The Build-a-school project 2009/10

WE NEED A SCHOOL!

The needs of the 'Fishing Village' can be found here.

The children need the school so that the next generation will not remain illiterate. We anticipate a cost of about US$8,800 for a one classroom wooden school (~7m x 10m) floating on a bamboo raft. An additional US$4000 will provide for maintenance over the first 10 years. The wooden structure should survive 30 years. Details can be found here.

In addition, we need approximately US$21 per child per year for a meal supplementation programme in the other schools. Most of the village schools have enrollments of about 200-250 students so to sponsor a village would cost up to about US$5250 per year.

100% of all monies raised will go to the construction of the school, or directly to the kids. All associated costs, administrative, travel etc are borne personally.


Please make any cheques payable to "Mt Carmel BP Church Ltd" and indicate on the back of the cheque or with a covering letter, that this is intended for the "Cambodia School Building Project".

The cheques can be mailed directly to either:

Dr Edmund Lee
11 Greenwood Place
SINGAPORE 289135

or

Attn:Fiona
Mount Carmel BP Church
Clementi Bible Centre
152 West Coast Road
SINGAPORE 127370

"Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!"

Last Thursday I received some wonderful news. The Toh Kian Chui Foundation wrote to say that they will be sponsoring our school building project with a donation of S$10,000. I was jubilant to say the least. Praise the Lord!

We had already started on the school building in Phum Leav but have been operating on a deficit. I was mentally prepared for the reality of running into a bit of red, but the donation brought us just over the top, with a bit of excess that can be spent on exercise books and school swings for the children. God has really been wonderful, and faithful in providing for the project. Each cycle of fund raising brings forth just about the right amount, with a bit of excess as if to encourage us.

This last weekend's sermon had an interesting lesson for me. It was based on Luke 5's narrative on Simon Peter's call to discipleship. Jesus had called Simon to lower his nets, after a miserable failed night's fishing. Simon reluctantly obeyed, and was rewarded with a bounty he never expected.

But it was Simon's response that struck me. While the average individual would have celebrated the catch. Praised God for the blessings He had bestowed upon them. And certainly many of Simon's co-workers were already patting themselves on the back and perhaps leaping from the boats in jubilation. But not so Simon. This 'not-so-smart', bluff, temperamental fisherman saw a spiritual truth no one else did. When he should be celebrating like everyone else probably did, Simon could only see his degenerateness and Jesus holiness and divinity. "Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!" Was all he could say.

What a moment! Such a revelation could only come from the workings of the Holy Spirit.

So the sermon had an unintended consequence of being a bit of a rebuke for me. So often when God blesses us, especially when we had been doubtful of His faithfulness to provide, we see only the bountiful catch. It is of course not wrong to celebrate...and certainly not wrong to give thanks for His goodness. Praise the Lord, we proclaim. But how many will actually respond like Simon? How many will like Simon, allow the Holy Spirit to reveal in that moment, our total and absolute degenerateness and depravity, and see in contrast, His holiness and divinity? How many will like Simon fall on their knees and confess in shame, "Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!".

May God forgive me for I have been a sinful man.

almost there...

Well...we are really almost there. About S$8000 of almost there actually.

But I am going on in faith, and have remitted US$10K to Ps Samreth to begin the construction. We have to complete the school before the rains start. Well, at least the shell needs to be completed.

But God has been wonderful in providing through the surprising turnout of donors so far. I never expected to have gotten so far in this depressing economic climate. But here we are... with the summit in sight.

Praise God. And to those who have chipped in.... thank you so much!!

I will be going there in end April with a whole bunch of collected pens/pencils etc for the kids. They are just going tobe so thrilled.

Build a School Project - FAQs

1. What is the BASP?
The Build a School Project is a project that was begun about 3 years ago to place schools in very remote villages in rural Cambodia. Many of these villages are kilometers away from the nearest school. Young children often do not attend school because of the need to walk these distances through bad and unsafe dirt tracks.

