Since February 2015, Her Royal Highness,  Princesse Sylvia Sisowath, has been President of Taramana an NGO in Cambodia.

Very involved with various associations, Princess Sylvia today shares her time between France and Cambodia. It was her love of both French culture and the promotion of education which naturally lead her to Taramana.

“A child can be ensured a decent future only if we make sure that he/she is in good health, that he/she receives scholary assistance, and offer various activities that maintain his/her development”

For Princess Sylvia, in today’s Cambodia, young people are eager for discovery and are attending more and more conferences. It also appears that this new generation and also the Cambodian diaspora living in France, have a strong desire to promote their culture.  Her Royal Highness is particularly attached to art and cultural sharing and she strongly encourages initiatives in this direction. Our recent partnerships with the Bophana Center and the IFC appear to her to be an excellent way to stimulate the minds of Taramana’s children and to improve their knowledge.

At the Taramana Magdalena Center, it is the team’s commitment and the alumni that particularly caught her attention. For Her Royal Highness, putting her skills and energy at the service of childrens’ growth, especially in terms of education, is a priority. The examples of Meng, Dara or Vuthny, all alumni of Taramana who now give or have given French lessons as volunteers, which show the importance of knowledge transfer.

“Backing Taramana means helping and supporting these children to enter the halls of university, demonstrating that no matter where a person is born, everyone has the right to hope to be part of tomorrow’s elite.”

Since January 2019, Taramana has two new partners: The Institut Français du Cambodge (French Institute of Cambodia) and the Bophana Center.

These two new partnerships aim at opening the children’s minds and offering them educational opportunities that are different from the ones they are used to at the public school or at Taramana.

Once a month, a small group of children enjoy a visit to the IFC and the Bophana Center. That way, each child can enjoy a trip to these places twice a year.

L’INSTITUT FRANÇAIS DU CAMBODGE (FRENCH INSTITUTE IN CAMBODIA) 

The IFC welcomes the children in the youth section of the library where many books in French and Khmer can be found.
The youngest children spend half a day there with a Khmer supervisor. They listen to stories and Khmer nursery rhymes. Fun activities around language are also offered. The children can then enjoy some free time and read the books they want.

The Bophana Center. 

This center, which gathers many resources on the history and culture of Cambodia, is a wonderful place to further explore the topics discussed in class.
At each visit, the group of children watches a film in the center’s cinema room. Then, in pairs, they complete their research on computers by watching documentaries.

We are very pleased to offer these outings to the children. Not only do these trips arouse their curiosity, they also enable them to gain new knowledge. Seeing their enthusiasm before each trip is a real pleasure for the team and the teachers who see their pupils thrive and grow.

We warmly thank the teams at the IFC and the Centre Bophana for their kind welcome.

This past February, the Center’s children benefited from a comprehensive individual check-up  during a two-week health campaign.

143 small patients were treated to a general consultation :

– auscultation and checking of blood pressure
– measurement of both height and weight
– verification of visual acuity
– dental examination

At the same time, 132 were also vaccinated against hepatitis B and poliomyelitis.

IN ADDITION…

Thanks to this annual check-up, we can assess the health status of the Center’s children.This allows us to better treat them and to give them the green light to practice sports such as soccer and rugby.

In 2019 :

• 22 children with food deficiencies who previously did not go to the canteen, now eat their meals every afternoon at Taramana
• Complementary examinations were performed on 5 children: blood tests, echo-cardiography and lung x-rays
• 3 children were able to have an appointment with an ophthalmologist

This latest health campaign was made possible thanks to a cohesive team.

Big THANKS  to Frédéric, Emmanuelle and Elise Mousset as well as to Meng and Vuthny for having lent a helping hand to Jocelyn Dordé – Taramana’s official doctor – and Visal, the nurse at the Center.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

? To learn more about health activities at Taramana >> click here
Make a donation >>  click here

Recently, Philippe and Cécile made a donation to Taramana: a laptop. It was a well-functioning computer but they had no use for it anymore. They decided to give a second life and a second chance to it, our thanks go out to them!

Donations: an asset for Taramana

After studying the students’ needs, our Social worker decided to offer this laptop to Sophia NHOEM, a student at Western University.

Indeed, as part of her studies in both English and Communication, she needs a laptop in order to take notes, do her assignments as well as carry out research on the Web. She is currently in her 3^rd year of study and will graduate next year!

She wants to become a business women!

Donating a laptop enables a student to improve his or her overall study conditions.  It also improves his or her chances to succeed! Other students also need laptops, so if you are the owner of an unused and well-functioning computer, contact us: contact@taramana.org

Taramana is permanently looking for donations: school equipment, toys, clothes, money donation, labour…. We need you! Individuals, small or big companies!

Örkun! Thanks !

We announced it in our last newsletter, the WIG – Women’s International Group in Phnom Penh – granted Taramana a $2,000 grant to finance the Karol & Setha training program.

The aim of this project is to offer our students workshops to teach them how to:
> Know themselves better
> Express their emotions and needs
> Open up to other people
This training will aim to develop our teenager’s self-confidence and teach them to communicate more effectively so that they can become fully accomplished and responsible adults.

A big THANK YOU to the WIG who support the Cambodian community by providing financial support to meaningful projects!
To learn more about the WIG – Women’s International Group in Phnom Penh, ▶️ it’s over here

We are very happy and excited for this collaboration and can’t wait for the first workshops to start!

KAROL & SETHA – foster positive interpersonal relations

Karol & Setha is a Cambodian NGO created in 2004.
The organization aims to foster the development of personal, family and social relations by providing participants with tools to address the root causes of relationship problems.
The trainers, all Khmer, offer very high quality support on issues concerning emotional and sexual relations, a subject that is often taboo in Khmer families.

To learn more about Karol & Setha Karol, ▶️ it’s over there

Health is one of Taramana’s four pillars.