The best life is not the longest, but the richest in good deeds.
Marie Curie
On October 11 I had one of the best experiences in my life, I embarked for Cambodia with several Latin friends, with the aim of knowing the different projects that Battampore NGO has created in Battambang.
Battampore NGO builds schools in Cambodia in places where the government does not reach. We visited 2 schools built by the organization, orphanages and a shelter for children and young mine victims. The schools we visited are all located 3 hours from Battambang, in places that are difficult to access, due to flooding from the rains and roads in very poor condition.
ARUNRAK SMEY PRIMARY SCHOOL and “Kompong Stew Primary School” These schools welcome children from first to sixth. Access to education in remote parts of Cambodia is very difficult, first to get qualified teachers who can settle in precarious rural areas and second to get parents to send their children to schools.
For Cambodian parents in rural areas, their priority is to get money to feed their family. When it comes time to harvest the rice, the main source of income for farmers in the area, parents generally take children out of school to put them to work with them, this has become the main challenge for Battampore, since retaining children until sixth grade is often almost impossible, so Battampore decided to start giving all parents a monthly bag of rice to cover the contribution that these children could give to the family. In the schools visited, the number of children in sixth grade had increased at Stew Primary School, for example from 12 children who started sixth grade, 8 continued to attend school regularly.
The main needs of Battampore NGO is to achieve in each school construction, that they have drinking water, decent sanitary areas and adequate facilities so that children live in a good environment and can receive a decent education. My heart was filled with joy when I saw the children showing us how much mathematics they knew on the blackboard, I could see the genius in their eyes and the desire to learn, to get out of the circle of poverty in which they have been stuck from generation to generation, and to be able to create a different future for generations to come.
Battampore NGO's mission is to make as many children as possible literate in rural Cambodia. Until today, they have built more than 16 schools, provided more than 1,800 children with access to education, and trained and retained more than of 65 teachers, who are in constant training.
Another area in which Battampore NGO has focused has been to be able to provide access and education also to those disabled children who have been victims of buried mines and have lost limbs as a result. Battampore NGO has also built a rehabilitation area for these children, the facilities are located in Battambang, these children are educated, rehabilitated and then it is about incorporating them into the labor market, where they can feel useful to society.
It was an unforgettable experience, full of many emotions and gratitude. Cambodia is a place where we have received a lot of love and it is a place where we can help so many children to have an education and a decent future.
The main objectives of Battampore NGO are: Education, care for the disabled, Infrastructure and agriculture, Health and emergency relief.
Love without borders was what I found in Battambang through Battampore NGO, love for the most needy, love for the most helpless, love of the volunteers with their wide smiles and hearts full of kindness, love of the children receiving support, love of the disabled children and young people being embraced with compassion and love by my traveling companions and I, who with eyes full of kindness contemplated ourselves in each child, in each volunteer and in each one of the works carried out there.
Life is beautiful when we find in it the possibility of loving, of giving ourselves to our fellow without barriers or titles, simply giving ourselves with love and compassion.
For Battampore NGO to be able to continue with its mission, needs the support of all those who can contribute with what we can, to help to achieve a better future for those children who today need our help more than ever.
I feel very fortunate to have had this experience and to support the Battampore NGO. www.battampore.com
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