Summary:
If you have not been following my Facebook feed, you will be amazed at the progress that HVTO has made since our last newsletter was published in 2022 – https://hvto.org At that time the world was beginning to reopen from Covid and students who had lost their jobs and moved back with their parents were beginning return to Siem Reap to resume their studies. Tourism, which is the most critical factor to our local economy, has rebounded, but is not yet to pre-Covid levels.

Despite this, Cambodia as a country has continued to make tremendous progress. Cambodia-Statistics & Facts | Statista GDP, life expectancy, infant mortality, access to clean water, access to electricity, as well as a variety of other metrics have all continued to move in the right direction. Of note is a national birth rate that has dropped to only marginally above replacement. Much of this progress is in no small measure due to the programs of organizations like HVTO and our partner A Drop of Life (ADOL). However, relative to its neighbors, Cambodia still lags in educational results. PISA-D national report for Cambodia.pdf (oecd.org) As this newsletter will show, HVTO is directly addressing this issue, not only in the Siem Reap area, but throughout the country.
HVTO has programs that augment our signature education and clean water initiatives. These include composting toilets, Bio-Sand water filters, house construction, and food aid. While sponsorship numbers lagged during Covid and the accompanying loss of tourists, ADOL support has remained constant, and this has seen us make tremendous strides in clean water related projects. Through these, HVTO’s positive impact on the quality of life of our people continues to grow. The table below summarizes the status of the major HVTO programs.

Summary of HVTO programs as of July, 2024

Organization and Facilities:
A landmark event occurred this year when Viking travelers, Frank and Donna Youdelman, visited HVTO and were moved to make a very generous donation. The donation itself came from the R. Walter Thibideau Trust, over which Frank has sole discretionary authority. Both Frank and Donna, who herself is a 30-year educator, are equal proponents of Walter Thibideau’s lifelong wish to foster the education of young people.

This donation has had a massive impact on HVTO, including the construction of our largest building on the primary HVTO Sreth Village campus, which will now be referred to as HVTO I. This structure has not only created a significant increase in enrollment here, but it has also financed the construction of a second campus 15 kilometers away in Rumdeng Village. This campus will now be referred to as HVTO II. The poorest village in the commune, this school reached maximum enrollment in two days, with 458 students signing to take English and computer classes. This single donation, with significant help from ADOL and other donors, has allowed us to increase total enrollment in the HVTO program (both campuses) to about 1,100 students.

A post-inauguration ceremony photo (above) of, from left to right: Frank and Donna Youdelman, Sim Piseth (myself), His Excellency Seang Nam, Member of the Cambodian National Assembly,and Her Excellency Manny Raingsey, Siem Reap Deputy Governor. The Youdelmans each received the Royal Order of Cambodia Grand Cross. In recognition of HVTO’s collective achievements I received the Cambodian Medal of The Grand Order of National Merit. The highest civilian award that the Royal Government of Cambodian can bestow.

The Youdelman donation, in addition to the large HVTO I building pictured below, bought 20 computers, and covered significant administration costs for this campus. In addition, this money also paid for the land, land clearance, road widening, library, fence and gate, furniture, computers, and landscaping at the new HVTO II campus in Rumdeng Village.

The Youdelman generosity has precipitated a cascade of contributions from other sources. At HVTO I, prior to building, Viking paid for the land on which the Youdelman building was built.

Ken Meyer and Amy Parker paid for the grading and land preparation for the new building, as well as renovations to the original Viking building to create our new computer lab, including an additional 20 computers. Bruce Weiner paid for the fence extension, a large toilet, trash burner, the flag stand and an upgrade to the landscaping and drainage. Importantly, Studiosus Foundation e.V. made significant donations towards our growing administrative costs. The Seng Kaing family and friends bought us a high-capacity printer, and Katty Entes and Ms. Janet Gladstein purchased a photocopier and 670 yellow outfits for HVTO I students. See photos below.

Frank and Donna Youdelman and students in front of the new HVTO I school building, the construction of which they made possible

Kathy Entes and Janet Gladstein in front of the renovated Viking Building with students dressed in their new outfits

At HVTO II ADOL financed the construction of the large classroom building opposite the gate, as well as the toilets and a high capacity well and bio-sand filter for the school. The Seng Kaing family and friends bought 368 yellow outfits for the initial tranche of students enrolled. See below.

The top of the gate at the entrance to the HVTO II (Rumdeng) Campus

The ADOL classroom building at HVTO II with students waiting to receive outfits donated by the Seng Kaing family

The Youdelman Library located on the HVTO II Campus

The cherry on the sundae – Frank and Donna Youdelman with their newly sponsored child from Rumdeng Village – Tou Joly, with her mother Hoeurm Heak.

In the end, facilities mean nothing without the students that use them. Since the construction and inauguration of the new HVTO I and II buildings, HVTO I enrollment has grown from 450 to 637 active students. With the addition of 458 students at HVTO II, the net effect of the construction activity described is the addition of 645 new students. Thus, with our total enrollment at almost 1,100 students, HVTO is now serving over double the number we had one year ago.  Because we maintain meticulous records of who is in class each day, we know that the number of students attending on any given day varies with public school activities and family gatherings. However, at present our combined daily attendance ranges from 930 to 1,040.

Meet the HVTO Staff

Not surprisingly, our growth has required the hiring of several new staff and teachers. Many, but not all, are former HVTO students and graduates. The name(s) in parenthesis immediately after a student or teacher name below refers to their HVTO sponsor.

Administrative Staff

The administrative staff for HVTO (listed below from left to right)

Hout Bunhok is the President of the Administrative Council, a legislative position required by the government for all NGO’s. He is one of the founding members of HVTO.

Piseth Sim is a well-known tour guide in the Siem Reap Angkor Region and is the founder of HVTO.

Meng Seaknam (Friends From Oklahoma) has been the General Manager for HVTO for the last twelve years. He is responsible for representing HVTO at any event and does everything from hauling well and filter equipment, to chairing the monthly HVTO staff meeting.

Som Somphors (Jeff and Barbara Godfrey Roberts) is an accountant at the home office and oversees all the financial records as well as disbursing monthly stipends to students.

Sinh Song (Stan and Ellie Nice) is our sponsorship coordinator. He is responsible for the coordination of all communication between sponsors and pre-university aged students and helps track the progress of all HVTO students.

Deb Bokun (not in the photograph) is the Chairman of the Community Committee and oversees the maintenance of the primary HVTO Campus. Bokun has many connections with community authorities and is especially adept at communicating with common people.

Choan Serey (not in the photograph) is also an HVTO Community Coordinator and is a member of the Kontreang Commune Council where he is the HVTO liaison to governmental authorities.

Naem Rotthy (Brigid Mulloy) (not in photograph) is my assistant and will relieve me of an ever-growing list of time-consuming administrative tasks. Rotthy will organize and maintain the internal records for our many programs and allow me to spend more time liaising with our supporters. My wife is hoping his work will also allow me to have more family time.

HVTO I Primary Campus (Sreth)

The staff at the HVTO I Campus (listed below from left to right)

Dey Mey (Cokkonis Estate) is an English teacher and has been promoted to the position of Principal of our primary campus. He now reports to Ine Un. Mey has been an HVTO standout since his sponsorship 11 years ago. He began his teaching career at the age of 17, when he provided free classes to children in several villages near the original HVTO School. See the 2015 newsletter. HVTO Newsletters | Homestay Volunteer Teachers

 Yen Vuthy (Portia Catania) is our primary computer teacher and has a degree in IT Technology from the University of SE Asia. He is a very popular teacher at our HVTO I campus.

 Lok Serey was a student at HVTO, but was not sponsored. He has eight years of experience and is an excellent English teacher.

Moeung Kunthea (Merlin Miller) is an English teacher and has been a standout student from the beginning. Like Dey Mey (above) she held private classes in her home before graduating and starting work.

Sor Runrong (Karin and Heine Alsaker) has a degree in accounting. She teaches English and will soon become the assistant to the HVTO accountant, Som Somphors.

Lourn Phounam (Thomas Barkemeier) graduated with an English degree from Build Bright University in 2019. Married and with one child and another on the way, Phounam has been teaching at the main campus since 2021. She is designated to become our school librarian.

HVTO II Rumdeng Campus

The staff at the HVTO II Campus (listed below from left to right)

Ine Un (Simon and Ranjeeta Johnson) has been promoted to Superintendent of all HVTO’s educational activities. Having been the school headmaster since 2014, he is one of our student’s favorite English teachers has been instrumental in HVTO’s continued success. Un is now at the Rumdeng Campus so that he can be closer to his home and family.

Heab Hean is the Principal of our secondary campus in Rumdeng Village and reports to Un. He has a degree in English Literature from Cambodian University and also lives near the Rumdeng (HVTO II) Campus.  He had 10 years of experience teaching English prior to coming to HVTO.

Rien Ponlok is our primary computer teacher. He is not an HVTO student, but is proficient in all types of software and has taught computer skills for a variety of organizations since 2014. These include NGO’s, universities, and commercial firms in the Siem Reap area. He and his family live near the Rumdeng Campus.

Phal Lina is also an outside hire and has experience teaching at both NGO and private schools in Phnom Penh and Siem Reap. She is one of our English teachers and lives with her family next door to the school.

Lem Yeat (Susan Spratt) received her English degree from USEA in 2020 and has been teaching English privately from her home for the last two years. Like the rest of our HVTO II staff, she lives with her family in the Rumdeng area.

Poeun Horn (not in the photograph) is the Chairman of the Community Committee and oversees the maintenance of the Rumdeng HVTO II Campus. Horn has many connections with community leaders and is an excellent representative of HVTO to common people.

HVTO is only able to educate roughly 1,100 students in two schools with only eleven full-time teaching staff because we have access to an enormous manpower pool in the form of student teachers. Taken from grades 11-12 and our university students in Siem Reap, we have 109 student teachers who, as a requirement of their free education, volunteer one 8-hour shift per month. The high-school volunteers take the beginning classes with the university students traveling to the village to teach the more advanced English classes. These students prove the adage that – ‘As you teach, so you learn’.

 A student deserving mention in this regard is Ky Srey Noun (Friends From Oklahoma) who is from Rumdeng Village and was recently sponsored. While her English writing and comprehension skills are excellent, lacking practice, she struggles with spoken English. Recognizing this, and in a manner that is typical of our students, she has volunteered to teach every day at our somewhat understaffed HVTO II campus. Now enrolled at the University of SE Asia, because her classes are all in the evening, she will be giving her mornings to our Rumdeng students.

EDUCATION:

Since its inception in 2008 the HVTO Education Program has sponsored 493 students of which 259 are still active in the program (see below). In the last two years we have increased our number of graduates by nearly 50% to a total of 98 degreed students. Students that have withdrawn usually do so to support siblings and parents, or because of a desire to marry and start a family. For students that drop, the sponsor has several options, but most opt to allocate these unused funds to an unsponsored student of a similar age to aid them in completing their studies. For example, a common point for a student to drop from the HVTO system is at the end of high school. This opens a funded university education for another student that may be unable to attend university otherwise. The 15 students in the ‘Other’ category have either decided to become public school teachers, whose salaries were recently significantly increased, or received an outside sponsorship to study elsewhere.

With tourism increasing, over the last two years we have received an additional 132 sponsorships. Historically by far our largest student sponsor has been the Cokkonis Estate (LNR Trust Fund), who have on average have funded 10 students per year. Since 2013 the Cokkonis Estate has sponsored, both through direct and transferred sponsorships, coincidentally, 132 students. Accounting for over 1/4^th of our sponsorships, we are very grateful for their continuous support.

