CCH Youth....Moving On To Bigger Things The biggest news of the past two months is the establishment of the new CCH Youth House. As luck would have it, 8 CCH youth who are old enough to move on from the orphanage are all young men. Canodia Fund of Canada, in cooperation with CCH Director Mech Sokha, has identified a remarkable opportunity to rent a new building about 3 kilometers from CCH 1, to house up to 16 CCH graduates. There are currently 8 young men moving in to the new rented facility. The rules for staying there were partially set by the young men themselves (in by 9pm every night, no drugs or alcohol, etc) and partly by Canodia Fund and Sokha (age range 18-24, free room and board while still in school or vocational training, graduated rent and food fees thereafter, boys will cook for themselves). Even bigger news, perhaps: Canodia Fund, in Partnership with VZW de Stortkinderen of Belgium have provided funds to purchase a lot 17m X 12m right next to CCH 2. This lot will be the permanent site of the Youth House, after construction of a facility appropriate for housing both young women and young men. Target date for completion: 2010, just in time to accomodate some CCH girls who will be old enough to graduate from the orphanage. Third big news item: The ground floor of the new Youth House will house a restaurant, run by long time CCH cook, Pho Phanny. The Restaurant is being set up as a for profit enterprise, with finances completely separate from CCH. Seed money has been provided by Friends of CCH in the USA. Customers of the restaurant will be local residents, as this location is not in a tourist area. Youth House Images
Young Men at New CCH Youth House
The Rented Youth House-------Gerry Valois of Canodia Fund Buying Beds
......................Youth House Occupants Meet..................................YouthHouse Interior
................Pho Phanny at new restaurant site...........................And offering food, as usual
This photo, taken from the second level of CCH 2, shows the new Youth House permanent site, defined more or less by the low brick wall up to the break before the building at the upper right of the photo. Total size: 17m x 12m (that means about 2200 square feet)---small, but over 3 times larger than the site of the rented Youth House. Land values in Phnom Penh have doubled in the past 6 months.
Christmas at Steung Meanchey Dump A remarkable event happened just before Christmas, thanks to CCH staff, the CCH Roadshow, and funding from Canodia. Children working at Steung Meanchey Dump get very little in the way of relaxation, entertainment, or even decent nutrition. The CCH crew (kids and staff) rented 300 chairs, bought food and presents to give out to dump children, handed out Santa hats, and performed plays. As can be seen from the photos below, this event must have been really special for these children---notice they are generally dressed up and are clean, as opposed to the all too familiar site of these same children, completely filthy, working at the dump. CCH estimated 300 children in attendance. 500 came, and the presents ran out....
CCH Kids setting up for the Christmas at the dump...The Audience, with dump smoke rising behind
Dump Children Receiving Presents and Food
Coming on Stage for Gifts and Singing
Meanwhile....the Dump Any Other Day of the Year In the "lest we forget" department, Steung Meanchey dump is smokier and smellier than ever. A few scenes from Steung Meanchey:
Accomplishments at CCH Through a grant from Happy Hearts Fund of the USA, 10 very lucky CCH students are now enrolled in the highly regarded Australian Center for Education English Language Program. As the year progresses, this number will increase to at least 15.
.........CCH Students bound for ACE Training......................CCH Students in Front of ACE Facility
Several children at CCH face a big examination to pass out of 6th grade. Sokha and Dany met with these children, to help prepare them for the exam. Fun at CCH Pictured below are many images of happy kids at CCH, including good times at a Christmas party at CCH/CDCC, funded by Ms. Kristen Segelke of the United States, where all children from cCH and CDCC received christmas presents.
...........................Boy Dancers............................................................Girl Dancers CCH Library The CCH Library continues strong. Librarian Sereyworks with younger children, and other CCH librarians go to the Orussey Market to buy more books,
Construction Projects at CCH and CDCC
.....Covered Dining Room at CCH 1.......3rd Level Dorms at CDCC.....3 Level Multi-Purpose at CCH 1
Yikes! Even Cleaning the new boy's bathroom at CCH 1 generates excitement!
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Contributors to this report: Content: Mech Sokha & Elia Van Tuyl English Editing and Layout: Elia Van Tuyl Photos: Chin Sayorn, Elia Van Tuyl, Gerry Valois
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