Spean Chivit

𝙄𝙩 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙖 𝙗𝙞𝙜 𝙅𝙪𝙡𝙮 𝙖𝙩 𝙎𝙥𝙚𝙖𝙣 𝘾𝙝𝙞𝙫𝙞𝙩

We don’t usually do a monthly round-up but July was such a busy month for us we thought we would share what’s been going on.
And yes, it’s super late because … August is also super busy for us!

𝙃𝙖𝙞𝙧 𝘼𝙞𝙙
When we heard Hair Aid needed more space to run their hair dressing training we were happy to offer our workshop space. Hair Aid sends international volunteers to developing countries to offer hair free training. Their concept is to help those who are on very low incomes to find another source of income or to help people cut the hair of their families to save them some money every month. Thirty participants filled up our rooms, with even more volunteering for free hair cuts. It was great to be a part of this.

𝘾𝙤𝙢𝙢𝙪𝙣𝙞𝙩𝙮 𝙎𝙥𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙍𝙤𝙡𝙡𝙨
Our second community spring rolls event was another success. Thanks to WILD - Siem Reap we make fresh spring rolls once a month with the aim of bringing people together. Sharing food is a common connector around the world and we thought it was a great way to bring young people together. We used the July one to talk about health and hygiene, especially around food and food storage.

𝙊𝙛𝙛 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙈𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙢𝙖
Our Future Focus Vision group had to complete a community project and they decided to raise awareness about wildlife conservation. They did this through a double screening of the documentary Kingdom of Nature, featuring the amazing animals, birds and insects found throughout Cambodia. A big thanks to Minema for the use of the main cinema room. We are very proud of this group who had 45 people watch the documentary and who now understand more about wildlife conservation.

𝙎𝙥𝙚𝙖𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙊𝙪𝙩
Five of our youth did one of life’s most stressful things - public speaking - and they did it with conviction - in English. It is well documented that public speaking is high on the list of stress-inducing life activities. Most of us hate it. Standing in front of an audience and sharing your thoughts with them is pretty daunting. There were a few nerves, but for the most part, they were all very poised. They chose great topics: Menstrual Myths; Taking a Gap Year is Not a Waste of Time; Single Mothers Deserve to be Valued; Challenging Social Norms for Gender Equity.

𝙁𝙪𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙚 𝙁𝙤𝙘𝙪𝙨 𝙑𝙞𝙨𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙛𝙞𝙣𝙞𝙨𝙝𝙚𝙨
Five young people graduated from our Future Focus Vision pilot program. The six-month program combined critical thinking with public speaking and community development. The group spent a few months investigating community issues, brainstorming possible solutions and listening to guest speakers talk about the problems they had identified and were working to solve. Then they got to work to come up with a speech topic and develop their own community project. Despite some initial communication challenges, the group came together, organsing the documentary screening of Kingdom of Nature and advertising it to youth organisations. They also delivered their speeches to a small audience of about 15 people. We finished the program with certificates and cake.
We would like to say a huge thank you to the volunteers who supported this program. Nick Batt, who provided ongoing advice and mentoring in project management. Cathy Musgrove, David Musgrove Pari Gilmour and Theary Ly Sokun, whose valuable input helped shape the speeches into great topics, delivered clearly.
We are thrilled with how well this program went and the impact it had on our youth, who reported increased confidence, increased understanding about the community and were more comfortable to speak in front of people.

𝙂𝙧𝙖𝙙𝙚 12 𝙚𝙭𝙖𝙢𝙨
The grade 12 final school exams usually mean we get busy. Our study spaces and community centre fill up with students who are either frantically swatting or who need to chill out. There is a mix of people reading notes and playing Uno or singing Karaoke. Many of our youths come from small or crowded homes and noisy neighbourhoods and having a safe space, supportive place to study can make all the difference.

𝘽𝙪𝙨𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙨 𝙖𝙨 𝙐𝙨𝙪𝙖𝙡
On top of all of these things it was business as usual for our team. We continued to put together weekly workshops for a group of vocational training and university students on Friday afternoons and our weekly Sunday afternoon Future Focus sessions. We had supportive conversations with a number of young people and talked about future plans after school.

To everyone who has supported us - thank you! You helped make all of this, and so much more possible.

If you would like to help us continue doing this valuable work for Cambodian youth, please support our fundraising campaign.

https://gdg-j2000nx.raiselysite.com/

Donations are tax deductible in Australia, New Zealand, the US and the UK but donations can be made from anywhere.

𝘽𝙪𝙞𝙡𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙏𝙤𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙧𝙤𝙬'𝙨 𝙏𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙠𝙚𝙧𝙨

Increased confidence, communication and making positive community contributions are just some of the experiences and skills gained by our Future Focus Vision group.

A six-month pilot program with five participants was a great way to test the waters of this new program we offer – and the results were amazing.

Over the course of the six months the group developed critical thinking skills while analysing community issues and considering solutions.

They then developed and delivered a 5-7 minute speech, in English and presented it to an audience. Speeches covered a range of interesting topics from acknowledging the important role of single mothers and menstrual myths to gender equity, overcoming social norms and why gap years are not a waste of time.

The group also created a community project – eventually deciding to raise awareness about wildlife conservation through a double screening of the documentary Kingdom of Nature at Minema.

They are still working on the possibility of a mural about the same topic.
Some of their biggest challenges were group communication, which held projects up and making the leap between the idea and how it could be implemented.
This is our most advanced program and this group did incredibly well.

It could not have happened without the help of some wonderful volunteers: Nick Batt, who helped with project management; and Cathy Musgrove and David Musgrove, Pari Gilmour and Theary Ly Sokun who all helped with speech writing and delivery.

Also a thank you to Cambodia Wildlife Care and Angkor Centre for Conservation of Biodiversity for the inspiration and support.

A huge thank you to the volunteers and a big congratulations to the participants.

Good luck to the grade 12s sitting exams!

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