Young people on their way to independence

Young people on their way to independence

Our partner organisation BSDA (Buddhism for Social Development Action) has created holistic educational and vocational training programmes for socially vulnerable children and young people in the Kampong Cham region, Cambodia. With the aim of giving the young people a perspective and enabling them to lead an independent and dignified life, BSDA promotes not only the intellectual and professional, but also the social and personal skills of the beneficiaries. Educational and vocational training opportunities open the doors to a better future for young people, but the awareness of one’s personal skills and the resulting belief in oneself are essential for sustainable self-development. BSDA is aware of this and takes a holistic approach in all programmes for all ages.

PHOTO REPORT FROM THE PROJECT IN CAMBODIA

In two of BSDA’s kindergartens, children from particularly poor backgrounds are prepared for school. This is done holistically and in a playful way. In the long term, this programme is to be integrated into the public kindergarten programme that is currently being developed. To this end, BSDA is working closely with the Ministry of Education.

At the Happy-Happy-Centre, one of the two drop-in-centres, children can attend extra tuition classes in addition to regular school lessons. The offer brings some relief to the parents, most of whom are engaged in illicit work, and the children have a safe place for their personal development.

BSDA also grants scholarships to particularly poor families, thus ensuring school attendance for many socially vulnerable children. Awareness-raising events on various topics are also organised in the framework of the awarding of these scholarships. In this case, the topic is violence.

BSDA itself runs two social enterprises where young people can be trained in the gastronomy and hotel industries. Here at Smile Restaurant, a former beneficiary shows two trainees how to prepare different drinks.

Sreng Bopha (right) has completed her training at the Hanchey Bamboo Resort, the second BSDA-owned social enterprise. Here she is serving a well-known Cambodian singer who celebrated her birthday at the resort, which attracts national and international guests.

Due to its special architecture and social and ecological concept, the resort has become widely known.

The garden is excellently maintained by the trainees as an informal part of the training. They enjoy the fact that they can contribute to the maintenance of the resort garden.

In addition to their own social enterprises, BSDA also provides vocational training for young people in external training companies. Here you can see a beauty salon in the centre of Kampong Cham.

In this beauty salon, the trainee is taught by the trainer how to cut and style a customer’s hair.

BSDA offers another external training opportunity in the field of electronics. During their training the young people are not only supervised by the trainers, but also actively supported by BSDA employees.

The support of the trainees comprises, among other things, regular evaluations, assessments and personal discussions. Here, two BSDA staff members conduct an assessment interview with a front-desk vocational trainee.

The promotion of social and personal skills is part of the holistic approach. In the second drop-in centre, the young people can engage in meaningful leisure activities, such as learning the traditional Cambodian Apsara dance.

The holistic care enables the young people and children to strengthen their self-confidence towards independence. These former beneficiaries have personally told us about the positive impact this holistic approach had on their personal development. Some of them work as volunteers at the centre, others have even got a fixed employment there.

The aim of BSDA is to enable the young people to lead an independent life by learning a profession and thus securing their livelihood. The former beneficiaries are accompanied by aftercare programmes over a period of time in order to ensure that they are able to gain a foothold on their path to independence.

While some of the young people get a permanent job in their training company, others dare to take the step into self-employment, such as the owner of this small shop.

Chhouern Sreyya, a former beneficiary, runs a successful stationery shop combined with a café. She can make a good living from her income and leads a fulfilled and independent life.

A better future thanks to Apprenticeships

Our partner organisation BSDA (Buddhism for Social Development Action) enables young people from very poor families in the region of Kampong Cham to complete an education so that they can have a better future. At BSDA the young people complete an 18-month training course. In the first six months they catch up on basic education and during a further year they complete an apprenticeship in the fields of mechanics, electronics, hotel business, gastronomy or beauty care.

A better future thanks to Apprenticeships

Photos EcoSolidar

Photo report about the project in Cambodia

Va Valong is 16 years old and lives in a village with his parents and three younger siblings. His family is very poor, his father works as a day labourer on the construction site and barely earns enough to feed the family. Va Valong had dropped out of school to help at home.

