Around and about Ang Chagn Village (but with a digression).

Well, school's out so it's an opportunity to do some travelling in South East Asia until the new term next week.We (Nick and Loll) are in Hue, Vietnam, while Meghan, Josh and Jule are visiting other parts of the area.  Teachers from Kurata and Spitler are taking a well-earned rest, with the added bonus of a trip to the ancient temple site of Preah Vihear, on the border of Cambodia and Thailand.  This space, then, gives us an opportunity to write something about the village from which all the children from Spitler and Kurata come. But before that:  the purpose and audience of this blog.

Who's this for, then? (The digression)

This is a blog devoted to chronicling the lives of the members of the school - its children and their families, staff and volunteers - and it's aimed at those with an interest in the school, either because you know it or us or because you are donors or would-be donors.  We hope that the blog might also be taken up by other schools around the world as a method of two-way communication.  We often get requests from schools to set up partnerships - such as pen-pal links - and we usually have to decline, explaining that our children don't yet have the English ability to communicate regularly and easily with other children, and obvious means of communication such as email or facebook are not available to them.  So - let's hope that schools around the world - such as Saltburn Primary School in the North East of England, who have done some fund-raising for SSF and put together some Story Sacks for the English teachers, will be able to follow the progress of the school and, perhaps, contribute to the blog.  We hope that in the future we will feature the work of Spitler/Kurata children and will include some video links.

Ang Chagn Village

Although the village seems very isolated, it is only a few kilometres from Siem Reap and the major temple complex of Angkor Wat.  The buildings of Spitler School are actually on land controlled by the Angkor National Park Authority (the Apsara Authority) and they are very strict about what can be built on the land.

There are 558 families in Ang Chagn with a total of 1333 children aged 1—15, the average number of children in each family being five. The families in general earn between US$1.50 and US$2.00 a day in manual wages or through commerce activities such as selling merchandise at local markets and driving motos or tuk-tuks, for example. Many families survive through subsistence farming (fruit picking, rice and vegetable farming.) Most households do not have electricity, have no sanitary/toilet facilities, have limited access to clean water, and little or no access to medical or emergency services. As you can imagine, life here is a perpetual struggle but despite the fact that children in rural communities are usually expected to help with farming or manual labour, the villagers are fully supportive of the school and the children (as you will see in later blogs) love coming to school, to the extent that if we put on extra sessions in the afternoon for 'morning' school kids, we are usually overwhelmed by the response.  Education is highly valued by parents and children alike.

Northlight students visit the village.

We had some visitors from Singapore last month, highly motivated and public-spirited young people from Northlight School, and their walk around the village was something of an eye-opener for them, coming as they do from a protected society in which the majority of the population live in high-rise public housing. They may have been surprised - and exhausted - by the tour around the village, being unused to walking anywhere! - but they certainly provided a couple of days of fun for Spitler kids as they introduced some games and art activities.  (If you receive the newsletter, you will know a little of what they brought to the school.) The Singapore students and staff were able to introduce our children to some very successful, but low tech games, art activities and a wonderful lunch for all. The experience has widened their understanding of life in the poorest area of SE Asia. Friendships were formed, eyes were opened, and certainly for some, a life-changing promise of , "I'll be back".

A helping hand feeding the very youngest children.

Learning new art techniques with the volunteers.

Talented new artists.

A study in concentration during the lamp-painting session.

 

          




  It sometimes feels that we at Spitler School Foundation are more privileged than most rural schools: the infrastructure is there, staff are kind and turn up regularly, and there is a genuine interest in the development of the whole child. Yet we know this is only possible due to the generous donations from people throughout the world. We have met many visitors, interested in what we are doing, who do continue through donations to make this work possible. As Pam Spitler pointed out to us on her last visit, in the early days the children never ever smiled. Now I can assure you they have plenty to not only smile but laugh about!

New Year Party time at Spitler School.