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Kanhchana Thoy joined CWEF in 2010 and serves as health director in Cambodia. In her role, Kanhchana coordinates all CWEF community health projects in Cambodia. CWEF’s health programs strive to improve lives and inspire hope for people in underserved rural communities. Through Kanhchana’s service with CWEF, many lives have been touched in a way that surprises even her.

Kanhchana was born and grew up in Phnom Penh, the capital city of Cambodia, and graduated from nursing school in 1994. After her graduation she served as a nurse in government hospitals both inside and outside of the city. That experience helped her recognize the significant difference between health education and health problems in the city compared with those of people living in the countryside.

From 1994 to 1996, Kanhchana served as a nurse in a government health center in Svay Rieng province. Following that, she returned to Phnom Penh to work for 13 years at Kantha Bopha hospital, a government pediatric hospital funded by the Swiss government that accepts hundreds of children every day. During her years serving as a nurse, Kanhchana came to realize that more health care education and a focus on prevention would make a significant impact on people’s lives.  At CWEF, she is able to work on projects that do just that.

Kanhchana shared: “This has been a new experience for me, but I look forward to keep serving the people of Cambodia in a different way through CWEF.”

In July, the CWEF Yunnan office hosted a service learning team from Concordia University in Irvine, California. Many of the team members are staff at the university. They plan to lead service learning trips in the future and to encourage university students to serve in community development efforts. One member of the team, also employed by the university, will be facilitating international activities focused on global awareness and development. The participants agreed that they gained valuable and practical experiences from their time of service with CWEF.

Together with CWEF staff, the CUI team evaluated the impact of a drinking water project that was completed in a village in central Yunnan. Through the use of village surveys, the team discovered that the drinking water project immediately improved lives, even in the short time period since the system had been completed.

One local resident, a woman who suffers from acute arthritis so severe that she can barely get out of bed unless given medication each day, no longer had to walk for hours each day to collect water. Her ability to help her husband around the home has greatly increased. As a result, he is freed to spend more time tending to needs of the community as a whole.

CWEF is grateful for the help that CUI provided in completing the surveys and gathering information. Without their help, our staff would have needed many more days in the village collecting this important data. Thriving communities happen when we serve together!

Jennie Xu (徐锦嫦) was a CWEF scholarship recipient in both high school and university. In July, Jennie returned to Xiangshan high school, where she was once a student, to volunteer as part of the 2013 EMBER summer camp and give back to the current Xiangshan students. This is just one of many times she has returned to participate in activities with the students at her former school.

On the last day of the 2013 EMBER Summer Camp, we received the exciting news that Jennie was officially offered a position as an English teacher at Xiangshan High School! Something tells us she will be the perfect mentor for the next generation of Xiangshan students.

Here are excerpts from an interview with Jennie:

…

In what years were you a student at Xiangshan High School, and when did you become a scholarship student?

Jennie: I was a student from 2006 to 2009 and I became a scholarship recipient in 2006.

Do you feel that being a scholarship student changed your attitude towards school?

Jennie: Oh yes, absolutely. They not only paid my tuition, but also supported me to learn about life and how to overcome the difficulties in our lives; to give us confidence to face them; to be leaders.

How did you feel when you got into university? How about your family?

Jennie: Excited and happy, of course!! I have the opportunity to learn more. This offered me a great opportunity to meet more people, learn more things, and meet new friends. My family was also very happy and excited because they never imagined I would go to “Uni”! They are also very proud of me.

You received a university scholarship…what was the process like?

Jennie: First, CWEF & EMBER visit all of the graduates. Then, after I was accepted to Zhaoqing University, I was told I have a chance to apply for the scholarship. Next, I turned in my application and they visited my home again to discuss the scholarship with me.

How did you choose a major? When did you know this was what you wanted to do?

Jennie: I like English. In high school when I first learned I liked it very much I decided I wanted to be a teacher. During the EMBER Summer Camp, they asked us to think about a goal and that is when I became determined to reach my goal.