For five months now he has been training as a mechanic at BSDA. His mother has encouraged him to do this training. She says: “Of course he is missing as a help at home, but I wish for a better future for him. His life shall be less difficult than mine”.

During the training Va Valong lives together with other young people in “Smile Institute”. They cook and eat together and spend their free time here. The young people can learn new things about the world, laugh and forget their worries from home for a while.

Va Valong is doing his apprenticeship in the “Metta Garage”, a social enterprise of BSDA. Here he can gain practical experience and apply his knowledge immediately. He likes the training course, the teacher is friendly and explains things well.

Regularly there are theory lessons with the teacher, Chhit Mengly. His task is not easy. In teaching he has to consider the different educational levels of the young people as well as their sometimes difficult personal backgrounds. This takes time and requires patience.

Chhorn Sokheang is 16 years old and has been living in “Smile Institute” for eleven months. In the first six months she caught up on her school education. She likes reading. Here she is discussing her homework with a roommate.

Chhorn Sokheang at home: She is the second eldest of five children. Since her parents had no money for her school fees, she had to drop out of school. Although her parents miss her help at home, they are happy that she can live in “Smile Institute” and that she is well cared for.

She likes her training course in beauty care very much. The owner of the shop is very satisfied with her, because Chhorn Sokheang is proactive and helpful. That’s why she has already offered her a permanent position after one month of training.

Kim Tharoath is 15 years old and has been living in “Smile Institute” for eight months. She shares a dormitory with ten other girls. Here she is practising the alphabet with her friends. They help each other to learn.

Kim Tharoath has decided to study gastronomy. In “Smile Institute” she is assigned to the kitchen service and cooks for her roommates.

She completes her practical training in the “Smile Restaurant”, a social enterprise of BSDA. The “Smile Restaurant” serves as a training place for prospective cooks and service employees. Kim Tharoath can gain practical work experience in cooking and service here.

Sreykeo Chron has also made her training with BSDA in gastronomy and has been working in the restaurant of “Hanchey Bamboo Resort”, an ecological centre, since its opening in October 2018. In the meantime, she has become a team leader and is responsible for the service team. She trains young people who gain practical experience here during their training with BSDA. Her dream is to open her own restaurant one day.

“Hanchey Bamboo Resort” is another BSDA social enterprise. The ecological retreat centre for local and international guests serves as a training location where young people can complete an apprenticeship in gastronomy and hotel business.

The construction of the centre was effected in an ecological and socially sustainable fashion. Workers from the surrounding villages built the bungalow complex from bamboo and local soil and received training in this construction method.

The proceeds from “Hanchey Bamboo Resort” co-finance the educational programmes of BSDA.

Vin Dina also comes from a poor family and had dropped out of school to earn money. Her father learned about BSDA and three years ago she completed a cooking apprenticeship: “I learned to cook, but also a lot about living together with others. And I noticed that the world was bigger than I had thought it was”.

After her training, she gained further experience in various hotels. Today she is the proud owner of a small restaurant: “I am very satisfied, I have a lot of work, but I am my own boss. And I am very proud when my customers are satisfied.”

The Bunong people are fighting for their future

The Bunong people are fighting for their future

The indigenous community of the Bunong is affected by land grabbing by international rubber companies. The loss of their land forces the Bunong to settle down and give up their traditional cultivation method. Our partner organisation BIPA (Bunong Indigenous People Association) has discovered in organic farming an alternative type of agriculture that allows the farmers to cultivate the small amount of land that remains to them more profitably. In addition to securing their livelihood, organic farming encourages the Bunong to work together again and thus strengthens their community.
Photos EcoSolidar

Photo report about the project in Cambodia

An einer Dorfversammlung erzählt sie von den Chancen, die der Biolandbau für die Zukunft bietet.

Singeab Kleok Keo is convinced of organic farming. At a village meeting she speaks about the opportunities that organic farming offers for the future. Singeab has been a long-time supporter of BIPA and is an important link between BIPA and the village communities.

