Cambodia School Center
The Cambodia School Center project, also known as the House of Light and Knowledge, is located in the village of Ksach Poy in Northwest Cambodia. This community initiative is being run by a local Non-Governmental Organization [NGO] named FEDA [Friends Economic Development Association.] Dickon Verey, with support from the Marion Institute, is organizing the fundraising.
Ksach Poy is a village without running water or electricity. Families make very little, supplementing their income with rice farming and growing fruit. Many of the children suffer from malnutrition, a problem that has been further complicated by a lack of basic medical facilities. Most of the children complete primary school in the village but many are required to work in the rice fields rather than attend secondary school.
.jpg)
In November 2005 "Ptea Ponleu Vichea" ["The House of Light and Knowledge"] was officially opened. This unique youth center occupies a hectare of land in the middle of Ksach Poy village and has become a focal point for over one thousand students who attend the various programs held there. At the moment, over eight hundred students study English and another hundred study art, music, reading and writing. The center itself has three large classrooms, a library, auditorium for over six hundred students, offices, computer lab and extensive well-tended grounds. The center employs fifteen staff, all drawn from the surrounding communities, who have developed a very peaceful atmosphere of learning and fun.
Connected to the House of Light and Knowledge are small employment schemes giving graduates of the school the possibility of gainful employment in their home community.
Their project includes:
The Green Orange Café - The cafe provides a safe, alcohol and drug-free space for children of all ages to meet and socialize. The Green Orange staff are from the local area and the café provides much needed employment in our village, Ksach Poy, as well as raising funds for other community projects. By using local ingredients, the Green Orange Café (named after the famous Battambang Orange) seeks to benefit the local economy in an environmentally responsible way. We would also like to raise funds for solar panels to run the café.
Music Bands for Events and Wedding Hire - A Group of young Cambodians calling themselves The Black Eagles juggle their working lives with practicing hard in this new band. FEDA sponsors them so that their families can afford to allow them time away from working in the fields to practice. Now, they would like to make their first CD and have just begun to make their own income after having been hired at two weddings. A new girl band has also just formed and is hoping to have a similar opportunity.
Eco Tourism Kayaking - Two kayaks and FEDA's well trained kayak team provide a small eco tourist project on the Sangke River, drawing tourists to the area. Tourists paddle the kayaks from the school sight, a few kilometers down the river to Battambang town where they are met by FEDA graduates.
Future plans for FEDA and Ptea Ponleu Vichea:
• The Music and Dance Center. In 2010, we hope to begin the building of a Music and Dance Center in Ksach Poy Village. This center will provide an opportunity for children to learn about traditional Cambodian music and dance from visiting and local teachers. The Center, when built, will have a main stage and various performance rooms. Apsara, folk dance, and traditional instruments will all be taught. If you are interested in learning about or contributing to this project, please contact Dickon Verey.
• Children's Educational Scholarship Fund. More and more often we are discovering that dedicated students are being forced to quit school at an early age as a result of poverty. We are keen to try and slow and eventually stop this counterproductive cycle by providing scholarships to some of our students so they do not have to stop their studies. If you are interested in learning about or contributing to this project, please contact Dickon Verey.
It is hoped that with more skills the children will be able to break away from their predecessors' cycle of poverty and have a better life. FEDA's project will hopefully inspire other centers to be built in the country. Perhaps, one child at a time, a country that has been almost completely destroyed by genocide and war can begin to rebuild on a local level, reviving the desperately needed social fabric of the country.
"The Marion Institute has been instrumental in helping me raise funds for this wonderful project in Cambodia. Without them it would have been very difficult to make the progress we have so far. I, and the people in Ksach Poy, are eternally grateful." - Dickon Verey
Epic Arts Centre.
Epic Arts/Cambodia (EA/C) promotes integration of people of all abilities through utilizing the arts as a form of expression, empowerment, education and employment. This is vital in a country where an estimated one in 250 people have some form of disability. EA/C achieves its aims through workshops and performances which empower individuals whilst raising awareness of the rights of people with disabilities. EA/C wishes to focus on consolidating our work in the town of Kampot. Kampot has a high number of individuals with disability. Through the creation of the first fully accessible arts centre in Cambodia, EA/C will be providing a place for the local disabled community to belong, a vehicle for linking with local artists, a venue for integrated workshops and performances and a powerful example of an inclusive working environment.
If you would like to help support the goals of the Cambodia School Center, please donate here. To help support the goals of the Epic Arts Centre, please donate here.
Donate by mail
Please make checks made payable to the "Marion Institute" with either "Cambodia School Center" or "Epic Arts Centre" noted in the memo line and send to:
Cambodia School Center
c/o Marion Institute
202 Spring St.
Marion, MA 02738
Ph: 508.748.0816
Fax: 508.748.1976
Website: www.fedacambodia.org
Dickon Verey
Cambodia School Center Project Leader
hdverey@hotmail.com
Katie McCabe
Epic Arts Centre
epicarts@camintel.com
Get Connected.
Read more.
These five reference materials are essential to learning more about this issue.
"A History of Cambodia"
by David Chandler
"First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers"
by Loung Ung
"Mountains Beyond Mountains"
by Tracy Kidder
"River of Time"
by Jon Swain
"The Monk, the Farmer, the Merchant, the Mother - Survival Stories of Rural Cambodia"
by Anne Best
Watch more.
"Cambodian revival at festival"
Cambodian dancers are appearing at the Edinburgh festival as part of a project to restore the country's cultural heritage.
"The Flute Player"
"The Flute Player" is the story of Arn Chorn Pond, a man who has determined to keep Cambodia's traditional music alive. His organization, Cambodian Living Arts [CLA], is at the forefront of the country's cultural revival. CLA has partnered with Friends Economic Development Association [FEDA] and the children of Ptea Ponleu Vichea on more than one occasion. Available from PBS.
"The Killing Fields"
"The Killing Fields" shows the story of Cambodia's tragic recent history through the eyes of one remarkable man. At times brutal and at others uplifting this film helps to show why there is so much left to be done in Cambodia.