As every parent knows, boys and girls mature at different rates, with girls often being far more focused in the early grades than boys. This is manifested in HVTO’s experience, both at the HVTO I and II campuses, with girls accounting for roughly 2/3rds of the enrollment and sponsorships. It should be noted that Cambodia largely remains a traditional society in which boys are brought up to be breadwinners and girls homemakers. Thus, as the boys mature, they tend to become much more focused and drop out of school at a rate roughly half that of the girls. Of our 98 university graduates, over half are boys.

The mechanics of the HVTO system involves students above grade 6 writing a letter to their sponsor once a month.  Younger students, who need much more help, write less often. These letters are reviewed on Sunday, when there is no public school, and edited en masse by HVTO staff who make corrections before a final re-write is done. This is then scanned and sent to the sponsor. Immediately after this review the students line up in front of an adjoining building to receive their monthly stipend. See below. University students correspond with sponsors directly and receive their stipend through a direct bank transfer.

After queuing with their classmates for their monthly sponsor letter review, students receive their monthly stipend.

Computer lessons include learning to type (both English and Khmer), and proficiency in the Microsoft Office suite of programs, QuickBooks, and basic drawing software.

Student News

There are many former students that have officially ‘dropped’ from the program, but because of the head start given them by HVTO, they have been able to move ahead with careers and prosper. More than can be mentioned have donated services to HVTO, whether that is in designing a website, providing manpower in construction, or a myriad of other large and small acts of giving.

Chery Vannsey, who attended HVTO (unsponsored) from 2008-2010 as a Buddhist monk, is now an accredited construction engineer. He designed the HVTO I building, charging 1/4^th of the usual fee. He also donated most of his time while leading the construction team of this building, ultimately saving HVTO nearly 1/3^rd of the total costs. He designed and oversaw the construction of both buildings at HVTO II, saving us again about 1/4^th of the total cost. These combined savings allowed us to build the HVTO II library, a task that would otherwise have been impossible.

Chery Vannsey at the nearly completed HVTO I Youdelman Building (left). For his unselfish service to HVTO, Vannsey receiving (on the right) the Golden Medal for Nation Builder from His Excellency Seang Nam, Member of the Cambodian National Assembly representing the Royal Government of Cambodia.

While we focus on education and university degrees, the sponsorships provided by HVTO provide a financial foundation for both the students and their families. Na Srey Noy is only one example of this. She was left in the care of grandparents when her parents were forced to leave for Thailand to seek employment. Poor by even Cambodian standards, she was able to attend the HVTO educational program located nearby. While there, in 2014 she met Eunice and Katherine Shatz, who agreed to sponsor her. She is now attending the University of SE Asia, and is due to obtain her accounting degree next year. She works at the locally famous Red Crab Seafood BBQ Restaurant in Siem Reap.

                                                                            Srey Noy in 2014                                                                  Srey Noy in 2024

Soung Kong (Helen Forster, 2012-2017) is an excellent example of how even students that leave the HVTO program can have a critical edge in pursuing other opportunities. Kong was given a sponsorship in 2012 when she was in the 8^th grade, making her one of our first students. Despite being unable to pass the final high school exam, through the English and computer skills that she acquired through HVTO she was able to gain entrance to a hotel hospitality program in Siem Reap. Here she was able to obtain an internship in France, where she is now employed at the Novotel Valence Sud, France. Kong is now working to complete her diploma of Hospitality and Management at the École d’Hôtellerie et de Tourisme Paul Dubrule.

The photo on the right is a stark reminder of Cambodia’s past, showing Kong with her step-grandfather, who married her widowed grandmother, and her mother, and father.

Kong 2012                                                                                                                         Kong 2023

Graduate News

Listed below is only a selected sample of HVTO university graduates that have obtained their degrees and entered the workforce in the last two years. As above, an early photo or the original sponsorship photo is shown on the left. The students highlighted represent only a fraction of those with success stories that we could relate. However, those listed demonstrate the variety of career paths that our HVTO graduates are taking. The Professional category here refers to degrees in the Legal, IT, Science, and Engineering fields. It must be mentioned here that the near addiction of Cambodians to Facebook has made the compilation of this list far easier.

Kong Kan (Friends From Oklahoma) has received his accreditation as a journalist with the Ministry of Information, and is now reporting for the Sanprum News, a large media outlet in Cambodia based in Phnom Penh.  Now a famous journalist, Kan is a consumer advocate who is seen as a friend of the common people. He is shown below at his parent’s ‘house’ in 2014 shortly after he was sponsored, and in the news studio today. Kan is now buying a more substantial house (with walls) in Siem Reap for his parents and extended family.

                                                                                             Kan 2014                                                                          Kan 2024

Sok Kakada (Simon and Ranjeeta Johnson 2014-2018, Ken Parker and Amy Meyer 2019-2024) graduated with a degree in Education from the University of SE Asia in 2022, completing the final year online due to Covid. She received her public school accreditation in 2023 in Phnom Penh. As one of the top students of her class she was chosen to receive her certificate directly from the Prime Minister of Cambodia (Samdech Thipadei Hun Manet) who posted this photograph on his Facebook page.

       Kakada 2014                                                                                Kakada 2024

Loeurt Srey Mao (Cokkonis Estate) obtained her degree in Marketing from the University of SE Asia in 2023 and now works as a dental assistant for Dr. Khlaing Niran, a dentist at the Pyramid Dental Center in Siem Reap.

Srey Mao 2019                                                                   Srey Mao 2024

Chhay Nit: (Diane Linfors) was sponsored by HVTO in 2017, on a very rainy day. Sharing a small room with two other girls so that she could be close to our school, she now has a degree in Finance and Accounting from Build Bright University. Nit works in Battambang Province for the micro- finance company We Spa Investment Company Ltd.

           Nit 2017                                                                   Nit 2024

Soeum Sen (Cokkonis Estate) who was working at the Crown Casino Resort in Poi Pet, secured a scholarship from the Bright Hope Institute to study agriculture in Israel. He has completed his first year there and has successfully extended his scholarship for an addition year. He is studying at the International Centre for Agriculture located in Moshav Arava, Israel.

Sen 2013                                                             Sen 2024

Chea Orn (Bonnie Wright and Shauna Della) received her degree in Agricultural Production and Marketing from Build Bright University in 2023. She is now working for the East West Seed Cambodia Ltd in Bonteay Meanchey Province where she is being trained as a Crop Advisor.

       Orn 2017                                                                   Orn 2024

Chhorvoan Savis (Denise and Ted DeLaFontaine) obtained his law degree in 2023 from the University of SE Asia. He is now the assistant to the Director of Angkor University, where he organizes the orientation of prospective new students. Savis has been invaluable to HVTO by providing us with legal assistance at no charge.

    Savis 2015                                                                            Savis 2024

Nan Thavan (Roy and Gina Balcombe) obtained her degree in English Literature from the University of SE Asia in 2022. She now teaches English at the Sovannaphumi Kids English School in Siem Reap. She will be hired by HVTO as a teacher at the HVTO I campus where she will replace Loun Phounam, who is moving to the position of librarian.

  Thavan 2016                                                                                          Thavan 2024

Sin Danet (Cokkonis Estate) obtained her nursing degree from Angkor University in 2023. She is now working as a nurse at the Kantha Bopha Children’s Hospital in Phnom Penh.

          Danet 2014                                                    Danet 2024

Pov Pich (Ken Meyer and Amy Parker) graduated with a degree in Agriculture from Build Bright University in Siem Reap in 2024. He recently passed his Civil Service examination and is now the Agriculture Officer for Trapeang Commune. In this position he identifies farming challenges in the Commune and advises subsistence farmers on techniques to improve crop yields.

              Pich 2019                                                   Pich 2024

Phann Makara (Jeff Winston) received her Bachelor’s degree in Law from the University of SE Asia in 2024. She has become a very popular English teacher at the Eleven International School in Siem Reap.

Phann 2019                                                                                          Phann 2024

Moeurn Heak: (Cokkonis Estate) last year received her Bachelor’s degree from Build Bright University in accounting and finance. She is now the Public Administrator under Dr. Vann Kimphy at the Sreysnom Health Clinic in Siem Reap.

                Heak 2013                                                      Heak 2024

In Memorium:

Despite helmet laws, large traffic volumes combined and a prevalence of motor bikes have made road accidents the single largest cause of death for young people in Cambodia.

It is with great sadness that we must report the death of one of our most treasured students, Yin Srey Mao, in a traffic accident late last year. Sponsored by Friends From Oklahoma and featured in the 2022 HVTO newsletter, she very generously gave up her sponsorship to another student, Pruon Voeurn, when she received a promotion and a pay increase in her job at the Cambodia Tourism Ministry. See the 2018 newsletter. HVTO Newsletters | Homestay Volunteer Teachers

An earlier fatality is Kon Ki (Deborah Hilliard), who also tragically died shortly after he received his sponsorship in 2013.

Yin Srey Mao                                                            Kon Ki

CLEAN WATER PROJECT:

A Drop of Life (ADOL) carried out their annual visit to inspect various HVTO projects in May, 2024. In the photo below Debbie Lee (5^th from the left), the Operations Director of ADOL, brought 5 colleagues from Hong Kong to evaluate HVTO’s progress with hand and machine drilled water wells, toilets, and bio-sand water filters in the HVTO operational area. The group is standing in front of a toilet built for the family of Tith Bhob in Boh Village not far from the HVTO II campus.

A Drop of Life (ADOL) started working with HVTO in 2016, and has been our partner ever since. They support all our clean water projects, including wells, water filters, toilets, and even food aid and home building. Established in 1998, A Drop of Life is a Hong Kong registered NGO that strives to ensure the access to clean water and sanitation for the needy. ADOL funds clean water projects in Cambodia, mainland China, Nepal, Myanmar, Laos, and Hong Kong. For more information on ADOL please visit their website at: https://adropoflife.org/

ADOL, through HVTO, was especially helpful during the Covid pandemic and the associated unemployment that this brought. Their continuous support provided jobs for dozens of workers in the HVTO area. Accounting for all the people and supply chains associated with the various projects in which HVTO is now engaged, it is safe to say that hundreds of families have benefited through HVTO and the generosity of ADOL.

Water Wells

Prior to the work of HVTO, much of the water consumed in our area of activity came from pits dug in the earth’s surface that collected rainwater runoff. With both human and animal waste also collecting at the surface this created a horrendous water quality issue, affecting everything from general health to infant mortality. A huge step in addressing this has come with the drilling of water wells, which uses the natural filtering system of the earth to remove the vast majority of pathogens.

HVTO has been able to quickly drill many wells, relatively cheaply because the area in which we work is largely underlain by unconsolidated sediments deposited by the ancient Tonle Sap River. This has allowed us to drill wells by pumping water through a simple nozzle on the end of a drill pipe that is hand-rotated using a T-bar. See the 2018 newsletter. HVTO Newsletters | Homestay Volunteer Teachers This river-deposited aquifer sand is an excellent source of fresh water and should have no trouble recharging, given an annual rainfall of 1–2-meters. As the area of HVTO water well drilling has expanded, we have found that actual bedrock (usually limestone) has made machine driven drilling a requirement, making these wells about six times more expensive.

HVTO, mostly through our partnership with ADOL, has seen the drilling of a staggering 8,938 wells since our inception. With the advent of this partnership our core area has expanded from the area immediately around the school to five large districts along the northern shore of Tonle Sap Lake. See below. These wells have now provided almost 43,000 people in rural Cambodia with clean water that would otherwise have little or no access. Special mention must be given to one of HVTO’s most stalwart supporters in the drilling of water wells – Rosemere High School in Quebec, Canada. Led by Deborah Adams and Wendy Haas and their predecessors, since 2013 they have funded the drilling of 93 wells.

