 The Mith Samlanh Program
The population of street children and youth keeps on growing in Phnom Penh as the capital city attracts children and youth from the provinces. Among other issues, street children and youth face daily violence and experience a high level of drug use.
Mith Samlanh was established in 1994 in Phnom Penh and helps street children and youth to reintegrate into their families, public school, vocational training and then employment as well as into their rich Cambodian culture.
Mith Samlanh and its team of 250 Cambodian staff provide:
- Services to 19,000 individual children and youth each year.
- Outreach services on the streets and in target communities (mostly squatter areas). It has various centers around Phnom Penh, offering recreational activities, medical care and educational games, allowing them to slowly switch from street life to an education process.
- An education center in Phnom Penh that has primary remedial classes (750 children in 2009), a medical center, 11 vocational training classes (850 young people in 2009) and provides temporary accommodation.
- Businesses have been developed to complement social services, in particular vocational training ventures providing youth in training with practical work experience. In Phnom Penh, these include:
- Friends the Restaurant
- Romdeng restaurant
- Friends shops selling Home Based Products, Tooit Tooit, Friends n Stuff and Friends @240
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To sustain its activity Mith Samlanh has started purchasing the land where its education center is located. See more about this here.
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