2. What sort of schools do you build?
We essentially build very basic 2-3 classroom brick schools. The school will have toilet facilities and a bore well in the school premises. We furnish the schools with very simple wooden desks and benches. There is a painted chalk and duster 'blackboard'.

3. What level of education will these provide?
We seek to provide access to schools for the youngest children - so it will be Grades 1-3. We hope that by the time the children complete Grade 3, they will be old enough to be able to travel further to the larger schools, and that they would have learnt enough for them to integrate into the new school environment.

4. What about teachers?
We have a partnership with the Department of Education, so that once the school is built, the government will appoint teachers to the school. So far this has worked out very well.

5. Do you have any ownership or management roles in the school?
No. This school will essentially belong 100% to the community. We seek a healthy relationship with the village so that the village community become committed stakeholders in the school. Our continuing friendship and partnership with the village leadership (through the local pastors) provide a channel for us to support and mentor the community.

6. How much does it cost to build the schools?
Currently (2009) the cost of building the school, toilets and wells, and to provide simple furnishings average about USD$30K. The costs has increased recently. Also, these villages are relatively inaccessible even by vehicular means - via bumpy, pot-holed dirt tracks. This makes it even more costly to bring in construction supplies etc. The Appeal for funds.

7. What other needs do the children have?
The school is very basic and under-resourced. The government does provide basic text books, but often writing materials are inadequate. The children need exercise books, writing materials, other educational aids such as posters, charts etc.

8. How can one contribute?
Donations can be made by cheque or cash. Cheques are to be made out to "Mt Carmel BP Church Ltd". A note should be made on the back of the cheque that this is to be directed to the "Cambodia School Building Project". The cheque or cash can be mailed directly to:

Mt Carmel BP Church
Clementi Bible Centre
152 West Coast Road
Singapore 127370

9. Is this project financially supported by the church?
Currently we do not draw any support from church funds, and the church does not give a grant for this work. Thus, the BASP is entirely funded through private donations. The church office assists us by providing an independent and auditable accounting mechanism for the funds received.

10. What proportion of the moneys received actually goes to the building of the school?
100%. There is no administrative costs drawn from the donations received. All administrative, travel and miscellaneous costs are borne personally. If donations received exceed the budget, the excess is set aside for the next school or is used to support the children's educational needs, e.g. books and writing materials etc.

11. How much experience have you had doing this?
We have been in and out of Baray for the last 10 years. Over the last 3 years, we have built 3 village schools- in Chhom Trach, Ta Peuv and O Ta Saeng.

12. Who are you?
My name's Edmund. Just an ordinary nobody who cares about these kids. You can find out more about me here and here and here.

The Build-a School Project : 2008/2009

WE NEED A SCHOOL!

We need to raise funds this coming year to support the following:

a] The construction of a 3 classroom school at Leav/Char village. This will support about 200 Grade 1-3 students from about 500 families. As with the other schools previously built, we will put in the benches and desks, as well as toilets and a bore-well in the school compound.

b] School resources: exercise books, writing materials, pens, chalks and various educational materials. Health / educational aids and any kind of educational games will be very much appreciated. School uniforms are luxuries, but also very much valued.

c] A simple weekly or bi-weekly nutritional aid programme. Perhaps just a boiled egg per student.

I realize this is a difficult time to raise funds but we've got to try. It's always a difficult time for these kids, and they don't really have many options.

Please contact me if you wish to contribute in any way. You can use the email link below to send this appeal to your friends as well. We have been involved in Cambodia for about 10 years, and since 2005, have built 3 schools in remote villages, Chhom Trach, Ta Peuv and O Ta Saeng (average one per year). For more information on these schools please see here.

100% of all monies raised will go to the construction of the school, or directly to the kids. All associated costs, administrative, travel etc are borne personally.

Please make any cheques payable to "Mt Carmel BP Church Ltd" and indicate on the back of the cheque or with a covering letter, that this is intended for the "Cambodia School Building Project".


God bless.

e.

