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Welcome to Cambodia Connect! We offer a unique student wellbeing program built on well proven positive education practices and principles.
The program has direct access to kids in Cambodia, and culminates in a service tour to Cambodia - where students connect with and work face-to-face with the local children, further building the relationships developed over the program.
Cambodia Connect has been preparing students and leading them on tour for more than 10 years. We are experienced at working with college staff, and maximising the personal wellbeing benefits to every participating student.
Who is our in-country partner - Transform Cambodia?
Transform Cambodia is an Australian/Cambodian partnership organisation working to transform the lives of the poorest Cambodian children and their families.
It has "life centres" located all around Phnom Penh where the children come to be immersed in a positive education environment focusing on developing the wellbeing of every child. This environment surrounds every child from 5 years old right through to university.
The poorest of the street kids - transformed into positive, capable fully contributing university graduates!
Many student wellbeing practices are strengthened on tour, including relationship building and resilience development, but perhaps the best opportunities are in the areas of gratitude and contribution.
Seeing first hand how happy, how positive and how successful the Transform children are - given their very poor home and community environments - pulls into focus how grateful Australian students should be for their personal situations.
And it terms of contribution, the most sought after, appreciated and effective gift they can offer the Transform children is simply to spend time with them practicing spoken English. And this the Australian students can do very, very well!
The focus on gratitude & contribution
What happens on tour?
Before heading off to Cambodia, students prepare as part of their college wellbeing program. If a college does not have a focussed wellbeing program, we come to the college and run an intensive program to ensure students both personally gain the most from the tour, and can contribute meaningfully and effectively.
The tour program/schedule is very structured to meet 4 objectives:
1. Enhance and strengthen the wellbeing of every participant
2. Maximise the benefit of every participant's contribution to the
Transform kids and communities.
3. Immerse and gain an accurate and personal understanding of
Cambodian society.
4. Experience first hand the "lows" in Cambodia (including visiting Pol
Pot's Killing Fields) and the "highs" of Cambodia (including visiting
and exploring the amazing ancient temples of Angkor Wat).
We work closely with college staff to finetune and adjust tour preparation and the program culmination tour to ensure the best possible outcomes for participating students.
This short video shows how the tours work and what being on tour actually feels like!
What to do next ...
Our Cambodia Connect facebook page is regularly updated with photos of tour preparation, and photos from groups on tour. It is a great place to learn more about Cambodia Connect tours.
To explore the possibility of adding Cambodia Connect content or Transform content into your own wellbeing program, or to look at what is involved in arranging a tour for your students, please contact Wayne Patterson on 0468 560 042.
Contact program leader Wayne Patterson
on 0468 560 042
or via Messenger from the Cambodia Connect facebook page.