FAMILY VILLAGE
Where everything was born
The origin
On December 16, 2014, Nicola first arrived at the Kampong Cham orphanage in Cambodia. It was a real coincidence to get there, even though in reality almost nothing happens by accident.
The desire to buy mattresses for all the children in the house, who slept on very uncomfortable tables, thus making them a special Christmas present, led him to write a post on Facebook, with which he asked for help from friends and acquaintances of social networks network. . In addition to mattresses, he was able to purchase food, clothes, school uniforms and bedroom materials.
The football field in the courtyard was renovated, an extraordinary Christmas party was organized and in those days the desire was born to found a non-profit organization and call it Viva La Vida.
At the end of 2015, after the tour of Australia by bicycle, the wind pushed our traveler to return to the Family Village of Kampong Cham, where he hugged his brothers again, promising, before leaving, to return to visit them in the future.
In March 2017 the book Controvento was released and in June of the same year, with the first proceeds from the sale, our projects moved to Cambodia, where Viva La Vida was born.
English lessons
The English class in the orphanage was started in 2017 by Pheaktra, one of the teenage boys who live there. In 2018 it was run by volunteers and a local teacher, then again Pheaktra and from the end of 2019 we were able to give it a constant shape thanks to the professionalism of Kattha, a Cambodian teacher who carries out this work with a lot of passion.
Kattha gives evening classes from Monday to Saturday, receives a salary and all the materials she needs to run the classes.
Computer Lessons
Again, many children have the opportunity to learn how to use a fundamental tool for the world of work, and this activity was also started in 2018 by a teenage boy who lives in the orphanage.
Bunthong managed the computer room with great professionalism and took care of all the material we delivered to him in the best possible way. At the end of 2020 he finished high school, moved to Phnom Pehn to study at the university and left the computer classes to his sister. Srey Neang is 17 years old, has received many teachings from his brother and carries out this job every day with a lot of passion.
Football Academy
With the children of the Family Village we started using football as an educational tool. Pheaktra also in this case was the artifice of all the work done in recent years and the field of the orphanage was the scene of many sporting events that involved hundreds of children from Kampong Cham.
The Kampong Cham Children Leaugue has become an event that everyone in the city knows and is organized whenever we have the opportunity.
Laboratory Sart Cambodia
After all the work we have done with the Sart Cambodia project in the Phum Thmey village, since the beginning of 2021 Pheaktra, which now manages the activities of the Viva la Vida Cultural Center, has also started a recycling laboratory in the Kampong Cham orphanage.
Here too the children recycle the model with a lot of passion and the Mamis who work in the center follow them during the activities.
Solidal shop
In the Family Village, art is at home: the girls make bracelets, dream catchers and hand bags and the boys make spectacular watercolor drawings. Since we knew this place we have always sold these beautiful objects in Europe, with the proceeds we bought useful things for those who produce them and we often took all the children to the center on vacation.
Sokya is the best at drawing, the art was handed down to him by a boy who in the past lived in the center and thanks to this great ability for several months he worked in the Viva la Vida Cultural Center teaching drawing to the boys and girls of Phum Thmey .
How to contribute to the project
You can help us in different ways:
- Buy our calendars or other items from the solidarity shop.
- You can adopt the center by paying a donation every month that will allow us to manage ongoing projects and keep the project going (find out more)
- You can allocate your 5x1000 to Viva la Vida Onlus C.F. 94030460789
- Organize events in your city, such as dinners, aperitifs, concerts, item sales, sweepstakes or anything to raise funds. Contact us if you are interested!
- Come directly to Cambodia to volunteer! In this way you will see with your own eyes what we do and you will be able to contribute in a practical way to our projects.
- Spread the word! Share the project with your friends via facebook or participate in crowdfunding events that we periodically open in response to the needs of children.