I went out to South-East Asia last spring to meet up with with my son who was on his way back from Australia and did a bit of travelling with him. After he continued on his way home I took off to Cambodia for a couple of weeks and visited my friend Jan Gracey  who is with Voluntary Services Overseas working in the agricultural area around Sisophon, not far from Thailand.

Jan kindly showed me some of the schools she is dealing with in her capacity with VSO. I was really impressed by the dedication of the teachers and the enthusiasm of the children despite the meagre facilities and resources available
The staff are dedicated and the children are amazing. Bright eager faces in huge class sizes, very well behaved and concentrating upon the tasks at hand. I was so impressed and felt a little extra resource funding could go a long way to improving their situation.

Many of the schools function on overstretched and underpaid staff trying their best with almost no budget. The schoolrooms are sometimes rather dismal flood-prone wooden sheds, often with only one light bulb.




In the schoolyard mopeds ride through and cattle graze the unsecured grounds. Litter accumulates because no one feels responsible and the school yards which are dusty in summer and muddy in winter look run down.
Jan has found that the simple installation of proper school signs, gates and waste bins gives the school a sense of identity and importance that suffuses the whole school. Teachers, children and parents respond enthusiastically as a result.


 Jan has been instrumental in training a new younger generation of teachers in modern ways of child centred teaching/learning. It seems to me that she has mentored dozens of young local trainee teachers who are beginning to take things forward. Teachers are woefully underpaid but all those I met were impressively enthusiastic and keen to embrace modern methods. They obviously admire Jan personally but also hold her in high regard because she has managed to make things happen.



Jan has already raised some money from her friends in the UK and it's amazing what difference modest amounts can make.