NPO 'builds hope' for kids in rural Cambodia

School is in: Teachers pose in front of their school with the leader of Beoung Kak village in Cambodia. The school was renovated by Amatak in August. COURTESY OF AMATAK

Friday, Dec. 18, 2009
By KAZUAKI NAGATA
Staff writer
The Japan Times
Second in a series

Based on the principle that "building schools is building hope," Amatak House of Cambodia is providing opportunities for children to get an education in the impoverished country.

Since 1995, the Tokyo-based nonprofit organization has built 15 schools in rural areas where infrastructure is poor and the need for schooling is high.

"Children, especially those at elementary school age, have the right to receive an education," said the Rev. Fumio Goto, an Amatak representative.

"However, their rights are sometimes not protected due to reasons like poverty."

Goto said the tendency is more visible in rural areas. If a school is built in such an area, parents might think about sending their kids there, Goto said.

Meanwhile, he said many children are too busy to go to school because they need to help their families at home. Thus, parents who need their children's help to make a living cannot be forced to send their kids to school, but the availability of one would give them a chance to study when there is time.

Amatak, which means "eternal" in Cambodian, received ¥170,979 from The Japan Times Readers' Fund in 2009.

The money was used to repair existing schools.

"We have built 15 schools, and those built in the early days got older and needed renovation, so we focused on renovating existing schools this year," said Goto, whose organization builds one school a year.

Next year, Amatak plans to build a new school, and Goto will visit Cambodia in January to check out the site and finalize his decision.

Goto said that building a school with three classrooms and a teachers' room costs about ¥3.2 million, with each room costing about ¥800,000. He said the per-room cost used to be about ¥500,000 but shot up after prices for construction materials began rising sharply a few years ago.

Aside from its school-building activities, Amatak has also helped pregnant women and people with HIV who cannot afford to go to the hospital to get proper medical care this year.

Donations to Amatak can be made by money transfer or check. Its account is: Mizuho Bank, Shinbashi branch, "futsu koza" #1393499 (Japan Times Dokusha no Nanmin Enjo Kikin). Checks should be made out to The Japan Times Readers' Charity Fund and sent to The Japan Times, 4-5-4, Shibaura, Minato-ku, Tokyo, 108-8071. For inquiries, call (03) 3453-5312.

Donations aiding Asian kids in need

An elementary school built by AMATAK House of Cambodia in the village of Damrei Krom holds a completion ceremony in 2000. PHOTO COURTESY OF AMATAK HOUSE OF CAMBODIA

Schoolchildren who have received help from PAG-ASA Group Japan smile for a photo here. EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCE FOUNDATION PHOTO

Saturday, Dec. 15, 2007
READERS' FUND

By KAZUAKI NAGATA
Staff writer
The Japan Times

The organizations AMATAK House of Cambodia and PAG-ASA Group Japan have dedicated themselves to providing education to children and youths in Asia.

AMATAK House of Cambodia is led by the Rev. Fumio Goto of Tokyo's Catholic Kichijoji Church and has been building schools in poor villages in Cambodia since 1995 to spread education across the nation.

It has created 13 schools so far and another one will open in January in Pingpong village in Battambang province.

AMATAK, which gained governmental recognition as a nonprofit organization in 2005, received ¥228,000 from The Japan Times Readers' Fund in June. The money has been used to build schools in Pingpong.

The group's activities are rooted in Goto's experience as a foster parent for 14 Cambodian refugees. He started school-building in 1995 after one of his foster kids, Meas Bunra, who returned to Cambodia a year before, received a request from a Buddhist monk to build elementary schools. Goto joined the project with his group Cambodian House, AMATAK's predecessor.

Goto said that while a busy city like Phnom Penh has undergone development because it is receiving much help and attention, the rural situation is still tragic. He said his organization builds schools in areas where the reach of helping hands is limited by poor infrastructure.

"Without education, there is no reconstruction of the nation," Goto said of his motive for building schools. "I think education is the beginning of everything."

In the Philippines, meanwhile, PAG-ASA Group Japan has been raising funds to help educate street children and youths in poor areas since its foundation in 1989.

The group received ¥228,000 from The Japan Times Readers' Fund in June and sent it to the Manila-based Educational Research and Development Assistance Foundation, which supports underprivileged kids in the Philippines, many of whom are dropouts. The money has been used to support 65 impoverished elementary school children in Muntinlupa, south of Manila.

According to the group, it costs about ¥3,500 to ¥4,000 a year to support a student's education. This money goes to preparing school uniforms, bags and writing materials.

Masako Sumiya, a representative of the group, said the situation with public education in the Philippines is being made difficult by population growth, which is straining its supply of educational materials, schools and teachers.

"There are not enough textbooks for every student," said Sumiya, who added that books usually have to be shared by several students in many public schools.

Sumiya lived in Manila between 1985 and 1988 while her husband was posted at the Japanese Embassy there. Seeing the plight of underprivileged children made her want to do something to help.

"Children would come up to me on the street offering to sell something, and I was thinking what would happen to them in the future," she said.

According to the PAG-ASA Web site, it has helped 21,752 young people get educations ranging from elementary school to college so far.