Singeab is 30 years old and has four children. Her father has supported the Bunong community during the Vietnam War, the Khmer Rouge and the Vietnamese occupation and Singeab also wants to fight for the future of the Bunong.

Biologischer Kompost für das Pfefferfeld

Singeab has learned at BIPA how to produce biological compost. She distributes it around her young pepper plants. She and her husband own a pepper field where they grow organic pepper and they are part owners of a rice field where several families work together.

Sometimes Singeab helps her husband on the rice field. But mostly she stays in the village with the children and takes care of the pepper plants.

The women from Singeab’s family have a special task: they are responsible for the rice spirits. In order to ask for a good harvest, Singeab performs an elaborate ceremony in the rice field. The relationship to the spiritual world is of great importance for the Bunong and the respect for nature is omnipresent since according to their belief the spirits live in the land.

Waldrodung – Zerstörung von immer mehr Wald

Bewildered, the Bunong have to watch how more and more forest is destroyed. Valuable trees are brought out of the forest with large machines.

Neben der Existenzsicherung ist der Biolandbau auch ein Weg zum Frieden.

Neth Prak is deeply worried about the desperate situation of his community. Therefore, he has founded an association (BIPA) that is committed to the future of the Bunong. Besides securing the livelihood of the Bunong, organic agriculture is also a way to peace. The land problem fuels conflicts within the community. Organic farming brings the Bunong back to working together.

Diese Grabstätte liegt in einem kleinen Stück Wald, das den Landenteignungen noch nicht zum Opfer gefallen ist.

In their belief the world of spirits and ancestors is firmly connected with the forest. This graveyard is located in a small piece of forest that has not yet fallen victim to the land grabbing.

Neben den Monoplantagen entstehen neue Siedlungen mit Häusern, in denen die Angestellten der Kautschukfirmen leben

Next to the monoculture plantations, new settlements are being built where the workers of the rubber companies live.

Neth besucht die Familien regelmässig zuhause und tauscht sich mit ihnen aus.

Neth regularly visits the families at home and talks to them. This farmer has recently started planting Sacha Inchi. He talks to Neth about natural pesticides.

Im Biolandbau finden die Indigenen eine Alternative für ihre Existenzsicherung und Zuversicht und Hoffnung für ihre Gemeinschaft.

Nhong Prak and Ming Chuy are employed by BIPA. They advise the farmers in technical know-how. In organic farming the indigenous people have found an alternative method of cultivation to secure their livelihood as well as confidence and hope for their community.

Ming and Nhong ride their motorcycles from house to house and demonstrate methods of organic agriculture to the farming families in seven villages.

BIPA lehrt, biologischen Dünger herzustellen. Dorfgemeinschaft bewirtschaftet gemeinsam ein Pfefferfeld mit 600 Pfefferstangen.

Kros Sok (left) has learned how to produce organic fertilizer with BIPA. His village community jointly cultivates a pepper field with 600 pepper plants. The profit is divided among all the farmers and used e.g. for school fees or hospital costs. The vegetable field next to it is also community land and its produce belongs to everyone who works on it.

This elderly woman is being advised by BIPA how to grow organic vegetable at home. She also plants a lot of garlic, which she loves.

Pokhat Seav mischt seinen flüssigen Dünger aus Kürbis, Papaya und Büffelkot mit menschlichem Urin, was sich gut auf seine Pfefferpflanzen auswirkt.

Pokhat Seav is a “fertilizer pioneer”: he produces a liquid fertilizer from a mixture of pumpkin, papaya and buffalo manure with human urine, which has a good effect on his pepper plants. At the beginning, the neighbours were making fun of Pokhat. Today nobody laughs about his fertilizer invention, because Pokhat’s pepper plants are growing excellently.

Neth im Garten einer Bäuerin, die mit der Beratung durch BIPA zum ersten Mal Sacha Inchi anpflanzt.

Neth Prak in the garden of a farmer who has planted Sacha Inchi for the first time on the advice of BIPA. Neth regularly visits the farming families at home and exchanges ideas with them.

