Canada.
DROP IN CENTER IN PHNOM PENH
On April-08-2015, YESIC Center had done for celebrating Khmer New Year party for all YESIC’s students and also other kids from out. There were 95 people joined the party, some of them are YESIC’s students and other were guests. Activities we engaged in were:
Khmer New Year traditional games, the dancing show, and the playing tires game. Also:
1. A skit showed about the disadvantage of drug use.
2. Snack time
3. Dancing Time ( we had a big dance, dancing to the beat Khmer’s tradition music. Yes, we had done all of these so we saw that they all were delighted with the games and others activities. After the event, they all knew some new Khmer traditional games and the meaning of Khmer New Year Days and they also understood clearly about the dangers of using drugs from the skit that we had showed.
Comments:
I’m Phalla and I am 14 years old. I’m a student here with English class in Elementary level and I also study a public class at Dombouk Kpous High School. Yes, today I am here with all my friends we are excited about Khmer New Year festival is coming soon. Today YESIC Center is celebrating Khmer New Year’s Festival and it is such a fun and great party for me because I get the chance to play many Khmer traditional games with my teachers and all my friends here. I also get the meaning of this New Year party like: Why do we Khmer people choose to celebrate it? I enjoyed dancing as well. Moreover I really love the skit “Disadvantage of using drugs” it was funny and had deep meaning. It is a good reminder to help us stay away from them. On behalf of all my friends here, thank you so much for YESIC Center, teachers and those who are always providing us with the educational programs and other entertainment. I wish YESIC will be stay for long to help us and other people.
Hi everyone I’m UEL, 20 years old. I’m a student at Dombok Kapous high school in grade 12. And I also a part time English student here since the ABC class and now I am in Elementary Level. Today I am here with my old and new friends for celebrating Khmer New Year Day. We are all here delighting in Khmer New Year holidays. I just want to say that it is great that YESIC celebrates every festival because we can make sense of these festival like this Khmer New Year day. I could understand well about the meaning of it by the speeches from our teachers, and all those traditional games and traditional dancing.
Field’s Trip of Leadership Club:
After having studied together for three months, we just went on our first field trip of club year 2 on 17/05/15. We went to Kandal province at Phnom Tunmun Mountain and Sa Ang Mountain. Thirty people joined the trip.
The points of this field trip were: to give exposure to humanitarian work, to let them see how hard the life of poor families are (compared to their own families), to increase club’s bond of friendship, to share experiences together and to get them out of their busy environment.
In this trip, we had divided all the students into three groups and there were ten members in each group. We also gave them each group specific assignments.
What they did:
1. Interviewed two families who are living in the village (Sa Ang Village
2. Interviewed a few children who were begging for money around the streets of the mountain
3. Cleaned up some parts of the top of the mountain by picking up the trash at the top of
mountain.
First Family:
We met with Uncle Sok Cheachan and aunt Chamroen Eong. Uncle is 60 years old and his wife is 56 years old. Uncle Sok Cheachan, he is a blind person. There are only two members in their family, he and his wife. He is a former Tuk Tuk driver. He has been blind since 2000. Before their economic crash, the family was fine and they could support their daily living well, but after he lost his sight, his family struggled because before they both could helped each other to earn money in their different jobs. But since he lost his sight, his wife had to work more and harder than before. Aunt Chamroen Eong before earned 20 dollars per day by selling vegetables at the market village. By the way, since her husband lost his sight, she decided to stop selling at the market, and instead she works another job close to her house as it is easy for her to take care of her husband. Nowadays she tries to earn money by cutting local grasses to sell and does other small things. She just about earn 5 dollars a day. She continued that it is not easy for her to leave him at home when she needs to go to work. She said if she has enough money she will buy some groceries to sell at home, as it is easy for her to stay with him.
The Second Family:
We met with aunt Theary Rath who is living in this Sa Ang village among other former war refugees since she settled there during Khmer Rouge times (civil war). She is 55 year old widow and she lives alone in a small hut. Her husband, children and others relatives were killed by Khmer Rouge. So nowadays she is alone without any relatives at all. Every day, she makes steamed Banana Rice cakes to sell around the village and at other times she also cuts grass to sell, too. When she was younger, she could work everyday very well and she earned 7 dollars per day. That was enough for her to feed herself. She continued to tell us about her life with tears dropping down, saying that sometimes she felt very lonely. Actually she needs a real family like other families but unfortunately they are gone. With age comes poor health and sometimes she can’t go to sell or go to work. It’s worse for her to stay alone without any relatives. Lastly, she just wishes to be strong and healthy. Sure, we did pray for her and gave her some hope, telling she could count us as her relatives. She was happy and thanked us that we could come to visit her.