HVTO annual water well drilling – Since 2017 ADOL has taken our effort to another level !

Map showing numbers of HVTO / ADOL water wells drilled by District

For our eagle-eyed readers, the numbers on the map do not precisely correspond with the summary on the first page because some of the last wells drilled have not yet had their GPS coordinates entered into our database.

For the last seven years ADOL has financed the drilling of between 800 and 1,600 wells per year. A slower economy and reduced donations from their members in Hong Kong will slow this pace. It expected that later this month a new contract for 2024 will be signed for an additional 600 wells. Although we cannot match the financial resources of ADOL, never forget that HVTO remains committed to drilling water wells for smaller sponsors as we always have in the past. So, if you would like to donate funds for the drilling of water wells, please do not let the magnitude of the ADOL project dissuade you.

Water Filtration – Bio Sand Filter (BSF)

See our previous (2022) newsletter to see a diagram of a Bio-Sand Water Filter; HVTO Newsletters | Homestay Volunteer Teachers

The Bio-Sand Filter, or BSF, uses microbes living in the top 2 cm of a column of sand to consume harmful pathogens. A side benefit is its ability to remove iron, which although not dangerous, is seen in high concentrations in many of the areas in which we drill. Thus far HVTO has installed more than 3,315 Bio Sand Filters, serving nearly 21,000 people. As with wells, the vast majority of these were made possible by A Drop of Life (ADOL).

This filter will serve Thea Phoeun and her family of four in Thnar Chhrounhh Village located approximately 85 km northeast of Siem Reap.

Sanitation – Toilet Project

See our previous (2022) newsletter to see a simplified diagram of a composting toilet: HVTO Newsletters | Homestay Volunteer Teachers

This project is seen as part of our overall water project because it is part of a long-term solution to the rampant surface water contamination that the country endures today. ADOL has funded nearly all the roughly 1,100 toilets constructed thus far. Yet another large organizational task for the HVTO Team, we are using a subcontractor to employ 15 men to perform this work, and since the beginning of 2023 they have installed 730 toilets. These serve 5,000 people and form the core of what ADOL calls the Open Defecation-Free (ODF) area that we are working to expand.

This toilet will serve Mr. and Mrs. Ee Ean and their family of five in Boh Village located roughly 35 km NE of Siem Reap.

Food Aid

The HVTO food aid program, which began with ADOL in June 2020, has since been joined by many HVTO donors and augments the government assistance package for the IDPoor-1 rated families in our area of activity.  To date this largely ADOL sponsored program has seen 952 food packages delivered to thousands of the local poor. The items included in a standard $65 food package are listed below.

1. 50kg jasmine rice
2. 1 small case of instant noodles
3. 1kg salt
4. 1kg garlic
5. 1kg MSG
6. 12 cans of fish
7. 6 bottles of fish sauce
8. 6 bottles of soy sauce
9. 4 cakes of soap
10. 10 facemasks
11. $2.50 in cash

Food distribution occurs monthly at a village home and is overseen by local police

Home Building

Since this program began in 2016 HVTO has secured funds for the building of 38 houses, 5 of these in the last year. Designated only for the homeless and the most poorly-housed families in the community, 152 people have benefitted from this program. Nearly half of these have been funded by the tremendous generosity of Kathrine J. Burns who began her donations in 2021.

The family of Chheat Lyta (Seng Kaing family) were always considered the poorest of poor. Her mother’s congenital spinal issue, which prevented her from working, aggravated the family’s financial issues. Today her father remains the sole breadwinner, but he now has a job working construction, in addition to his subsistence rice farming on the family plot. Lyta’s sponsorship, in addition to an ADOL-sponsored house, has made all the difference for the Chheat family. The photos below show the family in front of their homes in 2014 and today. Lyta’s brother Chhin was sponsored with her in 2014, but dropped from the HVTO program.

2014                                                                                             2024

SUPPORT:

HVTO could not accomplish what it does without the support of many individuals and organizations that share a commitment to our core programs. Viking and Studiosus tour groups have historically been one of our main sources of support. In more recent years, our partnership with ADOL has pushed our non-educational programs to undreamed of levels. In the last year, the support we have received from Frank and Donna Youdelman has done the same for our educational programs. Thank you Studiosus, Viking, ADOL, and Frank and Donna for your support in maintaining the HVTO programs.

Living all over the world, with the aid of modern technology, former guests not only help financially, but also provide administrative assistance. All that is required is a computer and internet access. Tourists returning to take part in teaching at the HVTO School bring a perspective of the outside world that our students can get in no other way.

Patti Baker, a former Viking guest, is the President of Homestay Teachers Volunteer Organization, Inc. (HTVO), a 501c3 (charitable) organization incorporated in Florida to provide tax relief to US citizens that fund HVTO in Cambodia. This NGO simplifies money transfers and provides a vehicle for access to larger grants that can have a major impact on reaching goals. To learn more please visit the website at: https://hvto.org/about-us/hvto-contacts-in-usa.html or call Patti directly at 1-239-682-0067.

Frank Youdelman is now a Vice President for HTVO. He lives in Tucson, Arizona and can be reached at 1-520-465-7625 and youdel@aol.com. We also have ‘ambassadors’ living in various parts of the United States that you can call directly to get first-hand information about HVTO over the phone or by e-mail. For information on the ambassador nearest you, please contact Sim Piseth at sim2piseth@gmail.com.

Supporters and friends of HVTO have an opportunity to strengthen our mission and secure our financial future through gifts to our established endowment fund held in Cambodia and/or by establishing a personal endowment fund that supports our organization year after year. Your legacy and commitment to our students will endure by contributing to the HTVO endowment fund or creating your own named endowment fund. We encourage you to consult with your financial advisor when making these important decisions in ways to support HVTO. Consider a gift now, or as part of your legacy plan, to the HVTO Endowment Fund.

Thank you for reading about our continuing story and we hope that you share our sense of accomplishment in HVTO’s continued progress. The future appears very bright, indeed.

Sim Piseth

HVTO Founder

Tel: +855974506969

Email: sim@hvto.org | sim2piseth@gmail.com

Facebook Profile: https://web.facebook.com/sim.pisith

HVTO Update in December 2023

Dear HVTO Supporters, Donors and Friends,

Allow me to hop in saying a Happy Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you and to your families. May you find Joy, Peace, Safety and Happiness during these Holidays and that the New Year 2024 continues to bring you more good Health, Wealth, Success and Prosperity for the sake of being so kind to HVTO that serves many people’s lives in Cambodia!

If you have been waiting to hear from me very often and that you have been disappointed for not having had many direct emails for the past 8 months, let me say apologies! I have been completely super busy and it has been the good busyness both with the personal guiding job for my own growth and family and with being so flat to overseeing the existing projects of HVTO. Let me share with you below:

For those who have never heard of me from past to July 2022: Please read this newsletter: https://hvto.org/hvto-newsletters/HVTO-Newsletter-July-2022.html

From July 2022 to April 2023, I published a short notice referring to this link: https://hvto.org/hvto-newsletters/notes-as-an-update-from-mr.-sim-piseth-and-hvto-projects.html

Now if you wanted to read the email below with photos and video, please refer to this link https://hvto.org/ and below, I would like to summarize what we have achieved from April 2023 to December 2023.

Personal Note:

Studies: In May 2023, I went to Singapore to attend the Graduation Ceremony for my Ph.D hosted by the Florida based Bodhisastra University (BOU). So, I can say proudly that I have successfully done with the Doctoral Degree in Social Change, the specialized/Professional Doctor in creating the Model of Human Resource Development through the HVTO Sponsorship for Education with the current achievement are the 431 sponsored students being evident. Holding this degree is becoming strong motivation but also with pressure for my personal courage to continue to study and research more and it also helps inspire hundreds of children and students in our educational program. Furthermore, I have decided to enroll myself into another course of this same university doing another academic research to be defended and if passed, I will be an Assistant Professor in 2025, then Associate Professor in 2026 to succeed my ultimate goal – maybe in my late 40s or early 50s, I will be a professor. Again, I dream another big dream since it does not cost me anything.

Work: We have successfully restarted our second Viking Season – August 2023 to March 2024. It has been the greatest second season in my profession after the Covid-19 pandemic. I have been entrusted by the Viking management to be the main local tour guide for the Viking Groups and I have 34 groups in the whole season. I work for every other week- that is to say I am one full week working for the Viking and another week working with HVTO Teams. This is the very job to brings for my personal growth and self-sustainability and to liaising the communication between new prospective sponsors to for our organization. Let me explain what we are doing and accomplishing in the existing 14 projects below:

1.       HVTO CORE TEAM: We are 11 of us who play the key roles to operate HVTO. After my successful graduation from Ph.D., we have decided to provide the scholarships to our 5-core staff to pursue their Master Degrees with the same university. Doing this is for both, motivating our staff and building more role models and inducing more inspiration for our children.

2.       FINANCE: With some strategical increase in salaries for staff and maintenance for the center since it is scaling, we see our yearly operation cost going up to over $35,000 but our four sources of streaming incoming donations are still healthy such as the accumulative donations on site from the Viking visiting guests; the donation from the Studiosus Foundation e.V with additional donation on site from their German guests, Admin cost deducted from the sponsorship program and the interest from the bank we can see our program can be secured for 2024-2025 operation.

3.       ECO TOURISM: So far, only the Studiosus Travel company and the Viking are sending tourist groups to visit our community and HVTO Center and these are the only prospective resources for us to build the future support and it is still the two-sided programs. Tourists enjoy the experiences and we will get more future support.

4.       HOMESTAY VOLUNTEERS: For the past 8 months, we could have welcomed one family of Mr. Carlos Sanchez from Barcelon, Spain who brought his wife and two children to stay in the village for a week. This is to share with you that Carlos Sanchez is one of the earliest sponsors and volunteers to our community since 2006 before the creation of HVTO in 2008. To me, he was from stranger to friend, to inspirator, to sponsor and to God brother. He has really done some remarkable things for our people in the community. You can visit my YouTube channel here. https://youtu.be/UUah9_U5jew

5.       HVTO CENTER: In the last 8 months, there are three families who donated to make the huge improvements in the HVTO Center. Those families are: 1st Mr. Bruce and Mrs. Jeanene Weiner who donated to build the airy brick fence, the big toilet-house, trash burner, flag stance and the walking path.

2nd Mr. Ken and Amy Myer who donated to repair and remodel the existing schoolhouse with leaked roofing, from wooden floor to concrete one, upgrading the ground floor with smooth tile and the joined room to be the elegant computer lab with the purchasing of the additional 10 computer sets.

3rd R Water Thibodeau Family Trust and Frank and Donna Youdelman who donated remarkably to allow HVTO to build another durable schoolhouse, some furnishing and bought other new 20 computer sets with reserve funds to operate the computer lab for 5 years. Now HVTO has the most impressive computer lab with 40 computers to train the children.

Much more than this, a partial donation of theirs allows us to make the necessary expansion and building another HVTO Center in another commune which is 10km away from the current center for other 450 children to get free supplemental classes in English and computer. I will keep you informed in my next update and of course, we will be looking for more sponsors to help grow with this new center.

Schoolhouse under the construction

6.       FREE CLASSES FOR ENGLISH AND COMPUTER: Our key staff teachers and student volunteer teachers are providing free classes in our scheduled three shifts per week day for over 450 children but with reputation of our effective English and computer programs, new educational infrastructures and chance of sponsorship, there is a landslide of sending their children to register in HVTO Center. Mr. Ine Un, our school principal reported to us that there are more 650 children having come to register.

