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Cambodian Community Dream Organization, Inc.
Dream Journal – July 2021 
Happy 1st Birthday to Mara & Sinoun
CCDO Vice President, Ksenija Olmer wanted to celebrate the birth of her first granddaughter Mara by supporting a newborn girl in Cambodia. She felt that Mara, in California, would have lots of toys and educational opportunities to grow and thrive and she wanted to provide for a little girl in Cambodia. Our team on the ground who work in the villages daily, found baby Sinoun, also born in July and the two became “twinned”.

CCDO staff has periodically delivered food and clothes to the family, donated by baby Mara’s family. The girls have their first birthday in July and Sinoun was given a gift of clothes and her first doll. The photos are precious. 
If you have a grandchild, godchild or a little one in your life that you would like to twin with a Cambodian, please contact CCDO and we can make this happen.

You can help change the life of an underprivileged child in Cambodia.
Education in Time of Covid
Our education team has shown much resourcefulness and initiative once it became clear that the school year in and out of lockdowns will be a challenge. They created both videos and workbooks for students to carry on learning even though the schools are closed.

We have printed English workbooks for 4th/5th/6th grade. The first printing was generously sponsored by S E Asia Foundation and The Platinum Ltd, a marketing company in Macau.

It costs $1 per workbook and we need to print 3,000 more. Please donate and help our students put pen to paper.

Breakfast to Go with a Helping of Books
Due to local Covid breakouts in the villages, the schools are closed yet again. However, we are keeping our commitment to feed the children a nutritious meal a day. They come to their respective schools in the morning with their own containers to take food home.

Our slogan is: Get your breakfast and borrow a book. The books are being read and returned a week later.
Rebuilding Preschools Continued
Our initiative for rebuilding preschools is continuing to attract supporters. Deborah Quigley & Maurice Kondo of Hawaii have donated preschool number eight. 

While waiting for local authorities to issue permits and while we finalize material selection, our team is busy refurbishing the preschools that are not in need of full rebuild. They are putting on new zinc roofs, replacing rotten wood and painting the schools inside and out.
Student Exchange
Our Scholarship Students travel the world via Zoom. Seeing that it is difficult for young Cambodians to travel (even when not in the time of Covid), we have been bringing the world to them. A former volunteer, Jelle Bosman, contacted students at his Dutch university. The positive response with 30 Dutch students and 15 Cambodians, resulted in 3 lively simultaneous zoom calls so that they could explore each others’ cultures. A modern form of the “pen-pal” has resulted not only in the calls, but also followed up with emails.

Here is a short report from our Scholarship Coordinator Mr. Sothea:
“There are 15 students on my side and 30 students on Jelle's side. There are 2 rounds of conversation divided into 3 groups and each round lasts for 20mns. At the beginning of each round the lead students do the orientation about The CCDO work and then each of the students from both sides start introducing themselves to each other with 3 main points as Jelle proposed:

1. the past. What was your early childhood like, what was school like, with whom did you grow up with, hobbies etc.

2. the present. What does your life look like now? Friends, family, hobbies, job, school etc. Also a bit about the Covid-19 situation and lastly …

3. the future. What are your hopes and dreams? Studying, what kind of job, would you like to travel to see other countries, what does the future hold for you in your country?

And after each of them finish, they start a random question and answer about their favorite places, favorite food and introducing Khmer musical instruments and Khmer sports to the Dutch students.”
“At first, the conversation was a bit messy but a few minutes later everyone got the point and started a smooth conversation. It is really good for our scholarship students to talk and share with foreign students to improve their English listening and speaking skills as well as building the confidence to speak English. In addition, they also can share and learn from other cultures. Our scholarship students are really happy and they don't want to stop talking. Thank you to Jelle's students for sharing your lives.”
Remember
Ordinary people can do extraordinary things
to change lives, one child at a time.