Progress Report: Fall 2011

	We have had a difficult rainy season at our school in Poum Steung. The village was under water and 245 family homes were flooded. Parents, kids, cows and ducks moved to high ground to live under tarps. The rice plantings were ruined. The poorest families were running out of food. Here you see boats tied up to the school, and a flooded classroom. Our school is built on many loads of fill, on higher ground than any of the homes in the village.

We have had a difficult rainy season at our school in Poum Steung. The village was under water and 245 family homes were flooded. Parents, kids, cows and ducks moved to high ground to live under tarps. The rice plantings were ruined. The poorest families were running out of food. Here you see boats tied up to the school, and a flooded classroom. Our school is built on many loads of fill, on higher ground than any of the homes in the village.

We contacted friends and friends-of-friends and were able to raise $5,000 for flood relief. With this, we bought food rice and enough seed rice so that the poorest families could each replant one hectare. This much land will grow enough rice to feed a family for one year. The water is down now and school finally opened on November 14th. Here you see the schoolyard with the outdoor kitchen and well in the background. The kids are waiting for their desks to dry out and for school to open. On the 15th, four friends traveling together from Canada visited the school. They had a fun English lesson with the students. They also donated notebooks and pencils for all 271 children.

We contacted friends and friends-of-friends and were able to raise $5,000 for flood relief. With this, we bought food rice and enough seed rice so that the poorest families could each replant one hectare. This much land will grow enough rice to feed a family for one year. The water is down now and school finally opened on November 14th. Here you see the schoolyard with the outdoor kitchen and well in the background. The kids are waiting for their desks to dry out and for school to open. On the 15th, four friends traveling together from Canada visited the school. They had a fun English lesson with the students. They also donated notebooks and pencils for all 271 children.

In the meantime, through all this rain, we were building the new technical school with the JHP Skola group from the Czech Republic. The rain slowed construction considerably. Fortunately, the road stayed passable and we did make progress. Here is Sarith on site in mid-November (sent by Michael Pondelicek of JHP Skola). We forwarded funding to add much-needed fill to the schoolyard and to bring in the electric line. Once these are in place, we will begin putting in the organic gardens.

Our other schools are all north of the road to Thailand and did not flood. They opened on time and are full of students. Jasmine, one of the Canadian visitors, said she was impressed by how much English vocabulary the students had learned. We hope other visitors will also come and engage the students in conversation - they love interacting and practicing their English. Let us know if you are visiting and would like to do that.

Above you see some precious bags of food. Rice straw seals the openings of these 100 kg bags of rice harvested last year. Each costs $55 and holds enough rice to feed a family of six for two months. To the left, you see what this project is all about – our students. Each of our 1,500 students gets a new school uniform, a notebook and pencil again this year. Our students and their families say thank you for your generous help. Aukuhn sharahn.

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