Cambodia
Cambodia is a country in Southeast Asia that is home to Angkor Wat, the largest religious structure ever built. One of the nation’s biggest festivals is Cambodian New Year, celebrated in mid-April.
Stories in Cambodia
Now 25, Tort still has the first letter she received from her sponsor when she was just 10 years old — she keeps it safe with a special plastic cover. Because of that support, and her own determination, she became the first person in her family to graduate from high school.
Today, Tort works as a primary school teacher during the day. In the evening, she is studying at the local university to become an English teacher. She sees her work as a way to repay the kindness she has benefitted from in her own life.
“English is an important subject, it is the second language in this country,” she explains. “With my lessons, I want to give something back to my village as a thank you, because I myself received so much support through Plan International.”
Many parents in Tein’s village have had to make the same difficult choice. Cambodia’s climate is changing, making the dry season longer and hotter. The rice paddies don’t yield two harvests a year like they used to, and some fields have dried up completely.
But despite the challenges of living on her own, Tein is one of the best students in her class.
“My family’s situation encourages me to study,” she says. “I want to help my parents come back home and get by. I also want to help my community. That’s why I’m going to study to become a teacher.”
Then, something changed.
“Now, I don’t need to walk to the spring to fetch water anymore, because Plan International has constructed a pump well near my home,” Sav Rin says.
Plan has also constructed latrines at her school and has provided the school with a water purifier and towels. In addition, Plan helped to educate students about using latrines, proper hand-washing and drinking of purified or treated water.
These investments in health and hygiene are especially important for girls and women, who often spend hours every day getting water for their families. With easy access to clean water, girls can spend more time focusing on what matters: growing up healthy and safe.
Plan International has been working to improve children’s lives in Cambodia since 2002.
Meet Sothy, a Plan International sponsored child from Cambodia. <br /> <br /> We gave him a camera to show us a day in his life.<br /> <br /> Hello, my name is Sothy. I am 12 years old.<br /> <br /> I live in Cambodia.<br /> <br /> I have been a sponsored child for eight years.<br /> <br /> This is my family.<br /> <br /> This is the water pump I use every day.<br /> <br /> This is our chicken cage. We have 10 chickens.<br /> <br /> These are our flowers. I water them every day.<br /> <br /> This is our rice field. My father is pulling grass behind me.<br /> <br /> This is where my brother and I sleep.<br /> <br /> After I get up in the morning, I brush my teeth.<br /> <br /> After brushing my teeth, I wash my face.<br /> <br /> After that, I get dressed and go to school.<br /> <br /> This is my school.<br /> <br /> I like to study.<br /> <br /> I like mathematics.<br /> <br /> This is my school kitchen.<br /> <br /> The food at school is good.<br /> <br /> It helps me stay energized all day.<br /> <br /> Going to school is very important.<br /> <br /> When children in my community finish primary school, most of them do not continue to secondary school, because it is too far away.<br /> <br /> I want to have a secondary school near my village to make it easier to get to school.<br /> <br /> In my community, some families have latrines and some don’t.<br /> <br /> Those families have to relieve themselves out in the open.<br /> <br /> When they do that, it affects children’s health and diseases are spread.<br /> <br /> Since I’ve been a sponsored child with Plan International, I’ve seen them help my community by building latrines and a community preschool. <br /> <br /> These are the members of the Children’s Club in my community.<br /> <br /> They talk about children’s rights and children’s issues.<br /> <br /> Afterward, they take these issues to the village council for discussion.<br /> <br /> Children’s club is facilitated by Plan International.<br /> <br /> There are four kinds of children’s rights: right to live, right to protection, right to participation and right to development.<br /> <br /> Southy writes a letter to his sponsor.<br /> <br /> When I grow up, I want to be an engineer, because engineers are good at drawing. <br /> <br /> When I have free time, I like playing soccer with friends.<br /> <br /> I am very happy to be a Plan International sponsored child!<br /> <br /> Bye!
Plan stats in Cambodia
Office & operations
Plan Cambodia’s country office is located in Phnom Penh, with program units in Ratanakiri, Siem Reap, Stung Treng and Tboung Khmum.
Technical areas
Protection, health, education, skills and work
Number of sponsored children
As of June 30, 2020, people like you sponsor 25,936 children in Cambodia through Plan International.
When you sponsor a child through through Plan, you form an incredible friendship.
But that’s just the beginning. With Plan, you also have the unique opportunity to:
Send her birthday gifts and cards.
Give her special holiday presents called Little Treasures.
Subscribe her to Plan’s educational kids’ magazine, Sunny Days.
— Visit her (when travel restrictions are lifted), with individual travel assistance from us.
Each gift offering is safely hand-delivered by us, and given to your child with personalized cards from you. It’s likely that the child you sponsor will have never seen anything like these gifts, and they’re available year-round to make the bond between you and your sponsored child even stronger.
Meet a child to sponsor