Eleven-year-old Buor Seiha recalls what those lessons were like: “Each time it rained, we almost got soaked. We didn’t have chairs and tables. I had to put my chalkboard on the mat and crouch over it as I wrote.”The school director, Meak Hun, did his job as best he could, but says: “Teaching was extremely difficult. I had to teach students outside villagers’ houses.” 

One of MAG Cambodia’s all-female teams came to clear the land of dangerous items. It took more than six weeks to complete clearance on enough land needed to build a school. During the process, six items of UXO were found and destroyed. 

Once the land was safe, a school was built with the support of two international non-governmental organizations, Sustainable Cambodia and Save the Children Norway. 

“The number of students [before the school was built] was only around 30 to 40, as the learning environment was not good,” says Meak Hun. “Students faced a lot of hardship. Many students went fishing, cutting wood or picking bamboo shoots instead of coming to class.”Today, about 300 students attend classes there, a notable change from the way things were.

The local authorities and parents now cooperate to make sure that all children are sent to school.

Another student, Phan Hoeurm, is happy to have the opportunity to study in a proper classroom. She says, simply: “Now we have a good school.”