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Life and Hope Association
Siem Reap, Cambodia
Stories about this partner
Volunteering Trip to Cambodia: Read before Packing!
Life and Hope Association, by Asta Tamuleviciute
February 18, 2012
After completing my volunteering project in Cambodia, I decided to share my experience with others by writing a book. If you are planning to volunteer in this beautiful country and would like to know about its culture and people more, you can visit my personal website and access the book (incorporated into the blog) by following this link:Volunteering Trip to Cambodia: Read before Packing!
Things you should know before visiting orphanages in Cambodia
Life and Hope Association, by Asta Tamuleviciute
December 21, 2011
With the support of the UNICEF, Friends International has launched a campaign to end the so-called orphanage tourism in Cambodia. I am very happy that such initiative has been taken, because there are some orphanages in Cambodia that seem to be making profit out of poor kids, which is a very shocking reality and which definitely needs to stop as soon as possible.You can see kids distributing leaflets and asking tourists to visit their orphanage and see a performance. The orphanage collects many donations after each performance as well as from other sources, such as fundraising events at universities, but, despite that, children continue living in appalling conditions, no better than animals. It looks like this is being used as a strategy to trigger more pity from visitors and convince...
Food for Education Program - LHA
Life and Hope Association, by Laura Morley
November 17, 2011
When I first arrived at LHA, I accompanied a very sweet lady called Ami, who is an employee at LHA and works on the Food for Education Program. Ami aspires to be a Social Worker, however thinks she will continue training as an Accountant due to the better prospects is seems to hold, which seems such a shame as she is obviously devoted to her work.We set off at 8:30am on her little motorbike, the dark rain clouds loomed before us…we were travelling to Angkor Thom, a remote village beyond the tourist attractions of Angkor Wat and its neighbouring temples. We had a little chat on the way, she usually makes this journey every day to see the families who are recipients, or could be recipients of the Food...
Teaching English at LHA
Life and Hope Association, by Laura Morley
November 17, 2011
Here is my story which describes my teaching experience at Life and Hope.....Mr Veha, a charming man with slicked back hair (who loved being told he was good looking!), asked me one day “Laura, do you have some time in the afternoons to help me teach English to my students?”…. “Erm well sure I can try”.From that day I taught English every day to two classes of students aged between 18 years and 30 years old. The classes of students were made up of local young people who travelled as far as 1 hour to attend the class, mostly all travelled on their rickety bicycles come monsoon rain pour downs and hottest stickiest sunshine. The classrooms were in tiny concrete blocks comprised of small wooden benches crammed into the room...
After returning home
Life and Hope Association, by Asta Tamuleviciute
October 16, 2011
In September, I published a series of articles about my volunteering and Cambodia in a local newspaper of my home town in Lithuania and in October, I made two photo exhibitions and presentations – one at school and one at the center of various national cultures. I am writing one more article for a travel and entertainment magazine and then going to focus all my efforts on writing a book. I think both volunteering in Cambodia and sharing the experience with others have been equally enjoyable. It was also nice to see my postcards and calendars printed for the first time. Although I was considering selling them to the participants of the event, finally I ended up distributing them for free. That’s because everyone was so nice and perhaps because...
What has volunteering given to me and… others?
Life and Hope Association, by Asta Tamuleviciute
September 30, 2011 | 1 comment
After having spent almost one year in Cambodia, I can say that it was a great experience. There have been so many impressions! I have already published a series of articles in a local newspaper of my home town and in a week or so planning to have two photo exhibitions and presentations about Cambodia. The first pages of a book are also on the way.By volunteering at LHA, I expected to get more work experience, which would help for my future career. It did, however, turn out in a much unexpected way. Overall, it has been a very interesting learning experience. I have realized how much I like managing projects and people, working with volunteers, and solving problems. Eventually I got very interested in such aspects of NGO management...
