SEALNet Project Cambodia 2016
Inspire Slum Children Through Education
Phnom Penh, Cambodia
August 01 - 14, 2016
Executive Summary
Project Cambodia 2016 (Phnom Penh) will focus on the three key words: slum children, inspiration and education, which will be the most prominent throughout the two-week workshops. Although many children from slum communities in Cambodia are able to grant access to educa
tion through NGOs’ support, they still face with the danger of having to make a living on the streets which hinders a prospective future ahead of them due to financial struggles. Wishing to improve the situation, the project aims at inspiring the slum children in Phnom Penh through equipping them with essential skills which will help them to have fun and engage more in general learning, e.g. painting, drawing, coding and role playing etc. Moreover, we aspire to help the underprivileged children to acknowledge the vast opportunities which education brings about and also for the slum children to realize their limitless potential. Our main purpose is to provide the slum children with a more positive outlook into the world outside of their slum community through story-telling and mentorship. Project Cambodia 2016 (Phnom Penh) hopes to offer the slum children and also team members the chance to develop personal growth through inspiring and being inspired from each other. As we believe that “every person has a story to tell, a lesson to teach and a dream to share”, we hope to carry the impact in which the slum children and team members will be empowered by each other’s stories through our personal mentorship system. Community Problem
Slum community
The slum communities that the project will be working with are slum children who still live off the streets despite receiving education, which subsequently de-motivates their learning aspirations. There are also many slum kids who do not see the value of education and prefer making a living on the streets to earn fast money. Throughout the service curriculum, all members will be closely exposed to the slum community children and strive to make a difference in these communities. The team members will get to personally engage with a group of children ranging from age 7 to 11 in a local organization which gathers slum children to receive their education programme. Our partner organization provides some financial compensations to the parents in exchange for the slum children to study. Project Cambodia 2016 (Phnom Penh) hopes to nurture in the slum children a growing interest in learning and also inspire them with the possibilities that an educated life could bring. High school students in Cambodia & Vietnam
At the academically stressful environment at high schools in Vietnam and Cambodia, students do not get enough opportunities to explore and develop themselves through expressive activities and community service. This also restricts students from discovering who they are and ultimately, their purposes for contribution as change-agents. We hope to provide the students with essential leadership skills and empower them to return as project leaders in their own communities. More importantly, the high school students are given chances to reflect upon themselves and hopefully find the answer to the question “Who am I?”. Our vision & objectives
Inspire the slum children to develop an interest and realize the meaning of education, hence producing a lifelong impact. Promote the spirit of volunteerism and SEALNet’s culture to the high school (mentees) and university students (mentors) across the world
Empower both high school and university students to become potential leaders with well-equipped skills and a concrete understanding about the issue to return and support the similar communities in their locations
Create a safe environment that provokes a family-like sense of belonging in order for the slum children and project members to inspire each other while being inspired. Raise at least $500 for our partner organization to support the slum children financially
Approach
Leadership Curriculum
As the recurring theme throughout the project is ‘Inspiration – To inspire and be inspired’, our goal for the Leadership Team is to ‘inspire’ the mentees through providing them different insights on what makes a good leader, hence allowing the mentees to construct their own definition of leadership. The members of Leadership Team will be designing the detailed planning for the leadership workshops, based on the theme of the project and the objectives given by the two project leaders. The workshops will focus on two themes: Personal Development as a Leader and Mentorship. Mentee Challenge
As part of the pre-project program, 10 mentees from Cambodia and 10 mentees from Vietnam will be given an opportunity to practice their fundraising skills, especially to those who have never had experience with fundraising. 10 students from each country will have to work together to fundraise in their location while the mentors will act as an observer and monitor the mentees’ abilities in terms of their involvement and determination to learn. This information will be useful later for their mentor to help support and improve their leadership potential. Service Curriculum
The mentors in Service Team will be designing the detailed planning for community outreach workshops. Our aim is not only to provide emotional support but also to ‘inspire’ the slum children through introducing to them a new world outside of their community and the value of education. The community outreach workshops will act as tools to initiate and closely develop the relationship between the slum children and project members (mentors and mentees) throughout the 2-week project. The three core themes of the workshops will include ‘I Have A Story’, ‘The Outside World’ and ‘The Meaning of Education’. Mini- Project: Make Phnom Penh Home
This is a mini-project designed for the team members and the slum children to have bonding time together through cooking and delivering food to the homeless people around Phnom Penh. The aim of the mini-project is to offer an example for the mentees on how to lead a project in preparation for the Charity Event. Moreover, the purpose is to enhance the members’ awareness on the value of community service (as part of the Leadership Curriculum), as well as leaving the slum children to feel empowered and inspired by how education can help them support their own community. Charity Event - you name it! Alongside with designing their own workshop, mentees will be able to run their own project which will be a charity event for the slum children. This also marks as a closing ceremony of the project and an opportunity for the slum children to showcase their artistic talents in collaboration with our project members (mentees and mentors). Our sponsors - local government, local communities, families and friends will be invited as audiences. We aim to raise at least $500 to improve these slum children’ quality of life (classroom infrastructure, their access to education etc.) through “letting the slum children’s voices and stories be heard” to the general public. Mentorship System
Throughout the project, we will incorporate the mentor-mentee system in which one mentor will assist two mentees in terms of leadership and personal development. All of the mentors will be required to design a leadership schedule and one year development schedule for their mentees. The purposes are for keeping track of the mentees’ growth, as well as serving as a sustainability goal of the project to maintain the relationship between mentors and mentees. At the same time, there will be a peer-mentoring system within the each mentorship group as the two mentees will be able to apply what they have learned from the mentorship workshops, as well from their personal experiences to support each other. Team Members’ Responsibilities
Strong commitment in the planning process from April to August. Involvement in the ex*****on process when we are on the ground. Dedication to your mentee during and beyond these two weeks. Fundraise $350 toward the cause of the project. Do your best, take initiatives and have fun! What We Want in Our Applicants:
Be an effective advocate for your passion and interest
Be invested in the project and our mission
Be open to people from different cultures and perspectives
Be ready to engage with local students and slum children
Be willing to step out of their comfort zones in order to learn new things about others and themselves
Be able to “Say YES before knowing how” ever chance you get. Project Leaders
Chea San (San)
Trinh K Lê (Trinh or Katie)
