HOW TO SUPPORT US AS A PRIVATE INDIVIDUAL?

My name is Valentin, and I am a double-degree student between an engineering school and HEC Paris. My course allowed me to take a gap year, and I wanted to devote it to a long and exotic experience. In 2017 I had already gone to Cambodia for five weeks to volunteer at the Happy Chandara school summer camp. I really enjoyed the atmosphere and the people I had worked with, but found the format too short to fully enjoy it. So I decided to return to Cambodia during this gap year, this time for five months, between August and December 2019. I was assigned to different missions at the hostel opened by Toutes à l’école in Phnom Penh, which hosts students who have already graduated from the baccalaureate and who attend universities in the capital city. In addition to the day-to-day affairs of the hostel, I was responsible for developing community life in the home, facilitating the monitoring of the students' career and exchanges with the headquarters of the association, and even monitoring the financial assistance that the charity gives back to students. With these different missions, I was able to work daily with the staff of the home, a mixed French and Khmer team. But I was also very often in contact with the students. I discovered in depth their culture, their daily life, and the very strong bond they have with their family but also with each other after a fifteen-year adventure at Happy Chandara and beyond. I was impressed by the students' staunch zest for life and their determination to succeed. One quickly becomes humbled in the face of so much motivation, discipline and goodwill, especially since many of them one day aspire to give back to the community the chance that Toutes à l’école has given them. Many people want to find a job later in the service of others, their culture or their country: they will be teachers, doctors, tour guides, diplomats and even film directors. I still enjoy following them on their journey and hearing from them, even more than a year after leaving Cambodia. One is quickly convinced that all these students deserve the help we offer them and that we support their ambition, and I recommend the experience to anyone who would like to make a contribution to join the teams of the hostel, whether for a short period or for several months. It is an unforgettable experience, which one does not return indifferent to.