Phum Leav

Earlier this year, in August, we visited a village not too far from Ta Peuv. At least as the crow flies, it is not very far. In truth, it lies on another track north of the one leading to Ta Peuv. At the main junction at Krava, instead of turning East, if you continue northwards and loop around about 10kms, you will come to a rather dispersed cluster of villages. The main one is the one we visited. It's called Phum Leav (Laos village). Apparently the name is derived from the fact that there were Laotians living there before.

There are about 300+ families living in Leav. Just proximal to it, lie a smaller village of about 100+ families called Char. We are contemplating building a school there for the village (Leav). Perhaps a 3 classroom school like the one in O Ta Saeng, that can serve both Leav and Char. It's badly needed as the roads there are very bad and accessibility to schools are extremely difficult.

The pastors with the Leav village headman (blue shirt,white cap)surveying the land for the school

The pastors have been working hard to establish their gospel inroads there. Currently, one of Savann's men has established a cell group there. We hope that that will take root and grow. If we can find a church to partner, and who will adopt that village, it will be even better. But we recognize that fund raising will very very tough this time given the current economic climate. But we proceed in faith. And in your prayers.

School resources

The kids are generally very keen about school. The parents sometimes need persuading especially during harvest time when they prefer the kids to be working. Sadly many do not place a premium on education yet. Fortunately the kids are coming to school, and learning.

The difficulties the students face also relate to the inadequacy of resources in the school. The students don't have money for school uniforms. Some have used uniforms but they are often dirty and torn. They have text books which have been issued by the government. These seem adequate. But they do not have exercise books and writing materials. They make use of a chalkboard to practice writing, but they do not have any chalk!!

We have been thinking of ways to resource the classrooms and the students. On top of books and writing materials, the kids need school bags. We reckon we can start a collection for ballpoint pens and discarded conference bags. But I think for the long haul we need to find some way fund the school.

A rough estimate would be approximately USD5-10 per student per year. Based on the 7 classes x 2 sessions we have started in the 3 villages, we will need to raise about USD3-5K per year just to sponsor these students.

..sigh!.....

O Ta Saeng School

We had a great opportunity to visit the school at O Ta Saeng. Since the commissioning of the school in August, the school has already started 4 classes - 2 x Grade 1 classes in the afternoon, and 1 x Grade 2 and 1 x Grade 3 in the morning. Each class takes about 35 students at the moment. It is expected that by the same time next year, the school will be full.

Two teachers were taking classes that morning. The Dy Principle of the school, Lene has been teaching for 0ver 10 years. She has Grade 9 + 1 year of teacher training. She lives about 5 km from school and rides a motorbike in daily. She shared that she was quite content biking the distance in to school, as there were now more students in school. Apparently last year, before the school was built, 2 children had fallen into the river on the way to school and drowned.

The other teacher Bomary, is younger, but with similar qualifications. She lives only about a km away. Both appear quite happy and well adjusted.


One of the difficulties they face is the shortage of resources. The children have textbooks issued by the government, but no exercise books and writing material. More about this later.

O Ta Saeng School commissioning

My apologies for being so slow in posting my updates. Things just kinda snowballed after we got back from Cambodia.

So the exams are over now and I've finished marking the exam scripts...so I have a bit more breathing space now. Also looking forward to our next trip to Baray.

The school at O Ta Saeng was completed on schedule. We had a bit of an opening ceremony. It was also good meeting up with Ps Lee Peng Chiat from Alor Star methodist Church. I felt especially satisfied that we were able to build this school in collaboration with Alor Star despite our not having known each other before...and having done so in faith and trust.

In the end the inflation bumped up the cost of the school almost 50%, but by God's grace we had just about enough funds to pay for everything.

Commissioning of the school

So the school should be complete soon. My trip there is pretty much confirmed for 4-7 August. We'll be meeting with the contingent from Alor Star Methodist Church. I believe there will be a kind of handing over of school keys to the village leaders/school principal.

Jhon Sim will be accompanying me. It is a nice time to go as JetStar Asia has got a special on the flight to PP. But I think it's going to be all wet and muddy as it is the rainy season. Still I think it will a great trip.