The Third:
After we had visited the villagers at Sa Ang village, our trip went forward to Sa Ang Mountain for where we had lunch and climbed the mountain to see the view there. There we could enjoy eating, playing games, singing songs and talking together. Moreover we had met several children who were young beggars at the mountain. We made many enquiries about their lives. Our interviews showed that a few of them are parentless and others were born into poor families. They didn’t go to school at all. Everyday they came here for the whole day to ask for money and food from the visitors. They don’t have enough food to eat and no proper clothes to wear, nobody takes good care of them and they live by their own ways.
It was great that our students had interviewed them to see and know about their real lives. That was a good lesson for them to learn about these children and compare their own lives with these children.
Comments:
I’m So Theavy. I am eighteen years old. I had finished high school at Dombok Khpous high school. Recently, just around these three months I became a student of YESIC Center. I am studying English, computer, and also attending Leadership Club. Today I am here with Leadership Club for the field trip. This is my first time to join the trip with my classmates and teacher. I never had this type of opportunity before. Sure I am happy to be with all my friends and teachers. I got a lot from this trip like: I could know about the situation of people who are living out of the city, I feel like I was a journalist and could dare to ask things that I never knew about them, and I now I know how to work as a team with my friends, climbing and enjoying the beauty of nature with fresh air. Those are my good experiences I will always remember. The things that I liked about that field trip were: working in group, helping poor people by volunteering my time, and that I could be a part of humanitarian work to help our country to be better.
Hello, I’m Socheatra. I am 18 years old. I am from Phsa Derm Thkao High School. I study in grad 11. I’m a new student here (YESIC) in English class and also a student at Leadership Club for around three months now. For me this trip was a good trip because I could gain some experiences from the others and I had never gone a field trip before. I am enjoying so much being here with my all my club mates.
For this fieldwork I had interviewed a few boys who are begging around the mountain’s stairs. I found out a lot about their lives, how hard life is for them, and they are doing to survive! It was so sad to hear about them. By the way, if I compare myself with them I am living n a better situation than them because I have lots of things that they don’t have like enough food, good clothes, and I can go to school, I have many friends and moreover I have my parents who always take good care of me. Nothing touched my heart like wishing they could go school and have enough food to eat. I really want to help them but I couldn’t. I promised to myself when I grow up and have a good job I will help abandoned children.
Children’s Day:
On 01-June-2015 YESIC had celebrated Children’s Day. Normally,01-June is a day that people all around the world know- that it is a Children’s day and that we need to do something for those who under 18 years old.
Why do we need to celebrate this day? Yes, we know that a lot of kids nowadays are suffering from many factors such as: rape, child labor, and violence, etc. These are the big problems that we are worrying about. The point of this event is to show people that we are against those problems and let children know about their rights (help them understand clearly about their rights like what they can or can’t do). We are holding this celebration every year.
There were seventy children and another ten who are older than 18 who had participated in the event. The programs we had on that day were:
1. The Message: It was a necessary and meaningful to them because the speaker gave the meaning of the children’s day to them and also encouraged them try to study hard.
2. The Skit : A skit was performed by a group of Leadership Club’s students. The meaning of the skit is to stop all the abuse toward children.
3. The Question: We had some questions we asked them and let them answer all those questions to remind them to remember their rights and their duty.
4. Game : We had prepared some games for them to play. They had played all those games which were fun helped them bond further. Finally the party was done around 6:30pm. It ran from 4:00pm to 6:30pm.
Testimonies:
Hello I’m Raksmey Un, I’m 14 years old. I am a student at Sonsomkosal Secondary School. I study English here YESIC. Today I came here to join the celebration of Children’s day. Sure, Children’s day it is the day for me and all the children around the world to cheer up together. So today is a happy day for me to be and take part in all the programs here. Yes it is great that YESIC had set this day up it is useful for reminding and make the children and their parents to understand clearly about children’s rights. Now I do know clearly about my real rights in a name of children, like what should do and what I shouldn’t.
Thank you so much, teachers and friends here and YESIC for this great day, for the special messages and for encouraging me to be a good child and even a good student. I will try to do good things and try to study hard.
