LEADERSHIP TRAINING PROVIDED BY Mr. Sokchea SAING:

LEADERSHIP TRAINING PROVIDED BY Mr. Sokchea SAING:

I will likely talk about how great Sokchea’s leadership training are for a long time; maybe the rest of my life. Perhaps it will become sad. In any case, Sokchea has taught levels I and II (45 hours of training) 6 times at Aziza (with an average 25 per class). We can now say that we have a large body of leaders, and the results show all around. I regularly show up and am struck with pride with the initiatives the students are taking on, and how they shine. The level of English speaking has gone up, and more and more students are finding quality full and part time jobs (quality, for the local economy that is).Sokchea has brought together a group of 12 volunteer students, or Team Leaders, who want the opportunity to practice leadership skills by taking on a responsibility within the school, as well as assisting with our Leadership trainings. Having the Team Leaders be a part of things gives us much more leverage in our ability to get things done and influence the community (since they are the community).The leadership training has gone on the road, and so have the Team Leaders. Many of the Team Leaders are also our best presenters, and during these weekend-long trainings to other groups, they assist with teaching the lessons, talk about their lives, how they overcame obstacles, the challenges of living in a slum, and just getting to know each other (see the above picture of our student Lena holding hands with a student from the countryside at the end of a leadership training). In exchange the rural students show them their lives, the farms they work, and local customs. It is another achievement for which I am proud to be a part of, and feels like it will have the most lasting impact since these students seem unstoppable, and I have full faith that they will be great leaders for the future of Cambodia.While away at the most recent leadership weekend, 2 team leaders taught a Kundalini Yoga class and did a great job, thanks to a very cool group that is teaching yoga/meditation to our students and the community 2 evenings per week; http://www.kundaliniyogacambodia.org/We have a lot of fun, and have activities for physical and mental wellness in addition to yoga. Every Sunday evening we go to do aerobics/dancing at Olympic stadium. With a hint of communist mass-exercise, it is pure fun and my favorite part of the week. About 25 teenagers all pile into 3 tuk tuks for our weekly routine, and we get special attention from the teacher who recognizes the student’s enthusiasm. The students all say their dancing has improved, and it is contributing to the high level of confidence they have these days.
**We had a huge X-mas party packed with activities from afternoon to night, organized by the students, finishing with a loud dance party that our students are always good for.A clown came, and so did Michael Higgins and his brother. Cambodian medical students came recently and gave the 1st of 3 shots of a tetnus vaccine to students over 8 years old (see picture of kids holding their arms – there were over 90 recipients that day). One thing we have been doing since the beginning is giving the students de-worming pills. Recently we gave out a round, and had a nurse assist with the education portion of the treatment, making sure kids understand what they are taking and why (if they wanted to take it). Two days after we gave them out, a mother told us that her child puked up a 4” worm. I was so happy to hear it was making an impact.We are lucky to now have a great Cambodian doctor come weekly to help sick students and their families (lucky, and blessed by great donors). It has been a big undertaking of resources, but is going great. Many students who lived with sickness are now well! Dr. Chenda (female) also teaches a few days a week, and assists with health trainings for our women’s group. After she gives the exam, our medical coordinator, Sreang, fills the prescriptions and distributes the medicine, carefully going over the instructions and asking patients to write down and sign that they understand how to take the medicine. We also have an Australian nurse, Lucy, volunteering to create good structures to provide the best health care and education we can, and to make the best use of our funds.One night, an owl flew into the very tall palm tree in front of the school. I was happy to see the majestic, rare creature bless us with his presence. Simultaneously, a student was preparing to throw a rock at it. I motioned for him not to do so, and said that I liked owls. A few of the students explained to me that the owl is thought to bring death, and that the death could be getting placed into someone as we watched it, our necks creaking upward. After I thought about it from their side (I mean owls do have a pretty creepy look), I decided to join them and we all threw stones up at the bringer-of-death.Just kidding! I gave my best performance and tried to convince them that owls are great, which seemed relatively effective to the 6 kids who were actually listening to the student who was translating for me. After a bit the owl flew away, and I thought it must kind of suck to be an owl in Cambodia.We recently went to a very small village outside of Oudong, the old capital of Cambodia, and Sokchea gave a leadership training. The boys slept on tarps outside the manager’s house and the girls slept inside. I spread my tarp under a bamboo tree, and had multiple students approach me that they were concerned that the tree would take the oxygen out of the air during the night, and I would be a little deprived of oxygen. They said that during the day trees give out oxygen, but at night they take it in and give out carbon dioxide. I moved my tarp after they also said that I was on a cow path.Cucumbers, I feel, should not be cooked, but so often in Cambodia they are.Oh, and we had some tragedies too. I don’t feel the need to publish them, but of course it is not all rosy in a poor community within a country know for human rights abuses and child labor. I can see people pulling themselves out of the cycle of poverty, but I am saddened knowing what potential gets untapped, especially in young people, when even a small event takes resources from a family.There is also a new short story on my personal blog, http://cambodiastories.blogspot.com/
It's been a long road to get to where we are, and I thank everyone who has been a part of our success. We are eager for and donations (click on the Donate button on the upper right hand side of this page), and would appreciate anything that is good for you, as well as any help in finding us new donors.I will be in the US for a visit starting in April. I hope to see you in person soon.

