Visiting our friends at Advanced Center of Empowerment (ACE)

Last Wednesday Chakrya and I went to visit our friends at Advanced Centre of Empowerment (ACE), to see how our projects were progressing. Frank is unfortunately back in the Netherlands, but glad that Video Calling exists, so we could all get together anyway! After a few turns with the tablets we were all horizontal and we were able to review the progress.

JC is working hard to find suitable premises to house a new YLC (Young Leaders Centre) next to the "Boeung Trabek" slum. A slum in the middle of Phnom Penh, where Frank and I visited a few months ago. It is not easy to find a building that meets all the requirements. The priority is that it is very close to the slum, so that the children can get here without any problems. However, the ever-increasing rent prices in the capital do not make it easy to find a suitable and affordable place. But where there is a will there is a way! And hopefully a suitable location can be found soon so that the children from the slum have a place to develop themselves.

In the meantime, a young university student in ACE who is very interested in IT, Raksmey, has taken responsibility for the practicalities of setting up the computer lab. He has since installed all the laptops, and the "Do's and Dont's " surrounding the use of the laptops have been worked out in beautiful infographics. With the guidance of two Cambodian experts in IT (Soton and Bunlin) they are also setting up lessons in computer skills and English. It's great that the knowledge and skills are passed on, Raksmey gains new experiences, and eventually he can teach the children in the slum digital skills.

"A video-call makes the world smaller"