|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
CCF CC Daycare Opens
Posted January, 2008
On December 11, we opened our Community Center daycare program, which offers safe shelter and nutritious meals to children ages 2 –6, many of whom wandered the Steung Meanchey dump barefoot and unattended while their parents worked.
The primary focus of this program is to remove these young children from sources of environmental harm, to address and treat existing health issues, and to provide the building blocks for healthy growth and educational development. Ultimately, it’s our hope to prepare these children for eventual enrollment in the CCF Education Program.
We currently have 32 children regularly attending our non-residential daycare, and our new ESL volunteer teacher is developing an early-learning curriculum (but there will still be plenty of room for playtime, naptime – and lunch with big spoons) !
|
 |
|
CCF1 Rooftop Takes Center Stage
Posted January, 2008
The rooftop cultural center is a unique aspect of the CCF1 facility. Regular performances featuring traditional instruments and costumes have been held here since 2005, with the children often writing their own plays and preparing their own choreography.
But by mid-2007, it had become clear that the performers and their complex compositions had outgrown the existing space, and led by Head of Art Education Soung Sopheak, renovations to the performance stage began in earnest in November 2007.
During free time and on Sundays, CCF students participated in all aspects of the rooftop’s transformation, from assisting with aspects of construction, to designing and painting the detailed murals, to hanging the stage and wing curtains.
They also lent their talents to blocking, rehearsals and costumes for the new theater’s inaugural play.
At last, on December 20, 2007, the stage was set for its official opening – and after emotional speeches from Sopheak and Scott, CCF Chairman of the Board John Whaley and Scott shared ribbon-cutting duties, and a traditional Khmer celebrant offered blessings for the theater, the performers, and the members of the CCF.
Coming soon: The debut performance !
|
|
|
|
US Embassy Throws a Holiday Party for the CCF
Posted December, 2007
On December 13, US Ambassador Joseph Mussomeli and the US Embassy welcomed the CCF to a special holiday celebration with festive food, music and fun.
New York’s Dana Leong Band provided entertainment with their unique blend of electronic hip hop music, and the Phnom Penh-based Tiny Toones hip-hop dancers performed their gravity defying moves – to the note-taking delight of several young CCF members, themselves enthusiastic dancers on CCF1 ‘disco’ nights.
After a leisurely picnic on the Embassy grounds, the kids each received a gift from Santa, and then gathered to watch the tree and holiday decoration lighting ceremony. Happy and exhausted - and holding tightly to their presents - the kids and staff then piled back into the buses for home, talking of little else but the fun they had just shared.
Our thanks to Ambassador and Sharon Mussomeli, and the tireless Embassy staff, for such a wonderful evening.
|
|
|
|
The CCF is the 2007 Recipient of the Rex Foundation's Bill Graham Award !
Posted November, 2007
The Cambodian Children’s Fund is extremely honored to be the 2007 Recipient of the Rex Foundation’s Bill Graham Award.
The CCF was awarded this prestigious grant in recognition of our "commitment to create a safe, open place in which underprivileged Cambodian children can thrive, learn and grow."
In memory of pioneering producer and founding Rex board member Bill Graham, himself a refugee, this award is given to those working to assist children who are victims of political oppression and human rights violations.
Previous Bill Graham Award winners include Mercy Corps (2005) for their work in helping 89,000 internally displaced persons in Darfur, and The Innocence Project (2006).
|
|
|
|
Tony Hawk visits the CCF
Posted July 31, 2007
Last week, skateboarding legend Tony Hawk visited the CCF, and joined Scott for a tour of the Steung Meanchey garbage dump, where many of the CCF students once lived and worked.
The conditions in and around the dump had a huge impact on Tony and his wife Lhotse. After dodging the garbage trucks to watch children scrambling barefoot over the toxic waste, and later meeting the impoverished families who live in single-room bamboo shacks nearby, they called the day "one of the heaviest of our lives. The trash felt like quicksand under our feet," he writes in his online journal, "so we were warned to watch for 'sinkholes' and to keep moving. We saw a fresh delivery from the dump truck and the scavenging that ensues. Scott said that this is most dangerous at night, as the drivers can't see the kids, and they regularly get run over. By the time we got to the center of the site, I realized we had only been in this madness an hour; it felt like a full day."
From Steung Meanchey, the couple traveled the short distance to CCF2, the all-girl facility housing children at high risk of trafficking and abuse. Though saddened by the conditions of the dump, Tony and Lhotse were moved by the contrasting success of the healthy CCF2 students, who all study English, Khmer and computer studies. "We were thankful that Scott showed us the bright side to a seemingly hopeless situation," Tony said.
Tony was in Phnom Penh representing the Laureus Foundation, whose aim is to use sports as an instrument of social change.
Tony Hawk's Website
|
|
|
|