What advice would you give to current high school scholarship girls?

Jennie: First of all, I would like to say that I have found it was very difficult to find a satisfying job; there are many limitations. Also, grasp every opportunity to do anything that can develop your ability. Don’t be shy. You have to try.

During the 2014 EMBER Summer Camp, Teacher Jennie sat down to be interviewed again:

Have you ever lacked water even for a day? How about walking several miles to get water without assurance that you will find it? You may not want to experience this but there are millions of people every day who don’t have access to clean water for their basic needs. Some of those in need can be found in Takeo province, Cambodia. Takeo, once known as Water Chenla due to its abundance of water during the rainy season, contains hundreds of families who suffer from a lack of safe drinking water.

From May 19 to 31, 2013, CWEF staff continued in their mission to open the floodgates of flowing-water through the Water Well Project in Toul Roka village along with 5 other villages in Takeo province. With continuous cooperation from local partners, eight pump-and-ring type water wells have been successfully installed to serve 64 underprivileged families who had to walk 1 to 2 kilometers to get water from the closest pond. The water pond is murky, contains many kinds of bacteria and parasites and is not suitable for drinking yet it served many families in the area. During the hot season, the pond would dry up leaving the local villagers without any water. Today, thanks to the new wells, clear flowing water serves the community year round.

Through the use of local experts, CWEF has gained much knowledge in the proper installation of wells and the education of the villagers. Following this plan, CWEF staff met with local partners and the water well contractor to decide where to locate the wells, what type of wells should be used, and how they could be installed. In addition to the installation of the wells, “safe water education and well maintenance” training was conducted for 5 individuals from the 6 villages so they can learn and pass on their education to the other families in the area. CWEF staff is working to empower local people with knowledge and skills to reach out to help their own communities.

The second semester of the 2012-2013 school year saw a successful pilot of CWEF’s REACH program at Shanyang Middle School on the outskirts of Shanghai.

REACH (Resiliency Education: Advocacy, Collaboration & Hope) is a student development program geared toward building up students’ resilience, leadership ability & life skills. REACH develops students and educators who understand the value of a broad education and who become confident leaders empowered to create harmonious community by cultivating communication and life skills, teamwork and participatory learning.

From February 21-23, 2013, two CWEF staff and one REACH teacher advocate provided training for three teachers at Shanyang Middle School. The training covered participatory teaching methods and the REACH curriculum. The REACH teacher advocate was chosen because of her experience and enthusiasm for facilitating the REACH program at her school in Guangdong province, as well as her psychology education and counseling experience. In addition to providing training, the CWEF staff members and REACH teacher advocate led a live demonstration class to provide practical understanding of how to facilitate REACH lessons. Since the initial training, the REACH teacher advocates at Shanyang middle school have facilitated two of the regular REACH lessons with their ‘learning circle’ of 30 students, all of whom are children of migrant workers, an underserved segment of the population in Shanghai. The dates and topics of these lessons were: March 29, 2013 – Self Image ; April 26, 2013 – Emotion Management.

Air Products, a large gas and chemicals company, has come alongside the CWEF team to provide financial and volunteer support for the REACH pilot program in Shanghai.* During the second semester, 27 volunteers from Air Products supported the REACH program with their planning and participation in two Air Products staff-led enrichment activities on April 11, 2013 and May 9, 2013. These activities have effectively developed and broadened the topics covered in the monthly REACH lessons, and provided support and encouragement for the Shanyang teachers and students participating in REACH. …

REACH + Air ProductsRead More »

赵嫦燕 Zhao Changyan (“Soniya”) serves as health director in China’s Yunnan province. Soniya’s responsibilities cover everything related to CWEF’s health projects within the province, which she plans, manages, and evaluates together with our local government and school partners.