7.       SPONSORSHIP FOR EDUCATION: Still with the strong support from the Viking Management, as the local guide and also the founder with some crucial directing role, I have been able to continue to spread the good words (talking in the bus) to continue to recruit new sponsors to choose new students to receive the financial support. For the past 8 months, we could have welcomed new sponsors to add other 15 sponsorships.

Therefore, in total in our history we see 431 students in this program with the brief status are 67 students graduated from universities, 111 failed from program but become professionals and a few are married and 253 still active in the Secondary, High Schools and universities. Our goal is to have 500 active sponsored students. If you are an existing and active sponsor for one of our students, I believe that you have enjoyed your communication with your student’s behaviors and progress reported by our Sponsorship Coordinator, Mr. Sinh Song. It is also the time we are requesting for the renewal of your kind sponsorship to your students. But if you have paid up front, we are all good!

8.       PROFESSIONAL TRAINING: We are proud to say that two girls that was sent from the village to stay in town to learn the professional tailoring are doing very good and they have offered to make some free clothes for me too. So, some of my tour guide uniforms are made by those ladies. It is not a remarkable success in number but we have done something since its launching in 2014.

9.       CLEAN WATER PROJECT FOR THE HOUSEHOLD: We are still good in the partnership with our great funding partner – A Drop of Life from Hong Kong. For the past 8 months, we installed 800 new water pumps from the projected 1,200. We also thank you to the group of Khmer Families living in the US led by Mr. Seng Kaing to help fund raising to install some pumps. Our 35 men are still actively working in different villages to install those pumps.

In our history, we have installed the total of 8,540 hand water pumps. Good news is that HVTO has launched the MDP Project (Machine Drilled Pump) mainly also sponsored by A Drop of life. This MDP is only for the community, public center, schools and many families gathering together to use this MDP. Each MDP costs $1,560. We have successfully installed 11 MDPs and one was sponsored by Mr. Joe and Christine Ludwig.

10.   BIO SAND FILTER(BSF): In the past 8 months we installed and delivered 987 BSF from the projected 1200 in 2023. In total, we have installed more than 2,500 helping 2,500 families to enjoy having filtered water to drink.

11.   TOILET FOR THE HOUSEHOLD: We also built other new 192 toilets in 2023 which are also mainly sponsored by our partner, A Drop of Life. Totally we have built 962 toilets. Our goal is to help make other villages the ODF (Open Defecation Free)

12.   COMMUNITY DEVEOPMENT: Since HVTO is scaling, we have created the real community committee to support the HVTO Center with 15 responsible members. There are 9 roles for this committee to do starting from encouraging children and parent to go and to send the children to study Engling in HVTO Center, fundraising to help maintain and repair small things, preventing and protecting property of HVTO, cooperating with the core team and etc.

13.   HOUSE CHARITY PROJECT: In 2023 we built other 2 new houses for 2 new families. This means that we have totally built 37 houses since we started the program in 2019. This project can tangibly show the changes of the conditions of the beneficiary families from being PERISHABLE TO CHERISHED. Special thanks to Mr. Joe and Christine Ludwig who built a house for Mr. Sros On and thank you to Mr. John and Deanne Bailey who donated to build a house for the Pon Pai.

14.   FOOD FOR EMERGENCY: in 2022 we received the donations to provide 80 food packages to support the poor families. Each package can help provide foods to a family with 4 members to survive for almost a month. Special thanks to the group of Khmer friends and sponsors living in the US led by Mr. Seng Kaing.

We see 2023 another productive year and we see upcoming 2024 another great year to come and we thank you so much for your kindest involvement and generosity. If we have not mentioned your names here, please bear in mind that we have never forgotten you and we entrust the Gods above us who have well acknowledged your compassion, sympathy and generosity with which you are continue to be blessed for more than yourselves but your families and your beloved ones. Good long newsletter will be put together by our volunteer from Oklahoma who is coming to visit HVTO early 2024.

It is always very good to hear from you.

With warmest wishes and best regards,

Sim Piseth

HVTO Founder and Director

Regional Tour Guide for Siem Reap Angkor.

Tel: +85512237889
Tel: +855974506969

Email: sim@hvto.org | sim2piseth@gmail.com

Website: www.hvto.org

Personal Profile: https://www.facebook.com/ simpiseth81

Personal Page: https://www.facebook.com/ profile.php?id=100087004634856

HVTO Page: https://www.facebook. com/hvto.org/?ref=bbookmark

Postal Address:

Postal Address: P.O Box: 93095,
East Sreth village, Kontreang commune,Brasat Bakong district, Siem Reap Angkor-Cambodia.

Summary: HVTO’s progress in the second quarter of 2015 has remained very strong with the near completion of our new school provided by funds from Viking Cruises Corporation. In addition, in the last three months we have added 18 new student sponsorships, bringing our number of active sponsorships to 114. With other financial priorities the drilling of water wells has slowed, but we still completed eight this quarter to complete Rumdeng Village in Knar Pur Commune. We are also preparing our recently opened dormitory in Siem Reap to receive an additional 17 university students in the fall, which will bring our total to 27.

In recognition of the proliferation and growing importance of NGOs (Non-Governmental Organizations) to the development of the country, the government of Cambodia has formalized a series of new guidelines to which these must abide. They include – a child protection policy, mission statement/goals, financial accounting, student selection criteria, and other rules and responsibilities of the NGO and sponsored students. Designed to allow the government more oversight and better coordination of the work of NGOs, these rules have been brought together in what is called a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). The MOU was officially signed by HVTO and government officials in a 6-May ceremony held in Siem Reap. See below.

The signing ceremony for the HVTO Memorandum of Understanding with the government of Cambodia. Pictured from left to right are Mr. Piseth (Chief Administrator – Siem Reap Municipality), Mr. Serey (representing the Board of Kontreang Commune and Sreth Community), Mr. Sam Arth (Leader of Bakong District), His Excellency Mr. Moa Vuthy (Deputy Governor Siem Reap Province), Sim Piseth (HVTO Founder), Seaknam Meng (HVTO General Manager), Ine Un (HVTO School Headmaster), Keo Kimsang (HVTO Computer Teacher), and Kean Kourn (Community Committee).

This new policy will help bring much needed NGO oversight that also will see staff exchanges between the NGOs and the government. Unfortunately, it will also add to the number and complexity of official reports that must be sent to the government. As HVTO has grown the administrative/accounting load has grown with it. Although we have always tried to perform all of our work internally, we have now reached the point where we lack the skills and personnel necessary to keep up.

For this reason we have hired Ky Sarana, a student with a double-major at Build Bright University who will receive her Accounting degree in November and her Languages degree in 2016. I was very impressed with Sarana‟s grades, English and computer skills, and especially her attitude which will allow her to take on the many challenges of being the HVTO accountant and administrative coordinator. Please join me in welcoming Sarana to the HVTO family.

EDUCATION

HVTO School

This month saw the completion of the new HVTO School building generously funded by Viking Cruises Corporation. We were able to complete the critical heavy construction before the rainy season began by working night and day. This was made possible by village men and older male students providing free manual labor, which also saved roughly 40% of the construction costs had only outside labor been utilized. From a 24-February ground breaking ceremony, and with a lot of extra help, in only 4 months the building has been completed with only minor touch ups necessary before its official dedication ceremony with Viking management in late July. This generous donation from Viking Cruises Corporation is already having a major impact on our ability to educate our students. Students now attend classes in shifts, but when fully up and running, crowding in the classrooms will be reduced and we will be able to take on an additional 130 students (from ~485 to ~615 English students). Many thanks to Viking for making this possible. See photo below.

The Studiosus Foundation, with help from Viking Cruises Corporation, are our major benefactors in paying the bills associated with the day to day running of the schools. They also help by periodically sending representatives to the community to help in the education and bring a perspective of the outside world that our kids can get no other way. Again, many thanks to Studiosus and Viking for their generous help in maintaining our core programs.

Sponsored Students

In the last three months we have obtained sponsorship commitments, mostly through Viking and Studiosus tours, for an additional 15 students, bringing our total to 117 (114 of these active). Ten of these fifteen came from Dr. Oliver Nesehnson from L.N.R. TRUST REG., who is the executor for the will of Mrs. Cokkonis. Through her desire to aid in the education of the poor, in the last three years we have seen 30 HVTO students obtain sponsorships with a commitment to continue to add 10 students per year. Many thanks to Dr. Nesehnson and Mrs. Cokkonis for their generosity in supporting the educational efforts of so many of our young people.

To understand the value of the educational effort into which HVTO puts so much time and effort please review the graph above showing the career goals of our students. Obviously, in a place like Cambodia all of these areas are in desperate need of qualified workers. Behind these numbers the „Professional‟ field ranks include those wishing to enter various aspects of Engineering, Law, IT, and Translation, and „Medicine‟ includes 11 aspiring doctors (of whom we have already graduated one) and 5 nurses.

Recently three of our students received more than educational assistance in the form of some badly needed dental work. Thav Serey (from her sponsors Virgil and Ruth Johnson), Serey Makara (from Dr. Bruce King D.D.S., his wife Peggy, and their travelling companions and professional colleagues: Dr. Elliot Engel and Dr. Leroy King), and Pon Solim (from her sponsor Bob Fischer). The „Before‟ and „After/In Progress‟ pictures are shown below. Our gratitude to these generous sponsors who continue to go above and beyond the call of duty.

Thav Serey “Before”                                                           Thav Serey “After”

Serey Makara “Before”                                                               Serey Makara “After”

Pon Solim „Before‟                                                                 Pon Solim „In Progress‟

In another example of Cambodians helping each other, twelve student volunteers from Phnom Penh visited the HVTO School from 19-21 March to give a series of presentations on „Soft Skills‟. Part of a program called „Khmer Helps Khmer‟, their visit was sponsored by HTVO-USA through the work of its president, Patti Baker. The presentation topics included time management, critical thinking, studying techniques and problem solving. Also included were instruction on how to express views with self-confidence in social and professional settings, a valuable topic for a Khmer people that tend to be shy and deferential. The students were also shown how to speak to both individuals and groups, including interviewing for jobs or interacting with friends and family. They were also shown how to present themselves and how to recognize and grasp opportunities.

The 12-person student group, which calls itself SMARC (which in Khmer means „volunteer‟), are themselves recent university graduates, and were led by UK Sovannara. They also provided valuable information on how to apply for scholarships and admission to US schools.

UK Sovannara (center) and his colleague Sor Virakdara (left) receive a teaching certificate from Sim Piseth for their work in teaching „Soft Skills‟ to HVTO students.

HVTO University Student Assistance (College Prep Program)
Most of our university students are able to live with friends or extended family while they attend university in Siem Reap, but many cannot. In the culmination of an initiative called the College Prep Program, HVTO has rented a home in Siem Reap that is now being utilized as a dormitory. The home under lease can accommodate 35 students and has a small room that is serving as the HVTO office. At this writing, prior to our 12th graders taking their final examinations to gain admission to SE Asia University, it looks like we will have about 27 students living in the dorm in the fall semester. In addition to giving HVTO a base of operations this will help take our students off dangerous streets, give them more study time, and bring them closer to employment possibilities in the Big City.

