By SARA ROSS
THE PACKET AND TIMES (Orillia, Ontario, Canada)
The average income in Cambodia is just $1 a day, making education essential to escaping poverty.
A strong desire to change the lives of poverty-stricken children led Orillia's Kristiana Edmar to Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
"Here, we take education so for granted and there, they are hungering for it," she said. "Here, the government will help you, or there are so many other options, but their education is all they have."
The 20-year-old spent eight months in Cambodia teaching at the North Country Baptist Children's Home, which was opened by local pastor Len Crow in 2007.
She returned home several days ago.
The orphanage is home to 24 children aged three to 14.
Edmar taught English to six children during her time there.
Each child in the home has escaped a sad background to get to the orphanage. Two girls were saved from the sex trade, several were living on large garage heaps hoping for scraps of food or sellable treasures, while some were abandoned by parents who just couldn't afford them. Others are true orphans.
"It's heartbreaking for the parents to give them up and see they had to give them up for them to have an education, for them to have a future," Edmar said.
"A lot of people want to learn, but there's just no opportunity for them to learn."
Each Sunday, some parents who are still alive arrive at the church to check in with their child.
"Every Sunday school we give (the children) a little bag of crackers and they would save it for their parents," Edmar said. "You would see them giving it to their moms and dads ...they knew they had lunch coming; the parents may not."
When two of the boys housed at the orphanage became of age to work, the parents took them back, Edmar said.
"Now, they each earn 50 cents a day," she said. "So for a dollar a day extra for the family they don't have proper food, they don't have an education."
The goal of the North Country Baptist Children's Home is that children gain enough education to obtain real careers in their community, Edmar said.
"What we really want them to do is work in their community so if they have a doctor's degree we want them to work in a hospital there to benefit and educate the rest," she said.
Crow, who leads the North Country Baptist Church in Orillia, said Edmar had a strong impact in Cambodia.
"She has done a tremendous job. My wife went there to pick her up and for the first time, my wife could converse with the children in English," Crow said. "This is revolutionary for us because it has always been a barrier; we always had an interpreter, so it's a real blessing."
Edmar plans on attending university and then going back to the orphanage to teach again. She hopes to one day end up as a teacher in Cambodia or Vietnam.
"It's changed my life not only in head knowledge, but in my heart and my outlook on life," Edmar said.
"It was a real eye-opener of how blessed we are in Canada."
A strong desire to change the lives of poverty-stricken children led Orillia's Kristiana Edmar to Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
"Here, we take education so for granted and there, they are hungering for it," she said. "Here, the government will help you, or there are so many other options, but their education is all they have."
The 20-year-old spent eight months in Cambodia teaching at the North Country Baptist Children's Home, which was opened by local pastor Len Crow in 2007.
She returned home several days ago.
The orphanage is home to 24 children aged three to 14.
Edmar taught English to six children during her time there.
Each child in the home has escaped a sad background to get to the orphanage. Two girls were saved from the sex trade, several were living on large garage heaps hoping for scraps of food or sellable treasures, while some were abandoned by parents who just couldn't afford them. Others are true orphans.
"It's heartbreaking for the parents to give them up and see they had to give them up for them to have an education, for them to have a future," Edmar said.
"A lot of people want to learn, but there's just no opportunity for them to learn."
Each Sunday, some parents who are still alive arrive at the church to check in with their child.
"Every Sunday school we give (the children) a little bag of crackers and they would save it for their parents," Edmar said. "You would see them giving it to their moms and dads ...they knew they had lunch coming; the parents may not."
When two of the boys housed at the orphanage became of age to work, the parents took them back, Edmar said.
"Now, they each earn 50 cents a day," she said. "So for a dollar a day extra for the family they don't have proper food, they don't have an education."
The goal of the North Country Baptist Children's Home is that children gain enough education to obtain real careers in their community, Edmar said.
"What we really want them to do is work in their community so if they have a doctor's degree we want them to work in a hospital there to benefit and educate the rest," she said.
Crow, who leads the North Country Baptist Church in Orillia, said Edmar had a strong impact in Cambodia.
"She has done a tremendous job. My wife went there to pick her up and for the first time, my wife could converse with the children in English," Crow said. "This is revolutionary for us because it has always been a barrier; we always had an interpreter, so it's a real blessing."
Edmar plans on attending university and then going back to the orphanage to teach again. She hopes to one day end up as a teacher in Cambodia or Vietnam.
"It's changed my life not only in head knowledge, but in my heart and my outlook on life," Edmar said.
"It was a real eye-opener of how blessed we are in Canada."
2 comments:
How is a 20-year old with no college considered qualified to teach children? Teaching is a PROFESSION and requires considerable training in psychology and pedagogy. This background is even more important with early education and especially with children that may have PTSD or other trauma. Someone should investigate these churches to see that they are not doing more harm than good with their "education" programs.
Dear anonymous,
I have been a "professional" educator for over 16 years.
What you fail to understand is that education is life not a means to life and teaching is a gift not a profession. Any one can instruct or impart info. but only true educators can teach life. This is a refreshing account of what a real educator is. She gave herself and her God given abilities to these children asking nothing in return. These chidren needed far more than your profession could ever give them. Thank God for selfless saints such as this dear young lady. Sincerely,
Wm. E. Maunsell
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