Sister Mary Ange pens her thoughts as a new year rolls around and welcomes in a new horizon for her growing kindergarten.
"My dear friends,
Christmas came and a New Year ushers in new hope. I wish each of you the peace of God and that it reigns in your family and the world, especially in the Middle East.
With the beginning of January 2015, our kindergarten has re-opened and today we have over 40 children. In fact there is a good ten of them who are older than 5 years but still quite illiterate. There are schools here but the children do not even know the Khmer alphabets. My kindergarten doors are opened to all who wants to learn to read and write even though school is mostly half day in duration. The rest of the day is spent in the orchard tending and harvesting where possible.
Last July, it was sad to learn that the new minister for National Education has decided to ‘eradicate’ any possible cheating and the corruption during exams. As a consequence, for the whole of the country, only 25.7% passed at the first sitting and another 14% made it at the second intake. The greater number of those who succeeded came from students of the private schools.
I organized a Christmas fete' last December 24, in a village of Kampot, at Chomkiri, a parish with few young people but adults and children predominantly. It was quite a festival for all the villagers. The young people put up a joue 'the scene of Nativite' displaying much of their talents and there were many dances in celebration. This is a parish formed completely with the Khmer locals. This is rare as most communities have a prevalent presence of Vietnamese.
Thank you for your continuous support with prayer.
Sr Mary Ange"
