ABCs and Rice's mission is to provide an education to hundreds of impoverished children from around the
rural villages of Siem Reap, Cambodia. Our students get a first-rate English education, two meals per day to keep them healthy and learning, empowerment by giving rice to their families in exchange for their attendance, and daily life lessons and skills to stop the vicious cycle of poverty.
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| From left: Sonya, Kania, me, and Jet at Full Belly Farm |
We work hard to welcome as many students as we can, trying to find the children with the greatest need first.
I recently visited Full Belly Farm, an NGO that supports several families with disabilities to live on and run a sustainable farm. There, I met Sonya and Kania*, two young girls who equally deserve the opportunity to get a proper education and learn skills at ABCs to secure their future.
*The names of the children have been changed for their protection.
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| Twin sisters on the left are mothers to Sonya and Jet. |
Sonya, pictured above in the polka dot dress, was born, like her mother and aunt, with Polio, a viral disease that affects their central nervous system and mobility. Though born with a disability, Sonya is a strong young girl with a lot of personality, as you can see in the picture below.
Kania, pictured above showing off the double peace sign, lost her ability to walk and became wheelchair bound after a tragic motorbike accident in 2014.
Kania, just like her good friend Sonya, loves to show off her strength. On just my second visit with her, she reached out and grabbed the middle three fingers of my hand with a grin to say hello. After holding my hand for a few seconds, when I least expected it, she pulled my hand down toward the wheel of her chair, showing me all of her might through gritted teeth. She soon let go and looked over to me with a proud smile--I was now knelt down next to her as an equal, as her friend.
Though Sonya and Kania are both already 8 years old, neither girl has yet had a formal education.
I asked Sonya, "Why do you want to come to ABCs and Rice?" She told me, through an interpreter, that she "wants to learn to read and write and how to communicate." Kania, without skipping a beat, chimed in, "But, I want to go to school first!"
As the girls and I continued talking, Sonya's cousin, Jet, joined into the conversation. We talked about their favorite colors. After Kania told me she likes green, yellow, and blue, Jet said he likes black and white. Before we could move on to the next subject, Kania jumped in again with wide eyes, and said, "Oh, I want to add another color: orange!"
Unlike the girls, Jet doesn't have a disability, but takes care of Sonya and Kania every day on the farm. In my visits, he is always helping Kania get around in her chair and holding Sonya's arm when they walk. I'm told Sonya doesn't feel less empowered when it's Jet who helps her. Jet is Sonya's cousin, but equal family and protector to both girls.
At ABCs and Rice, we want to open our doors to all three children to attend our school. Though Jet is able-bodied, in order to give Sonya and Kania the best experience and education possible, we need to be able to accommodate their disabilities.
Each of our 6 classrooms at ABCs is built up on stilts to keep the floods out during the rainy season. As a result, it's three steps up to each room.
The first step to ensure the accessibility and safety of Sonya and Kania is to build a ramp with railings to bypass the steps.
We've met with a contractor who can build a ramp that will both fit Kania's wheelchair and provide railings for Sonya. The ramp will be mobile, so it can move from one classroom to the next as the girls grow and rise through the grade levels of ABCs and Rice. The contractor has agreed to build just the ramp we need for $385.
With the ramp installed, Kania and Sonya will be able to independently join our "Ducklings" grade-level classroom pictured below:
In phase two of the project, we'll have to overcome a major challenge. ABCs and Rice is built on a plot of sand. The uneven ground is too unstable for Sonya and too difficult to traverse for Kania.
In order for Sonya and Kania to safely and freely get around school, visit the library, and enjoy our indoor playroom, just like every other student at ABCs, we need to build a cement sidewalk from the gate to the main building, pictured above. From there, we then need to build a pathway and railings to the concrete plaza at the center of our classrooms shown in the picture below.
Third,
we will need to install a web of concrete paths over the sand from the center plaza to each of the 6 classrooms.
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| The center concrete plaza connects our lunch room, bathrooms, and play area. |
In total, all of the concrete walkways and railings are estimated to cost $1,800.
Finally, our main bathrooms
for the children aren't wide enough to accommodate a wheelchair and aren't equipped with railings for stability. With your support, we will be able to widen the doorway and bathroom to make room for a wheelchair and install the necessary railings.
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| One of the student bathrooms at ABCs and Rice. |
In total, the project is estimated to cost around $2,500 (£1,780).
This is a big project, but it will have a long-term, life-changing impact on the lives of Sonya and Kania.
It will also mean that ABCs will become fully accessible to students with disabilities for years to come! This will provide the opportunity for potentially dozens of other children with disabilities in the surrounding villages to get the education they otherwise wouldn't have access to.
Support ABCs and Rice's mission to change the lives of Sonya and Kania and to help them continue to show their strength! Together, I believe we can reach our goal!
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