The school became a reality because a Cambodian teacher had a passion to help the children in his village. When he was a young boy, Sokhom’s family was separated during the genocide of the Khmer Rouge. His aunts and uncles, as well as his younger brother were killed, but fortunately Sokhom and his parents survived. Through the help of friends and tourists, Sokhom learned to speak both English and Japanese, and with these skills was able to become a public school teacher. Even with this success, Sokhom longed to do more to educate the children in his community.
Sokhom’s dream became reality when he built a school in a village where no school existed before. In order to support both his new school as well as his wife and newborn son, Sokhom took on weekend and night teaching jobs. With hard work he was able to rent a small space of land and purchase the building materials needed to build the first Angkor’s TREE school in Trang Village.
Although only minutes away from the famous temples of Angkor Wat, as well as the touristy Pub street and Old Market areas, Trang village is located in one of the many slum areas in Siem Reap province. Like most villages, kids in Trang have low education, no vocational skills and are unable to speak English. Living conditions are appalling, job opportunities are limited and food is rationed. Many of the men have been killed while serving in the Army, and more adults, both men and women, have died from disease. Children often rely on elderly relatives and siblings for care or are left to fend for themselves.
The first school, erected in January of 2011, was a small, thatched roof room with no walls or desks. Even with the most basic of building, a school was formed and children were eager to attend. One day a tourist came to the school and offered to donate funds to have a desk built. Since that time, many more people have donated and we now have 12 desks with the donor’s names written on each.
Current day
Angkor’s TREE school continues to grow in both size and attendance. The simple room has been converted several times to accommodate more children. We currently support 86 impoverished children from Trang Village. They receive both morning and afternoon lessons in English, and an hour of Japanese language as well as breakfast and lunch. School operates Monday - Friday, even during the summer break from Government school.
How you can help
As you can imagine, the running costs of such a substantial project are considerable. We have been overwhelmed by the generous support from past and continuing donors, but additional support is needed for us to continue to grow. 100% of all donations are used to directly benefit the school. Our teachers are volunteer, and at this time there is no electricity in the school, so there are no costs involved. Monies are spent on food costs, land rent and school supplies.
For those who are considering visiting Siem Reap and are interested in helping, we have created a wish list of items that can be brought with you from your home country, or purchased when you arrive in Siem Reap.
Want to volunteer teach? We can help with that also! We have a basic guest room available for visitors if you want to live like a “local”.
WISH LIST
Notebooks.
All new students are supplied with a notebook, pen and pencil, sharpener and eraser. All of these items are replaced when needed. In addition, students are awarded with other school supplies as reward for doing well on spelling tests, class participation or other events. At this time we do not have the finances for each child to have their own textbook, so teachers write each lesson on the white board, and students copy the lessons into their own notebook. With almost 90 students we use A LOT of notebooks!
(available for purchase in Siem Reap - 30 cents a piece)
Pencils, Pens, ect.
See above.
(available for purchase in Siem Reap - minimal costs)
DESKS!
Currently we have 12 desks. On full attendance days we sit 4 students to a desk, and those without a seat can stand in an aisle or sit on the floor in the front of the classroom. We have room for 3 more desks.
(Available in Siem Reap - $35 dollars a piece)
Books.
Our children are always so eager to learn and read, but none of them have access to borrow or purchase books for themselves. We are in process of building a small library at the school, but we need books to stock it with! Reading levels from K - High school, any subject matter. They don’t even have to be new, just good condition.
