COLT - Helping Children

Cambodia is a beautiful Asian country with a rich culture. Thirty years a go a war broke out which resulted in the death of millions of innocent Cambodian people. The much spoken about ‘Killing Fields’ is one of the most haunting memorial sites in the world.

For several years there was no possibility of earning money from trade, industry or tourism. Nowadays, many people in Cambodia earn less than a dollar a day.

Seventy percent of the Cambodian population are younger than twenty-five. Many of the Cambodian children have lost their parents to AIDS and due to poverty levels. Many parents cannot afford to take care of their own children, which means many children are left uncared for.

At the outset of COLT, the children lived in the slums near the railroad in Phnom Penh. There were a few care-takers (local NGOs) but there was no income. So the children had only the clothes they were wearing, nothing more! Sometimes there was not even enough money for rice which left the children malnourished and their health was at a constant risk. There was no money for food, no money for their education, and no medical help in case the children became ill.

It came about that Mr. Thourn Sinan (who had been trying to help the small NGO) met Andre Ruys and Menno Van Essen, two men from Holland who had started a travel company in Phnom Penh. Mr. Thourn Sinan asked them for help, but all they could do was to ask travellers for some of their extra money. Unfortunately, this was not enough and the cycle continued.

SO Andre invited a good friend of his from Holland, Tina Beekman Tolner, to come and visit Colt and see if she had any ideas of how to help the children and the organization. So Andre, Menno and Tina went together to visit the children in the slums and from that day on a new foundation was formed! They found two Dutch donors who generously gave money for the organization to build a new house in a better environment.

After the new house was built, and the children moved in, they started taking Khmer lessons in reading and writing and they were also given English lessons. After a couple of months, all the children of COLT had their very own white and blue uniform and went to primary school.

Mr Thourn Sinan is the managing director of COLT and Cambodian staff take care of the twenty-six children who live there.

Due to the donations from Holland, America, Germany and Japan, COLT was able to build a second building. As well as a house for the children and staff to live in, there is also a building with six classrooms. In the evening one hundred and sixty children from the neighbourhood, and children from COLT, gather together to take classes. These include English, IT, sewing, art, singing and much more.

All the children and staff from COLT are insured medically. They had their vaccinations and have regular medical check-ups. COLT has its own dentists, Dr. Bob Renner and Dr. Purobi Phillips from America.

If you would like to find out more about COLT, please contact us.