Botumsakor Community Development Organization (BCDO)
Volunteering Activities
What We Need
Here are some of our ideas and how you can be involved as a volunteer:
- Teaching
- Fundraising
- Creating and playing games
- Drawing and coloring
- Assisting adult students
There are 7 hour-long classes a day running from Monday to Friday - in the morning from 8 AM - 11 AM and in the afternoon from 1 PM - 5 PM. Volunteers usually teach about 2-3 classes per day. Depending on how many volunteers we have at the time, you will be teaching alone or in a pair. Volunteers will be involving as co-teachers with Khmer teachers at the beginning but can eventually handle lessons alone if they are confident. The classes are organized according to the student’s ability. You don't need to have any previous experience of teaching since we believe that listening and communicating with various English-speakers is a great method to learn the language. You can either work as a main or assistant teacher. We work from a basic lesson structure that provides a framework so the students have consistency in their learning, as the volunteer teachers are changing on a regular basis. As well as teaching English in the classroom, you are welcome to use your skills and knowledge in art, music, singing, games, and sports as a way of interacting with the children.
There are no classes on the weekends; however, we are always open and if children come to the school we usually play games and offer our time if we are available.
Apart from teaching the children, volunteers are welcome to engage in the following areas:
- Marketing: spreading the word about our organization via different communication channels (maintaining our Facebook and the webpage, getting in contact with guidebook publishers, contributing to online guidebooks and travel websites, etc.)
- Helping with administration work
- Raising funds
If you are willing to work in any of these areas, we hope you will clarify your specific task in advance. Also, if you do not want to teach children, we request that you raise this concern in advance to the manager.
When & Who
What we Provide
Volunteers can choose a private room or shared room. We have a shared toilet and shower.
We provide delicious Khmer home cooked meals - two meals per day, lunch and dinner. Breakfast can be bought at the market downtown or in a restaurant nearby. vegetarian and vegan foods are available.
Our Fees
The contributions will be used to cover everyday food, electricity, water and administration costs.
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More Services we Offer
Help to organize transportation.
Contact Person
Other Ways to Help
Study materail, teaching materail and computers..etc.
Additional Info about Us
Teaching English to the kids with smart games, daily communication for the adults class. With our activities we also want to inspire environ-mentally friendly actions in the community. Try to talk to the students before or after classes, this activity can motivate them to speak more by listening to different English speakers.
Volunteers please realize that our school is located at a very remote area, so you will be staying in a natural setting region. Please bring mosquito repellent for protecting against any insect bites and a headlight for going to the bathroom at night. There is no ATM available here, please bring enough money for the length of your stay.
In summer volunteers will be teaching and playing games outside the classrooms, but in rainy season, volunteers just focus on teaching for the first priority, otherwise it is too wet outside.
Botumsakor Community Development Organization (BCDO) was founded in 2009 in the Andong Tuek commune as a non-profit NGO aimed at providing education services with a focus on the English language for the younger generation.
Our current project is a school in Thmor Sor (Khum Thma Sar on (Google Maps) a fishing village across the bay from Sihanoukville in southwestern Cambodia's Koh Kong Province. Thmor Sor is poor, even by Cambodian standards, and our project here revolves around offering access to education to the poorest villagers and promoting superior waste management in the community. BCDO is operating a low-cost English language school for the lower village, teaching students from age 5 to 18. These students pay a nominal monthly fee to cover the school's costs of electricity, water, and teaching materials.
But, many children in the community, particularly those living in the impoverished upper village, cannot even afford these small fees and so they do not attend any school. BCDO's new 'Bottle School' project is for these children. The Bottle School concept was borrowed from a non-profit organization in Guatemala which constructed low-cost buildings by making use of excessive waste in the community. Volunteers, staff, and community members are building plastic 'bottle bricks' by stuffing discarded plastic drinking water bottles with plastic waste, creating a durable construction material that takes the place of ordinary bricks. To ensure convenient access for the poorest students, the Bottle School campus is now located on BCDO-owned land in the upper village. The grounds consist of a two-room schoolhouse, staff house, volunteer quarters, and a shared bathroom.
We are a community project and, as part of our team, you are welcome to share your own ideas and projects. Nevertheless, the main purpose of BCDO is to provide an English language education; so, we request that all of our volunteers take part in teaching for a certain amount of time.
Hope to see you again. Thanks, thanks, thanks..."