What the Challenge Is
Blind children in Cambodia do not receive any government support and there are very few charities who help the blind. Children born in rural areas are too often destined to a life of poverty, humiliation and begging. They have no access to education because there are no Braille teachers in the countryside. They receive no vocational training to help them rehabilitate into society. Many in Cambodian society regard disabled and blind people as "inferior" and treat them with negligence, thoughtlessness and even with cruelty.
Our Story
Our school, the Kampot Traditional Music School for Orphaned and Disabled Children (Khmer Cultural Development Institute) is a Cambodian NGO built in Kampot, (Southwestern Cambodia) in 1994 during the civil war. Our vision has always been to reach out to the most vulnerable children whilst at the same time providing them with complete residential care at our school, scholastic education from infant school to university and high quality training in traditional Cambodian performing arts. We work hard to preserve and continue traditional Cambodian arts and culture, so badly damaged during the Khmer Rouge genocide between 1975-79, when it is estimated up to two thirds of the population and 90% artists perished. We teach traditional Cambodian Music, Dance Yike theatre and Shadow Puppetry with Cambodian masters who survived the genocide. Today we care for blind children, one blind and deaf child and orphaned children some affected with HIV and epilepsy. We also give free performing arts tuition to local village children as part of our Outreach program. Our school was awarded the UNESCO World Decade for Cultural Development in 1995, the Raoul Wallenberg Humanitarian Award, New York 1999 and our school is considered a role model for cultural preservation and social development/outreach by the Ministry of Culture, even though we do not receive any funding from the Cambodian government.
What We Do and How We Are Resolving The Challenge
Our school is currently the only centre in Kampot Province assisting blind children. We provide a Braille teacher to take them through their scholastic lessons from primary school all the way through university and we provide accommodation at our school, food, clothing, medical care and tuition in traditional Cambodian music as therapy and vocational training. We also care for a little boy who is blind and deaf and who needs 24 hour care. He was abandoned and found in a taxi-rank in Kampot. Our other children are sighted but orphaned and some have HIV.
We work in close cooperation with local government authorities and with the Ministries of Social Affairs, Education and Culture, as well as the parents of our blind students. We have no expatriate overheads and our Board of Directors is entirely voluntary, meaning that each donation goes directly to our programs and the many children we help. We really need your support. Thank you for taking the time to help us.