A. Impact:
I am Bun Leng. I am a staff of Manna4Life teaching Computer in Udong. I would like to share my testimony with you. I was born in Kampot province and I grew up in a medium income family. My father is a Tuk Tuk driver and my mother is a house wife. I have one younger brother and one younger sister. I came to Phnom Penh in 2009 to continue on to university to study Business Administration and Economic at Cambodian University of Specialties (CUS). During the time I was in Phnom Penh, besides learning at the University, I tried to join with other part-time classes in order to improve my English and computer skills. Even in Phnom Penh there are a lot of private part-time classes for language and computer but they all cost a lot of money and I was am not able to pay for it.
The longer I learned with teacher Virak, the more I saw he was a good teacher. I started to build a good relationship with him and I made some friends there. Then BSC moved to new location and changed the name to YESIC, I am still kept in touch with teacher Virak. YESIC still has computer classes so I traveled to join them at YESIC. Then I finished University, but I couldn't find a job. Talking to Virek online, he asked me if I found a job yet. I told him no. So he recommended me to Kevin and Ms. Leakhena while they need a computer teacher for the NGO Manna4Life. At first, I did not feel confident because I have no IT certificate, but teacher Virak encouraged me a lot. He tutored me to bring me up to speed computer teaching and then I decided to apply for the job. I got the job teaching computer for Manna4life and have been teaching since December 2012 until now (2015). Right now, I am starting to know God. I feel God blessed me by knowing YESIC and some friends there, and to get to know my teacher and mentor Virak. I love working with kids evicted children of Dey Krahom who have been evicted and dumped in Udong.
Please Make a donation to this excellent ministry by contacting;
Develop Our Villege Economy OFFICE
Email Address: Uon Seila: seilaopheas@gmail.com Brian: brianmaher57@gmail.com
Comments:
I’m Phalla and I am 14 years old. I’m a student here with English class in Elementary level and I also study a public class at Dombouk Kpous High School. Yes, today I am here with all my friends we are excited about Khmer New Year festival is coming soon. Today YESIC Center is celebrating Khmer New Year’s Festival and it is such a fun and great party for me because I get the chance to play many Khmer traditional games with my teachers and all my friends here. I also get the meaning of this New Year party like: Why do we Khmer people choose to celebrate it? I enjoyed dancing as well. Moreover I really love the skit “Disadvantage of using drugs” it was funny and had deep meaning. It is a good reminder to help us stay away from them. On behalf of all my friends here, thank you so much for YESIC Center, teachers and those who are always providing us with the educational programs and other entertainment. I wish YESIC will be stay for long to help us and other people.
Hi everyone I’m UEL, 20 years old. I’m a student at Dombok Kapous high school in grade 12. And I also a part time English student here since the ABC class and now I am in Elementary Level. Today I am here with my old and new friends for celebrating Khmer New Year Day. We are all here delighting in Khmer New Year holidays. I just want to say that it is great that YESIC celebrates every festival because we can make sense of these festival like this Khmer New Year day. I could understand well about the meaning of it by the speeches from our teachers, and all those traditional games and traditional dancing.
Field’s Trip of Leadership Club:
After having studied together for three months, we just went on our first field trip of club year 2 on 17/05/15. We went to Kandal province at Phnom Tunmun Mountain and Sa Ang Mountain. Thirty people joined the trip.
The points of this field trip were: to give exposure to humanitarian work, to let them see how hard the life of poor families are (compared to their own families), to increase club’s bond of friendship, to share experiences together and to get them out of their busy environment.
In this trip, we had divided all the students into three groups and there were ten members in each group. We also gave them each group specific assignments.
1. Interviewed two families who are living in the village (Sa Ang Village
2. Interviewed a few children who were begging for money around the streets of the mountain
3. Cleaned up some parts of the top of the mountain by picking up the trash at the top of
mountain.
First Family:
We met with Uncle Sok Cheachan and aunt Chamroen Eong. Uncle is 60 years old and his wife is 56 years old. Uncle Sok Cheachan, he is a blind person. There are only two members in their family, he and his wife. He is a former Tuk Tuk driver. He has been blind since 2000. Before their economic crash, the family was fine and they could support their daily living well, but after he lost his sight, his family struggled because before they both could helped each other to earn money in their different jobs. But since he lost his sight, his wife had to work more and harder than before. Aunt Chamroen Eong before earned 20 dollars per day by selling vegetables at the market village. By the way, since her husband lost his sight, she decided to stop selling at the market, and instead she works another job close to her house as it is easy for her to take care of her husband. Nowadays she tries to earn money by cutting local grasses to sell and does other small things. She just about earn 5 dollars a day. She continued that it is not easy for her to leave him at home when she needs to go to work. She said if she has enough money she will buy some groceries to sell at home, as it is easy for her to stay with him.