We will also be exploring other options to help the villagers...perhaps a school for another village or a scholarship scheme to help deserving students further their education in the high school/college/university.

Projected completion

Received confirmation that the school should be completed by end July/early August. Esther had suggested we meet in Baray on 9 August for the school opening, but this is probably not workable, 10 August being my wedding anniversary and also coincides with the beginning of the semester.

I am however planning to bring a small group of NTU (Nanyang Technological University) engineering students to recce the villages to do some student special projects with the villages. I will probably target to go up sometime mid semester for the opening.

Inflation

Inflation has caught up with us in Cambodia, and the costs for construction has jumped about 25%. We now have a bill of USD28,900. Fortunately God as usual, has provided for this inflation ahead of time, so we should be able to meet out commitments.

Praise Him from whom all blessings flow.

We on the way....!

						USD
75 sets of tables and chairs (joint ) USD20 each,						$1,500.00
3 tables for the teachers USd20 each						$60.00
3 toilets/bathrooms						$1,300.00
3 classrooms						$18,600.00
One Drill well						$1,200.00
TOTAL						$22,660.00

This is the budget for the school building. The constribution of Mt Carmel to this endeavour will be USD $12,660.

Thank God for His faithfulness in providing. We are so overjoyed to be able to begin building.

His floodgates

I am almost at a loss for words.

God has opened His floodgates of blessing. Since last week, there has been an overwhelming level of support for this school in O Ta Saeng, and through the generosity of His people, the target of USD10,000 has been more than 50% exceeded. We have received a total of $22,800 (~USD15,724).

And I am sitting here completely overwhelmed by emotion as I reflect upon His goodness and faithfulness.

For those who were intending to donate but have not done so, please do not send any cheques now. We have already exceeded our target, and I do not want to accumulate any excess funds. The present monies will be used to build the school, and any excess funds will be utilized to purchase educational materials and any other support the students need.

There will definitely be other needs that will arise though the year, and I will keep everyone informed through this blog as these needs become clear. As a matter of principle, any fund raising done through this project will be 100% needs specific.

Praise God from whom all blessings flow. And my heartfelt thanks to all who have contributed.

And to all, God's richest blessings for 2008.

The Build-a School Project : The Appeal

AS ON 2 JANUARY 2008, WE HAVE RECEIVED A TOTAL OF $22,800 WHICH IS APPROXIMATELY 157% OF TARGET. PRAISE GOD!

THIS APPEAL IS THEREFORE OFFICIALLY CLOSED.
THANKS FOR ALL WHO HAVE SUPPORTED DIRECTLY AND INDIRECTLY. PLEASE DO NOT SEND ANY MORE MONEY. GOD BLESS!

We need your help in realizing this dream for the villages. If you are moved to give, kindly make your donations in the form of a check payable to Mt Carmel BP Church Ltd (write on back: “for school building project”)

For more information, for example, on where to send your donations to, please contact me at: ejdlee2007@gmail.com

Money collected will not be spent on any administrative/management costs but only on the following:

• School building
• Classroom furniture
• Toilets for school
• Bore well for school/village
• Miscellaneous support materials as the need arises, e.g. books, uniforms, teaching aids,school bags

The Build-a School Project : The School

The typical 2 class-room school is a brick building as shown above. The colour and design is identical to the usual government school. The design is very basic and there is just the 2 rooms with a corridoor outside. There are vented wooden windows on both side walls of the classrooms. The tentage you see in the picture above is atemporary structure installed for the commissioning ceremony.

The facade of the building has a signage (sometimes quaintly misspelt) of the donors name.

Fronting the school is a flagpole with the national flag. The students are taught to participate in a flag raising ceremony every morning. They enacted one such ceremony for our benefit, and we were suitably impressed with their discipline and good behaviour during the ceremony.