An exciting event occurred on 21-March when the First Lady of the United States came to Siem Reap to meet Cambodian students to hear their stories and share America’s perspectives on education as part of a campaign to help girls around the world stay in school. Promoting the U.S.-led education initiative, “Let Girls Learn,” the community-based program is locally sponsored by “Room To Read”, a Siem Reap based NGO. It is designed to help get 62 million girls in the developing world back into classrooms. With her Cambodian counterpart, First Lady Lok Chumteav Dr. Bun Rany Hun Sen, they were able to meet ten outstanding students from the Siem Reap area. We can be proud that for this rare event three of the chosen girls came from HVTO: Lorn Phou Nam sponsored by Thomas Barkemeir and Hur Savang and Vean Sokhang, both sponsored by the Rotary Club of Healdsburg California through Henk Peeters.

Lorn Phou Nam (far left), an HVTO student sponsored by Thomas Barkemeir, and Vean Sokhang (arm around Mrs. Obama) an HVTO student sponsored by the Rotary Club of Healdsburg California through Henk Peeters, are seen here with Michelle Obama, Lok Chumteav Dr. Bun Rany Hun Sen, and two other girls from the Siem Reap area.

CLEAN WATER

With the need to fund the outfitting of the new dormitory in Siem Reap water well drilling has slowed in recent months. The eight added this quarter brings our total number of wells to 352, all to rural Cambodian families that would not otherwise be able to afford clean water. We have completed all ten villages in Kontreang Commune and have now finished our 72nd well in Rumdeng Village, completing that village. Our next target is neighboring Chhup Village, also in Knar Pur Commune, where the village chief tells us that of the 95 families there, about 45 of the poorest families are in need of clean water. Rosemere High School in Canada, in their continuing campaign of support, recently donated another 12 wells which will be drilled in Chhup Village.

To date HVTO has drilled almost 8.4 kilometers of wells, in the process bringing clean water to over 2,500 people in rural Cambodia. A recent article, made possible by the interviews carried out by Patti Baker, describes how HVTO organizes the drilling of water wells and why we use local village men. It can be found on our website at the following link: https://hvto.org/hvto-project/clean-water/meet-the-hvto-water-well-installers.html. Through this article, and the stories told of these men and their families, it is possible to get an unvarnished glimpse of life in rural Cambodia. For information on how you can sponsor a well see „Support‟ below.

This well, which was drilled earlier this year for the Keam Kem family in Rumdeng Village in Knar Pur Commune, was donated by Debra and Skip Sayres. Meng Seaknam, the HVTO General Manager, is on the far left.

Support
Having seen our work first-hand, Viking and Studiosuss tour groups are HVTO‟s main source of support. Living all over the world, with the aid of modern technology, former guests not only help financially, but also provide administrative assistance. This has been a great help to our founder Sim Piseth who, in addition to his many HVTO responsibilities, is a full-time tour guide that must be away for extended periods of time.

Patti Baker, a former Viking guest, is the President of Homestay Teachers Volunteer Organization, Inc., a 501c3 (charitable) organization incorporated in Florida to provide tax relief to US citizens that fund HVTO in Cambodia. This NGO simplifies money transfers as well as providing a vehicle for access to larger grants that can have a major impact on reaching goals. Patti has very recently recruited Pippa deCosson Woods, who has generously agreed to take on the responsibilities of Secretary for HTVO-USA. Pippa, a former Viking traveler, is now retired from her career in transit and transportation where her last position was the Transportation Policy Advisor for the governor of the State of New Jersey in the U.S.A. Throughout her career she has served in various capacities for non- profit organizations in the United States, but Pippa‟s recent trip to Cambodia and exposure to the activities of HVTO has extended her generosity.

Thank you, Pippa, for donating your time, energy, and expertise to HVTO.

Pippa Woods – the new HTVO Secretary

There is much to do and we are is still in need of volunteers, so if you are interested, all that’s needed is access to a computer and the ability to use the internet. To learn more please visit the website at: https://hvto.org/about-us/hvto-contacts-in-usa.html or call Patti Baker directly at 239-682-0067.

If you are interested in providing a sponsorship to one of our students, we have a list of deserving candidates that we can send from which you can choose.
In addition to sponsorships and water wells HVTO has a number of „one-off‟ needs, including a refrigerator, furniture and water cooler for our dormitory in Siem Reap.

Children of all ages attend the HVTO School, beginning with introductory English classes. Shown here is Phou Bopha, an unsponsored 9th grader in public school taking part in the advanced HVTO English class (Level 6).

Again, thank you for reading about our continuing story and we hope that you share our pride in HVTO‟s accomplishments.

                                       Sim Piseth                                                                                                                     Seaknam Meng
                                    HVTO Founder                                                                                                             HVTO General Manager

In 2014 HVTO made amazing progress: leasing a dormitory in Siem Reap, securing a record number of new sponsorships (and our first university graduates), and adding another 60 wells to the clean water project. In a dramatic expansion, we will shortly begin construction on a new school building adjacent to the existing HVTO School.

HVTO School(s)

In the past year the HVTO English and Computer classes have had an average enrollment of 615 English and 45 Computer students, with many attending in the evening after their public school classes. As mentioned above, we will begin construction of a new school building early this year through a generous donation from Viking Cruises Corporation. With this HVTO has been able to purchase land behind the existing school and pay for the construction of the building. When complete classes will be far less crowded and overall enrollment will rise to about 850 English and 120 Computer students. Many thanks to Viking for making this possible.

Student Sponsorship

This past year also saw 41 additional student sponsorships, increasing our total from 48 at the end of last year to 89. This is especially positive news because in one year we have nearly doubled the number of sponsored students. Because these students are themselves teaching their younger friends, they will form the foundation of a self-supporting educational system in this part of Cambodia. In addition to ensuring the sustainability of the program, there is no better way to learn than to teach. This growth shows the many deserving but unsponsored students that with hard work an education is indeed with their grasp.

In 2014 HVTO reached another milestone with the graduation of our first two university students: Ine Un and Seaklin Meng. Both were able to obtain their university degrees through the generosity of their sponsor, Simon and Ranjeeta Johnson from U.K.

Ine Un

Meng Seaklin

HVTO University Student Assistance (College Prep Program)

In the past university students from HVTO had to either live with friends, extended family or commute 60 kilometers round-trip daily to classes in Siem Reap. In the culmination of an initiative called the College Prep Program, HVTO has rented a home in Siem Reap that is now being utilized as a dormitory. Originally planned to house about 15 students, the home under lease can accommodate 35 and has a small room that is now serving as the HVTO office. (Our previous office was in the spare room of our founder’s home.) This will help take our students off dangerous streets, give them more study time, and bring them closer to employment possibilities in the ‘Big City’. See photo below.

This project was made possible through the efforts of Ross King, one of our most ardent supporters, who is the founder of the non-profit S.P.A.R.C.K. organization (Schooling Poor and Rural Cambodian Kids) in Canada – http://www.sparcks.org/. Through his connections in the U.K. Ross was able to secure a matchable grant from the PEWT Family Trust which, through the efforts of Patti Baker, chairwoman of HTVO-USA, has enabled us to meet the match and raise about $25,000 for this project. Ross is working to make this a renewable grant and you can keep up with his efforts on behalf of HVTO at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkMviEdUMnA

In a related project Patti, through HTVO-USA, is seeking to purchase a large van in order to more safely transport our students to and from Sophy Village and Siem Reap. Attending Southeast Asia University, our students are required to return to the village weekly to assist HVTO educational programs and mentor younger students. Because education is much more than classroom work, this interaction with the older students provides the younger ones role models and a first-hand account of life outside the narrow confines of the village.

Clean Water

In the last year HVTO has provided wells to 59 additional families and one for the Kontreang Commune Medical Clinic. Having drilled over 8 kilometers in total, HVTO has now completed 344 wells and provided clean water to nearly 2,500 people. We have reached all of the neediest families in Kontreang Commune, with 53 of the 59 wells drilled in 2014 going to Rumdeng Village in Khar Pur Commune. The Rumdeng Village Chief has indicated that there are an additional 20 families that are too poor to have access to clean water. Based on this we expect to complete his village early in 2015 and then begin work in nearby Chhup Village. For more information on the Clean Water Project please visit our website at: https://hvto.org/hvto-project/clean-water.html

HVTO recently paid for the Siem Reap Water Quality Laboratory to analyze samples taken from the residence of Hoem Hean in Rumdeng Village. These were taken from the original hand-dug well and the adjacent HVTO well (#304). In brief, the water in the hand-dug well, tapping the near-surface water table, was highly contaminated by disease-causing bacteria. However the well water, naturally filtered through 25 meters of sediment, eliminated all of the disease-causing (E coli) bacteria, leaving only minor amounts of more benign coliforms. For details on the results of these analyses please visit our website at: https://hvto.org/hvto-project/clean-water/why-hvto-clean-water-project.html

Support

Having seen our work first-hand, Viking and Studiosus tour groups are HVTO’s main source of support. Living all over the world, with the aid of modern technology, former guests not only help financially, but also provide administrative assistance. This has been a great help to our founder Sim Piseth who, in addition to his many HVTO responsibilities, is a full-time tour guide that must be away for extended periods of time.

Homestay Teachers Volunteer Organization, Inc., a 501c3 (charitable) organization founded by Patti Baker and incorporated in Florida, is now two years old. Formed to provide tax relief to US citizens who fund HVTO in Cambodia, it simplifies money transfers as well as providing a vehicle for access to large grants that can have a major impact on reaching goals. Patti is in need of volunteers to help continue the HTVO-USA work, so if you are interested, all that’s needed is access to a computer and the ability to use the internet and write e-mails. Patti will be in Cambodia this month volunteer teaching, but to learn more please visit our website at: https://hvto.org/about-us/hvto-contacts-in-usa.html.

Again, thank you for reviewing our continuing story and we hope that you share our pride in what has been accomplished.

                                              Sim Piseth                                                                                      Seaknam Meng

                                           HVTO Founder                                                                           HVTO General Manager

A lot of exciting things have happened in our HVTO community the last four months, so let us bring you up to date with the recent strides that we have made

English and Computer Classes

A generous donation from the Studiosus Foundation e.V has been received that will largely fund our 2014-core programs. The HVTO English and Computer classes have expanded from 460 to 615 students, with most now attending in the evening from 5:00 to 8:00 P.M. We have also reached another milestone in this program with over 3,000 English books( 2000 books were donated by BookBridge Cambodia), now available in our library.

Student Sponsorship

The number of HVTO sponsored children has increased from 49 at the end of 2013 to a new total of 60. This continued progress is encouraging to the many students that are hoping for sponsorship. It also ensures the future sustainability of the entire effort, as the older students help teach the younger – and there is no better way to learn than to teach. As these students work through the HVTO system they will form the core of a self-supporting educational system

Clean Water

In the HVTO Clean Water Project we have reached a major milestone in having now provided water wells to the neediest families in all of Kontreang Commune. Since the beginning of the year we have installed an additional 24 water wells, bringing the total to over 300, with the last 16 of these in Rumdeng Village in neighboring Khar Pur Commune. In the future we will post a map and graphs on the HVTO website so that everyone can follow our progress.

Classroom expansion 

Another major milestone was recently reached with the agreement of Viking Cruises Corporation to fully fund the purchase of land behind the existing school and the construction of a new, desperately needed building. The project costs, which also include operational funds, total nearly $40,000. We offer our heartfelt gratitude to Viking for this generous donation and will follow up with details of our progress in the next HVTO newsletter.

College Prep Program

High school and university students from HVTO now must either live with friends, extended family or commute 60 kilometers round-trip daily to classes in Siem Reap. In a new initiative called the College Prep Program, HVTO will rent a home in Siem Reap that can be utilized as a dormitory for about 20 students as well as the new HVTO office. (Our current office is comprised of two desks in our founder’s home next to Seaknam’s bed.) This will help take our students off of dangerous streets, give them more study time, and bring them closer to employment possibilities. Please refer to Patti’s message at the end of this newsletter.

