STAFF
When difficulties arise from opportunities.
Saran
Saran is the owner of the land where we built the Viva la Vida Cultural Center. In 2017 he worked as a tuk tuk driver in the city of Kampong Cham and thanks to this project he changed the lives of many children in his village and their family.
He is responsible for security, manages relations with the institutions and with the villagers, is indispensable when there are emergencies and is capable of doing all kinds of manual work.
With the pandemic we lost our English teacher and when it came time to fill the void we realized that her level of English is higher than that of all the teachers who worked in our school, so now she takes care of him directly. English lessons.
Pheaktra
He grew up in the orphanage of Kampong Cham and was the first boy we met in Cambodia in 2014. In all these years he managed the relations with the orphanage, taught English and organized all the sporting events where hundreds of people took part. of children.
Now he is 22 years old and since the beginning of 2021 he has moved to the Viva la Vida Cultural Center to manage all the activities and keep alive the work we have done over the years with so many sacrifices.
We are in contact with him every day to follow the activities and problems step by step, he creates all kinds of content for social networks and at the moment he is the representative of Viva la Vida Onlus in Cambodia.
Bonkein
Bonkein is Saran's wife and since 2019 she also works in the Viva la Vida Cultural Center.
She started cooking for the volunteers and now she takes care of the 30 children who are part of the Little Oasis project every day.
She goes to the market to buy food for the canteen, cooks lunch and dinner, she follows the children during meals and during personal hygiene activities, she takes care of the farm, the gardens and the cleaning of the center.
Srey Leab
Srey Leab began working in the Viva la Vida Cultural Center in February 2021, following a strong need to find a person capable of taking care of the boys and girls who live in the foster home.
She lives with them as an older sister, gives Khmer lessons in the Kindergaren, works on the farm, helps out in the recycling workshop, and takes care of small children who come to our center when older brothers or sisters have lessons. .
Together with her there is her little girl of just two years and thanks to this work she is moving away from a difficult period in her life.
Vannak
He is the father of Nana, Vanet, Manet, Nuna and Anau. We have been trying to help this family in every way since 2017 but a complicated character of their parents has always made everything very difficult.
We decided to offer this job to their dad to empower him and to make sure he has the opportunity to take care of his children in a dignified way.
Every day he takes all the children from the village to the public school and takes them home at the end of the lessons.
Ah Nat
In recent years Ah Nath has always participated with great enthusiasm in all the activities of the Viva la Vida Cultural Center. He always differentiated himself as a very serious guy and we always had a lot of faith in him.
He has recently finished high school and unfortunately his family does not allow him to go to university. They forced him to work in factories to bring money home but luckily we were able to keep him with us.
He does Khmer and Mathematics repetitions to all the children who need it, Khmer dance lessons with the girls and helps with all the activities that take place every day.
Apoa, Nana & Srey Nit
Apoa, Nana and Srey Nit live in our house and in these years they have become the soul of this project. Some more and some less, they all had a very complicated childhood and luckily the Viva la Vida Cultural Center first became an important point of reference and now their home.
They take care of the center in every respect and carry out many activities. Apoa mainly deals with the computer room and maintenance of the center; Nana from the kindergarten and the house, and Srey Nit from the recycling lab and a dental hygiene project in the public school.
Eng, Vanny, Ah Long & Ah Eng
By now for us they are the Plastic Boys, all vulnerable children who have left school risking to find themselves in dangerous situations. In recent years it has always been very difficult to manage them but in the end we are happy to have given them an opportunity to improve their living conditions and to take the first steps in the world of work in a family environment.
With commitment and seriousness, they collect and wash all the plastic that is consumed in the village. Their commitment is appreciated by all the families of Phum Thmey and by the need to involve them in something that would have taken them off the street, a small plastic collection "company" is being born.
How to contribute to the project
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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.