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PURE! Dream Centre 1 year!
Last year at April 1st, the leader of the Kandek community requested PURE! to start an educational center. After one year we have: 60 students, six new classrooms, a kitchen, a house for our staff members Sitha and Bopha, a sports field, nine Cambodian staff members and a qualitative educational program. A real PURE! Dream Centre (PDC). Not to mention our future plans...
In a nutshell
The large shed which we found in the Kandek community was in no time transformed into a colorful space with three classrooms and an office. In the meantime, we started with the selection of 60 students. A lot of work, involving the screening of more than 100 families. The official opening ceremony was on May 5th, the classes could start!
The children are divided into sex groups and have three hours class every day. The remaining hours, they go to the local school to learn the Khmer-language and general subjects. Every day they get English, creative workshops and sports activities. Twice a week the sports lessons are replaced by other classes. Once by living values (where they learn about norms and values) and as of October they also have computer classes. Since the end of 2011 we have a library filled with a collection of donated books, so the reading lessons also started.
Due to a lack of space we started to build three outdoor classrooms in November. These classrooms are currently completed and once the new school desks will be finished, a few lessons will move to the classrooms outside. In addition, the last few months we raised a lot of funds to build a kitchen and start a lunch program for the children. In a few months we can offer our children an extra meal every day, which is really necessary to improve the children’s concentration during the lessons.
The PDC is a project for and by the community and it is a crucial link for development. There is regular contact with parents or guardians, also the local population helps to participate in construction activities or helps with other activities at the centre. Currently, the families of 46 children who go to the PDC are visited and analyzed by a social worker. This will help us in the future to respond to certain family situations.
The next year we will continue to develop the curriculum further and we will start with the lunch program. In addition, we aim to start with a vocational sewing class for girls aged between 15 and 21 and with a home based program for mothers focused on natural materials like bamboo, rattan and roumdeek. For both programs, the demand is high and we hope to make a difference to young girls and the family as a whole to support the mothers.
PURE! would like to thank all the volunteers and sponsors who have contributed to make our PURE! Dream Centre a great success!