Sunshine Centre for Children Cambodia

Project Report 3rd Quarter 2011

2011-11-16T20:21:00.000-08:00

So many great things continue to happen at Sunshine. Congratulations to Channy and his team and all the hard work they do! Click here for the latest.

If you have teaching and/or ESL qualifications and would like to volunteer at the Sunshine Centre for 3 months or more, please contact me or Channy at director@sunshinecentrecambodia.org

Project Report 2nd Quarter 2011

2011-07-31T19:06:00.000-07:00

So much continues to happen at the Sunshine Centre! If you'd like to read more about the many separate programs for the children and their families, as well as see a whole lot more photos, then click here. Thanks for your ongoing interest and support!

2010 Annual Report

2011-02-26T01:46:00.000-08:00

So many great things happened at the Sunshine Centre last year - read quotes and stories from SC kids and families and see lots of great photos here!

December 2010 Newsletter

2011-02-18T19:41:00.000-08:00

Sorry it's a tad late to be uploaded...better late than never!

Revlon comes to the SC

2010-11-07T19:22:00.000-08:00

Last week, everyone was super excited to have a team from Revlon visit with gifts - no, not makeup! but soap, shampoo, stationery, toothpaste and noodles! About a dozen "freshie girls" (girls who win competitions to be Revlon models) graced our humble premises along with a camera crew.

Our 10th Birthday!

2010-11-07T18:53:00.000-08:00

We finally celebrated our 10th birthday before the year ended! The staff prepared a packed program which included a brief history plus dvd of the last 10 years, pictures of past directors, singing, dancing, passing candles, blindfolded face painting, performances by the recorder students and lots of Khmer dancing. Plus cake! To ensure there would be enough for 150 mouths, I made a couple of very big banana cakes with lime icing which the kids enjoyed very much! We thanked God for his provision for us in every way, and we also honoured staff who had worked over 5 years at the SC, one even for 10 years!

September 2010 Newsletter

2010-11-07T18:43:00.000-08:00

The latest, although a bit late to be uploaded!

Christmas Cards!

2010-09-28T06:09:00.000-07:00

HOT OFF THE PRESS!

This year we have beautiful Christmas cards for sale in packets of 10. Each packet contains 2 designs produced by SC students with the inspirational assistance of Rachel Saunders, a teacher at Hope International School.

Printing costs have been generously covered so 100% of proceeds go directly to the SC. Each packet is $10, the cost of breakfast for 50 children for one day. Order as many as you can!

Please contact Jill at: newsletter@sunshinecentrecambodia.org

May 2010 Newsletter

2010-06-03T00:08:00.000-07:00

http://www.sunshinecentrecambodia.org/files/SC_News_May10.pdf

Happy Khmer New Year

2010-04-11T21:17:00.000-07:00

Well, it's Khmer New Year, the SC is closed for a week and I don't have a crushing load of "things to do" for once! It takes a bit of getting used to, after having such a hectic 2009. The transition of leadership to Channy is going quite well and...I have spare time! So I thought I'd start putting fresh things on the blogspot and see who's reading it!

The most exciting thing recently is that our soccer team won the trophy for their division last week! The boys were so very excited after mostly being on the losing end for the first couple of years! The difference came with a second coach, a young girl who really commands their respect and I think her presence has encouraged about dozen of our girls to form a team as well. This is quite a step as parents were initially not willing for their daughters to play, regarding the sport as "un-ladylike"! The trophy will go on display at the SC, along with medals earned at a tournament last month.

Khmer New Year is officially 3 days long, but in reality, public schools are closed for 2 weeks. So we've had lots of games and activities at the SC, including traditional games such as smashing a clay pot, pinyata-style, with a long stick, and talcum powder, lollies and clay shrapnel flying everywhere! Miraculously there were no injuries!

February 2010 Newsletter

2010-03-02T18:44:00.000-08:00

http://www.sunshinecentrecambodia.org/files/SC_News_Feb10.pdf

2009 Annual Report

2010-02-04T07:25:00.000-08:00

Click Here to read about all the amazing things which happened last year!

November 2009 Newsletter

2009-11-17T07:03:00.000-08:00

click here for the latest update - lots happening as usual!

July 2009 Newsletter

2009-08-02T07:25:00.000-07:00

click here for the latest!

April 2009 Newsletter

2009-04-30T05:33:00.000-07:00

Click here for new photos and the latest on our expanding programme!

January 2009 Newsletter

2009-02-07T21:01:00.000-08:00

For the first time, you can now access our newsletters online! Click on January 2009 newsletter and catch up with the last 6 months of 2008!

