Last year (2016) I ventured out to Cambodia to volunteer with the NGO Sustainable Cambodia (SC) (http://www.sustainablecambodia.org/); embarking on an epic 8 month journey learning about the country, the culture, the people and the education system.

As many of you know I kick started a reading programme called ‘Book Worms – time to read’, with the intention to provide an opportunity for the children to have dedicated time in their weekly schedule to learn how to read and speak in English. It also created a structure for the teachers who work to the mantra ‘working together – learning together’ and have taken the programme from strength to strength.

Our dedicated teachers across three schools supported by SC, recently sent me an update about how many classes run each week and how many students are taking part. In total (across all sites) there are over 25 reading sessions taking place each week for over 500 children! In this year’s school reports lots of students have noted that they really enjoy Book Worms reading club; it’s amazing just how much of an impact the classes have had on the children in such a short space of time.

In each class they read through books together; translating the stories from English to Khmer, supported with dictionaries; practising their English pronunciation and building their vocabulary. As the programme has evolved more books are being used and the students are really enjoying learning about different topics and tales from around the world…opening their minds and imaginations.

Following on from the last fundraiser, we managed to raise a whopping £900 and bought over 650 books that were taken to Cambodia earlier this year.

After a year of ‘Book Worms – time to read’ being established and with more students enrolling in our schools we are in need of more books and will be raising money to buy sets of beginner level reading literature that will be shared across the schools.

We would be more than grateful for donations and would love to raise as much money as we did last year!

I will be going back to Cambodia in the New Year to catch up with the SC family and students to see how they are getting on, and to work together on developing the reading programme even more. I hope to take the books with me bought with the money raised and I will keep you all updated during my trip! Please ping any questions or queries you may have to me via email cerrieb138@gmail.com, it would be great to hear from you.

As always thank you for taking the time to read this and for making a donation; it really does make a huge difference, I’ve seen it for myself!

With much love and respect

Cerrie xx