Wish your vision and mission successfully life. Today I was just checking my t.v shows early morning suddenly my eyes stop in a channel named V.A. and then I saw lots of street people and drug addict persons were (now) working with smile at their face that’s really huge positive impact of your mission, heads up to you.

Hope your mission will change the life of people who is dying….

I can’t give you, because I have nothing except my clean heart

Thank you…’

This wonderful and heart warming message is just one of many which have come through to us today following the broadcast of a clip on the work of Friends-International last night on US PBS Network’s syndicated NewsHour programme. We hope you will watch, enjoy, and share this clip as it gives a wonderful overview of the breadth and scope of Friends-International’s work in Cambodia, and a glimpse into how the lives of some young people, and their families, have changed for the better through becoming part of Friends’ Programs.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Kamnhan teaches the Grade 1 class in Mith Samlanh’s Education Center. She arrives early at 7.15am so that she can have a few minutes of quiet before the chaos begins! She starts her day as a playground monitor looking out for the safety of the children as they arrive on the buses. At 8am lessons begin and Kamnhan’s first task is to check the children’s hygiene ensuring that their hands, nails, etc are clean. There are three groups in the class, split according to the children’s knowledge and abilities. They can range in age from six all the way to thirteen. Typically, one group will have supervised library time or cultural classes while Kamnhan teaches another. The last group will check homework or complete exercises until she rotates the class’s tasks. Some lessons, such as science, are taught to the whole class together. There is a timetable and lesson plan for each week. Important skills such as literacy and mathematics are learned every day whereas subjects like history and geography are covered more infrequently. However, Kamnhan says that all topics are as integrated as possible; a basic lesson on local history will still include relevant vocabulary and numbers. Time is also allocated for life skills and recreational games such as team sports.

Children during their Mith Samlanh classes

Sessions are generally 45 minutes long with a short break in between. Lunch is from 11.30am-1.30pm; Kamnhan used to have to watch the children during this time as well, so she is happy that Mith Samlanh has now hired supervisors and she can relax a little! She uses her breaks to focus on all her other duties. She controls the stock for the Center’s educational materials and also has to estimate reintegration costs such as purchasing uniforms for children who are returning to public school. She assists with training new staff, both at Mith Samlanh and those from other Friends projects. Kamnhan has worked at Mith Samlanh for nearly 12 years so she is often in high demand to help with ideas for lesson plans! She walks home via the market at 5pm, stopping to buy food to make dinner for her family. In the evenings she works on any outstanding class work or inventory paperwork then tries to take some time to relax. Kamnhan says she works hard but is happy to work at Mith Samlanh as she can earn much more than at a public school and she loves the children that she teaches.

Play time during the Mith Samlanh classes

During the school vacation for Khmer New Year, these two girls had come to the city from Kompong Cham province with a neighbor who had promised to give them a job. However, when they asked to visit their home for the holiday festivities, they were told they must remain working. Desperate to return to their family, these two girls had run away, but were soon faced with the fact that they were alone in a large city with no money for transportation and no-one to turn to for help. It takes very little imagination to realize how defenseless they were and the kinds of dangers they could face.

Luckily, Noulin’s ChildSafe training meant he knew how to help! He approached the girls to find out their story and drove them straight to the ChildSafe Center. They were offered counseling and support, their parents were contacted and the girls were able to return home that very day. The team also took the opportunity to inform their parents about child rights and child exploitation to ensure that these circumstances do not occur again. They were assigned a Case Manager who follows up with them regularly.

Noulin’s story just goes to show how valuable it is to educate and support the local community to help those around them. If these girls had not received immediate help, they could have ended up living on the streets and exposed to all kinds of risks. Instead, their tale has a happy ending and they were reunited with their family.

In 2009-2010 the Miele Guide recognised our training restaurant Makphet in Vientiane, Laos as one of Asia’s best restaurants. Makphet is run by former street youth and their teachers and specializes in modern Lao food.

As Asia’s first independent restaurant guide, The Miele Guide showcases the best of Asian dining – but only with your help. Your vote is important in ensuring the authenticity and authority of The Miele Guide.

Friends-International is proud to have all of its restaurants shortlisted for the second round of voting. Friends the Restaurant, Romdeng and Café Mith Samlanh have been shortlisted for Cambodia while Makphet has once again been shortlisted for Laos.

In this second phase of voting, online public voting is open at www.mieleguide.com.

Please register, vote and support our training restaurants in this prestigious award.

The Lancuh of 3PC

The program, ‘Partnership Programme with Civil Society Organizations to Strengthen Child Protection Systems’, more readily known as 3PC, will run over a three year period and is aimed at strengthening child protection systems in Cambodia. The program will improve services through capacity building, develop holistic systems of child protection across the country, and will strengthen information sharing between organizations and government.

Friends-International will be coordinating the project with nine grassroots civil society organizations in five provinces including Battambang, Banteay Meanchey, Sihanoukville, Phnom Penh and Siem Reap.