Support

Viking River Cruises and the tour groups they bring to the HVTO School in Sophy Village are a wonderful source of support to HVTO. Many of our most active sponsors are former Viking guests that had the opportunity to see up close what we are accomplishing. Living all over the world, and with the aid of modern technology, former Viking guests not only help financially, but also provide administrative assistance. In addition to everything else, recent successes include the reorganization of our website, which will be debuting soon, and the recent creation of Homestay Teachers Volunteer Organization, Inc, a Florida USA 501c3 corporation (HTVO)

Patti G Baker, is a president of this organization, has written the following letter regarding a matching grant that will be used to initiate the College Prep Program already described.
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Dear Friends of HVTO:

The last shots were fired in 1999 by the Khmer Rouge, but experts estimate that between 1,600,000-3,000,000 men, women and children were killed while this brutal regime was in power. Cambodia still struggles with the lack of an educated middle class, and as a result remains one of the poorest countries in the world. Because we educate children, HVTO addresses the most fundamental challenge Cambodia is facing.

Homestay Teachers Volunteer Organization has recently become a 501c3 U.S. organization (tax-exempt status ID # 46-331-155574) that is now working to obtain matching funds in order to receive $12,500 from a family trust in the U.K. called PEWT. We will use these funds to begin the “College Prep Program” to support HVTO students attending Southeast Asia University in Siem Reap.

Our organization closely monitors student progress and provides frequent site checks on all projects. As the international fund-raising arm of our sister organization in Siem Reap (NGO – HVTO.org), we are 100% volunteer with no overhead and all donations going directly to Cambodia.
We ask that you give as much as you can to help us to secure this matching grant. Please email me at pattigbaker@gmail.com for more information or click on the following link to provide your financial assistancehttp://www.gofundme.com/htvo-college-prep

Thank you,
Patti G. Baker
President HTVO
Tax ID# 46-331-15574

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Again, thank you for reviewing our continuing story and we hope that you share our pride in what we have been able to accomplish with your help in so short a time. You have our profound thanks for all that you have done to help.

Sim Piseth                                                                                     Seaknam Meng
HVTO founder                                                                          HVTO General Manager

Dear HVTO Supporters, Donors and Friends,

It has been a successful 2011, the third year since HVTO was created in 2008 and our teams are highly committed to bring a change for people in the community. So take a short moment to look at what we have done so far and we would be very happy to share with you our projects, stories, activities, important development and future plan in our organization for 2012. HVTO Newsletter 2011

• Words from HVTO founder
• Free Education Program
• School supplies for children -Foreign Volunteer Teachers
• Small library for children -Free computer Class
• Providing Certificate -Sponsorship Program
• Clean Water Project -TomandoConciencia gave bikes to kids
• HVTO provided dictionaries to children -Tourism in Community
• Seal of Love provided food to people
• Toilette built by Australian volunteers.
• HVTO New Center
• Mr. Robin Walker visited HVTO
• Financial Status for 2012
• Conclusion

Personal Note:

It was some time in August 2011, when I had a short holiday from my hectic work and I took my whole family to visit the floating villages in Chhong Kneas commune. Above is a picture of my wife, Meng Seakly, and me standing on the boat.

Tourism is growing in Siem Reap Angkor Cambodia, as a trilingual tour guide, I am busier and busier from month to month but I am happy to see that our family condition is growing a bit better. What it makes me even more satisfied and full of smile is when I see my sibling grows better with their educations.

Beside my great parents, I repeat the same words honoring Dr. Renate Soeder, Ken Widowson and Robin Walker who supported me to get better educated compared with my hundred of friends from the same village and to have opportunity to see the bigger world.

To lessen my financial responsibility, there are some people who have helped my family. I thank Ms. Monica from Mexico who supports my sister to become professional tailor, thanks to the generosity of Mr. Felipe Barrios from Columbia; our brother continues his studies in the medical faculty. With great help from Simon Johnson and Ranjeeta Johnson from England, our sister attends to learn university accounting.

So in the short term, as long term is not yet defined, I very much look forwards to grow with my actual profession, as a Tour Guide who speaks English, German and Spanish to earn a living and to continue supporting my big blended-family. I like to have friends all over the world and keep learning from each other. My job does not only help me to get out of great poverty but it helps me to go far beyond to help my community.

HVTO :

it has been a wonderful three years that HVTO has been helping the community. Our successful activities in the last three years include providing free English classes to over five hundred children and 50 of them become the core students who will help us for the following years;

providing school materials from note-books to bicycles to several poor children in the villages; coordinating to have 13 foreign volunteers to come and stay in the village to help with the projects; Providing two free computer training courses for 120 participants who are the same students from the English classes and these students are able to learn from typing, Office Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Power Point and installing programs; having 11 foreign sponsors to pick 13 poor students to continue their studies both in the secondary and high school or in the university also; providing a small library with books to children to read and gain more knowledge; providing 207 water pumps for 400 families or over four thousand people to have clean water for their every day lives; providing food to the poorest families during the bad flood of 2011; helping the community committee to build the infrastructures and etc.

Even though this success is very small and we have nothing to compare with other big organizations, but I would like to say that we should be very proud for all of us to have been able to do something for our people on earth. Especially on behalf of one of the members after the Khmer Regime, I grew up to feel a sense of responsibility to help my people, my country after a great destruction and to redevelop Cambodia again. I try to become the most important role model for the younger generation. To succeed in this goal, I am very encouraged to focus on providing education opportunity. Even though HVTO can not provide them a higher education but at least we can bring the message of the importance of education for our people in the community.

I am willing to continue with HVTO as far as possible and to run HVTO, it seems to be strongly depending on my job. As a tour guide, more than earning the money for my personal families but having chance to meet people with generosity to help with HVTO also. I am very grateful to all the donors and friends who have come to be involved and made this project even more successful and recognized by local authority and people and I do hope that we can continue this mission in the following years.

With love and Respect – Sim Piseth

School supplies for our children

Besides providing free education programs, HVTO also provides school materials namely course books, note-books, pens, pencils, rulers and school uniforms for the children in our school.

To have all those school materials to supply to our children, our partners, most tour guides like Mr. Yun Sovanna always introduce our school programs to their tourists or bring them to visit the schools. With generosity from those kind tourists, they also helped to fund a lot of things in our projects. Those school materials are worth to over 3000$.

The picture was when HVTO deputy director Meng Seaknam delivered thousands of note-books and other school supplies to the teachers. But we still need help for the following years!

Free English Classes for our Children

It has been three years that HVTO has been providing free English classes to over five hundred students in the community and it is always a financial burden for HVTO teams to secure the money to run this program as it is a core program to show that HVTO is always active in the community and also to fund other projects like sponsorships and clean water projects.

2012 we end up with new way! HVTO will not throw hundreds of dollars to pay for our teachers any more but we use our older students to help teach the younger generation while we use money (donation) to help those volunteers’ students to obtain higher education at least to let them finish their high school.

We still need your support to help our older students to get more qualification and then they will come back to help our center in the future.

Certificate of completion are provided to the students

Beside English, computer skill is also very important for our kids. It can help them to know technology and find a job. Until now, we found 30 computers for our students learnt how to use Microsoft word, excel and PowerPoint.

HVTO has 125 students in our community who are studying in public high school and studied English in our school. They got the certificates from our school. This skill and certification are very important for them because it can help their study, do research and find jobs in the city. We had selected the best students by doing an exam to choose the students to get certificates of computer skill in July, 2011 and January, 2012.

Sponsorship Program

” We help people who are dedicated to help others”

Give them the free English and computer education is not enough, Poor Students also need help from us to finish high school.

We still find sponsors to help our best selected students to finish their studies in public school.

Moeung Kunthea is 15 years old being sponsored by Mrs. Susi Ma and she is studying in grade 9 this year. We hope that she will be able to start teaching the younger children next year.

If you have one of our students, he/she is going to help others in the future. It is a multi useful program.

Tomando Conciencia provided bicycles and school supplies to the children via Homestay Volunteer Teachers Organization

Tomando Conciencia has played a very important role in helping our community in the past five years. Namely in 2006 group of TomandoConciencia came to volunteer to build a school in Sophy village; 2007 helped to start an English Class in Chhuk village; 2007 financed a heart operation for a boy named Little Ang; 2008 funded an HVTO teacher for free English Classes and built 20 water pumps in the villages.

It was some time in July 2011, I got an email from Carlos Sanchez, the founder of TomandoConciencia, to say that one of his friends would like to have a look at any projects that provide physic courses to the children and he would fund for this project. He also asked HVTO to send a proposal.

HVTO did not have any physic course for the children but I thought something related is to buy the bicycle for the children. So we sent the proposal to TomandoConciancia to buy bicycles for the poor children whose parents can not afford.

We did not know what happened to a friend of his but later on we saw that TomandoConciencia created some events to fundraise to fulfill the proposal. A few months later, we received good news from Carlos Sanchez to say that they have raised certain amount of money to buy some bicycles for the poor children in Sophy village.

In late November 2011, TomandoConciencia sent their representatives led by Jose Soriano, Jesehp and Rebeca to Cambodia. For a full week HVTO and TomandoConciencia representatives worked very hard from the purchasing the bicycles, school materials, transport these materials from the city to the village, selecting the poor children to receive the bicycles and school materials and finally on 5 November 2011, HVTO , community committee and local authorities worked together to hold a big meeting participate by the governor of Prasat Bakong district and finally 2011 we have provided 70 bicycles and school bags to 70 poor students in our community.

It is one of the biggest joys brought to the parents and children in our community.

In the name of the people, I would like to wish all the members of TomandoConciencia to have good luck, success and long lives!

Providing Pocket Dictionaries to our children

One time, I went to visit the children at HVTO School in the village and I started to test them with some words in English and I found out that many students have not yet learned much vocabulary. So I thought that a Pocket Dictionary might help them to master more words, and then we (HVTO teams) started to collect funds to buy dictionaries for them. Thank to the generosity of the members and kind tourists whom we worked for, we could have collected over 500 dictionaries to supply to all our students in the program.

Tourists start to visit our community and school

HVTO is always trying to include our community into the itinerary of the tourists as to show them the real way of life and also to get financial support from those tourists. Sometimes those tourists find the visit to the village very fascinating and the high light of the trip.

What is community tour? You all can come to visit our students, schools, villages, and community whenever you have time and you are always welcome to see our village.

Those tour operators who send their group to visit the community and school; they should include the small budget to support HVTO.

We would like to say thank you to many people who have been supporting us so far!

New land and school were built by the joint between HVTO and Seal of Love Charitable Foundation.

A small piece of land was purchased to set up a new centre. A new school-building is under the construction and new philosophy has been set up (WE HELP PEOPLE WHO ARE DEDICATED TO HELP OTHERS) to apply to all the people we are helping in our community.

HVTO and Seal of Love Charitable Foundation will jointly work and run this new center and bringing the big benefit for the people in the village.

The story started like this: It was a blessing that Mr. Lawrence found our HVTO website very interesting in Hong Kong and then he traveled to Cambodia to visit the existing school.

At the beginning, we were trying to extend the area close to our centre but with the complication caused by other parties, we were not allowed to purchase that land. Finally we ended up buying other piece of land which is 500 metres away from our original school and now the budget to build the school has been finalized by Sol and HVTO is carrying out the construction with the local community committee.

The upcoming building comprises four rooms and will serve for the following projects:1. Computer Lab; 2. Library; 3. Sewing Class4. English Class for higher levels

It is one of our desires to bring all kinds of modern knowledge and technology to our children by setting up the internet connection in the future in this centre, so we are looking for sponsors to make this dream possible. Who can help?

