CAMBODIA 2023
CONSTRUCTION
Due to the continued generosity of the Michel Family Foundation the Cambodia team was able to undertake many projects. Their projects were focused on improving the school in the community. They installed new fencing around the school, they renovated existing classrooms sanding and painting much of the exterior, and the biggest project was constructing a classroom for the school. They worked extremely hard and did a great job!
CULTURAL EXCHANGE
The cultural committee did a great job at overseeing the opening and closing ceremonies for team and the community members. They also planned a fun fair for the village students which was the culmination of English camp. The cultural committee also planned and carried out the mural at the school. The mural turned out beautiful, the team and the community members loved it. During home visits the community members welcomed the team into their home and had a lot of insight and humbling stories to share about surviving the reign of Pol Pot.
EDUCATION
The education committee ran a great English camp for the students in the community. They helped Youthlinc students plan their English lessons then oversaw English camp when in country. English camp takes up a big chunk of the work day so it is a huge undertaking to make sure it is going well. Things ran smoothly, the Cambodian students enjoyed the lessons and Youthlinc students had fun interacting with the kids on a more personal level.
The education committee also oversaw the Mondo Art Project a project where they facilitate an art exchange between students from all over the world. It is an extremely fun project and the Cambodian kids really enjoyed it.
COMMUNITY HEALTH
The community health committee’s focus was to provide health education lessons as well as supplies for the community’s health needs. The committee undertook a ton of projects from Days for Girls kits, menstrual kits, hygiene kits, to birthing kits. They also taught lots of health education lessons on topics such as dental hygiene, first aid, and hand washing/sanitation.
VOCATIONAL
The main project for the vocational committee was teaching women in the community how to sew. The committee worked hard to collect many sewing supplies as well as funds to buy sewing machines for the women. The women caught on so fast, they were able to learn how to make drawstring bags, headbands, skirts, shirts, and scrunchies. They were very excited and at the end of the trip they sold the items they’d made back to the team. They can use these profits to fund further projects and/or supplies for the sewing group. Thanks to the skills of some of the team members they were also able to hold lessons on how to cut hair. They provided daily lessons and kits to continue improving and practicing on their family.
Vocational committee also taught a cooking class. They taught how to make banana oat muffins, Banana pancakes, hash browns, french toast, Spaghetti, Tacos, Peanut butter cookies and Cake/cup cakes for a birthday celebration. The women enjoyed the classes and found a few new favorites!
They also provided lessons on how to plant and maintain an herb garden. They planted cilantro, cinnamon, oregano, Garlic, ginger, basil, sage, and cumin. The team was able to provide them a supply of these herbs and show them how they can be used.
BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT
The business committee worked hard to put on a business seminar teaching basic business principles such as (product, price, place, profit, and promotion). The committee taught their business seminar to a youth club in the community. The youth really absorbed the information and were excited about the concepts they were learning. To culminate the business seminar the committee facilitated a business competition, where participants had to use the skills they’d been taught to come up with a product and a business model. They were then judged and cash prizes were awarded to the winners to give them some capital to help try to implement their business ideas.