Soniya grew up in Dali in Yunnan’s northwest and completed her university degree in Kunming, the capital of Yunnan and the province’s largest city. She is familiar with the significant disparity between the health situation of people living in the city when compared to those who live in the countryside. Soniya’s previous work with NGOs (non-governmental organizations) has given her a wide range of practical experience that she brings to her work with CWEF. In the past, she has worked with World Vision in Shangri-la, Yunnan and with Help in Hand in Gansu province, where she served as a special education teacher. Soniya says she “prefers to work with local people and benefit them.”

Soniya has been with CWEF since February 2012. Prior to that, she was working with a research association, but she found she desired a position that gave her more of an opportunity to ‘give back.’ She began to look for such an opportunity and discovered that CWEF was looking for a new health director, which fit her desire to “join projects in rural communities and schools.” The CWEF team is grateful for the value that Soniya brings to the organization through her energy and professionalism, as well as her sunny disposition and ready smile.

Soniya hopes her work with CWEF’s health programs can serve as a model for future development in other areas, and that the impact of CWEF programs can continue to grow.

This April, the CWEF Guangdong office had the pleasure of working with an outstanding group of young men from Sha Tin College in Hong Kong.  Their team, appropriately named uSmile, participated in a CWEF Service Resource Materials Project in Huaiji, Zhaoqing, Guangdong, China. The uSmile Team conducted a sports camp for the 4th, 5th, and 6th graders at Sibao Primary School- Golden Dragon Campus on the newly constructed basketball court, donated by the team. The uSmile team also visited the home of a local student. The local community was even inspired to pull together their own funds to continue improvements! We’re certain reading the teams own words about the impact this outreach experience had on them will make ‘uSmile’.

“While I was in Huaiji, Guangdong with the CWEF team and the rest of the uSmile group, I had the opportunity to immerse myself in an environment that was almost foreign to me. For most of us, it was the first time where we witnessed the lives of the underprivileged and gained a first-hand experience of their rural way of living – and for a fleeting moment, I felt the burden these families carried on their shoulders. We spent an afternoon wandering through a populated village in the outskirts of the city, and while we were there, we had the chance to visit a local family. Some of us were stunned by how simple everything was. No laptops, no bathrooms, no fancy kitchens… the house was stripped down to its bare necessities, and even though it was quite tiny, it was responsible for sheltering a family of seven.

It was also a pleasure to spend time in Sibao Primary School and work with the kids from the local community. By the time we arrived, the new basketball court that we worked hard to donate was up and ready, and we were all frantically eager to run our 3-day sports camp with the children. We had a series of sports games planned out – basketball drills, dribbling games, football matches… and a handful of other little things. I found it very lovely, even inspiring, that the kids erupted in laughter at almost anything. They smiled, giggled, and chuckled at all the little things, and by the end of it all, it was clear to us how much the kids treasured this experience.  It felt really great. We came with the intention to serve the community and make a difference in the world that we live in – and we did just that, perhaps a little more. We’ve planted a worthy memory that values all the little things in life, not only for the kids, but for us as well, and surely, it is one that we will remember for many years to come.”          -uSmile Team Member

CWEF works with local teacher advocates each year to put together a curriculum for the REACH program to implement in schools. The teachers themselves use this retreat time to debrief, share and uplift each other as well as prepare for the new year. Here is an excerpt of things they shared as feedback from their students:

• Teamwork: ‘Before I thought group members caring for each other and helping each other was something that happened only on TV and not in real life. Now, I am so lucky to be a part of a team.  I know that working as a team is very powerful; everyone has a good heart, and we can work together to solve our problems and create a miracle.’
• Emotions Management: ‘Everyone will have time to be sad and down and we have to develop a good way to manage our feelings.  We have to think ‘calm down. Why do I have this unhappy emotion? Why am I stressed? How can I solve this problem? Then, we can be more effective to adjust our emotion and keep a positive attitude to face our life.’
• Communication: ‘Now I know how to make friends with others. I know how to better understand what others say. For example, during communication you should listen carefully to understand others meaning well, but we also need to make sure we totally understand—we should not just hear the words they say you should LISTEN to what they say and understand the purpose.’
• Self-Image: ‘Image can be inside and outside. We can learn and educate ourselves. Our image being good or bad should not depend on others opinions or how I feel sometimes. Now we know how we can know more about ourselves and what is a good or bad self-image so that we keep the good things in mind, and improve the bad things so they become better and better.’

