Category: Children’s Home

With the goal of helping needy Asians help themselves, the children and staff of the Goducate Children’s Home joined hands and minds in offering informal English language classes to three communities near the Home. This project was started 3-4 months ago, and the classes were to be held every Thursday and Saturday. However, initially the schedule at the Home was such that the Saturday classes could not be held very regularly. Now, with some adjustment of the time-table at the Home, we have been able to jumpstart the community program again.

The community classes are held in somebody’s house or in the open. The premises are not ideal, but they are very accessible to the children who want to attend the classes. One center is just in front of a quarry but the kids obviously do not mind sitting under the sun and using the ground as their drawing board. We hope to find more suitable premises that we can rent.

English is an important tool for getting on in the modern world, but it is not part of the local school curriculum, hence this opportunity to learn English for free is very attractive. In two of the communities the average attendance is 40-50 children.

Part of the training we provide to the needy Cambodians at the Goducate Children’s Home include farming and agriculture. Four months ago, an experimental organic piggery was started with the purchase of 18 small piglets to be reared on organic feed. The piggery was a good success as the pigs have since grown fat and healthy.

The boys at the Home took turns daily to chop and prepare organic feed for the pigs. A few weeks ago, a few pigs were slaughtered and eaten at special celebrations at the Home.

“1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8…” , the voices of the children rang through the air, counting to the rhythm of tooth brushing.

In Dec 2012, a team of us from Singapore conducted hygiene workshops for the children of Goducate Cambodia. Oral hygiene was one key segment. We know the kids have toothbrushes, but are they brushing correctly?

Our youths, using pictorials, explained about tooth decay—-what is it, how it happens. Then came the brushing. With a plastic tooth model, the team demonstrated the proper tooth-brushing method, highlighting the importance of brushing up-down, inside, and the tongue.

We then got the children into practical action. On the tooth model, they showed how they would brush the teeth, while the rest counted and corrected them if it was not properly done. Some brushed with such vigor it looked more like toilet scrubbing!

The tooth model turned out to be a real hit with the kids. Those who had earlier indicated that they did not like tooth brushing were all excited to brush the giant teeth.

Overall, we all had great fun learning together. Hopefully, the enthusiasm will lead on to good oral habits, and each child will joyfully beam with sparkling pearlies for life!

Guest writer Mey, Volunteer from Singapore