Writing skills have been put in use
Life and Hope Association, by Asta Tamuleviciute
July 21, 2011
When I was graduating from school, everyone thought that I was going to become a journalist. I have won many writing competitions, some of my novels have been published in a book, and also I was the editor of the school newspaper.However, to everyone's surprise, instead of journalism I decided to study political science. I want to know the subject very well before writing about it. Also while there's no doubt that media can have a big influence in the world, instead of writing about problems and about making a difference, I want to be an active part of decision-making and positive change. When I started volunteering at LHA, I helped to prepare the newsletter and also started posting the news on the website. Such initiative has been very welcomed...
Working with the PAGE program
Life and Hope Association, by Asta Tamuleviciute
May 24, 2011
PAGE - Program Advancing Girls' Education - is one of the six LHA's programs. It is also the youngest one. It started in the early 2008 and helps girls from poor and disadvantaged families to continue their education within the high school and beyond. Currently there are 13 girls living at the PAGE boarding house. They are provided with free accommodation, food, school supplies and private tutoring. After finishing school, they can apply for a scholarship to study at university.I lived with the PAGE girls for the first three months. From the very beginning, I was very impressed to see how friendly, hard-working and independent they were. They always helped each other in daily chores, studied from early morning to evening, and never wasted their time with such things like...
Volunteering and helping others to do the same
Life and Hope Association, by Asta Tamuleviciute
May 03, 2011
One of my key responsibilities as a Program Officer is volunteer coordination. If you send an enquiry regarding volunteering at LHA, very likely it will end up in my inbox. Prior to my arrival, there was no person in charge of volunteers and the enquiries were mainly handled by the Executive Director, who is a very busy person.I always try to reply to enquiries as soon as I can and find a placement related to the volunteer’s education, work experience, skills and interests. It is good to know that volunteers do what they know and like best, while at the same time helping to address the organization’s needs and contributing to its development.We are very lucky, because most of our volunteers possess certain skills in one or another area. Apart...
March 2011: The new LHA website is already online
Life and Hope Association, by Asta Tamuleviciute
March 30, 2011
In the beginning of the project, it was agreed that one of my responsibilities as a Program Officer would be working on LHA website. My best friend was a web developer, so he was going to help me.The old version of the website had some major issues: because it was designed using Microsoft Front Page, the code was very messy; the space on the server was limited; and also it was difficult to access the website outside and within Cambodia. Finally we gave up and decided that the best way would be to create a new website from scratch and also provide LHA with a free server.One more web developer volunteered to help. Since he had his own IT company, he agreed to work on the design of the website...
What's common between HIV, landmines and psychosis, or other ways to die
Life and Hope Association, by Asta Tamuleviciute
March 23, 2011
Before going to Cambodia, I read that health system was quite poor there. Foreigners, who get sick, were advised to go to a private clinics and if their illness was getting worse, they ought to consider going back to their home country. It may sound quite dull, but is it really so bad? Decide yourself.One of the girls became ill with Meningitis. She had a very high fever, severe headache, vomiting, weakness and dizziness. The first two times that she was taken to hospital, she was diagnosed with the lack of glucose (sugar) in her blood. It was obvious that no one wanted to take her case serious. When asked, how they determined that without making any test, the doctors ...
March 2011: International Women's Day
Life and Hope Association, by Asta Tamuleviciute
March 08, 2011
In Cambodia, like in many other countries around the world 8 March is celebrated as International Women's Day. This year, it is the 100th anniversary of this festival.To mark this occasion, Women's Resource Center initiated a family fun day event. The event was held at Wat Damnak and was full of activities for the whole family. There were 14 information booths and product showcases run by local NGOs, workshops and games, as well as performances and shows by community organizations.Apart from being responsible for LHA information booth and product showcase, I had also to overlook the logistics for the whole event: arrange premises, media and sound system, tables and chairs, mats, etc. and make sure that the temple area after the event is left clean. I was one of the...