Our current library is too small and we want to make it bigger as there are promising signs that there are lot of people would send lots of books to our centre, that is the reason for us to set up the library in this new school.

We are planning to set up a project to support the poor women in the community by creating the professional training courses like a sewing class and producing something to access to the market and generate income and to create the self-sustainable programs.

Robin Walker, Canadian HVTO founder, visited HVTO center in January 2012

Robin loves to share the experience he had and saw what is going on in our centre. Take few seconds to read what he said!

What a difference three years makes! It has been three years since I visited Siem Reap and HVTO. At that time, the English classes were taught in the public school next door and the first water pumps were being installed. Now HVTO has three classrooms in two separate buildings and a computer and small library. The HVTO website www.hvto.org contains more information on all its projects.

I was very impressed with the progress made by founder Sim Piseth. My son D’Arcy and I spent two days at the school in Streth Village, visiting classes at all levels from beginners to an advanced class taught by Un who also teaches the computer classes. The advanced class was very interesting, the students obviously enjoyed Un’s animated teaching. Also impressive was Rothana, a student in the advanced class who was also teaching the beginners. All of the local teachers are to be congratulated for the time and effort they are putting into this project. We visited a site where they were building a new water pump. Thanks to a number of generous donors HVTO has now installed over 200 water pumps which is a huge bonus for the community.

Foreign Volunteer Teachers for our English Classes

It has been so active at the beginning of the year with foreign volunteers to coming and staying in our community to help with the English teaching but seemed to slow down at the end of the year.

It is always very helpful to have such professional teacher as Mr. Dany Mack (the picture on the left).

We have seen that it is a big benefit to have those volunteers helping in our center, so this year HVTO is appealing to look for those foreign volunteers come and help again. Our condition is : if the volunteer can stay more than two months, HVTO supporters would cover the expense for the host family. Why don’t you consider coming and volunteering with us?

Small library for our children

Just study in class for one hour is not enough for kids to improve their knowledge, so in 2010, HVTO has opened a small library which is very important for them to read and do research.

In 2011, we could see that they improved, and they like reading more. They can read English books better than in the first year.

Even though, our library is small but we have room for more books and your donation or surplus books still are very important for our kids. We are willing to find more reading-books for our students.

Our free Computer Classes for our children

By having seen that Computer Skill is the most needed now for our children for their upgrading of studies or job prospects, so HVTO set up this class in 2010. First it was Mrs. Susi Ma from UK who bought us a generator and HVTO and people built the room and then donors started to buy computers. Thanks to the support from Studiosus Foundation in Germany HVTO could buy 10 more computers and have funds to run this class for the last two years.

Some of the Studiosus Groups come and visit the community and school and they always include some donation to support this project. It is a very expensive program because we have to pay for diesel and electricity to run the computer and computer teachers and especially there are a lot of computers broken and need to be repaired but it is a big benefit to the young people here.

Clean Water Project

I was born in the village and lived with poor resources to collect water for the family. It is still a fact that around 70% of the Cambodian population has no access to clean water especially for those who live in the countryside and only small percentage of the population understand about importance of hygiene.

As a professional guide, I happened to see several hundred families around the temples have received clean water pumps from tourists or associations, other tour guides or other organization who were trying to help those people by explaining this problem to their tourists so that they would consider helping.

With this possible opportunity, I was committed to model this project and put it into HVTO program and seek help from people I was working for. Since this project was created, HVTO installed 15 water pumps in 2008, 2009 we installed 30; 2010 we installed 107 and 2011 we installed 45 and 2012 we just installed 8.

I will never give up and I am happy to continue looking for those generous people to help with this project because we can see that several hundred of poor families in the countryside are waiting for help from us.

I would like to express my great gratitude to all donors who helped HVTO so far to have this success for my community.

Seal of Love Charitable Foundation helps our community

Cambodia is one of the countries in South East Asia to suffer by the worst flood we ever had in the last 100 years. Thousand of hectares of rice-fields were destroyed and hundred of people were killed and infrastructures were also damaged. To help to reduced the sufferings and relieves from this destruction, HVTO has met Mr. Lawrence Chan from Hong Kong and he is the president of Seal of Love Charitable Foundation to help. Besides his financial support for the HVTO new centre he was also interested in helping to provide food supplies to the poorest people in the village or those who suffered by the floods. We have done this two times which included providing fifty poor families each received 50kg rice, frying oil, salt, garlic, canned fish, soy sauce, fish sauce and mosquito net.

Lawrence, our people are blessing you!!

New toilette was built by the Australian Volunteers for our children in the new centre.

HVTO has also created the Week Project for foreign volunteers to do something in our community. Those volunteers can choose to stay from three days to two weeks to execute the project they like and to gain more experience for themselves with our people. We have many things to offer like installation of hand water pump for the family, building a house for homeless family, building a compost toilette and constructing a school for the community. But however HVTO is open to accept your ideas and will coordinate to do what your groups like to do and we will try our best as long as you are bringing change and development in our community.

One day I was contacted by Julie Schrag through Facebook to say that she was interested in knowing what kind of things that her group of five could do for five or six days.

That time, HVTO has just purchased a piece of land to build the school and we need a toilette for this centre and then we have proposed a toilette project to Julie Schrag.

Toilette is one of the needy things in our community. We know that it is around 30% of the people in the village have toilette to use but the rest 70% still use the traditional way going into the bushes and small areas around the back of the house.

Having one toilette in our centre for hundred of children and our visitors or volunteers is a big concern, so we are very encouraged setting up this project and made it possible. Few weeks later we got the confirmation from Julie to say that her group would love to come and help build the toilette in our centre. The design was made and the price was agreed with the local constructor. On 1st December 2011 the group of Australian Volunteers arrived led by Julies Schrag.

Now we have a very fancy toilette for our centre and with generosity of this group, they still help to build a big water well in the centre also.

We would like to take this opportunity to say thank you to the group of volunteers from Australia namely Julie Schrag, Judy Backhouse, Phil and Anne Kearse and Janet Fitchat.

We are also looking forward to welcoming other volunteers to come and do something to help the people in the rural areas like Sophy and Sreth villages.

Thanks to the generosity of Lawrence Chan and his Seal of Love charitable Foundation, HVTO and SOL are jointly building a new school for senior students approximately 500 meters from the existing school. The land has been cleared, fill has been brought in and a washroom building has been constructed the Australian Volunteers led by Julie Schrag. Construction on the four room new school is expected to commence shortly.

The budget for this school has been finalized with the construction financed primarily by SOL. SOL has also funded scholarships to send students / teachers to continue their education.

The budget for the existing school has also been finalized for 2012. HVTO is looking forward to a very successful year in 2012. I am very pleased with what Sim Piseth, Seaknam Meng and HVTO teams have accomplished. They are putting much of their time and energy into the community which should be recognized.

If you are interested in HVTO projects and want more information, please contact me at robin.walker@gowlings.com or sim@hvto.org

HVTO needs funding to run these projects so donations are appreciated. We also encourage anyone who is interested in teaching to contact us. You can teach for any amount of time from a week to a month or longer. Judging from the testimonials from previous teachers, you will find it is a very rewarding experience. We look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely

Robin Walker

Conclusion

We are highly and transparently committed to make HVTO even more effective and successful for the following years to serve people in the community. Besides our own resources, we still need your assistance and your help will come to make us better. We encourage you to help one of our students to sponsor for few year and yours sponsored students will help hundred of other children right now and in the future. Thank you very much for your time to read our newsletter! We wish you to enjoy your love and life, success with your business, Stay healthy and be prosperous and happiness in the families!

Thank you very much!

Sim Piseth                                                                                                                      Meng Seaknam

HVTO founder                                                                                                               HVTO deputy director

sim@hvto.org                                                                                                           mseaknam@yahoo.com

+(855)974506969                                                                                                              +(855)977742969

# 132, Group 14, Sophy village, Kontreang commune,

Brasat Bakong district, Siem Reap, Cambodia.

A large majority of people live in the rural areas of Cambodia. The villagers are suffering from substandard necessities, especially clean drinking water. Poor drinking water and sanitation are the main causes of high rates of infant mortality. Having access to clean water and understanding of hygiene are crucial to helping these people to improve living conditions.

HVTO is appealing to all charitable people who can help to provide a Clean Water Pumps to our needy Cambodian Communities. HVTO is a coordinating partner to provide these Water Pumps to the neediest families in rural areas.

Only 35% of Cambodian people have access to a healthy clean water system.

These are the reasons why the villagers need clean water systems :

• Poor drinking water and sanitation are the main causes of high rates of infant mortality.
• There’s no easy access to the most important element that ensures human health: water.
• Having access to clean water and an understanding of hygiene is crucial to helping people improve living conditions.
• Further development cannot be achieved if basic hygienic needs are not satisfied.

Our aim is to provide basic healthy systems to the poorest communities to guarantee their health and let them improve their living conditions.

The installation of hand water pumps is vital in order to help reduce disease and to improve villagers’ everyday life. Once these basic needs are satisfied, we will be able to start developing other skills in order to ensure the self sustainability of these rural areas.

Goldman Sachs responds to our request to fund 100 Hand Water Pumps

In June 2009, I guided Mr. Leland Lim of Goldman Sachs’ and his family while he was visiting Cambodia. He was very interested in HVTO’s Clean Water Project, and he gave us financial support to build a water pump. Mr. Lim told me that he would recommend that Goldman Sachs takes a look at our projects.

Having been informed by Mr. Leland Lim, Goldman Sachs Charitable Contribution Committee was very interested with our projects. Mr. Tim Greaton from GS contacted and sent us the application form to be completed for the Grant Request. Mr. Didac Boadas, our volunteer from Spain; and Robin Walker from Canada and I prepared the application forms to request the Grant for Clean Water Project to build and install 100 water pumps throughout the community.

In December 2009, we received great news from Goldman Sachs that they had decided to approve our request for funds and make our project an even greater success. This means that HVTO now has the funds to help accomplish our goal of installing water pumps in the community to provide access to clean water. With these funds we can install 100 water pumps in the Sophy and Sreth villages. These pumps will enable 2,100 people (over 300 families) to have a clean water system. Presently, only 8% of our community has access to clean water. With the upcoming 100 water pumps, 53% of our community will have easy access to clean water. We strongly believe that HVTO will be able to support rural Cambodian areas (Sophy and Sreth) to ensure health and development that let them achieve a self-sustainable community in the long term.

The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. is a leading global financial services firm providing investment banking, securities and investment management services to a substantial and diversified client base that includes corporations, financial institutions, governments and high-net-worth individuals. Founded in 1869, the firm is headquartered in New York and maintains offices in London, Frankfurt, Tokyo, Hong Kong and other major financial centers around the world.

Implementation plan :

Due to our previous experience in building water pumps, the following steps are to be taken :

• Look for locations where water pumps can be built and search for the neediest families in the community
• Contract the water pump builders
• Evaluate the viability of building a water pump in the selected areas
• Buying the materials : pump tap; water pipes; water filters; etc.
• Construction process :
  • Hole drilling: from 20 to 25 meters deep
  • Plastic tube insertion
  • Sawing the tube to make the tiny hole drain and filter the water
  • Platform building using cement, sand and rocks
  • Build the water pump absorber device
  • Pumping the dirty water (3days) and testing the quality of the clean water (1 week)

HVTO would like to give many thanks to the following people : Mr. Lim for giving us a bridge to link HVTO’s Clean Water Project with Goldman Sachs; Mr. Tim Greaton for coordinating the application process; Mr. Didac Boadas for volunteering his time and putting important comments on the application; Mr. Robin Walker and Mr. Carlos Sanchez who wrote the memorandums adding to the application form to Goldman Sachs; and a Thousand Thanks to the Goldman Sachs Charitable Contribution Committee for their great consideration and approval for this request.