By Drew Mcdowell

Leadership Training Provided by Mr. Sokchea SAING for Dey Krahorm community, Phnom Penh

Leadership

I wrote about one of our teachers Sokchea SAING on a previous blog, and how we are so lucky to have him and what a great teacher he is. He was born to teach, and it is no surprise that by employing someone who found his calling in life things would work out well.
Early in the year he approached me and said he wanted to teach a Leadership class. I questioned him about whether he was really qualified, and could he really come up with 25 hours of material. I said I would think about it and asked him to help me do some research to see what already exists. A few days later he said he was ready to teach it and all he needed was my approval. He said I didn’t need to pay him, he would be a volunteer, and just wanted my approval. I couldn’t say no to that, and let him do his thing.
The class was packed on the first day, and a few weeks into it the students were telling me they loved it and were getting so much from it. They were finding ways to deal with their families and life challenges. He is loud and enthusiastic when he teaches, students are constantly engaged, and the students say they love his humor. I let Sokchea know he could be paid for his time.
To graduate from the Leadership class, and receive a lamented, color certificate with their picture, students had to have attended at least 20 classes (during their lunch hour) and pass the written exam. Several failed, but still attended the ceremony and party we threw at the end.
As soon as the first class ended he started a Level II class. Then we offered the Level I again, then level II, now level I again, but the class is too crowded even after turning some students away, so we need to divide the class. At this point, we have trained over 60 students in leadership, and the results are showing.
We rented a big tent ($12) and had a big outdoor graduation ceremony for all the community to see the proud new leaders, then rented a boat ($25, plus food) for the party. The party was all organized by the students with great care, food, games…and they danced like rock stars. It was unbelievably fun, and the difference from some of them was so inspiring. To see Chanta, a 14 year old girl who seemed so shy, get up and sing karaoke was inspiring.
Our biggest field trip was to the zoo/wildlife sanctuary (all animals were rescued from poachers) and the Leadership students created a Leadership Team that organized all the details and divided the students into manageable groups. They were completely amazing. There were 115 students, 8 moms, 10 foreigners, 3 buses, and a million laughs. We've never done anything with all the students outside of the school, and it was really a special day for them. After the zoo we went swimming in a mud-colored lake. They love to go swimming, and rarely get to. Most kids hardly ever leave the slum where they live, so the day had many impacts, and went like clockwork.
The best stories are on a personal level, such as Ly Thanh, who bought ‘teacher Sokchea’ a new shirt and wrote him a letter about how she was so much happier after taking his class. She explained that her family never encouraged her or took her side, but now she could deal with them and have compassion for their shortcomings. She later talked about how she was able to improve her business selling cooked duck eggs by being personable with customers and the police, who would ask her for money to sell in a public place.
I went to visit her and her family (I have tried to interview all the families), and later cried thinking about how terrible the conditions were at her house, the challenges she has overcome, and how great she turned out. Here is her letter, translated to English:
Dear Teacher,
My name is Ly Thanh, I am a student, and would like to give this [shirt] as a present to the my teacher. I would like to deeply express my appreciation to the teacher for teaching my sisters and me. Since I have come here to study, I understand a lot about the personal problems that I have had for years. The truth is that I am an unfortunate child. My parents mentally, emotionally and physically didn’t care much for me. What they have or bought, they have never given it to me; they give it to others. In addition, when other says that I am not a good child, my parents blame it on me with no reason. Because of this, it was hard for me to move forward even though I wanted to. These days only my grandma, my uncles, my aunts and others give me encouragement. When I needed help, it’s them who helped me.Since I have come to study, I have had some relief from that sadness that I had for years. The lessons at Aziza school helped to me have control of my life. I am so thankful for the teachers who gave me encouragement that my parent didn’t.Lastly, I wish teacher’s family to have happiness and good health in the family. I want to wish you to have success in work as you desired.

