Cambodia Project Wrap-up - ChangeStream Media

As we made plans to launch CSM, heading to Cambodia was an obvious choice. We already had great connections here, and Cambodia is seriously underdeveloped, suffering from a legacy of foreign occupations and the brutal Khmer Rouge regime.

Cambodians have had to dig themselves out of a deep hole, but we see progress everywhere we look. The road between Phnom Penh and our home base of Kampot has transformed from a pothole-ridden dirt road to a smooth thoroughfare. Major beautification projects have created leisure spaces in Kampot for locals and visitors alike to enjoy. And beyond cosmetic fixes, some very dedicated people are working to improve the quality of life for Khmer people, particularly the poorest of the poor.

One of the first Khmer partners we met was Hing Channarith, the CEO of the Cambodian Children’s Advocacy Foundation (CCAF). We were immediately dazzled by this kindhearted visionary. As a youth during the Khmer Rouge, Rith found creative ways to survive, building innovative traps to catch small animals, and washing the dust off untouched roadside grass for his cows to eat when the land was ravaged. Inspired by the international relief workers he met as a young man, Rith worked for many years on behalf of land mine victims, and currently supports rural preschools and small-scale farming projects through his foundation.

At our first meeting, Rith showed us his tinkering projects. These included rooftop wind turbines crafted from household objects, and a hydroponic farm model that he believes will scale up to provide sustainable funding for CCAF, which receives no financial support from the government.

CCAF Preschool Teacher

CCAF operates 18 pre-schools in some of the most destitute parts of the country. Once he identifies a locality in need of a preschool, Rith works with the village chief to find a covered space for the classes. CCAF then trains a local young woman to teach in her own village. We attended CCAF’s monthly meeting for teachers, and were impressed by the young women’s professionalism, and by the organization’s coordinated curriculum.

We spent two days filming a CCAF preschool in Tuk Meas, a village deep in the rice paddies and accessible only by a narrow dirt road. The teacher both entertained and educated her 20 students using games, songs, storybooks and flash cards. She then served them a nutritious meal, all the while encouraging good manners and proper hygiene. CCAF arranges for a doctor to visit each school every three months to examine the children, and we saw the care he took in dispensing medication to the concerned parents. In the afternoon, the teacher visited the families of all of her students, updating them on progress and addressing any issues. CCAF provides all these services free of charge, but encourages families to make small contributions when they can.

Medical Checkup at Preschool

To help introduce CCAF to the wider world, we produced a short video in English.

Everyone we interviewed, including the village chief, and parents whose children participate in the preschool, praised the program. We also spoke at length with the teacher. She shared her teaching tips, which we used to create a 10-minute teacher training video in the Khmer language. Our idea is for CCAF and other education organizations in Cambodia to use this video to help teachers learn best practices including engaging storytelling, encouraging teamwork, and promoting good health.

Neary Khmer Association for Health and Vocational Training

Raising Chickens Using EM

CSM also partnered with the Neary Khmer Association for Health and Vocational Training (NKA). Among other projects, NKA trains Khmer farmers to use natural products to raise animals and grow food. This is an exceedingly important mission in Cambodia, where many food producers use hazardous chemicals. (For more information, read an extensive report by the Environmental Justice Foundation, “Death in Small Doses: Cambodia’s Pesticide Problems and Solutions”.) NKA facilitates the use of Effective Microorganism products, which are safer and less expensive than chemical products.

We produced a short Khmer-language video teaching farmers how to use Effective Microorganism products to raise healthy chickens.

Provincial Teacher Training College in Kampot

Charlene Bredder Teaching

Our generous hostess in Kampot, Charlene Bredder, PhD, has volunteered at the Provincial Teacher Training College for four years. With the strong support of the college’s administration, Charlene has used her education expertise to help teacher trainees to build classroom resources and use them effectively. Education in Kampot is moving from memorization-based teaching to more child-friendly techniques, and these resources play a vital role in that shift. Because photocopiers, laminating machines and even scissors are hard to come by in the rural areas where many schools are located, the PTTC provides valuable opportunities for teachers to make games, storybooks, pictures, charts, calendars, flash cards and other useful resources. The college also provides in-depth training on good teaching practices utilizing the resources.

CSM produced a short video to introduce English speakers to the PTTC’s efforts.

We also made a longer video in the Khmer language documenting the importance of using resources in the classroom.

We hope these videos will help PTTC trainers and volunteers in their campaign to create a better learning environment for Cambodian students.

Students Using Resources