Newsletters
With our regular newsletters, we aim to keep you posted on all the interesting and important news and updates of our programs and various activities. Enjoy reading!
May 2017
Dear friends and partners,
This month is a rather emotional month for myself and my daughter Miriam. Miriam graduates from school on May 20th and 10 days later leaves Cambodia for a new adventure in Canada. Yes, my girl is moving on to University – she has been offered and accepted an Honors BA in Women’s Studies and Sociology at the University of Ottawa.
How can it be that this scrap of humanity – 1.1 kilo at birth- HIV positive- lactose intolerant with a dim future turn out to be such a lovely young lady, ready to prepare herself to – as Miriam says it – I need to give back, mama!
I remember moments – at the age of 4 - she was very disillusioned with life – that you could not take a goldfish out for a walk – what use are they, she demanded as we buried yet another one. I remember the day she snapped a pencil in grade 1 in a moment of frustration and then cried for hours because she had disappointed a teacher. The day in grade 6 when she was selected to be part of a varsity soccer team – she never played soccer before. The day in grade 9 she played Othello in a school play and brought the house down with her performance. The day in grade 12 she finally got an A- in chemistry – this girl who struggles with math.
I remember her first laugh, her first step, her first boyfriend, her first drink, her first communion, so many things – and now it’s time for another first – a time to spread her wings – to leave the nest and start a new phase of her life’s journey.
I will miss Miriam’s zest for life – her insatiable appetite to learn new things – her sparkling eyes when she shares another moment of discovery – her tears in moments of disillusionment – her hugs and her pokes as she reminds me of my privilege of being her mama!
Yet I will see Miriam when she is gone – I will see her in the faces of children in our projects who just got a new school – of a teenager so determined to learn that he will sit with the grade 1s to begin the process. I will hear her laughter in the laughter of children playing in the school yard,, of children showing me their work in their school books. I will feel her presence when the children hold my hand and give me a spontaneous hug in the joy of the moment. I will see her wonder as children gently touch my skin – so white – or pull the hairs on my arms. I will see her beautiful presence as children give me a shy smile or a high five. I will rejoice as children here begin to spread their wings in the knowledge they will gain in their new school.
This year is a year of unforgettable blessings – we have completed 5 schools; we are in process of building 5 more schools and we have 5 more schools that need to be built. More than 4,000 Cambodia children are spreading their wings – more than 4,000 Miriam’s are excited about learning new things, thinking in new ways, children whom are thirsty for knowledge – children who need to give back.
This month I praise my God for the gift of Miriam, I praise my God for all of you who have made schools and education possible – I praise my God that although my girl is off to Canada – I still see her in the children of Cambodia. How good that is!!
Janne
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