We have had a roller coaster ride with the Cambodian school system since the Lord established Bykota House. Really…it has been something!
When we started BH in 2005 most of the children that we blessed with were from an orphanage out in the province. Only the first five grades were available at their little provincial school. Some had finished that school already and so were home all day in the orphanage and some were about to finish that school.
If we hadn’t brought them into town, that would have been the end of all their education. Period.
We first lived in a far north section of town called Tuol Kork. Immediately upon getting the children, we enrolled them in school. The youngest child was Bee and he was enrolled in a Christian YWAM preschool along with Mary and Christopher. It wasn’t easy getting the schools to cooperate with enrolling the children but they finally did. We had kids from two different orphanages and no one wanted to cooperate without money and records and the schools in the provinces refused to release the records without money. It was a mess.
But education is very important to both Mark and I. Thankfully, our MOU is worded in such a way that we aren’t required to educate the children in Khmer. We are just required to provide an education. It can be English, Korean, Chinese, or Martian for that matter…
Our experience with that local school wasn’t great, but little did we know, it wasn’t as bad as it would soon get.
We then moved to a new house. Our oldest BH girl was enrolled in a high school and the others were all enrolled in the elementary school.
At both the Tuol Kork home and at our new home, we provided Khmer tutoring through a paid staff member. Also, we held English classes on our own, with volunteers, and with our own teenagers.
Sopheak, Kuntea, VunThy…now Pisey…oh, I can’t even remember them all…Bong Marc, Leap…all the people we have hired to help with Khmer schooling.
Then one day the children went to school and came home with Volet being beaten because he told them he was a Christian. Now in retrospect, I wish we had taken a picture to show what had happened.
At that time, the Lord very clearly told us that we were to take the children out of school for a time of preparation. It was a time for them to be taken out of this “world” so to speak for a time of immersion or at least as close as we could get it…not only for English education but also for a time of refuge while they became more grounded in who He is and their Christian walk.
We established School of the Nations, our private Christian school, for the children of Bykota House the very next month.
However, we feel that the Lord has directed us to enroll the children again in the Cambodian school system. Our reason for doing this is simply obedience. However, also we feel that 1. things have changed and we don’t expect the abuse to be repeated again due to religious differences and 2. Our staff has several years of training with us and we feel they know this system and can work with it from a Christian foundation. Also, of course, 3. the children will hopefully get their high school certificate one day but that is not our top priority.
The education here is supposed to be free. Why then is only 37% of the Cambodian population functionally literate??? Why???? BECAUSE THEY CAN’T AFFORD TO GO TO SCHOOL! That’s why.
The teachers charge $$. Is there a homework assignment sheet? That will cost the student 500 to 1,000 riel. If you want a seat in the class…that will cost you 1,000 to 2,000.
That is it pure and simple. The teachers are only paid $30-40 a month and that isn’t enough to live on. So they turn to the students (or the families of their students anyway) and charge additional fees.
For their math assignment yesterday, the older boys of Bykota House sat down with Micah and worked through a real life math problem. The assignment was to figure how just how much is this “free” education costing Bykota House.
Here was their assignment:
Bykota House has ten younger children going to Khmer school six days a week.
Gina, Thomas, Beau, DaLin, Bee, David, Heng, Rattanak, Timothy, and Gene all need 500 riel every day for “snack time.”
The teachers of 8 children require 10,000 riel every month for their attendance. Two teachers was 15,000 riel.
We also have 8 children who do Khmer preschool with Hosanna five days a week. Hosanna is paid 4,000 riel every day.
Rattana, Chantee, Volet, and Savorne are all going to the high school six days a week. They need 5,000 every day for their teachers and their “break time.”
They each have sport class one day a week and each of them need 2,000 riel for the teacher.
The special math tutoring class for Volet, Rattana, and Chantee is 2,000 per day for three students. They go to the special class six days a week.
Figure the total cost of Khmer education for Bykota House each month in riel.
Answer:
Then typical market trade for riel to US dollars is 4,000 riel for each dollar.
How much does the total cost of Khmer education cost Bykota House each month in US dollars?
Answer:
Now, my husband suggested that I have everyone do the math and then post the answer next week. But who knows what will be going on next week…and who wants to come to my blog and end up doing a math problem???
If you did brave the math, the answers in riel is 870,000 which converts to US $217.50.
Yes, that is quite a number with our Bykota House budget. It was money that wasn’t being spent in September but now is committed each and every month. So plain and simple…this is a NEW expense!
We can’t send the kids to school and then not give them what they need to “play by the rules” in this game.
So now we have spent several hundred dollars buying school uniforms, backpacks, school supplies, enrollment fees, etc etc…Thankfully, we had that amount when we needed it. Praise the Lord!
We are so thankful for each and every one of our partners and team members. We feel like our organization is really blessed by folks who truly care and respond not out of our needs or the needs of Bykota House but instead, they respond out of obedience to the Father because He has imparted the vision for this work deep within their hearts. Our partners are just as committed as Mark and I are and all give sacrificially to make sure our needs our met. We are so blessed!
Well, even though it is Saturday, I better get moving! Why???? Well, I forgot to make that really clear…Cambodian schools go SIX days a week…so that means Saturday is not a day off for us to play and rest any longer. It is a school day!
Breathing in, breathing out,
Rhonda
Breathing in, Breathing out 