Marcela Granados

Marcela Granados came to Aziza's Place with energy and excitement about teaching our students mathematics.  The children didn't take long to be inspired and enthused about thier extra maths tutoring during the two weeks she was here.  Marcela joined in with all of AP's activities including the Water Festival events on her first day here, and arranging a delicious feast of fajita's one Wednesday evening.  Thankyou Marcela!   

Emma Horsfall

Emma Horsfall brought fun and games to AP as she taught our beginner English classes to Ream (pictured left), Channy, Lina and newest student Sreynak.  There was always a lot of laughter coming from the front room as the children enjoyed learning new English words, phrases, drawing colorful pictures, watching English DVDs and learning new English songs. 
Emma was in Phnom Penh for six months and volunteered at AP while also working at another NGO.  She has headed home to the UK to complete her teaching qualifications.  Thankyou Emma for bringing your love, your hugs, and positive energy to everyone at AP!  We wish you all the best for your new adventures ahead.        

 

How did you find Aziza’s Place?

Through the Pari Project.

What brings you here?

A job placement with the Pari Project What is your motivation to come? A job, change of scenery, a life changing experience.

What are you doing or did you do at AP?
English teaching of Lina, Channy, Ream and Sreynak.

Mathematics and Mexican fajita's!

Volunteer Marcela Granados came to Aziza's Place for two weeks.  She brought her love of mathematics to the children and inspired them to extend themselves in all aspects of their learning.  Check out some pictures of her visit.



The advanced mathematics class is excited to check out

new maths books that Marcela kindly brought over

with her from the US. 



The children are all on time, now that they each

have a new watch!

   

Theara is excited about Mexican fajita's Marcela and

the staff prepared for everyone to enjoy.  

Sreyphea loves chilli peppers!



The staff enjoying their time with Marcela.



A group farewell.  Thankyou Marcela!

‘Crab Grab’ raises money for AP!



Kaylie and her sorority



AP would like to say a big thanks to previous volunteer Kaylie Wallace and her sorority, who raised funds for Aziza’s Place this September.

Sorority ‘Pi Beta Phi’, the Virginia Epsilon chapter of 100 girls from the University of Virginia, hosted a ‘Crab Grab’ event where students came to eat crabs and donate money to their national charity. This year the team did some extra work and sold t-shirts to raise funds for Aziza’s Place.

Kaylie continues to support AP by keeping in touch with her previous students via email. She is excited to be able to extend her support further by getting her friends and community involved too. Thankyou girls for supporting AP from home!

November treats

A big thankyou to volunteer Emma Horsfall who took us all out for dinner this month.  She saw the sparkle in the eyes of the kids at the mention of the word 'PIZZA!', so we piled into tuk-tuks and headed off to Sorya mall.  The kids enjoyed delicious pizza and finished off with ice-cream!  See the pics below:

Ready to go - how many people can we fit in the tuk-tuk?!



Ny and Thida waiting patiently for their pizza.



Mmmm ch'ngun (delicious)! 

Sreyphea devouring her pizza.



Emma making sure

everyone is happy.



Channy and Ream taking it easy

after their meal.

Sisters Sreysros and Sreynak
enjoy a special ice-cream treat
for dessert!

Kaylie Wallace

Kaylie came to Aziza's Place to spend her summer volunteering and experiencing life in Phnom Penh.  With her bubbly personality, energy and enthusiasm, she made a new best friend in Channy as they studied English together (see  left).  Kaylie also taught English to the staff and lent a hand in various adminstration projects.  Many thanks for your work Kaylie - we look forward to seeing you when you return!           

How did you find Aziza’s Place?

Amjad Ghori is a lifelong friend of my father!  I didn’t have to look very far to stumble upon this amazing opportunity.

What brings you here? What is your motivation to come?

