Overview:  The schools provide classes and activities from morning until evening every day of the week. On weekdays English and computers are taught at various levels to over 300 students that mostly range from 6-20 years old. Khmer (Cambodian) nationals teach all the classes, and utilize Khmer and foreign volunteers.  Weekly activities include a youth group, art, movies, yoga, dance-aerobics, traditional dance, Chinese and soccer, as well as guest lecturers, photography, and field trips.  All activities are open to all, have elements of fun, offer life experience, and most events fill the schools. 

A series of leadership classes have been taught to over 200 teenagers from the areas, and have been the building block for the school's Leadership Team; a group of committed students who volunteer and gain work experience. 

Health training and services are also provided free of charge to students, including testing, treatment, medicine, as well as quality dental care and toothbrushes.  We also offer complete care for women from the communities where we work to go on long term birth control if they wish, as well as birth control education.

We place students into jobs to help them stay in school, primarily as house cleaners and doing data entry.

About the students:  Most students also study in public primary, secondary, high school and even university, as well as work to support their studies.  A high percent are ranked in the top 10% of their classes, and many study very hard in hopes of a better life.  During the morning and afternoon the younger students come to study basic English and Khmer before or after their primary school.  In the evenings the students are mostly teenagers who are working on their high school degrees.  The students must live in the community to qualify to study at the school unless given special permission.  The centers have become a place for the kids in the community who are on the right path to meet and make friends. 

About the project:  The community centers are run using local skills and basic ideas that work.  The schools are houses in the heart of poor communities that are converted to learning centers, and have monthly rents of $100 to $180, which are subsidized by members of the community.  Students take part in various activities, though most all study English with us and take part in extracurricular activities. 

Medical care is offered to the wider community as resources allow, with the priority going to students and children.  There are movies and karaoke on Saturday night to provide teens a safe place.  A youth group meets on Sundays to learn, build strength and have fun.

About the staff:  The staff consists of 12 part-time and 5 full-time staff, all Cambodians except  1 American (Drew McDowell).  There are another 15 student “volunteers” who play a significant role in running our schools and receive stipends to help pay for their public school education.  A major aspect of our mission is to build capacity in the staff, and they are given responsibility and direction to make them leaders.  We tap in to our staff’s strengths, and support their ideas for initiatives, empowering them to run the project.  Ultimately our greatest achievement could be building our team, as they are sure to achieve great things in their lives. 
All too often we are underequipped to handle the daunting challenges in the face of poverty and lack of child rights that we work around, but by doing our best, listening and caring, we do make a difference!