The co-founder of CYC is Sota Sem McCann, from Cambodia, she decided she would like to give something back to her community of Kampong Speu in 2010. With the help and support of a small group of people in Northern Ireland, we have raised well in excess of £50k over the last 10 years to enable us to build and sustain a Learning Centre which currently hosts c130 students daily; and provide high school scholarships to ensure kids can remain in education. We have gone on to provide university scholarships and have shining examples of the scholarship programme being a success in our Project Officer and two Project Assistants. All of this made possible largely by fundraising efforts and a Giving Circle in Northern Ireland. We have also had some amazing volunteers to the Learning Centre, giving their time and invaluable knowledge to the kids. We have built an additional outdoor classroom, a toilet and shower block, provided bikes to help make it possible for kids to attend the Learning Centre, provided emergency financial support when a family found themselves homeless and with no belongings, facilitated the visit to the UK of our Project Assistant and Officer to help improve their English predominantly, but also to be the face of CYC at schools and other group talks.

During the Covid 19 pandemic CYC has achieved the status of a preparation centre for Cambridge English. We aim to support c50 students through to taking their first Cambridge English exam in the next 12 months at a cost of c$65 per exam. We are keen to continue this support so that each child can continue to improve their proficiency and receive this very tangible and highly regarded qualification to assist them in the future at university and the workplace.