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Welcome to Cambodia Connect! We offer a unique student wellbeing program built on well proven positive education practices and principles.
The program has direct access to kids in Cambodia, and culminates in a service tour to Cambodia - where students connect with and work face-to-face with the local children, further building the relationships developed over the program.
Cambodia Connect has been preparing students and leading them on tour for more than 10 years. We are experienced at working with college staff, and maximising the personal wellbeing benefits to every participating student.
Who is our in-country partner - Transform Cambodia?
Transform Cambodia is an Australian/Cambodian partnership organisation working to transform the lives of the poorest Cambodian children and their families.
It has "life centres" located all around Phnom Penh where the children come to be immersed in a positive education environment focusing on developing the wellbeing of every child. This environment surrounds every child from 5 years old right through to university.
The poorest of the street kids - transformed into positive, capable fully contributing university graduates!
Many student wellbeing practices are strengthened on tour, including relationship building and resilience development, but perhaps the best opportunities are in the areas of gratitude and contribution.
Seeing first hand how happy, how positive and how successful the Transform children are - given their very poor home and community environments - pulls into focus how grateful Australian students should be for their personal situations.
And it terms of contribution, the most sought after, appreciated and effective gift they can offer the Transform children is simply to spend time with them practicing spoken English. And this the Australian students can do very, very well!
The focus on gratitude & contribution
What happens on tour?
Before heading off to Cambodia, students prepare as part of their college wellbeing program. If a college does not have a focussed wellbeing program, we come to the college and run an intensive program to ensure students both personally gain the most from the tour, and can contribute meaningfully and effectively.
The tour program/schedule is very structured to meet 4 objectives:
1. Enhance and strengthen the wellbeing of every participant
2. Maximise the benefit of every participant's contribution to the
Transform kids and communities.
3. Immerse and gain an accurate and personal understanding of
Cambodian society.
4. Experience first hand the "lows" in Cambodia (including visiting Pol
Pot's Killing Fields) and the "highs" of Cambodia (including visiting
and exploring the amazing ancient temples of Angkor Wat).
We work closely with college staff to finetune and adjust tour preparation and the program culmination tour to ensure the best possible outcomes for participating students.
This short video shows how the tours work and what being on tour actually feels like!
What to do next ...
Our Cambodia Connect facebook page is regularly updated with photos of tour preparation, and photos from groups on tour. It is a great place to learn more about Cambodia Connect tours.
To explore the possibility of adding Cambodia Connect content or Transform content into your own wellbeing program, or to look at what is involved in arranging a tour for your students, please contact Wayne Patterson on 0468 560 042.
Contact program leader Wayne Patterson
on 0468 560 042
or via Messenger from the Cambodia Connect facebook page.
Transform Cambodia
Transform Cambodia is an Australian based educational organisation running 23 Life Centres for the poorest children in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. We partner with Transform because we know them very well, and are confident that the local children attending the Life Centres are both well cared for and are being effectively prepared for long term escape from the cycle of poverty they and their families have been trapped in for decades.
Transform is properly registered in Australia as a not-for-profit, charitable organisation, and is registered in Cambodia to operate the Life Centres with the local children. It is subject to regular thorough audits to ensure the safety and wellbeing of the children. We make this point because there are many organisations operating in Cambodia "below the radar" that are nowhere nearly as well run as Transform Cambodia. You can find out more about the very effective Transform Cambodia operation by visiting www.transformcambodia.com
Integrated Education Program
A prime reason for partnering with Transform is their very well planned and delivered fully integrated educational program. Great care has been taken to determine which knowledge, skills and attitudes would give the Khmer children the best chance to permanently escape the cycle of poverty. Note that the children remain in their local communities while attending Transform Life Centres. This "connection" is critical to their growth into self-supporting, contributing members of their own communities.
While there are many important areas of development for the children, one of the most important is the learning of fluent spoken English. This is not an imposed value - it is simply a fact of life that stable, well paying jobs in Phnom Penh go to those who have learnt to speak English well. It is one of the highest priorities for the parents.
And this is why the time of the visiting Australian students is so valuable. The children complete the very well structured "Let's Go!" ESL English language program as part of their studies at their Centre. However, a critical part of that program is the practicing of the spoken English being taught. The Transform Centres are fully run by local Khmer staff, and while they are wonderful people who do an amazing job with the children, they learned English themselves as a second language. To have "native" speakers of English provide the opportunity for the children to practice their English lifts the effectiveness of the English language program to a whole new level.
Unfortunately, much volunteer work conducted in Cambodia is arranged and conducted primarily for the benefit of the volunteers. And while this certainly grows the character of those involved, the exercise misses the opportunity to generate real value for the local people in need.
Transform is different. Firstly, the operation is carefully and strongly targeted toward the best long-term outcomes for the local children. All other considerations are secondary to that focus. And secondly, the children will be well into their "Let's Go" language study program before the visiting Australian Cambodia Connect tour students arrive.
This means the local children are "primed and ready" for the opportunity to practice their newly learned spoken English skills. It is this proper integration into the overall curriculum that enables the visiting Australian students to make such a significant difference to the growth and learning of the local children in the relatively short time they have with them.
The Australian students are often surprised at how much their Khmer children learn as a result of their one-on-one time with them. It is always a most rewarding, memorable and often life changing experience for the students.