October 2022: Greetings from Siem Reap
GREETINGS FROM SIEM REAP
The rains finally started to taper off a bit near the end of October. It seems a bit odd not to hear the water beating on our roof every day, but the sun is so cheerful. As are we!
And with the rain leaving, and the sun arriving our wonderful interns also came back. We missed them during Covid. They bring new ideas, incredible skills, and commitment to our work. They remind us that there are many people who care about our community here, even though they live far away. We love them.
Right now, Meg is here. She planned to come for one month, but after her first week decided to stay at least two months longer! She’s our social media intern who, like everyone at Heartprint, is doing much more than what her title implies.
Yes, she’s taking control of our social media, bringing a fresh voice to our pages. She also has marketing experience and is helping us on that front, as well. And she's involved in our Community Centre programs, in community activities and will soon be launching our Christmas Giving campaign! Stay tuned for that!
Tylah arrived on Halloween and plans to be here for a month. (Maybe we can convince her to stay longer, too!) She’s a singer and has a university degree in music. She’s teaching music therapy in our Community Centre. What does that mean? Maybe an example will help explain it more than a textbook definition:
We have a young boy who comes to our Community Centre. He is very shy. He’s introverted; we never see him expressing emotions of any kind. We worry about him. Today, Tylah’s class listened to a soundtrack over and over and over again. The music was soft, a bit melancholy. She asked the kids to draw what the music made them feel. When we saw our young guy’s drawing of a very sad face with tears, we understood music therapy. What a breakthrough. The second day she was here, Tylah was able to help him express his feelings in a way he had not been able to do verbally. We will keep working to help him find his way forward. It’s why we’re here. All of this.
One of our Board members is coming to help us for a whole year! We are thrilled. We’d love to have you join us, as well. Here’s the link to learn more.
The course teaching PowerPoint presentation skills wrapped up in October, with each student required to develop their own PowerPoint about either Siem Reap or Cambodia. The seven-week course helped them sharpen their understanding and skills - and the finale - when they had to present their projects to a live audience - helped them become more comfortable with public speaking and boostde their self-confidence. They were amazing.
We also had a session on SMART goals. It’s actually a good refresher session for all of us to ensure that the goals we set forth, whether in school, professionally, or in our personal lives, are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. Our participants put together individual Vision Boards depicting their dreams - goals - for the future. We believe when you put those dreams out there in a physical way, they are much more likely to become reality.
For Family Meetings Week in October, we tried something new. Instead of our staff communicating with the families, we relied on our young community members to let their families know about the meeting. We had no idea if this communication strategy was altogether wise, but…we had 100 percent participation. Happy Dance! We love family meetings. They make our community so much stronger through regular face-to-face connections.
We can’t talk about October without a mention of Halloween. Our Community Centre was a right mess for a couple of days, with everyone mixing up flour and water to soak strips of paper to make papier mache masks. Some were messier and scarier than others! And on the actual day, a friend brought appropriately decorated cupcakes and cookies to celebrate as we all admired the finished masks.
Our Heart of Gold Club really keeps us going from month to month. And this month, Club members enabled us to build a new toilet for one of our families - a single mom with two daughters. We helped them during Covid with food support, improved their home conditions with renovations, and donated a bike to one of the daughters. Now, their old toilet was in very bad condition and had holes in the walls, which is a horrible situation for almost-teenage girls. Not only is their new toilet much more sanitary, but it also provides privacy and dignity, two things we endeavor every day to bring to families in our community.
Right now, we have 89 members in our Heart of Gold Club. They contribute at least US$15 per month. We’d be so grateful to get to 100 members. Can you help us?
There are also some other ways you can help us. Of course, it’s November which means Christmas is just around the corner. You know how much excitement and joy you create every year through your contributions.
And, this is a really easy one. Vote for us over at My Giving Circle, it costs nothing but can give us a nice fat finance boost.
Thank you. Have a good November!