David Harding, Deputy Director, Friends-International during the launch

The four main results to be achieved during the program’s three year implementation are:
1. Data, research and advocacy
2. Capacity building and social service provision
3. Communication and awareness raising in communities
4. Networking and communication

The nine Civil Society partner organizations taking part in this very exciting project are:
1. Komar Reagrey (KMR), Battambang
2. Opération Enfants du Cambodge (OEC), Battambang
3. Phare Ponleu Selpak (PPS) , Battambang
4. Damnok Toek (DT) / Goutte d’Eau (GE), Banteay Meanchey
5. Legal Aid of Cambodia (LAC), Banteay Meanchey
6. M’Lop Tapang (MT), Sihanoukville
7. Mith Samlanh (MS), Phnom Penh
8. Samatapheap Khnom Organisation (SKO), Phnom Penh
9. Kaliyan Mith (KM/FI), Siem Reap

Following the project launch, presided over by H.E. Ith Samheng, Minister of Social Affairs Veterans & Youth Rehabilitation, the UNICEF and FI project team conducted a group discussion and workshop of national and provincial collaboration of which representatives from the nine partner civil society organizations had a chance to meet and discuss the area of collaboration with government officers from their respective provinces.

Government Officers from the five provinces attending the official launch of 3PC

This exciting and innovative project will pave the way for a greater coordinated approach to child protection that will roll out across Cambodia, and with that will, most importantly, help ensure that Cambodia’s children are better protected in the years to come.

Sihanoukville NGOs and Government Officers from Provincial Department of Social Affairs Veterans & Youth Rehabilitation Group Discussion

Phnom Penh NGOs and Government Officers from Provincial Department of Social Affairs Veterans & Youth Rehabilitation Group Discussion

National level group discussion during the workshop. UNICEF, FI and MoSAVY

Luke Gracie, 3PC Programme Manager, Friends-International, presenting during the 3PC launch

David Harding (First Left), Mrs. Suna Khim (Middle), H.E. Ith Sam Heng (First Right)

Battambang NGOs and Government Officers from Provincial Department of Social Affairs Veterans & Youth Rehabilitation Group Discussion

Banteay Meanchey NGOs, Siem Reap NGOs and Government Officers from Provincial Department of Social Affairs Veterans & Youth Rehabilitation Group Discussion

The elections were originally created by Mith Samlanh program director Ms. Map Somaya in order to help communities provide timely and relevant information about children’s issues allowing community members to work with Mith Samlanh to resolve these problems.

Parent Representative Elections held in 'Club Friends' at Mith Samlanh

Since the creation of the Family Representative Elections in 2004 the programs has proved a great success in educating and training community members on child protection.

The Family Representatives can help their communities and Mith Samlanh in the following ways:

• Providing timely information about child dangers such as sickness, child abuse, domestic violence, child trafficking, school/teacher bribes etc.
• Quickly facilitating solutions within communities. Any problems unable to be solved by the Family Representatives are transferred to Mith Samlanh or the authorities, depending on the case.
• Providing life skills to children’s families in the community.

Break out groups during the Parent Representative Elections at Mith Samlanh

Mith Samlanh has predefined criteria for candidate selection:

• Candidates must be volunteering in some capacity within the community.
• The candidate’s child/children must be a student of Mith Samlanh.
• The community in which the candidate resides cannot have fewer than ten families with children studying at Mith Samlanh.
• Candidates must be willing to help work for the community.
• Candidates must provide timely information to Mith Samlanh.

Although the criteria for candidate selection are many, each year Mith Samlanh has seen an increasing number of participants. The elections play a very important part in helping communities identify children in danger or at risk, life skills (HIV, drug and hygiene) and assist building confidence and empowerment of community leaders. Mith Samlanh staff hold weekly group discussions with Family Representatives to further educate and train those in the community.

Mith Samlanh has found that the Family Representative elections are a productive way of introducing and involving community members in social work. It is through this initiative community members can became productive and protective citizens of the community in which they live. ­­

Break out groups during the Parent Representative Elections at Mith Samlanh

Parent Representative Elections held in 'Club Friends' at Mith Samlanh

Our own programs worked tirelessly to assist victims of the waters, in Siem Reap and Phnom Penh in Cambodia, and particularly across the border in Thailand, where the floods had a largely unforeseen impact in Bangkok, home to our Peuan Peuan program. (You can read numerous blog posts right here on this site about the amazing Peuan Peuan team pulling together during the crisis.)

In recent weeks the Bangkok-based Friends-International team has been working closely with the Government and other agencies to evaluate responses to the flooding (especially issues around child protection in emergencies) and to collate lessons learned into strategic planning for just such eventualities in the future. Among those involved in this process have been UNICEF, Save the Children UK, Plan International, World Vision Foundation (Thailand) and many others. One document has already been published, ‘Child Protection in Emergencies’, and further results will appear in March of this year. The findings will provide useful tools for effective implementation of child protection procedures in emergency situations which potentially can have wider practical impact also.

But underneath the fluffy bunnies and hearts and flowers, the real world lurks, and in a country where there are growing numbers of young people (50% of the population are under the age of 25 according to  the CIA World Factbook) the importance of those young people having access to clear and reliable  information on reproductive health and relationship issues is paramount.

This is where the ‘Health and Love’ website of Friends International plays an increasing role primarily among  urban young people in Cambodia in providing access to information on health (including sexual health) and relationships, with confidential access to professional advice on these topics. It also links to initiatives including ChildSafe, promoting their 24-hour helplines.

Health and Love website homepage

Clearly this is a much needed service, and one that also works – last year almost 30,000 young Cambodians visited Dr. Love on the ‘Health and Love’ site for advice and information.

So, Happy Valentines Day from us all at Friends-International, and remember, if you have a relationship or health question, you can always ask our Dr.Love!

Dr Love