Childrens Future International

A third guard has been added to the rotation at the CFI center - in addition to ensuring the safety of all the children, the guards assist with gardening and moto-dup driving. Meanwhile, Chris, our one-year German volunteer is leaving Cambodia next week. While back in Germany he will stay involved with CFI in a variety of capacities, including helping to start CFI-Europe. Although Chris will be missed by everyone, there is no doubt that he will come back to Cambodia one day. Until then, two other motivated German volunteers are expected begin their work with CFI in September. We are also fortunate that Thomas, a volunteer from France, has committed to working with CFI full-time for the indefinite future. While his primary responsibility is to build and maintain our Children's Garden, the kids just love him and he's becoming an important part of the team thats provides for their care and well-being.

We are very pleased with the addition of Saraen as a third full-time housemother at our Children's Home. She will help Sitha and Siyean carry the bulk of daily work around the CFI Center. Saraen is very kind and responsible and is already loved by all the kids.

Every morning dozens of children wait with anticipation outside CFI's school for Sally's arrival. For Sally's arrival signifies the daily opening of the 'Activity Room' - stocked full of puzzles, colored pencils, LEGOs, chess sets and more. Sally is a wonderful veteran teacher from Australia and a new long-term CFI volunteer who has taken on the responsibility of developing and running our new Activity Room - a space dedicated for children to play freely when they are not in class. The importance of play and creativity for children cannot be overstated and we are all so excited for the continued development of the space.

Responding to an urgent need, CFI opens a safe house for girls in the city of Battambang. The home serves girls, mostly from the countryside, who have been victim to violence, abuse and neglect and as a result are not attending school. The girls have either dropped out of school or have never started in the first place. There are currently five girls living in the home with one house mother and CFI director Jenny. All girls have either been re-integrated into public school already or are receiving private tutoring from CFI until they are ready to re-integrate. Additionally, all girls receive extra courses including computer skills, art, English, and life skills.

Three sisters from a nearby family in Piem Ek commune have moved into CFI's children's home. They had been suffering and struggling to make it in a highly abusive living situation where they were subject to physical and emotional abuse as well as severe malnutrition. They are still adapting to life in their new home, but are visibly happier, eating well, and studying in CFI's Khmer literacy program until they are ready to integrate into public school.

The process of converting an old orange grove into CFI's football field has been completed....well, almost. After the old trees (past their fruit-bearing life cycle) were removed, approximately 30 truckloads of dirt and a bulldozer were used to level the land and render it flat and playable. We still need to work out some drainage issues as the monsoon season approaches. In any case, the field is up and running for CFI students. In a partnership with Battambang based SALT Academy (Sports And Leadership Training) CFI has four official soccer teams (girls under 12 and under 14 and boys under 12 and under 14) that practice during the week on site at the CFI Center and play games against teams from other villages on weekends in Battambang city.

The tournament, which was sponsored by Indochina Starfish Foundation (ISF) and SALT Academy played host to teams from all over Cambodia. CFI's two girls teams participated and had a fantastic experience. Many of the girls have never left their villages (even to visit the nearby city of Battambang) and certainly never visited Phnom Penh, Cambodia's capital. CFI has developed a very close relationship with both ISF and SALT during the past few years as football has become an important component of our overall education programs.

CFI has developed a partnership with Dewey International University Battambang. DIU's diploma program allows talented students who have not yet a received a high school diploma to study a variety of courses at university level. Several of CFI's older students have been studying at DIU and we are looking forward to finding overseas sponsors to support their studies. Specifically, CFI is partnering with Andrew's alma mater (Great Neck North High School) to raise the necessary funds.

After months of renovations, the children living at CFI's temporary children's home have just moved to CFI's permanent facility. The new children's home is located on the second floor of our community center building.

The final touches have been put on CFI's new five classroom school in Battambang and classes are set to begin. The school is an integral part of CFI's Community Learning Center for Children and will house our English, Khmer literacy, art and music programs. One of the five classrooms will be used as a library. Classes will begin immediately and we expect to serve up to 200 students in 2010.