For more information catch our article on REACH teachers in the coming spring newsletter.

On March 24, 2013, students from Hong Kong’s Concordia International School (“CIS”) arrived at the Phnom Penh International Airport with excitement and enthusiasm for their first service trip to Cambodia. CIS worked at the Kranglovear Primary School in Kampong Chhnang province for three days. The team consisted of 14 students and 1 teacher and they were tasked with three different projects. The students conducted an English camp, painted a mural, and provided training and awareness on personal hygiene with a focus on hand washing, clean water and teeth brushing.

The English team presented lessons in English conversation along with songs and games to help the students learn quickly. The A-B-C song excited the students and they enjoyed singing the song as they learned English.

The hygiene team worked hard to introduce and raise awareness on personal hygiene which was not an easy thing for the young children to understand. As understood from our baseline survey, more than half of the Grade 1 students did not brush their teeth or wash their hands daily. The children were excited to learn and practice washing their hands and brushing their teeth. We hope the 3-day health education will encourage the students to pay attention to their personal hygiene in the future.

Last but not least, with continuous support from the CIS teacher and CWEF staff despite the burning heat, the painting team was able to finish one wall located at the entrance gate of the school. The finished mural read “once the world is without war, there will be nothing but peace, love, joy and hope for all mankind.”

One of the CIS students asked a member of the CWEF staff if their service at the primary school for three days would have a sustainable impact on the school. Although it is difficult to assess the full impact of the team’s service, the CIS students can be sure that their presence made a difference of these young Cambodian students. For example, three water filters were distributed to the school during the trip, which will provide clean water for the students and teachers there for the next five years. The headmaster said: “CIS students were the first team coming to do this kind of work in our school and what they have done has become part of the change in our school.”

In April 2012, CWEF’s Animal Gift program began in China’s Yunnan province with the first ten families from Longtan and Laziqing villages receiving ¥2,000 (US$325) each for the purpose of buying and caring for animals. In January 2013, these first ten families returned the funds, which were then transferred to the second group of ten families in January 2013.

Long Xuehua’s family is one of beneficiaries in the first group of ten families. Long Xuehua is 51 years old. His wife, Yuan Zhenhua, is 49 years old. They experienced great tragedy a few years ago when one of their two children died in an accident. The last few years, their financial hardship has been exasperating for them. Their daughter and son-in-law have been staying with them because of unemployment. In spite of financial hardship, they hold to their faith and values, and continue to practice generosity to their community.

Long Xuehua was hoping his family’s income might increase at least ¥1000 through the Animal Gift project. With the funds, his wife took good care of 14 piglets from their sow and bought nutritional supplements to make the piglets grow up quickly. Unfortunately, 10 piglets died and 3 piglets were given to their relatives; they had to buy another two piglets in August 2012. When we visited their home in January 2013, their remaining three piglets were fully grown. Long Xuehua showed us these pigs and told us that he would sell one pig before Spring Festival and two pigs would be slaughtered in February. These two pigs will provide enough meat for his family for the year.

Long Xuehua’s family made about ¥700 additional net income last year as a result of the Animal Gift project. He felt satisfied about it even if it was less than his expectation. When their piglets died, he didn’t ask for any financial assistance from the common risk fund, which was set up as part of the project, because he felt the pigs were his own responsibility. He is grateful and gives thanks to the donors and to his wife who always supports him in his service to their community and takes primary responsibility in caring for their pigs.