Thursday, July 16, 2015

The Best School in Cambodia

Our vision for the school in Svay Pak is to prevent children from being trafficked while providing the best education available in Cambodia.  Immediate protection is provided as families with kids attending the school get weekly social worker visits.  These visits combined with the leverage our SWAT Team brings with the ability to arrest those who abuse or exploit children brings immediate protection.  Long term protection is provided by a high quality education which can end the cycle of poverty in families.  See below to find out how close God is to fulfilling the school’s vision.

Svay Pak, Cambodia
AIM Rahab’s House School, Svay Pak - June 2015
The Best of Cambodia’s Schools, The Brightest of Cambodia’s Students

In April 2015, Prudential Company and Kids City launched Cambodia’s first inter-school STEM competition—an educational program aimed at improving Cambodia’s science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Initially Kids City put out the word to the best schools from across the country to participate in the challenge, including such highly re- garded schools as Northbridge International School and the International School of Ph- nom Penh. These schools are noted as having annual tuitions of $15,000 to $21,000.

AIM’s Rahab’s House School, Svay Pak, with an annual tuition of $16, was overlooked. This was certainly understandable considering Svay Pak’s identity as an epicenter for the sex trafficking of children. And while the school is recognized as a strong resource in preventing child sex trafficking, it is not yet known for the quality of its academic pro- grams. The school staff, however, confident in their program and students, asked to be included in the competition and Kids City graciously welcomed them.

The competition began with 24 teams of 5 fourth and fifth graders representing 24 schools. That is, with the exception of AIM’s Rahab’s House School, which was made up entirely of third graders. Each challenge was designed to test students’ abilities to work in a team, think critically, solve puzzles, and apply scientific knowledge. Following 3 days of competition, the results were announced... In second place, ahead of both Northbridge and Phnom Penh International Schools, was AIM’s Rahab’s House School’s team of third graders.

In presenting the award to the kids from Svay Pak, the competition director said that the Svay Pak students not only completed the challenges with academic excellence but also demonstrated good attitudes, good communication, creativity, and solid problem solving skills.
Bringing this full circle for AIM is the inclusion of sex trafficking survivors as part of our teaching staff. These young women are graduates of AIM’s restoration program and have elected to continue to fight trafficking through preventative efforts.