The Second Family:
We met with aunt Theary Rath who is living in this Sa Ang village among other former war refugees since she settled there during Khmer Rouge times (civil war). She is 55 year old widow and she lives alone in a small hut. Her husband, children and others relatives were killed by Khmer Rouge. So nowadays she is alone without any relatives at all. Every day, she makes steamed Banana Rice cakes to sell around the village and at other times she also cuts grass to sell, too. When she was younger, she could work everyday very well and she earned 7 dollars per day. That was enough for her to feed herself. She continued to tell us about her life with tears dropping down, saying that sometimes she felt very lonely. Actually she needs a real family like other families but unfortunately they are gone. With age comes poor health and sometimes she can’t go to sell or go to work. It’s worse for her to stay alone without any relatives. Lastly, she just wishes to be strong and healthy. Sure, we did pray for her and gave her some hope, telling she could count us as her relatives. She was happy and thanked us that we could come to visit her.
The Third:
After we had visited the villagers at Sa Ang village, our trip went forward to Sa Ang Mountain for where we had lunch and climbed the mountain to see the view there. There we could enjoy eating, playing games, singing songs and talking together. Moreover we had met several children who were young beggars at the mountain. We made many enquiries about their lives. Our interviews showed that a few of them are parentless and others were born into poor families. They didn’t go to school at all. Everyday they came here for the whole day to ask for money and food from the visitors. They don’t have enough food to eat and no proper clothes to wear, nobody takes good care of them and they live by their own ways.
It was great that our students had interviewed them to see and know about their real lives. That was a good lesson for them to learn about these children and compare their own lives with these children.
Comments:
I’m So Theavy. I am eighteen years old. I had finished high school at Dombok Khpous high school. Recently, just around these three months I became a student of YESIC Center. I am studying English, computer, and also attending Leadership Club. Today I am here with Leadership Club for the field trip. This is my first time to join the trip with my classmates and teacher. I never had this type of opportunity before. Sure I am happy to be with all my friends and teachers. I got a lot from this trip like: I could know about the situation of people who are living out of the city, I feel like I was a journalist and could dare to ask things that I never knew about them, and I now I know how to work as a team with my friends, climbing and enjoying the beauty of nature with fresh air. Those are my good experiences I will always remember. The things that I liked about that field trip were: working in group, helping poor people by volunteering my time, and that I could be a part of humanitarian work to help our country to be better. 
Hello, I’m Socheatra. I am 18 years old. I am from Phsa Derm Thkao High School. I study in grad 11. I’m a new student here (YESIC) in English class and also a student at Leadership Club for around three months now. For me this trip was a good trip because I could gain some experiences from the others and I had never gone a field trip before. I am enjoying so much being here with my all my club mates.
For this fieldwork I had interviewed a few boys who are begging around the mountain’s stairs. I found out a lot about their lives, how hard life is for them, and they are doing to survive! It was so sad to hear about them. By the way, if I compare myself with them I am living n a better situation than them because I have lots of things that they don’t have like enough food, good clothes, and I can go to school, I have many friends and moreover I have my parents who always take good care of me. Nothing touched my heart like wishing they could go school and have enough food to eat. I really want to help them but I couldn’t. I promised to myself when I grow up and have a good job I will help abandoned children.
Children’s Day:
Why do we need to celebrate this day? Yes, we know that a lot of kids nowadays are suffering from many factors such as: rape, child labor, and violence, etc. These are the big problems that we are worrying about. The point of this event is to show people that we are against those problems and let children know about their rights (help them understand clearly about their rights like what they can or can’t do). We are holding this celebration every year.
There were seventy children and another ten who are older than 18 who had participated in the event. The programs we had on that day were:
1. The Message: It was a necessary and meaningful to them because the speaker gave the meaning of the children’s day to them and also encouraged them try to study hard.
2. The Skit : A skit was performed by a group of Leadership Club’s students. The meaning of the skit is to stop all the abuse toward children.