I study Global Development and Foreign Affairs at the University of Virginia, where I am currently in my third year. I knew I wanted to gain some experience abroad, and ideally, through an NGO or non-profit in a developing nation. I followed my dad’s advice and contacted Amjad, who quickly offered me the opportunity to work at AP for the summer. I didn’t think twice and started booking tickets and making plans! The fact that my mom was able to join me for two weeks made the experience even more special and meaningful.

Megan Wong

Megan (far right) with Momphat and volunteers
Kaylie and Kepi.

Megan came to Aziza’s Place for a six-week program of volunteering. She brought to Aziza’s Place many smiles, much energy, enthusiasm, and love for the children! Megan was able to invest valuable time into teaching English to the housemom’s and the learning of one of our youngest residents with one-on-one English teaching. Lina’s English improved immensely during Megan’s time at AP, and the two became strong friends. Megan returned home at the end of July 2010 to complete university studies in music. We wish her all the best! 

Latest fieldtrip adventures...

In the last few months life has been busy at AP.  See some photos below for a look at our most recent fieldtrips. 

In May everyone piled into a van and we headed out to Takeo to make new friends with the children from 'A Greater Hope Orphanage'.  We all enjoyed some fresh air and greenery with a day of sports, games and relaxation.

Last weekend everyone was excited to zoom down waterslides and jump off flying foxes into the water, with a trip to a water park outside of Phnom Penh.  It was a day of fun in the sun! 

Lani Warsh

Lani Warsh arrived in Phnom Penh in January 2010. She took on an Intern role with AP for four months. As the first in this role she did a fantastic job at implementing our Community Outreach program and building strong relationships with the families of AP residents. She started some great networking with other organisations and NGO's to interlink with AP and our families. She also opened up the worlds of our intermediate students in English class by teaching them about different people and cultures around the world. Lani was a caring and dedicated volunteer who worked at AP with energy and enthusiasm to make things the best they could be, and who could always be spotted zooming around Phnom Penh on her bright red 'pizza-delivering' bicycle!

Stephanie McMahon

Stephanie volunteered at Aziza's Place from October 2009 until January 2010. She brought energy and creativity to AP and to her E2 classes with projects like the gingerbread house creations seen earlier in the blog. With the help of her Mom, she also ingeniously managed to bring snow to Cambodia. That's impressive! Stephanie had the opportunity to do some further traveling around Asia from which she has many stories to share. She was last seen heading towards her next stop in India, before eventually heading home to San Francisco.

Happy 3rd Anniversary Aziza's Place!

On February 14, we celebrated our 3rd birthday. Check out our Facebook fan page for more photos.

Aziza's Place Joins Facebook

Dear AP Volunteers,


Aziza's Place has finally entered the modern world through Facebook! We now have an AP profile and fan page. Help us to expand our network through Facebook. Simply "become a fan" and then click the "share" button on the bottom left side of the fan page. You will then be able to create a wall post that will share the AP fan page. We are working to expand the applications on our Facebook pages to include a donations tab as well. 


Stay tuned as Aziza's Place prepares to renovate its website and gets ready to celebrate its 3rd anniversary on February 14. We could not have made it this far without all of you!


Love,
Aziza's Place

Gingerbread creations.

English class gets creative as students design their own gingerbread houses. See their delicious creations below. 

 

See the master at work...

Look at my new house! 

The finished products catching the sunlight...

 

Mmmm delicious!

Fun and games these holidays

All we want for Christmas is some snow!  

You may think that snowfall in Cambodia is quite an unlikely phenomenon.  But anything is possible at AP! Snow-day proved to be a hit, including a snowball fight and of course some dancing around the Christmas tree! 

Snow, glorious snow!

 Snowball fight!

And a giant Christmas tree!

Holiday Giving Update

We would like to say a BIG THANKYOU to all our volunteers who helped raise money through our Holiday Fundraiser. 

Your efforts raised more than $1,600 in total.  Wow! 

This money will go a long way in supporting AP's education and development programs. Thankyou all for your continuing involvement and support of the children at Aziza's Place.