Sipar's life

Itinerant films projections : part of the “Pro Poor” program

Béatrice Montariol, a Sipar consultant, comments upon her two days of itinerant projections  in the province of Kratie carried out in partnership with the Bophana Center of Audiovisual Resources :

Taking part in a « Pro-Poor” tour is always a highlight, beginning with the choice of the films to be projected for raising awareness, prepared with members of the communal counsel, the women’s committee, school directors and village chiefs.

Then comes the installation of a mobile structure, followed by the first visitor arrivals, and the attentive following by hundreds of spectators of the projections with a mixture of emotion and amusement.
Most of the documents shown deal with social problems familiar to the villagers (domestic violence, migration, human trafficking, property differences …).

This was the fifth in a series of six sessions in the Bophana project – this time in Sambo (along the Mekong) and in Changkrang (an isolated, newly cleared zone occupied by ethnic minorities) .
In December, after the final presentation, a survey will be made to determine the impact upon the local officials and the population.

In Cambodia Daily :
Inmates find a legal means of escapes in prison librairies
Read more 

By Denise Hruby and Kaing Menghun

Sipar in the medias in 2012

Download the press book
 

Presentation to Cambodian media of the project «Hospital Schooling» launch In the Paediatric Cardiology Wing « The Alfredo and Elena Cuomo Care Unit» of Calmette hospital, Phnom Penh.

La Chaîne de l’Espoir and Sipar have held a press conference on December 6th, 2012, in the Paediatric Cardiology Wing, Calmette Hospital in Phnom Penh to present the project established and funded by the Cuomo Foundation - a major donor of the Paediatric Cardiology Wing at Calmette Hospital.

The project aims to reintegrate hospitalized children into education by offering them a stimulating learning programme, an educational and creative support whilst they are undergoing treatment.

The event was hosted by Professor YIT Sunnarong, Technical Director and Head of the Unit of Gynecology of Calmette Hospital, Mr. SAINTE-MARIE Denis, Director of La Chaîne de l’Espoir in Cambodia, and Mr. HOK Sothik, Director of Sipar.

A new step in the partnership between Chaîne de l’Espoir-SIPAR
After a year of weekly interactions between the Sipar mobile libraries and the Paediatric Cardiology Wing at the Calmette Hospital, both La Chaîne and Sipar have chosen to reinforce their partnership through work with hospitalized children. This will be carried out by establishing a permanent reading corner in the unit, in which educational and creative activities will be set up. One teacher, recently trained by Sipar specifically for «Hospital Schooling» will henceforth be working with the paediatric patients to improve their education during their stay in hospital.
Activities include story-telling, artistic and creative tasks (such as drawing and painting) and games that correspond with Books.
Furthermore, the mobile libraries will continue their work in the paediatric wards which is always conducted by a trained mobile librarian.
All the staff involved in the project work with all patients, regardless of their individual requirements and including those who are on bedrest.
In addition, 200 school kits adapted to their school level will be offered to several young patients hospitalized and in a situation of important insecurity.
of Calmette hospital, Phnom Penh

Visit of Mrs. Van Rompuy, the wife of Mr. Herman Van Rompuy, the President of the European Council

Sipar was really honored to receive the visit of Mrs. Geertrui Van Rompuy, the wife of Mr. Herman Van Rompuy, the current President of the European Council.
On an official visit to Cambodia this last 3rd and 4th of November with her husband, Mrs. Van Rompuy wanted to visit a project funded by the European Union in Cambodia. Sipar was selected to introduce its mobile libraries activities to Mrs. Van Rompuy.
On the 3rd of November, Mrs. Van Rompuy, assisted by Mrs. Sonia Cautain, the wife of the ambassador of the European Union in Cambodia, could therefore discover some reading animations (story telling, puppet sequence…) organized by our mobile librarian Mr. Kim Nay assisted by 2 volunteers in the village of Prek Talong 3 in the outskirt of Phnom Penh.
For this event, a special announce was made by the village chef and almost all the villagers participated in the activity. About 100 children and youngsters, many parents and grand-parents assisted to the reading activities and most of them were immersed in the books at their disposal at the time dedicated to self reading!
Mrs Van Rompuy told us that she had been really impressed by this real enthusiasm for reading and was also touched to have been able to share some time with some Cambodian villagers, very unpretentiously.

International prize to Sipar
IBBY - ASAHI

  Sipar has just received the  IBBY ASAHI Reading Promotion Awards 2012 , presented by IBBY ASAHI to projects run by groups or institutions that are judged to be making a lasting contribution to reading promotion for children and young people.

The prize presented to Sipar at the 33rd IBBY Congress in London on August 2012.

 Phnom Penh Post 

Book guides kids through Angkor by Roth Meas

The Exploring Angkor guide book was published by Sipar, an NGO that promotes literacy in Cambodia, after the organisation conducted a survey and found that children were curious about their cultural patrimony, Read more 

An account by M. Reth, a travel-librarian aboard a bus for Sipar in Cambodia

 My favorite spot to visit is without a doubt the tiny village of Krasang, attached to the community of Tchioun Kab ... which means “the foot that picks up ”. A strange name. Krasang is 20 kilometers to the south of Phnom Penh.
I go there every Wednesday afternoon. The families are mainly peasants who work in the rice fields. Each session gathers fifty children, all curious and eager.
I set myself up in the center of the village, under a surface covered by metal sheeting. The children literally devour the books and are always on the lookout for new publications. The selection has to be constantly renewed, a true pleasure.
My relationship with the village chiefs is excellent, and they are delighted with the regular visits of the library bus, the only access to books, since there is no library in the neighboring schools. We have set up a system of book collections  to be lent out which functions very well. The children take good care of the volumes.
We lack the means to renew our supply - more and more are needed for these avid readers. I sincerely hope that we can reply positively; it would be a shame to disappoint them.