May 2015

170 318

LIFE&FAMILY
170 May15
Bachelor degree
students at work in
InterContinentalHotel
in Phnom Penh
A celebration to mark 20 years of Sok Sabay will be held on 30 May at The
British Club in Singapore. Marie Cammal and graduate students of Sok
Sabay will be there to tell their stories. Email r details.
The immediate effect on joining Sok
Sabay is incredible. “I see kids eating
out of rubbish piles, and a day later they
are at Sok Sabay playing a violin. After
a few days they’re smiling and eating
like the other kids because they’re in
a supportive community that quickly
becomes their home.” The children’s
families are not forgotten: they receive
food, and visit their kids every month.
Art, sport, music, and full-time private
education are all provided at Sok Sabay,
andbothKhmer andEnglish are available.
International volunteers, includingchildren
from Singapore’s international schools,
visit on a regular basis.
In Singapore, a team of generous
people supports Sok Sabay, for example
Irish expatriate Liza Rowan and her
family, who sponsor two children and
donate to the Laos project. Liza has
taken her own two boys to Phnom
Penh to see the slums and the shelter
first-hand, and has hosted trips to raise
corporate awareness, including with
long-term supporter, the Denis Freyes
Ayam Group. More trips are planned
for the future.
Does Marie see a bright future? “Only
10 percent of the population of Cambodia
is educated; to make a difference to the
‘mute’ nature of Cambodian society, this
must increase to at least 60 percent.
When the children from Sok Sabay and
other NGOs can stand on their feet
and find jobs to help their families, the
country will change and the endemic
poverty cycle will be beaten. When you
give education, you give a passport to
a better life, and a choice to improve
and become a responsible citizen in a
community. My graduates have degrees.
They can decide their future. They can fly
and be free.”
2014 university
students celebrate