Cambodia Back to School Project
The UN has declared that children’s living conditions in Cambodia
are amongst the worst in the world with high mortality rates - one out
of 10 children dies before the first year of age, 40% rate of malnutrition
and unbearable exploitation and abuse. The country has been torn apart
by 25 years of war and genocide by the Khmer Rouge. 99% of teachers and
professors, 95% of doctors, and 99% of artists have been wiped out between
1975 and 1993. 3 million people have lost their lives out of a population
of 12 million. The war has destroyed historical cultural values, traditions,
and ethical foundations of the Cambodians.
Today 80% of the population live in rural areas, but agriculture is severely
compromised due to alternating floods and severe droughts and due to the
persistence of mines. One out of 26 persons has at least one amputation.
 Extreme
poverty makes survival the priority for families over their children,
who are forced to work day and night or are sold. They work to the extreme
of their forces, undernourished, in dangerous and degrading conditions,
exposed to the toxic fumes of the landfill that are exacerbated by the
heat in the daytime. Most of them however prefer this scenario than their
family homes where domestic violence is common.
 These
children need immediate assistance. The Pistorio Foundation has chosen
to support 133 children’s education in collaboration with
the NGO Pour un Sourire d’Enfant (PSE). The children, who due to
age or family situations cannot be integrated in the public schooling
system, receive accelerated teaching in the national curriculum at the
“Centre de Rattrapage” of PSE located in Stung Mean Chey in
proximity of the dump. The center spans kindergarten to high school education
with a strong emphasis on Khmer, mathematics, physics and foreign languages
(English and French). Sports are also practiced on a weekly basis as well
as teaching of traditional theatre and dance, and courses on Human Rights
and Rights of Children, and on prevention of sexually transmittable diseases
such as HIV. Children also receive medical assistance and nutritional
support at the center.
Families of these children are supported by social service workers and
receive compensation in rice for the income that is not generated by the
child who now attends school. Micro credit programs and vocational training
courses are provided to mothers of these children.
The Pistorio Foundation is committed to relieving the deplorable living
conditions of these children and contributing to the successful completion
of their education through to highschool and professional training in
the prospect of a different, brighter future. We plan to contribute also
in the creation of additional infrastructure and educational support for
the children that are workers at the landfills to decrease the incidence
of this form of unacceptable exploitation. |
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