The inside of the classrooms are not as brightly lit as the pictures suggest (wonders of flash photography!) Becasue there is no power in the village, the classrooms are dependent only on ambient light through the windows. Often the students make do in semi darkness. The classroom desks and benches are roughly made wooden structures. The blackboard is a painted cement structure, and chalk is used. The picture here shows a more modern blackboard, but this is not the standard issue. Each classroom can accomodate a maximum of about 50 students.

The school is only the first difficult step to make. After that the students still study under considerable handicap. They have no money for school uniforms, and they have no books or any kind of educational materials. There is often only one set of teaching materials that the teachers use and the students have no text books or reading materials of their own.
We donated some school cheap school bags during the previous visit to this school, so here the kids are showing off what they have. They also have no materials for educational play etc. We will be rying to raise money to support the student through each year.

Set a little behind the school is a cluster of 2-3 toilets. And a bore-well is situated conveniently in front of the school.

O Ta Saeng

We have visited O Ta Saeng twice. The first time was in March 2007 after the commissioning of the Ta Peuv village school. The second time, during the most recent trip in November.

O Ta Saeng is a sizeable village of about 175 families with 177 children. It lay significantly south of Ta Prot and Chhom Trach, but within the Kpg Cham province. Once again we were faced with long stretches of pot-holed muddy tracks, this time with a narrow, rickety wooden bridge.

The village had made a request for a 3 class-room school as the parents had been very concerned about their young children traveling the 2kms to the nearest school. Those who do make the long commute are often too tired to really attend school. The track to the school is often flooded and treacherous and they have lost a few children already. The proposed school is also intended to support an adjacent village Neang Leung with about 80 families.

It is anticipated the proposed school will cost approximate USD15-18K to construct and outfit in addition to the introduction of a bore-hole well. The villagers had already set aside a piece of land measuring approximately 20 x 80m.

I have to confess to have been more than a bit reluctant to commit. Not because O Ta Saeng was undeserving of the support, but because I (being of little faith) wasn't confident about raising the required sum. We had already raised approximately USD20K for the last 2 schools and I was worried about donor fatigue. I could see a target of about USD5-10K being reached, but USD18K was a little bit off the scale. I had a discussion with Esther about this and proposed that if we can find another church to co-sponsor the school, that would make the target more realizable. She agreed. We departed Cambodia on that understanding, and left it in God's hands.

What an absolutely joy it was to receive her typically cryptic email on 12/12 about a member of the Alor Star Methodist church who pledged USD10K for the school. Plus the news that the village headman had accepted Christ!

So God has made His position quite clear. And the ball, without doubt, has been place firmly back in my court.

The Build-a School project #2

A number of other things shaped the concept. One was the question of teachers. While we can plant the brick and mortar shell of the school. How were the students going to be taught? Fortunately the Cambodia Department of Education had a plan in place. If we built the school, they said, they would supply the teachers. Problem solved. Though it must be clear that these were not teachers that we think about in Singapore. These were more like teaching assistants...likely just the most educated young man or young lady within the district who could be paid to do the 'teaching'. Still that was so much better than nothing. One has to bear in mind the inaccessibility of these villagers. And it was difficult to persuade good teachers to make those difficult and treacherous commutes just to teach a bunch of half naked kids in a poor village.

Secondly while the villagers need to take ownership of the school, there needs to be some mentoring of this process to ensure that the developments are healthy and reasonably productive. To my mind the most appropriate people to do this for the villagers were the local pastors, who already had good contacts with the outside world, reasonably exposed, aware and educated.

Thus, quickly a number of very clear expectations began to crystallize:

• there must be evidence of commitment and willing ownership by the village
• teachers were the responsibility of the local government, and must be available
• there must be a local pastor who was prepared to enter the village and work with the community
• there must clear understanding that there is an ultimate mission to nurture the spiritual health of the community, that the school is not just a means for education, but must serve the vital mission to spread the knowledge of God's love, and eventually establish the church withing the community.
  

All these were made possible because there was already a very mature and committed mission established in Baray through Esther Ding (CMS).

