(Top) Children from Tuol Krang, one of the villages where literacy classes are taking place with help from the BS in Cambodia. Photo: UBS/André Minnaar (CBA06DJ-1.JPG); A little girl feeding the chickens in Tuol Krang village. Photo: UBS/André Minnaar (CBA06DJ-7.JPG)

CAMBODIA — Going to school remains nothing more than a dream for many children in this country, which is still slowly recovering from three decades of civil conflict. Literacy levels among both adults and children are particularly low in rural areas. Aware of the importance of literacy in boosting people’s self-esteem, giving them better prospects for the future and introducing them to God’s Word, literacy programs have been at the top of the Bible Society in Cambodia’s agenda for several years.

Progressing

In June, the Society’s Literacy Program Coordinator, Thida Hull Koll, took UBS Program Consultant Arun Sok Nhep and Program Support Coordinator André Minnaar to the village of Tuol Krang, around two hours’ drive from Phnom Penh, to see how the adult literacy classes there are progressing.

Literacy classes for the residents of Tuol Krang are led by a local pastor who has been trained by the Bible Society. Each student attends for an initial three months but may then return for a second set of classes if necessary.

Audio cassettes containing Portions, Selections and other Scripture materials are played on a cassette player powered by a car battery, and the students – typically around 10 in each class – also use specially prepared workbooks.

In order not to interfere with the farm work for which each villager is responsible, the classes take place during the lunch break. The students in the class that the visitors saw had only been attending for three weeks, but so me of them were already beginning to recognise basic words.

Outside, the children were playing happily in the sunshine. Even the youngest villagers, though, have small jobs to do, such as feeding the chickens.

This report refers to project 73604.