After many months of meetings and countless piles of paperwork, Cambodia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs gave Children's Future International the final stamp of approval to operate independently as an International NGO. This comes just in time for CFI to open its new Community Learning Center for Children in the Ek Phnom district of Battambang.

Under Doug Gilmour’s supervision (volunteer and veteran builder from Australia), CFI begins construction of a five-classroom schoolhouse. The classrooms will be used for English, Khmer literacy, art, and music classes. One of the classrooms will be used as a library.

As the new school year began in Cambodia last week, four CFI supported children attended their first classes ever. Months of private tutoring prepared the children for their new lives as school kids. Channa, 14, impressed his teacher so much in the first few days of class that she named him class captain. We are all very proud of him.

It’s Official! After months of searching for the right location, CFI signs a lease to develop a new community center for children in the Ek Phnom district of Battambang. CFI is renting four adjacent properties that will house its offices, education programs, children’s home, garden and soccer field.

After many months of meetings and letter writing, Cambodia’s Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports offers its official recognition and support to Children’s Future International. The ‘Memorandum of Understanding’ offers formal support for all CFI programs (‘Child Well-Being’ and ‘Non-formal Education’)

The generous and committed members of Temple Israel’s Beth Hagan nursery school PTA in Great Neck, NY have been working tirelessly to collect merchandise and sell tickets for their upcoming raffle fundraiser to support CFI. Tickets are now on sale and the raffle will be held on May 20th. We sincerely thank you for all your efforts.

Talks have begun with local village and commune leaders as plans emerge for CFI to develop and operate a community center in the Battambang area of Cambodia. The center will include ‘informal’ education programs (English, computer skills, adult literacy, art/music/sports, etc.) as well as a childcare and community outreach facilities. The center will likely be developed in stages with an anticipated start date within a matter of weeks.

The IRS has approved CFI’s request for non-profit status and CFI is now recognized as an official 501(c)(3) organization. Donations are now fully tax deductible in accordance with US tax law. This includes all future donations as well as past donations made after January 14, 2008. The receipt of 501(c)(3) status allows CFI to begin writing for grants and to approach businesses for support. A big thanks to Andrew Bourne at Dickstein Shapiro LLP for his pro bono legal services!

Certified yoga instructor and friend of CFI Kelly Newsome gifted the kids with two days ‘Yoga for Young Artists’. She took the little guys on a ‘yoga adventure’ to the jungle resulting in lots of animal poses, animal noises and laughter. Older kids were taught more traditional poses. Everyone had a blast. In addition to being a yoga instructor, Kelly is a lawyer and helped CFI with the incorporation and 501(c)(3) filing processes.

Students and teachers at Great Neck North High school (Andrew’s alma mater) have joined in partnership with CFI to raise awareness and support for projects in Cambodia. Several student organizations have already begun helping with various aspects of CFI’s work - and the foundation has been set for expanding our collaboration in hopes of maintaining a long-term relationship.

'Spirit of Soccer' promotes leadership and teamwork through their soccer program. We are partnering with SOS to form a team of girls and a team of boys, ages 8-15. The teams practice at the local high school where a field had to be cleared of cow poo, rocks and tree trunks. SOS is training local coaches to teach the children the game of soccer with an emphasis on teamwork and leadership.

The patient recovery center is the third building in Tean Thor Association's 'Acts of Compassion Center'.

Tean Thor has a recovery center with 10 beds for patients who are too ill to care for themselves and who have no one else to care for them. In many villages there is a stigma associated with AIDS, and patients are abandoned by the community- and in some cases even their family members. The center is not a hospice or hospital, but rather a healing center where patients (and often their children) are given short-term care (ranging from a few days to several weeks), food and support, until they regain enough strength to return to their communities (where the social workers continue to visit them regularly).

CFI secured a grant from Switzerland based BASAID to fund the project.

We started the project because we understand the critical importance of inter-cultural communication and understanding. We partnered with Andrew's cousin Anna and her second grade class in Croton on Hudson, NY. Favorite foods, colors and hobbies were shared as well as photos and personalized drawings. Anna's classmates each donated one their favorite books and we had them sent them around the globe to the rice fields of Cambodia – our classroom library has officially begun.