News & Events
Advancing gender equality
During the last decade, Cambodia has made a lot of progress on gender equality. From 2009 to 2018, the government passed a series of laws and measures to increase gender equality as part of its Gender Mainstream Strategic Plan and its Strategy for Gender Equity in TVET. These laws helped promote gender equality in education and vocational training. They helped women find job opportunities, and encouraged better social attitudes and favorable conditions for women’s participation in all working sectors. To continue this undeniable progress, Cambodia must continue to work toward gender equality. Women are still underrepresented in politics and public decision making, higher education, and certain work sectors. According to a 2011 study by USAID, girls still have a higher… Read more
Developing tomorrow’s leaders
At Anjali, we know being a good leader is key to success at school, work, or in your community. We prioritize developing leadership skills for both the young adults in our Future Leaders program, and as continued training for Anjali’s staff. That's why, our young adults and staff participate in workshops and training at Anjali and with our partners throughout the year. Our young adults learn skills that will give them a leg up in higher education and their careers To prepare our young adults for professional life, we organize workshops, soft skills classes, and service learning through community projects. Public education in Cambodia focuses on topics like English, history, or science. We believe that in addition to these… Read more
Once upon a time in Anjali’s garden
From a small beginning… In 2014, Anjali outgrew its old space and moved to a new location to accommodate more students. The new site was a former crocodile farm, offering more spaces for classrooms and staff offices. Behind the building was an untouched acre of wasteland which no one paid any attention to. However, two years later, Anjali welcomed a new long term volunteer, Annie, who decided to fundraise to turn this area into a productive space. From this wild land, our organic garden became a place where winter melon, eggplant, herbs, morning glory and many more plants could flourish. We created a beautiful, sustainable, organic garden that helped feed 120 children every day for four years. Thanks to one… Read more
Commitment to their community – a priority for our young adults
Our Future Leaders Program focuses on volunteering and internships in addition to skillbuilding. We encourage our young adults to attend events and participate in projects that will improve their community. Because our students benefit from being part of Anjali, we want them to give back through community service. Keep reading to hear some of their thoughts on these projects! In 2019, the young adults completed two community walks to collect litter. To further help them understand the importance of taking care of the environment, they did three tree planting events. Through these actions, they learned about nature, environmental issues, and how to take care of the place where they live. “When we were picking up the rubbish, we influenced people. We… Read more
Anjali’s improvements for 2020
We’re always working to expand and improve the impact of our NGO and offer the best services we can to our community. That’s why we underwent a review of our work in 2019. We saw that the community we serve is more financially stable and better able to provide basic care to their children than they were when we first founded our charity. We’re deepening our emphasis on early education, community engagement, and scholarships, and growing our family to over 200 students and their families. What changes are you making? We want to become a real community center and involve everyone in our work. One way we’re involving the community is by establishing a Parent Council and Student Council.… Read more
An eye on the city
From November 25th to December 3rd, forty of our students participated in the Anjali Photo Workshops, part of the 15th edition of the Angkor Photo Festival. These workshops have a special place in our heart - Anjali House was originally founded as part of the festival! For seven days, the children explored Siem Reap and its surroundings, looking for the perfect photograph. By searching for interesting places or moments, they learned to sharpen their photographic eye. They visited the Tonle Sap, Buddhist pagodas, the Psar Leu market, an Angkor-era temple, a traditional Khmer boxing class, the “beach” at Cambo Beach, and Phare Circus (a traditional Cambodian circus show). The students also visited Chreav Village and Bakong Village outside of Siem… Read more
Back to school
At the end of October, Khmer public school reopened for the new school year. At Anjali House, we were busy getting ready for the start of the school year and distributing school supplies like uniforms, shoes, notebooks, and pens. After two months of vacation, it is time for the children to go back to school! Anjali House is a complement to Khmer public school, which means that all of our children must be registered in a government school to participate in our programs. In Cambodia, students go to public school for just half a day, so our children spend the other half of the day at our center. We believe every child has the right to an education. That's why… Read more
Happy Halloween from Anjali House!
On Thursday, October 31st, we celebrated Halloween at Anjali House. We marked the day with costumes, decorations, scary masks, games, laughter, and, of course, some candy! To kick off our Halloween party, the children participated in a mask contest. We had a small fashion show so that the judges could decide whose mask was the most scary or creative! The children then split into teams for different games and challenges like: Dressing each other up to look like mummies Trying to pass handfuls of flour from one teammate to another Challenging their teammates to a bag race Identifying mystery items in a "scary box" Showing off their acting skills in a mime game Knocking down all the pins at water… Read more