As part of the One School, Every Nation theme this year, the Wilson Year 6 class has been praying for and learning about Cambodia. At the beginning of the term, Patrick and Carol Kelly from Empowering Cambodia visited the class and taught us about life in Cambodia, as part of their Kids Knowing Kids project. The Kelly’s were kind enough to give each child a gift; a stuffed elephant toy, as well as gifts for the class.
Each child in the class created an art piece using watercolour pencils, to send to a child at a school in Kampong Thom, run by Empowering Cambodia. I personally visited the school on a mission trip in 2010. The class sent artwork, which they feel depicted their life in Australia. We recently received artwork from the children in Cambodia, as well as photos of them receiving our art, individual photos of the children and some little bracelets as gifts for each child.
The class was delighted to be able to see them receiving our art. They have just finished writing letters to them, which will be sent at the beginning of Term 4. We will be eagerly awaiting our reply!
Here are some reflections from some of the students:
“My pen pal was Sopheak and she sent me a picture of her school. I think that she enjoys going to school and loves learning. She also sent a picture of herself and a bracelet. It is very colourful. I’ve learnt that life in Cambodia is very bright. The children are full of life and they always smile.” – Megan
“My pen pal, Soklin from Cambodia sent me a picture of herself and a drawing of where she lives. It shows what she likes to do; riding bikes and reading. I learnt that Soklin wants to be a nurse (she even wrote the word nurse in English!) and that life in Cambodia is very different, like the houses are different, the food is different and the environment. Cambodia is a very poor country and it was amazing and wonderful to see how grateful and generous they were. We (the class) wrote letters to send back to them, we can’t wait for them to reply!” – Rosie
