Cambodia is one of the countries that have experienced a lot of economic progress in the past years. Nevertheless, around 72% of the inhabitants live on less than three Euros per day and when it comes to education and health, the children are the ones who suffer the most.
PM-International together with World Vision decided to get involved and improve the living conditions of various communities concerning health, nutrition and education. As a result, the company elected 117 sponsored children and Vicki Sorg, as Charity Ambassador, went to Cambodia to check out the campaign’s progress.
Basic builds future
In the rural areas where the children and their families are supported a lot of sustainable changes have already been implemented. The steady expansion of water supply improved the health and hygiene level enormously. Sinks have been installed in local schools and the children have learned how important it is to wash their hands with soap before eating and after going to the toilet to avoid infections. A lot of families have built latrines to make sure that a better hygiene level is maintained at home as well. Awareness trainings in nutrition, the treatment of diseases as well as better information about pregnancy and childbirth led to the result that almost every childbirth takes place under medical supervision, thus avoiding the risk of death for mother and child.
Education, the most powerful argument
When it comes to education a lot has already been achieved. Almost every single child goes to school. The renovation and construction of new kindergartens and preschools has increased the enrollment in schools tremendously. Parents are being made aware to send their children to secondary schools to offer them a better future. Although more and more children have already attended secondary schools, some of them have to leave school in order to work on the fields and help their families to gain their daily bread. By supporting these families to stabilize their income by agricultural trainings and resource-friendly production techniques, the long-term goal is to have the inhabitants to provide for themselves and at the same time have every child finish school and receive a solid education. Furthermore, not only children are being educated, but teachers as well as they have been trained in new teaching methods and techniques.
Make childhood nutrition priority
Nutrition is another topic that is covered with funds of PM-International. Tracking the growth and weight of children regularly by professionals, malnutrition can early be diagnosed and treated accordingly. Awareness trainings in the field of how to cook nourishing and healthy food help the families to avoid diseases, like diarrhea, and malnutrition.
The Charity Ambassador
During her trip to Cambodia Vicki could convince herself of all the results that the efforts of World Vision have already put forth in supporting people to provide for themselves. She visited various programs like the Football Program that helps children learn about discipline, hard work, creativity and team building or the Agricultural Cooperative where farmers organize themselves and create saving groups to help each other out.
In fact, she was very excited to meet a farmers’ family who was able to come out of poverty by selling their harvest on the market from their own home gardening. The family built a latrine and a water well and is now able to provide healthy nutrition to their daughters who are going to school and will have a better future than their parents. The highlight presented the birthday celebration organized for the 117 sponsored children who received a birthday gift from Vicki. They spent a carefree day together while celebrating with a big cake and a lot of fun games.
One of the most impressive facts was the certain sense of self-value and pride that the people showed of what they have already accomplished with the help of World Vision and PM-International. They built homes, latrines, wells, are able to send their children to school and live better, healthier and longer lives.
For all the exclusive insights about the Cambodia trip first-hand follow Vicki on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/vicki_sorg/ or Facebook https://www.facebook.com/pmladiesleadership/ as she will post her impressions of the trip in the month of January! Don’t miss it![/vc_column_text][dt_slideshow][/vc_column][/vc_row]