By Drew Mcdowell

Youth Empowerment Leadership

Led by specialist leadership teacher Mr Sokchea SAING, the leadership in action course offered to teenage students of the Rudi Boa center aims to teach essential life skills and importantly get young people to thinks about their goals in life and steps they need to take to achieve these goals.
“ This class is very good for me and the country. I can participate in society. In the future, I think I will be a good leader of a company or my family, but I have never thought that before this class,” said Meng Ratana, 17, a leadership student at the Rudi Boa Center.

This course has had a phenomenal impact on the youth of Village 4. Mr. Sok Chea discusses the changes he has observed in one of his students:
“ One of my students told me that his parents were not concerned about his studies and sometimes he felt hopeless by himself. When the class breaks, he always brought his story to discuss with me, and promised that he would try to study until he got the number one student in the class. Sometimes he studied without anytime to eat food. He was a quiet person an was shy in the class. Now he is a sociable person and is confidents to make presentations in front of the white board, not like before. He told me that now he knows how to manage the goals of his life and to face his problem.”

In 2007, 57 students graduated from the first and second levels of the leadership course provided and Rudi Boa Center. Some of these graduates are actively giving back to their community as volunteers at the Rudi Boa center. These courses will be offered for new students in 2008, while the leadership Group of 2007 will be able to continue to develop their leadership skills with a more advanced course taught by Mr. Sokchea SAING.

By Bridges Across Borders

Greeting From Mr. Sokchea SAING

Hello Friends!

How are you all? I’m sorry that you haven’t heard from me for a while. In the past few months I have been very busy because I now work for two organizations. At the weekends, I often teach leadership class. My skills as leadership teacher have improved, especially since I joined two workshops abroad: The Landmark Program in Singapore, one week in May, and a course in Play Therapy in Australia, one week in June. These courses helped me understand people’s feelings better, and I learned a lot about conflict solving. Both times I appreciated the opportunity to improve in intercultural communication.

My new skills helped me be a stronger leadership teacher here, for example at Rudi Boa Center, where I taught September 6th and 7th. The community in that area will be relocated soon, and it was very important to me to teach the kids some skills they will need when they face the new situation: Once they lose everything (home, jobs, etc.) they will need to be strong to start again. They will need to know who they are, what their goal is, and how they can solve conflicts productively. That weekend I taught them how to go about problems with people close to them – friends, family, classmates. They learned how they, acting as the key figures in their conflicts, can stand up for themselves and take action to solve problems, while at the same time treating everyone involved with respect.
We invited their parents to join us on Sunday, and, in front of the whole class, students apologized to their parents for their mistakes and told them that they loved them.

Here is a letter by Thaong Pung Thida, a 14-year-old girl in grade 9:

Studying leadership, I have become aware of my past behavior, my mistakes and my attitude. I realized that I have never been very respectful to my parents and that I have never listened to them. Instead, I have often made them sad. But now, I have begun to become a new person and am starting a new life. I don’t hang around the wrong crowd anymore, and I quit skipping school. Furthermore I don’t talk back to my parents anymore, and I feel that leadership is the best course for me and for everybody.
Everyone who has the opportunity: Please join it!
Finally, I would like to tell my parents that I love them so much, even though they didn’t come to join our workshop. I will love you forever and ever.
Also, I will be a good student and pay respect to the teacher. I would like to express my special thanks to teacher Kakada, who always encourages me to be a good child and a good student. THANK YOU!