Summer Program

2008-09-07T21:13:00.000-07:00

Since I've been back in Sydney, things have continued to progress along very well at the Centre, thanks to Esther's brave directorship! The kids did special projects during their summer vacation including painting a mural and recording songs written by one of the staff. See photos. Also, we had our first batch of Grade 6 graduates! They had a celebration party and now 8 of them hope to continue onto to secondary school. One of the girls will do vocational training, perhaps beautician's school. Please contact me if you would like to help sponsor this group of graduates.

Another exciting development is that 6 of our oldest boys will undergo training to become soccer coaches with ISF, the ngo which arranges coaching and matches for underprivileged kids. If they are successful, they can earn good pocket money by coaching their own teams.

The Final Countdown!

2008-06-24T07:29:00.000-07:00

This is my final week at the SC! I praise God that so many things are coming together and I feel at peace to be leaving at this time. Esther and the local management team have taken over the general day-to-day operations. The SC board has recently approved some important policies and things such as the internal regulations and sponsorship programme are progressing well. My dream that things might be able to slip in “maintenance mode” while I am gone may remain a dream; life is never mundane at the SC and things are constantly cropping up. Even yesterday we received a job application from a promising applicant, but work needs to be done to develop a full-time position for him. Grade Sixers had a major exam today and later next month will have a graduation party. Most of them are keen to continue with secondary education, only one or two will have to consider what kind of vocational training they might do. A visiting team from the US came to do a short programme with the kids this afternoon. And hopefully the 2007/08 audit will get done this Friday!

Remember Thary who is learning what it means follow Jesus. Thary’s household includes a brother-in-law whom she hates! (for good reason it seems) so is being challenged on how to respond in a Christ ian way.She copes by ignoring him but knows that an act of kindness can change hard hearts – she has seen this happen when her family helped out neighbours they were feuding with.

Another area of minor concern is our relationships with neighbours. Our second site across the road, contains the office where we used to hold staff devotions, however, neighbours complained about our singing (I think using the table tops as drums was the problem, rather than the singing!) so we’ve moved back to the main centre just for the devotions.

As I wind-up this week, it’s a great blessing to know that the Lord’s work will continue in good hands. When in Sydney, we'll be busy visiting supporters, talking about our lives here, in particular our ministries at the bible school and the SC. We look forward to catching up with some of you then! (we arrive in Sydney on 8th July and will return 17th January 09)

BTW, my email for sunshine matters will change to director@sunshinecentrecambodia.org

Water Park outing

2008-06-11T20:16:00.000-07:00

On Friday, 30th May, the Sunshine kids had their annual outing, and like last year, we took them to a water park on the outskirts of Phnom Penh. Anticipation was high because they remembered what great fun they had had last year. We loaded them onto two large open trucks, a very common way to transport groups of people here, and made the short journey to the countryside. About 80 children had a fabulous time and many of them asked me to go down on the slides with them or play "crocodile". I even taught a couple of teachers how to float on their backs! Another bonus was that the water was quite clean and there weren't any other groups so we had the place to ourselves! Praise God that we had a safe and fun time.

June is my last month here before heading back to Sydney for 6 1/2 mths furlough, so there are many things to tie up and/or handover. The individual meetings with staff were very beneficial and I started doing a discipleship course with the preschool teacher who really wants to learn what it means to be a Christian. Another staff member came along to my house last week, so she will continue the lessons - praise God for that too!

My children, Jasmine and Samuel, are now on summer vacation, so it's going to be tricky having them at home (or taking them to places) when I still have a full workload!

2008-05-20T07:03:00.000-07:00

Welcome! Thanks for popping in! I've hardly read any blogs, let alone create one, so it's all a bit new for me.

Life at the SC powers on after being closed all last week. This was because there was a public holiday for the King's birthday (the current king, we also get to celebrate the birthday of his father, Sihanouk, later in the year) which covered Tuesday - Thursday. So I suggested that the staff take Mon & Fri off as well, and they were happy to use their annual leave like that. The idea of having a few weeks of annual leave is still new to them and last year none of them used all their leave!

As we normally provide breakfast and lunch, I always feel a bit guilty when we close, yet the parents do need to take a bit of responsibility every now and then! Most of the kids did get to eat at home, but a significant handful said they didn't get lunch (parents were out working) or were always hungry. Many kids were also sad that there was no safe place to play for a whole week, but no one missed their school lessons!

Last week was still a busy one for me, with meetings and admin, and this week is much of the same. I also had my performance reviewed by the board and a specific time to reflect on what had happened and how I've been coping with it. These sessions have been really helpful for me, especially if I feel I haven't done things well or that everything is getting on top of me! My friend, Margaret, always helps me see things more positively!

From tomorrow I'll be having personal interviews with the staff, pray this will be an opportunity to build them up.

That's it for now. Is anyone going to read this? let me know if you do!

Bonnie