Cham Kep community blesses new Vocational Center

The Kep Imman and other members of the Cham Village mosque of Kep, lead an act of blessing to the new Don Bosco technical school where some Cham young people will learn a skill for a best future.

Kep City. Although Don Bosco was an Italian Catholic priest of the 19th century, it is also true that several of his schools around the planet are located in the cultural environment of other faiths and thus many of the Don Bosco students. In Cambodian, a Buddhist country that follows Theravada doctrines, Shunni Muslims made the main minority in a proportion of 1.25 percent of the national population. The Islam is followed in Cambodia by the Cham ethnic group, the descendants of the ancient Malay kingdom of Champa, located at the center of modern Vietnam. During the Khhmer Rouge regime there was a particular persecution against the Cham minority. Today there are Cham communities in most of Cambodian provinces. Along the sea, from Sihanoukville to Kep, Cham towns can be distinguished by their traditional mosques. Yesterday the Cham religious authorities of Kep Province visited the new Don Bosco Vocational Center to lead a blessing according to their traditions. The reason is that some students of the Center belong to the Cham communities of Kep.

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An agricultural technical center to fight child labor in Battambang

Battambang. It is common to see several constructions sites in modern Cambodia. It is as the former war destruction is already over and everyone is building something to recover the lost time. Unfortunately, the building of schools, hospitals and community areas is much less than the fever for hotels, restaurants, casinos and resorts. Unemployed young people find easily jobs in construction this time, but in many occasions many of those workers are as young as 7 and 10 years old. In Battambang it can be also a norm to see children in construction sites and the brick factories.

Phnom Sorsir’s children willing to learn

The children of Phnom Sorsir with Mr. Chin Sokkea of the Children Care organization from Phnom Penh (center). Don Bosco young volunteer Bin Pich up.

Kep City - The children of Phnom Sorsir had a special Sunday. The small program conducted by Cambodian volunteers of Don Bosco Vocational Center Kep in the region, got today a great motivation from Mr. Chin Sokkea and his organization Komphea Koma (Care for Children.)

The literacy program of Don Bosco Kep consisted in sending volunteer students to different villages of the Kep Province area during weekends to meet children. Mr. Bin Pich of the hotel management school, Seng Narong and Em Phorn of the social communication department chose Phnom Sorsir, a beautiful hill with a pagoda at its top, inside the Kep Province territory, not far from the sea.

The successful laptop experiment

‘I can conclude that young people are always open to listen proposals and those proposals must keep vision for a best society.’

In 2009 I did an experiment with all my students of journalism in Sihanoukville: I told them something like this:

‘When I studied journalism in my city, I didn’t have actually computers, but I used an old typewriter.

DonBoscoTalk| A Dutch benefactor of Cambodia

On January 6, 2011, Mr. Gerard A.M. van Hal visited the Salesian works of Don Bosco in Cambodia and shared with Don Bosco Talk Youtube program in the Audiovisual Center of Sihanoukville.

‘We do not know each other… but we know Don Bosco,’ said Minister Im Sothy

Phnom Penh — DBNA – The Minister of Education, Sport and Youth of Cambodia, Im Sothy, visited this morning the compound of the Don Bosco Technical School in the capital district of Phnom Penh Thmey, and underlined the role of the Don Bosco schools in the recovery of Cambodia after the wars.

The Occheuteal Pedestrian Beach opens

Sihanoukville – A kilometer pedestrian beach along Occheutel is the new feature in town this month. Works to complete it began early year and now it changes the face of the most popular beach in town.

The prison of Siem Reap

I thought that the visit was going to be to a gloomy place. A prison is not properly the place you dream to be. However, countries must work to make it not a lovely place, but rather a real educational place. This morning I went with three teachers to visit the Siem Reap prison. Lichado promotes the idea that Don Bosco creates a technical program inside it as we have in the Sihanoukville’s prison. We got an appointment with the prison director at 8 AM. Going to the prison when most people are visiting the Angkorian temples is already very original in us. But we came to this country to open the way of hope for young people without hope.

Thai Salesian Provincial in Cambodia

In a conference on last Thursday to the students and teachers of the social communication section of the community of Sihanoukville, the Salesian superior for Thailand, Cambodia and Laos, Fr. John Bosco Thepharat Pitisant, underlined the importance of communications for the Salesian mission and the development of societies like Cambodia.

Cambodians lack reading… Eureka!

The National Library of Cambodia and the Australian Embassy organized this week a forum in Phnom Penh to talk about culture of reading. Unfortunately I did not participate, because I did not get any invitation and, moreover, Sihanoukville is three hours by car from Phnom Penh. I got the news from The Cambodia Daily that entitled it ‘Cambodia Lacks Reading Culture, Experts Say.‘ Then I said ‘Eureka! These guys discovered the wet water!

Boys! How we can pay the electricity?

This year, our Don Bosco Technical School of Sihanoukville got an increase of 35 percent in electricity. It is the first time the school got such quick and sudden jumping. In a technical school, electricity is just vital for the development of its programs. Without electricity, how is it possible to make the technical workshops go on?

A Word on the Meaning of “Free Education” And the Culture of Aid Dependency

There is a fact that causes some conflicts for some friends when they know that our Don Bosco Technical Schools in Cambodia charge the students with a monthly fee. Why do you say that it is ‘free education‘ when you charge the students?

It is necessary to clarify this element before it reaches confusions.

The smile of Don Bosco above the fire

No fire will destroy our dreams, Cambodia!

One thing you will be in contact everyday if you live or work in Cambodia is Buddhism and a Cambodian Buddhism that is more complex than you can imagine, but you get to love its philosophy, if you put a real attention to the people of the country. Because Cambodian Buddhism is at the same time very sincretic due to a millenariam history of natural believes, Hindu, Islam, Christianity and Buddhism that produced what is the Cambodian culture today.

Then I chose this picture to report about the fire of our studio of audio and video production to explain what happened and how we deal in Cambodia with problems.