THE SCHOOLS
OF CCAHA

Our schools are all located in the villages of Preah Dak Commune.

The first school started in 2008 at the Preah Dak Pagoda, outside the village of Preah Dak.

Now we have four more schools, three of which are bamboo huts built by the villagers. Each school has about one hundred children enrolled for lessons in Khmer and English.
We teach in the late afternoon and it soon gets dark. So to make just enough light to teach, we have a few bulbs, powered by old car batteries that are charged in the villages by a diesel generator.

Currently we teach more than 500 children, about 270 girls and 230 boys of whom the youngest are 5-6 years old and the oldest 17-18 years old. They are indeed very poor and often hungry, but all the same very eager to learn. They are fully aware of the fact that education is very important to them. You will find these wonderful kids warm and friendly, full of respect, and they are working hard to learn.
Nevertheless, we don't have enough funds for the ongoing costs and new children are coming in.

However, we are hopeful and it is such a joy to see the children's progress.

As the schools of CCAHA are meant to help the poorest children and the orphans, the children obviously do not have to wear a school uniform here, which they must at the public schools.
Neither do the children need to pay a yearly fee nor any needed material.
Because they are not able to pay anything at all.

Chheang Phalla