Landrechtsforderungen, die Neth gegenüber den Firmen vertritt

Neth talks to a farmer about the current state of the land rights claims that he represents against the companies. The Bunong trust Neth because he takes their concerns seriously and keeps his promises. They respect him as a mediator within their community and as a representative of the Bunong in the official talks with the rubber companies.

Hier werden wichtige Themen wie Anbaupraktiken und Vermarktung von Produkten wie Avocado, Pfeffer und Sacha Inchi besprochen.

The farmers from the surrounding villages regularly gather in the office of BIPA. Here, important topics as for example cultivation practices and the marketing of products such as avocado, pepper and Sacha Inchi are discussed.

Many Bunong grow pepper today, which they can sell well. This gives them security in their vulnerable situation due to the land loss. However, they must continue to diversify their agricultural cultivation. BIPA therefore grows a variety of seedlings that are sold to the farmers at an affordable price.

Education for children and young people in need

Cambodia is one of the poorest countries in the world. About one third of the population lives below the poverty line. One way to escape the cycle of poverty is through education and vocational training. Our local project partner BSDA provides scholarships to the poorest families so that their children can attend school. The organisation offers courses in English, tutoring as well as traditional dance and music lessons. Young people who have dropped out of school due to their poverty are enabled to catch up on basic education and to complete an apprenticeship.

BSDA – Eine bessere Zukunft dank Berufslehren

Education for children and young people in need

Photos Christian Jaeggi

Photo report about the project in Cambodia

Lae is 15 years old and lives with her parents and siblings in very poor conditions in a suburb of Kampong Cham, Cambodia.

Her mother has had a walking disability from birth; therefore she can only work irregularly. The prostheses and the medical care are a big financial challenge for the family.

Lae has a sister and a brother. Her father works as a taxi driver. He works hard. Still, his income is not enough to fully provide for the family.

The family of Lae hardly manages to pay for their own food, not to mention for school uniforms and schoolbooks. Thanks to the scholarship Lae can visit the school regularly.

Lae goes to school by bike. She is not the only one… On her way she meets many of her classmates. Her bike is provided by BSDA so that she doesn’t have to spend money on the bus or the tuk-tuk.

After school Lae goes dancing Apsara, a traditional Cambodian dance she has learnt at BSDA.

Lae has been one of the first Apsara dancers at BSDA. Meanwhile, she has begun to pass on her fascination for dancing to younger participants.

At public performances, which are very successful and popular, Lae and the whole dance and music group earn some additional money.

Srey is 15 years old. His father left the family many years ago. His mother is a single parent and works as a construction worker for 3 USD a day.

As the only man in the family, Srey had to take on a lot of responsibility in the household at a young age. At the age of 11 Srey started to work in a restaurant to support the family financially. Srey worked from 5:00 in the morning until 9:30 at night.

Because of these working hours Srey could no longer attend school. When Srey heard about the BSDA programme, he decided to catch up on the school education he had missed.

In addition, Srey had the opportunity to complete a vocational training at the „Smile Institute“. Srey first tried out different kinds of work such as weaving, tailoring and mechanics.

Finally, he decided on an apprenticeship as a cook. Since then Srey has regularly helped prepare the meals at the „Smile Institute“.

Besides an apprenticeship Srey has found a new family in the „Smile Institute“. He is living here with other young people for one and a half years in a programme of sheltered living. Since many of the young people come from broken families and have difficult backgrounds, they also get psychological support.

Lunch time at the Smile Restaurant in Kampong Cham. A part of Srey’s apprenticeship as a cook takes place in this restaurant of BSDA. The restaurant functions as a social enterprise.

Thanks to its friendly staff, delicious meals and the excellent location on the banks of the Mekong River, the social enterprise attracts many tourists and locals. The restaurant is self-sustaining.

In the future, more disadvantaged young people such as Srey and Lae will find a sheltered apprenticeship position in a retreat centre outside Kampong Cham. The construction is well underway: The restaurant, the meditation hall and the bungalows will all be built out of bamboo and local materials. The construction workers are people from the surrounding communities. The revenues from this centre for local and international guests will be used for the social programs of BSDA.