Members of the Society for Community Outreach and Training and three youths from the Youth Development Centre pose for a group picture before leaving for Cambodia to teach English and donate for the construction of wells. BT/Aaron Wong
AARON WONG
BRUNEI-MUARA
SEVEN members of the Society for Community Outreach and Training (SCOT) and three youths from the Youth Development Centre left for Cambodia yesterday to teach English and contribute to the building of wells.
The group representing the second phase of the SCOT Education Project taking place in Samrong Tong from September 14 to 26, said they would donate US$6,000 towards the construction of 24 wells, set to be built across several villages in the country to improve water access.
Project Manager Md Mahyuddin Othman said the English teaching would be more “informal”, to give Cambodian children a different learning experience from their national curriculum.
“We will have a lot of interaction with the students, with books, films, music and games, and we aim to not teach but also learn from the experience,” he said.
Muhammad Ali Nuurul Saffuan Md Ali, a second year Mathematics major at Universiti Brunei Darussalam, said he was looking forward to meeting the Muslim community who live in Cambodia’s remote villages.
“This is my fourth time to Cambodia, having previously visited when I played rugby in Phnom Penh, and the city has developed during every visit I have taken. I’m looking forward to experience the other more rural side of Cambodia,” said the 24-year-old.
The SCOT Education Project was initiated in April with a volunteering activity on teaching English at the Youth Development Centre, and is sponsored by HSBC Brunei and the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports in collaboration with Cambodia’s Organisation for Building Community Resources and the Charitable Association of Cambodian Islamic Graduates.
The project ties in with the English Training Project Centre for Children run by OCBR.
Founded in 2005, the Cambodian NGO’s Brunei connection began in 2011 when Fatin Arifin, who became the organisation’s director of sponsorship and public relations, made her first visit to the small school run by OBCR.
The first group of SCOT’s education project, led by Siti Nor Aspadiyah Hj Mohd Sah, completed their teaching programme in Cambodia last September.
The Brunei Times
Source: Brunei Times
Author: Aaron Wong
Published Date: Thursday, September 15th, 2014
