More Than an Art Center
The center is a closed campus, safe from the prying eyes of tourists, with an open door policy for all children. Rather than selling souvenirs to tourists for a meager return, the children spend their spare time playing, creating, learning and interacting with their friends, our generous volunteers, and our dedicated staff. It ensures their safety and eliminates the risks of exploitation that make them vulnerable to an irreversible lifestyle of selling bracelets on the beach to sexual exploitation.
We ensure they are not robbed of their childhoods, and learn to be active members of their community. Our art program gives the children an avenue to express creativity, benefiting from myriad skills and passions from a diverse group of volunteers. There are extracurricular activities like karate lessons, yoga, and technology enrichment classes, and we boast volleyball and basketball nets, and enough room to play a small game of football.
A number of programs have been implemented to help our children’s families. There is an on-site nursery that watches small children so their older siblings can attend school, as well as breakfast and lunch programs to ensure they arrive to class with full stomachs. Our education incentive program rewards their attendance at English and Khmer school.
Most importantly, our children have access to a free education. We provide supplies, uniforms, transportation and language enrichment so they can attend school at the same level as their peers.
A Safe Haven
We relocated our classrooms to a gated site that’s tucked away from the bustling tourists on Serendipity Beach. We are closed to the general public so the children have a secluded place to study and play with their friends. Also, we require our volunteers to stay a minimum of one month as to avoid short-term “voluntourism” that can be damaging to our children’s emotional well-being.
Classroom Support
Our site has two classrooms, a computer lab, nursery, kitchen, office, and a first aid center. All of the children are enrolled in both English and Khmer upgrading classes. The new computer lab allows the kids to learn skills that are not generally available to the poor in Cambodia. We have qualified English teachers and a host of English-speaking volunteers who enrich the program. We run a nursery program to ease the burden that baby-sitting has on education. The older siblings, usually the girls, are responsible for the care of the babies, so these girls would no be able to attend school if not for our program.
Food Program
Aligned with our educational program is our food program. For an effective learning environment, children must be provided with basic nutrition. We provide them with breakfast and lunch, as well as a snack, so they stay alert throughout the day. In addition, we run a food assistance program that supplements seven families with fish and rice every day, letting their children attend school instead of selling and begging to buy food.
Bike Program
This program gives students who live far away a bicycle so they can get to the center and school. Over the years, many bikes have been donated to kids who have worked hard and regularly attend classes. To help with upkeep, we employ a bike repair technician from another NGO’s vocational training program once a week. This is an all-day job since he can repair up to twenty bikes per week!
Social program
We have 2 social workers who conduct family visits and an ongoing outreach program. It’s important to support the families in every aspect of their lives to guarantee the children are kept in school and are receiving proper care. This includes about 540 doctor visits a year for reasons ranging from dog bites to broken bones to sick babies. The social workers also conduct outreach to families we deem at-risk, offering all of our programs to help the children and their parents.
Gallery
Our original building on Serendipity Beach Road has been transformed into a gallery and the volunteer accommodations. This building generates income for the center by selling our children’s artwork and assorted merchandise to help subsidize our programs. All of our earned income comes directly back to our education and art programs, half of which is spent on the educational incentive program to make certain they attend school. This program gives a weekly gift to all the students with perfect attendance in both our English and Khmer classes. The gifts range from pop and chips, to clothes, rice, backpacks and other items they could use for school or take home to share with their family. It is highly successful and an average of 80 students per week receive gifts for perfect attendance.
Let Us Create is grateful to be a registered NGO in Cambodia, Holland, Switzerland, and Australia.
