Self Help Community Center (SHCC) started in 2007 in Siem Reap with three small makeshift classrooms made of wood and bamboo on a small plot of leased land to give 250 underprivileged kids in the Kro Bei Riel Community a chance of early childhood education.
Ten years later, SHCC has been providing not just classrooms but also a safe haven to over 1,500 disadvantaged children in Cambodia. With the ultimate goal to create a capable and self-sufficient community by empowering Cambodia’s youth through education and provide the proper tools to enable them to build their livelihood at an early start, SHCC has been helping lift so many lives from poverty.
In order to permanently break free from the cycle of poverty, the SHCC works through an empowerment model at the grassroots level. In place is a sustainable development model that directly benefits its community through educating the younger generations now to support their families to become self-sufficient in the future. Other than kindergarten classes, they offer educational and vocational courses in English, social work, organic farming, arts and crafts, sports education, hygiene, nutrition and environmental issues. Proudly, they hire and maintain a permanent paid staff of native Cambodians.
In the past, TFWA Care has stepped in and provided funds to build high school classrooms. To further help achieve their goals this year, TFWA Care will once again team up with SHCCC and provide funding to purchase new land and the construction of three additional kindergarten classrooms. Extra proceeds will go to the first year of its operational cost. Once at place, hundreds more kids will be able to benefit from a well-deserved early childhood education. And consequently, this will free up the time so that their parents are able to work or develop their own business. The cycle of a self- sufficient and sustainable Cambodia continues.
The Youth Development Scholarship provides selected students in Grades 10 - 12 the opportunity to complete high school as well as learn valuable leadership, life skills and social work skills. There are many factors that are considered when selecting students for the YDC Programme – all students must show potential but not necessarily academically. Most importantly they must show potential as leaders and good role models, not only for their fellow SHCC students but also the wider community.
The students come from a range of backgrounds but all suffer from poverty at differing levels and would not be able to attend high school without the support of a scholarship.
The support of TFWA Care is enabling 36 students from the SHCC to complete a three-year high school education. Thanks to their time at high school, these students will be able to play a leading role in the development of their community, helping them, their families and their peers to break out of the poverty cycle.
‘Good things happen only if we make them happen’
