Category: Cambodia

The Goducate Children’s Home has recently had some new staff. One of them is Lethel (Ada) Bahandi, who has joined us as a clerk. She is from the Philippines, where she used to work in a hotel.

Lethel is a most willing and very cooperative worker, and very compassionate and loving to the children. She wears the biggest smile every day, even on “bad” days, and her hearty laugh gives away her presence. Her spirit is contagious.

Here she tells us of her impressions of the Home:

“During my first three months my impression was that the Home was like a “camp”, with rules and schedules to follow. However, I now see it as a home, a real home, where the children are well taken care of, provided with basic needs such as nutritious food, beautiful clean housing, enough clothing, and, most of all, I see how they are loved by the house parents. The house parents, Noe and Grace, attend not only to their physical needs but also nurture them to be good examples to their own community when they are old enough to leave the Home.

“We, the staff, collaborate in the training of these children, guiding them in keeping the environment clean, in attending to personal hygiene, in cultivating good manners, and in understanding the value of education. These are not qualities inherent in children so guidance and discipline are necessary. And we realize how important it is for us to communicate with the children in love.”

 

There is a girls’ workshop at the Goducate Children’s Home where the girls are taught skills such as baking and sewing. However, it is one of the boys who first showed an interest in making bread. The girls find making dough by hand to be heavy going.

Lois has been encouraged to pursue his interest. He has been learning to make cinnamon rolls. He is also able to make pizza dough and banana muffins. His interest in baking has piqued that of another boy, Andrew. So Lois, with Andrew’s assistance, will be making cinnamon rolls for friends of the Home.

Lois’ interests are not confined to baking. He is preparing for the National Students Convention next year in the Sports category (100 m race) and the Music Category (playing the violin as part of the instrumental ensemble).

The children at the Goducate Children’s Home in Cambodia are preparing for the first National Students Convention to be held in Cambodia by the School of Tomorrow towards the end of next year, probably November. The School of Tomorrow curriculum is what the students at the Home follow, and the School of Tomorrow holds national, regional and international conventions, during which competitions are held in many events in various subject categories, both academic and non-academic.

There are two age categories—-juniors (9-12 years) and high school (13-18 years). 24 of our students are qualified to take part, 7 as juniors and 17 as high-schoolers. Music is one category they will be taking part in. All are practising for the singing category, and 15 for the musical-instrument events. They will also be taking part in sporting events such as the 100 m race and volleyball, and maybe soccer.

It’s not been confirmed what other events the children will be taking part in but they are practising every day for the different academic subjects every school day during their break. Quizzes are held during these times, one subject each week, with prizes for the winning team after the final competition on Fridays. The quizzes and teams are structured so that the children learn to strategize who to send up to answer which questions, and so that the younger ones learn to be confident about answering questions.