One last thing I need to emphasize. It was probably the most important consideration for the project to work. It was very clear to me that because this project was going to involve gifts and giving, people and processes must be fully accountable to both God and man. The challenge was really how to establish this. I was fortunate because we have worked with Esther for 9 years, I can vouch for her commitment and conviction. She is a single Malaysian lady who has been in Cambodia as part of the CMS mission. She had entered Baray 15 years ago at great risks to her own safety and has remained to serve the people in Baray, bringing health missions, flood relief and even setting up handicraft livelihood projects (originally SongKhem, then later KhmerLife). She's trained a band of very responsible committed local pastors who have been very active in ministering to the community. I could more than trust her and her pastors to oversee the project locally.

And me? Well,you will have to judge for yourself...:). For this reason I have put my contacts on the blog. This wasn't done for self-glorification, but for you to know there is a real person behind this project. Someone you can contact for clarification, and more importantly to hold accountable should there be problems.

Monies received are managed and disbursed to CMS through my church account which is fully auditable annually.

The Build-a School project

I was delighted and buoyed by the success of the school we were able to build in Chhom Trach. The dramatic change that occured in the village as a result of the new school and well was more more than evident. Somehow, the villagers and the children seemed so much more cheerful, healthy and positive each time we re-visited them.

That was when the idea of building schools in other villages began to take shape. If it could be done in Chhom Trach, couldn't we do this in other places? It wasn't difficult to do, yet the outcome was just so positive and encouraging. Surely education was the way to break these villages out of their helplessness and seemingly hopeless poverty cycle.

It was clear to me that the school should not be a direct handout. Neither should it be a solution foisted upon the villagers by an visitor and a foreigner. It should be a part of a solution that the villagers themselves wanted. And they must take ownership of the process. Thus it became a mandatory part of the equation that neither I nor the church I represent must own the school, or try to manage the school. So this will have to be a gift to a recipient who desires the gift.

Just writing this gave me goosebumps because I suddenly realized how much of an analogy that is to the gift of grace and salvation that God presents to us. While it is available to all, it really only makes sense to those who seek it and desire it.

Ta Peuv

Just past the Kpg Thmor junction, heading southwards, there is a turn off onto a track heading east, gloriously called the Hun Sen Trail. The trail is heavily pot-holed and gets very muddy when it rains. Nevertheless the trail leads through some very scenic views of rural Cambodia. After a very bumpy 15kms, the trail turns right through a small market village called Krava. Ta Peuv lie at the end of another slow 4-5kms of dirt track.

This is a relatively small village consisting of approximately 200 families with about 500 children.We had visited Ta Peuv in 2005, discussing the school needs of the village with the headman, his elders and the district school principal.

There was only one school in the vicinity that served a cluster of 5 villages and which provided limited classroom facilities for grades 1-6. Young children from Ta Peuv have to walk about 2 km along difficult dirt tracks to attend this school. Parents have expressed great concern for the safety of their young children traveling so far by themselves to get to school and have made a plea for a school to be built within the village grounds. In anticipation, they had as a community, collected enough money and had bought a large (~80m x 120m) plot of land specifically for the village school.

At that time, there were 2 Christian families in Ta Peuv village. Savan, a local pastor with CMS, had lived in the village before and was familiar with the village leadership. His co-worker Vesna, had been making fortnightly trips to the village. It was hoped that the construction of the school would facilitate the access of local missionaries and pastors into the village so that a cell group and eventually a church could be established.

These needs was brought back to Mt Carmel and by God's grace, we very quickly were able to raise the US$9-10K that was required to build a 2-classroom school, complete with toilets and furniture, plus a bore well for the village. I was particularly touched by the donation of a princely sum of money by a young brother in our congregation who had felt moved to provide the money towards this school in Ta Peuv.

In March 2007 we were able to re-visit Ta Peuv for the commissioning of the school. We were particularly impressed by the community spirit of the village, whose leadership had galvanized the entire village to donate 3 fence poles per family towards the construction of the school fence.

Ta Peuv November 2007 update