January 2011: English and NGO Capacity Building
Life and Hope Association, by Asta Tamuleviciute
February 17, 2011
I started a new year with the introduction of a new course on English and Organizational Capacity Building. The idea to create such a course stemmed from two main factors. First, there was a need to improve the language skills of the staff and second, there was a need to improve their knowledge and skills in some key areas, such as volunteer coordination and project management.The two key elements of the course are human resource development and organizational development. The course focuses on various aspects of organizational capacity building: improved governance, leadership, mission and strategy, administration, program development and implementation, fundraising and income generation, diversity, partnerships and collaboration, evaluation, advocacy and policy change, marketing, positioning, planning, etc. On individual level, it focuses on leadership development, advocacy skills, training/speaking abilities, technical...
February 2011: Trip to Phnom Penh – the capital of Cambodia
Life and Hope Association, by Asta Tamuleviciute
February 17, 2011
It was my fifth month of volunteering in Cambodia, and I still had not been to Phnom Penh – Cambodia’s capital. A bus trip from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh takes at least five hours and the return flight is quite expensive - $168.For three months EGBOK Mission (an American NGO) was giving a course on English and Hospitality Management at our PAGE program. As part of the course, they arranged a three-day trip to Phnom Penh. No need to use public transport, free of charge, program arranged, and ten funny girls on board!The girls had never been to Phnom Penh before, and it definitely made a big impression on them. It is much bigger and busier than Siem Reap, with many tall buildings. It was also the first time...
November 2010: New video clip about LHA
Life and Hope Association, by Asta Tamuleviciute
December 07, 2010
Currently there are 40 children living at the orphanage. Due to recent cuts in funding, external financial support is required in order to maintain the previous level of service and maintenance.In order to enhance the fundraising efforts, we made a short documentary about our orphanage – Children’s Development Village. I did the filming and photography, Christopher Bartlett, a volunteer from the U.S. did the talking, and Anne Macksoud, the co-owner of Old Dog Documentaries, helped with the editing.The video is available at http://vimeo.com/17056075.
December 2010: World AIDS Day
Life and Hope Association, by Asta Tamuleviciute
December 01, 2010
1 December is the World AIDS Day. The theme of this year is universal access and human rights.To mark this day, LHA volunteer gave a presentation about HIV and its prevention to 11 girls participating in PAGE program (Program Advancing Girls' Education) and showed a short video by AVERT, International HIV and AIDS Charity, about the importance of universal access to treatment.After that, the girls were shown an award-winning Cambodian film called "Facing the Truth". It is a powerful 30-minute film describing the importance of HIV tests for pregnant women. It won a high award in the Freddie Awards Celebration 2008. These awards are given in the USA for international health and media achievements.Since October, these girls had been writing...
Cinema at LHA foreign language school
Life and Hope Association, by Asta Tamuleviciute
October 24, 2010
The cinema will be shown each Friday at 18.00. It is expected that films will help to improve our students' English skills and enhance their knowledge about the world.
October 2010: World Food Day
Life and Hope Association, by Asta Tamuleviciute
October 19, 2010
On 16 October, together with Peace Café we organized an event for the World Food Day. This day marks the founding of Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in 1945 and helps to raise public awareness on global issues related to food and nutrition. The theme of World Food Day 2010 is "United against Hunger".The event was held in the temple of Wat Damnak. I made a presentation and shared some facts about World Food Day and hunger in the world. My presentation was followed by Ven. Thera's dharma talk about compassion and the world hunger. Ven. Somnieng, the executive director of LHA, Sum Samon, the head of Cambodian Red Cross in Siem Reap, and HE Kuy Song, a member...
My first days in Cambodia
Life and Hope Association, by Asta Tamuleviciute
October 11, 2010
This is my second week in Cambodia – a country that many people even do not know where it is. They think it is in Africa. Since I am already here, I can assure you that it is as far from Africa as it can be.In the very beginning, I was fearing that maybe by mistake we landed somewhere in India. No joke. I saw with my own eyes, how the airplane was passing above India. After spotting similar street vendors and tuk tuk, I started thinking to myself: “Oh, no, what have I done…”But that was only my first impression. Luckily, the streets of Siem Reap are comparatively clean and there are no such strong odours like, for example, in Delhi. People...