New Life Center...

The center has made some amazing progress in the past year thanks to the dedication and hard work of our children and volunteers.

We have rented extra land behind their property and have begun a fantastic 9 bed garden with cucumbers, lettuce and spinach. The children have learned how to
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The center has made some amazing progress in the past year thanks to the dedication and hard work of our children and volunteers.

We have rented extra land behind their property and have begun a fantastic 9 bed garden with cucumbers, lettuce and spinach. The children have learned how to care for the garden as a part of their daily responsibilities. This garden will help improve the quality of their food as well as allow the center to be more self sufficient. Eventually, we would like to purchase this land as well as the main land so we won't have to pay rent anymore. The cost of this is approximately $33,000.

The center now also has 30 ducks and 30 chickens. This allows the center to raise money by selling and trading, as well as the addition of eggs and meat to their diet. Currently, volunteers are constructing a chicken coop to help manage the chickens.

Every weekday the children spend two hours rehearsing their traditional Apsara dance routines. With the help of their teacher, they have mastered 3 of the dances, and they are hoping to soon be ready to perform for tourists as a fundraising event. They will need costumes and materials in order to properly show off all of their hard work . The total cost for these things is approximately $1,500.

They continue to amaze me with all their hard work, and as if all of these new developments weren't enough, many of the children have still managed to place in the top 5 of their classes in school. Their understanding of the English language is still quite low due to the lack of long term English teaching volunteers. The most effective way for them to grow in their English is for volunteers to commit to long term positions - preferably a month or more. This way the children will have consistency with their lessons and they will be able to master more. Because this is still a very new center, we are unable to pay or provide accommodation for volunteers at the moment, but I guarantee that the smiles and the hugs more than make up for that. Siem Reap has several low budget hostels available and food is also very cheap.