Off to School...and Work.

December 31^st (Happy New Year’s Eve!)

CeMaia Wise (with a few statistical details added by Dr. Romeyn)

Today we went to the Aranth School bright and early. We were met by Megan, CFC coordinator, and by Ya, a local student at University of Cambodia. We presented our donations of more than 1,000 toothbrushes and 500 tubes of toothpaste. Megan explained the value of the donation:  each elementary school student has his or her own toothbrush at the school, and the teachers supervise the students and encourage them to brush twice a day.  The brushes are replaced every six months, and with 4,000 students enrolled in CFC schools, the brushes will be put to good use.

Megan took us on the tour of the facilities, which include a primary school, a middle school, and a (nearly completed) high school.  The school currently goes until 9th grade, but next year those current 9th graders will be able to move to the brand-new high school.  Our donations have provided for key supplies for three of the classrooms in the high school.

W broke up into two groups to work on projects for the day. My group (Matt, Mr. Kosegarten, Noah, and Brigid) worked on mixing cement and building a four foot brick wall, which is already looking nice. The wall is part of a larger landscaping and gardening project, which will help to beautify the grounds of the school.

The other group worked on making bulletin boards for the Upper school buildings. Blake sanded frames for the bulletin boards and Rachel, Brooke and Dana nailed in the board. We used machetes to chop off the excess woven matts.  Dr. Romeyn helped to stretch the woven bamboo mats over the boards, which will then be spray painted bright colors and mounted on the classroom walls.

The school was clean, bright, and well-equiped. The students wore nice white uniforms and were happy. In the afternoon we switched projects.  It is a public school, but CFC sponsors the school in part which allows for the purchase of better equipment, supplies, and training for the teachers.

As we were leaving for lunch, we joined about a dozen children for a pickup game of soccer.  They had fast feet! We will be working at the school all week and it will be great to see the progress.