I would like to take this opportunity to say thousands of thanks to all of friends who donated to build the water pumps in the last few months namely :

• Bob and Madeleine Brown
• Thomas R. Benz donated in the memory Delaney Smith
• Santa Claus via Toni De la Torre
• Kathy and Peter
• Douglas E Whittle and his colleagues
• Shannon Bunn
• PATRICIA S GEIGER
• Jeff Luebbers

With warmest wishes from Cambodia !

Sim Piseth

1. My Personal Issue :

March 2009 was really the worst time for me in which I lost my lovely mother and (father last year). It was the saddest moment I ever had in my life. It took me a certain time to get over it. Now only the memories that I have with them stay with me and I am going through and dragging my life without parents and I know how hard it is.

Well! As the saying, the death meet peace but the living still continues to suffer as life is suffering! We creatures can not get away from the four truths in this world namely birth, aging, sickness and death and our existence is to follow the three natures: Dukkha (suffering, sorrow, misery, pain and illness) Anicca (impermanent, uncertain and transitory) and Anatta (soulless).

Becoming the parentless, two sisters and one brother have come under my protection and I am happy to support them as I am the only person in the family

Buddhist Monks were offered with food during the funeral ceremony.

(my family really worked hard for me) who got a better education and I am preparing some ways for them in the future. We decided to marry our oldest sister to a young fellow in the same village and we hope that they will make their way of living like others do. Our youngest sister was sent to stay with my half brother in the city to learn her profession in the sewing school and so far she is doing really well.

Since my father passed away, my younger brother who was made Buddhist monk, decided to leave the monastery in order to help work in the family. Few months ago I worked for a lady, the Mexican director of Travel Agency, who want to sponsor my brother to learn his profession as the cook in the Hostelry Professional School

The big procession of moving my mother to the cremation

Personally I am still going on very well with my professional Tour Guide and many friends are coming into my life. Regarding HVTO work, in the last three months we have been busy with software development for the hvto website www.hvto.org and have written terms and condition, reality of volunteering, Child Protection Policies with translation. I would like to thank some friends from Facebook who have helped with part of these documents also.

The representatives of Communities and of MOEYS (Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport) presented THANK LETTER to us (HVTO) for the work we do to help the children and Communities.

Mr. Clint Peters, our last volunteer teacher from USA and I sit at the table to discuss some work and to share his ideas regarding for the progress for HVTO.

Normally whenever we do a celebration or religious festivity, Food offering is the big thing to be taken care of and it is a very important part of the fest to reflect your identity.

2. Free English Classes.

Free English Classes are the first work that HVTO concentrates its task on in order to bring high quality English education for our children in the village. We are happy to see that our Introduction letter of importance of the ENGLISH goes to the people in the communities from the lower level to the top, especially those parents who trust and send their children to learn in our classes. Their awareness is our pride. Read the full story by clicking on this link.

The tradition to require help from their children is still very strong and now is the beginning of the farming season and we know that almost 40% of our students will ask to leave for at least a month from classes to help their parents with work in the rice fields. They asked HVTO to arrange evening classes so that they can join after the day-work but we have our difficulties to open evening classes. First is the security for those children who come from the very far villages as there are some young gangsters waiting to disturb or cause harm to them. (I had one case last month and it gave me a headache to solve this problem). Second we do not have enough light and normally the bulks and wires equipped are stolen and we replace them many times. Our authority asked HVTO to stop the evening classes already. HVTO is committed to have the Child Protection Policy and in this case we should not take risk to do this. To read this, please go to our website www.hvto.org.

HVTO issued a certificate to our Volunteer Teacher and this picture was taken in evening class.

Our local teacher is giving class in the day time.

This picture was taken by Louis Hui, our volunteer from Hong Kong last year.

Our local teacher and foreign volunteer work together to give the English lesson to the students.

It is one of the HVTO biggest English Classes.

When she was giving tuition to the children.

3. Words of Mr. Clint Peters, Our volunteer Teacher from USA.

(Angkor home stay and volunteer English teaching was a positive experience for me. My chief pleasure was the students’ enthusiasm for learning English. There is only a single light in the classroom, but at night, their energy lit up the room. I brought a Frisbee from home, and it proved endless entertainment during breaks between classes.

I’ll say as warning if you come, and don’t look Khmer, expect to get stared at as if you were an alien by people outside the Meng family.

But that’s all part of the adventure. There’s police protection for visitors, but I thought it was unnecessary. I felt very safe and cared for at the Mengs’. It was neat to eat their wonderful food (I actually gained weight) and see how they lived, if for a short time. The family and the students were a joy during my week’s stay. Thanks again!)

Clint Peters: clintoncrockett@yahoo.com

4. Our upcoming volunteer Teachers

HVTO has received two Application Forms from our Volunteer Teachers and we are ready to welcome them to our village and our students are already informed that they would have other two foreign teachers to come and teach them to speak English. We are very appreciative to our volunteer for their times and contributions.

Our first volunteer is Mr. Sho Yoshinari from Japan and he is going to stay from 27th May 2009 to 27th June 2009. Our second one is Mr. Michael from England and he is going to stay 8+ weeks from 17th July to the end of September 2009.

Sho and Michael! Are you ready to get yourselves exposed to our Cambodian Culture?

5. Plan cost for Project 2009 of Free English Classes.

HVTO is going to terminate project plan 2008 in June and we have held a meeting to set up the Plan Cost for 2009 and we are starting to raise money from now on. We will close our Project 2008 and we hope to have some money left to continue in 2009. So HVTO is appealing for help again from all of you to share a bit so that we can carry on our project in 2009. Please read the Plan Cost description bellow and give us some suggestion if you might have and contact me at sim_pisith@yahoo.com.

Yearly Payment for HVTO Teachers

Additional Description:

Each day almost 500 students are attending to HVTO Free English Classes. Each principal gives HVTO one building to operate the programs full day. We are going to provide full-time English Classes in two buildings in two villages, Sreth and Sophy. HVTO has selected four local English Teachers to work in 2009 namely.

Yearly Payment for HVTO Staffs

Additional Description:

Note for NUMBER 6: HVTO needs this person who can work as the local coordinator, tour guide to translate for the volunteers, assistant to the leading people and stands by in the HVTO office in the village on the weekdays and lesson plans for our teachers, controls, writing reports to the presidents and coordinating the communication with departments of local authorities. We must pay him a bit higher.

Note for NUMBER 7: We are holding our free English programs in public schools and we always have the principals from these schools get involved with our programs to have the strong influence on our students and to give additional work to the principals also. So far we have been getting good cooperation from them.

Note for NUMBER 8: In 2009 HVTO will have many foreign volunteer teachers who will come to stay in the village to help with HVTO projects, so security must be provided for them.

Yearly Payment for some foreseen materials

Yearly Payment for HVTO Administration

Grand Total: 6489.00USD
Required Money: 6239.00USD
Received money: 250.00USD

HVTO is waiting to receive donations to complete this plan cost. We would like to thank our donors for project 2009 namely
1. Mr. Clint Peters (our last volunteer)
2. Clients from Gebeco
3. Mr. Maryan and Ms. Irene from Canada

HVTO would like to thank Mr. YUN SOWANNA, a freelance professional tour guide who actively helped, He is volunteering to be one of the members for HVTO.

I would like to recommend you in the future, if you are coming to visit Cambodia and need an informative tour guide, please check him out at www.cambodianguide.com

HVTO is looking for other NGOs, members and partner to broaden our projects in the future.

If you are interested to support us, please let me know at info@hvto.org or sim_pisith@yahoo.com or phone +8551271002

6. Water Pumps for the communities

This Water Pump was donated by Educational Travel Group and Friend s of University of Wisconsin February 2009.

The 10th Water Pump is donated by Dave and Kathy Grinsel from USA in the memory of John W. Antaya.

In this newsletter, HVTO would like to say a special Thank You to Dave Grinsel and Kathy Grinsel who have donated one Water Pump for The big family of the Lerms’ in Sophy Village.

A large majority of people live in the rural areas in Cambodia. The villagers are suffering from bare necessities especially clean drinking water.

Poor drinking Water and sanitation are the main causes of high rates of infant morality. Having access to clean water and understanding of hygiene is crucial to helping these people to improve living conditions.

The installation of a Hand Water Pump (It costs $175 for one Water Pump) and providing of Water Filters (available from $3 to 45$) are vital in order to help to reduce diseases and sickness.

HVTO is appealing to get help from all charitable people who can help to provide a Clean Water Pump and a Water Filter to our needy Cambodian Communities.

HVTO is a coordinating partner to provide this Water Pump and filter to the real needy families in the rural areas.

Good News from my friends in Spain

I got an email from Carlos in Spain to say that his NGO (www.tomandoconciencia.org ) won the contest of the NGOs to get the money from Students in the school in Spain and he said that he would get around 3000€ and this money will be used to buy the Water Pumps in the villages. We are now studying to see how many water pumps we can do with this money! Probably we can build around 20 pumps. We will keep you up to date in the next email!

This is to remind that Mr. Carlos and his organization have helped a lot of people in Sophy. Last few years he and his NGO have built a school here and later financed successfully the operation of the boy Little Ang who had heart problem. The people in the whole communities are very grateful to him and his great conscience to support us!

We are sending you some pictures of the families in Sophy village who deserve these water pumps soon.

At the end I would like to wish you and your families most happiest prosperous new year and enjoy life and love!
Regarding to HVTO, if you have any questions and to offer your help please contact me at sim_pisith@yahoo.com and I am looking forward to hear from you!
With best and warmest wishes from Siem Reap Angkor Cambodia

Sim Piseth

HVTO Director
www.hvto.org
+85512710027

Year-end 2008 Newsletter

Welcome To Homestay Volunteer Teachers Organization! Newsletter for March, April and May 2009

Our Volunteer Teacher, Mr. Clint Peters from United States of America, was giving an English Class to our Students in the evening!

Valuable Friends and HVTO Supporter

2008 was a busy, project filled year for HVTO. Officially we are now in our 2nd Year of Operations and we will continue to do all we can to support our children in our communities!

Personally and for the HVTO, this past year has been marked by significant progress with your assistance and contributions. The HVTO has coordinated the delivery of 9 Water Pumps to very needy families and has been providing Free English Classes to over 200 children in Sophy and Sreth villages. I am very happy to see that we have all these children in the communities getting exposed to the English language. I would like to thank our volunteer teachers who have helped this project so much. Besides the informal English education, additionally, I have coordinated to have two children enrolled in the best school in Siem Reap and it has given us an idea to create scholarship programs in HVTO to support many other children who are looking to get sponsored like these two children. Please wait to read the next newsletter which focus on this program!

Looking at 2009, we are going to be even busier than 2008. So please continue to read the newsletter here to see what we have done in the last 3 months and you will see why I say so! I look forward to the year ahead, as you and we (HVTO) identify even greater opportunities to strengthen our bilateral ties, as well as to work together on mutual areas of interest. We value Cambodia’s commitment to further its social, economic and democratic development.

On the occasion of the Khmer New Year, on behalf of the HVTO, I wish you the happiest New Year ever with Peace, Happiness, Luck and Success. May all your dreams and wishes come true. May you succeed in all that you do?

A hearty and big Thank You! To all who volunteered, supported and donated to HVTO during 2008. HVTO looks to get your supports with upcoming project for 2009.

With kind and warm wishes from Cambodia!

Sim Piseth