3. The Question: We had some questions we asked them and let them answer all those questions to remind them to remember their rights and their duty.
4. Game : We had prepared some games for them to play. They had played all those games which were fun helped them bond further. Finally the party was done around 6:30pm. It ran from 4:00pm to 6:30pm.
Testimonies:
Hello I’m Raksmey Un, I’m 14 years old. I am a student at Sonsomkosal Secondary School. I study English here YESIC. Today I came here to join the celebration of Children’s day. Sure, Children’s day it is the day for me and all the children around the world to cheer up together. So today is a happy day for me to be and take part in all the programs here. Yes it is great that YESIC had set this day up it is useful for reminding and make the children and their parents to understand clearly about children’s rights. Now I do know clearly about my real rights in a name of children, like what should do and what I shouldn’t.
Thank you so much, teachers and friends here and YESIC for this great day, for the special messages and for encouraging me to be a good child and even a good student. I will try to do good things and try to study hard.
I’m Srey Touch, I am 11 years old. I from Thnort Chhrom Village. I study Khmer at Asian Center. Today I came here with my sister who studies English here. Her name is Tevi Soung. I am happy for this party. I played games, watched the skit, ate some snacks, and I enjoyed playing around with other children. And I understood the meaning of this day too. lastly, I want to say that the people here are kind and lovely- I like them. Actually I want to come again if there are more parties or something fun for children. Thank you teachers and my sister who brought me here.
A. Impact:
Bun Leng is a former student of our Drop In Center. He attended the Drop In Center since 2009 studying in our computer course. He had completed the course gaining computer skills like MS Word, MS Exel, MS Powepoint, Adobe Photoshop and Computer Repairs for 2 years and a half. He is a good student and he studied hard to get through these courses. He passed all the examinations. While he was taking the computers course here he was a student at university too. A year later he graduated from his university then he was looking for a job and he still kept in touch with the Drop In Center. So just recommended him apply to Manna4Life Organisation which a Christian place run by Kevin Knight where they needed a computer teacher. He passed the interview and is still working there till now. He teaches many students computer courses and English there. And moreover, he became a Jesus follower. He started to see how God is good and what God has done for him many things while he working there. We rejoice to see are happy to the our ministry has a good impact on him. What he said here:
I am Bun Leng. I am a staff of Manna4Life teaching Computer in Udong. I would like to share my testimony with you. I was born in Kampot province and I grew up in a medium income family. My father is a Tuk Tuk driver and my mother is a house wife. I have one younger brother and one younger sister. I came to Phnom Penh in 2009 to continue on to university to study Business Administration and Economic at Cambodian University of Specialties (CUS). During the time I was in Phnom Penh, besides learning at the University, I tried to join with other part-time classes in order to improve my English and computer skills. Even in Phnom Penh there are a lot of private part-time classes for language and computer but they all cost a lot of money and I was am not able to pay for it.
One day, around September in 2009, one of my university’s friends told me to register for a computer course at Bright Spark Center (BSC) with really low fee that I am payable. While I was studying there I started to know my computer teacher Mr Choun Virak and some other friends there.
The longer I learned with teacher Virak, the more I saw he was a good teacher. I started to build a good relationship with him and I made some friends there. Then BSC moved to new location and changed the name to YESIC, I am still kept in touch with teacher Virak. YESIC still has computer classes so I traveled to join them at YESIC. Then I finished University, but I couldn't find a job. Talking to Virek online, he asked me if I found a job yet. I told him no. So he recommended me to Kevin and Ms. Leakhena while they need a computer teacher for the NGO Manna4Life. At first, I did not feel confident because I have no IT certificate, but teacher Virak encouraged me a lot. He tutored me to bring me up to speed computer teaching and then I decided to apply for the job. I got the job teaching computer for Manna4life and have been teaching since December 2012 until now (2015). Right now, I am starting to know God. I feel God blessed me by knowing YESIC and some friends there, and to get to know my teacher and mentor Virak. I love working with kids evicted children of Dey Krahom who have been evicted and dumped in Udong.
Please Make a donation to this excellent ministry by contacting;
Develop Our Villege Economy OFFICE
House #429, Street 26BT, Sangkat Boeung Tompon, Khan Menachey, Phnom Penh City, Kingdom of Cambodia. P.O.Box: 543 (Wat Phnom)
Email Address: Uon Seila: seilaopheas@gmail.com Brian: brianmaher57@gmail.com
No comments:
Post a Comment