Monday dawns and we set off for our fist class at 7.30am. Generally school is 7 - 11am with some classes in the afternoon.
But first some background: Cambodian Childrens Trust (www.cambodianchildrenstrust.org) has 4 centres. The main one is a large house with all the smaller children (about 12 or so). Then there is a girls house and a boys house. These are for older or transitional kids. Each house has a house mother and father who live there - often with their own children. They provide a parental role as well as seeing to the practicalities of food and maintenance.
Probably our favourite spot though is the Drop In centre. This is in the centre of the city and acts very much like a community centre. It is set up for the street kids or those living in the slums. There are toilet and shower facilities and they can wash theri clothes. Also, they can store school items and clothes safely - a very practical need. There are a variety of classes on offer; English, Khmer, Music and Art.
The kids at the centre are just delightful. Despite thier "home" life they attend regularly, keep themselves scrupulously clean and they are always smiling. Ages range from 4 to teens. Whatever your vision of street kids might be - these kids would reverse it in a moment. We love going there!
We teach at all the venues. Jan, as we all guessed is making a fabulous start and having a great time with the kids. He loves teaching and they are very receptive.
More later...and I will tell you about some of the characters soon!
