On Thursday April 12th the PLF team went to Koh Ker village to have Khmer New Year Party. Four of my classmates and I went with them to make a video about it. We went by van and it took a long time.  We left Chey school to Koh Ker school at 7am. We spent 4 hour to Koh Ker school. We were happy to get to Koh Ker.

Our team and Diana arrived at Koh Ker

We went to Koh Ker to film the New Year party and interview the teachers and students. We film the students playing games and dance. They danced to loud music. We asked the students who win the game, “How do you feel when you are a winner?” And we asked the teacher, “How do you feel when it is Khmer New Year?” we were very happy to film and play with the students. It was difficult at first to use the microphone because we never did this before.  We all want to make interviews with the microphone because we look like news reporters.

The PLF team cooked noodles with the chicken for lunch. It was a good lunch. After lunch we took video of the people dancing. After dancing it was the time to walk to Koh Ker temple. We walked through the village and took video of the houses. We took some photo of Koh Ker temple. The temple is big and very beautiful. And we also made a video too, that called Khmer New Year at Koh Ker Village.

Then we went back to the van to go home. Everyone was very happy with the day but very tired after the trip. Now we have finished editing the video on iMovie. We put it on YouTube and you can watch it here on our blog.

What do you think of our video? We want to know what celebrations you enjoy. Please leave a comment below, we look forward to see your comment because we like to read comment. It makes us very happy. We will share our blog to you.

Rasey

Reasey, 16, lives in Chey Village and studies in grade 9 at Samduch Ouv High School. She is an alumni of Tchey School and continues to study computers at the PLF Tchey School computer lab. Her favorite subjects are English and Khmer. She loves to write stories and make videos to share with the world. She has recently learned the “Art of the Interview”.

left to right is Sohear, Somoun, Sen

Four months ago we started to make the video at Chey School with the Traveling Teacher making films to tell our own story to the world. In one week the team made they own stories. But our video was about broken wells in the village. It was not the secreted and not to bragged story for us but those show something always happens every day. We were finished and upload it on the Internet in a few months many audiences around the United States watched it. Also the blueheartcharity who saw our video and believed in us, for now he is coming soon to fix the well.

Especially, I am so proud of Diana is the good teacher. She came and provides us the bright enterprise and taught with the best skill videos. Therefore many friends and I felt never can tell our story to the world. After we met the American teacher we understand about the technology.

We like this project and we hope more videos can get produced. We need enough equipment to begin the first media company for us. We would like to developing our countries progress.

At first we not believed about this but after a month. What happens? We were surprised that so many audiences like and watched our videos. They also send us comments. It was the happy time for our groups. Those commented were very importance words. It was very honor for us. Ponheary Ly and Lori Carlson are as humanitarian. They helped poor student to school and provided them able to see an other opportunities and another purpose.

L-R is Sen, Sohear, Som oun, Sopha (Angkor Film Festival)

Moreover The PLF has begun to make a media project and now we can see more opportunity with dignity. Why now we are looking forward to development?  Because, Cambodia was in the wartime. After war Cambodia seems there was nothing, so many people was refugee.

Therefore, there was a lot of poverty. That is a fact; and we want to make the video to tell. Lori Carlson provided us some history videos. This video tells about population death after war. Essentially, this is a first that we made with consequence.

We researched some history about the PLF by interviewing Lori Carlson and made a new Video and put it on Good Tube. We hope can compete in the competition. You can watch it on Goodtube and make us a comment or share to Facebook and give us a 5 star rating. We hopefully, can win a prize so we can create our media lab.

Basically, Cambodia needs to move forward to provide new business for the youths. Half the people in Cambodia are under the age 20, so it is up to us to change country and our obligation to develop ourselves, obviously.

We hope when everyone see our video I hope all of you like it and don’t forget  write for us with the comment and rate it and please share on your face book. Because then we can get points and maybe win!

A phenomenal and touching first-hand account of what it’s like to live in the center of the Water Crisis. This short, made by Cambodian students on an iPad 2, perfectly illustrates what we mean when we say, “digging is the easy part”.

Thanks to Diana Gross, the Traveling Teacher for this photo of the team.

Congratulations to Sen, Som Oun, and Sopha. This was an amazing honor on their first go at documentary film-making and we’re very proud of this accomplishment.

Don’t forget to read the backstory on the Student’s Blog

If you like the idea of our students learning about technology and how to use it to bridge the economic divide, please consider supporting PLF technology initiatives.

Because we put our Water Well video on YouTube, our team has a volunteer coming to teach us to fix the well. His name is Eugene Nelson and his organization is called Blue Heart Charity. He asked us to make a  video about his organization’s work in our village, so on Wednesday 25 April, we Skyped with him. We were at Chey School and he was in United States. We talked about how to make a video for him.

Mr. Nelson  will arrive on Monday 14^th May 2012. He also comes to fix some wells in our village. He provides our team with money to make a video for him about fixing the well. We had to skype with him to ask about how long to make the video, what music to put on the video, what to show in the video, and who the audience will be because he is our client.

It was the 2^nd time to Skype for us. We were able to see Mr. Nelson face to face and we asked him questions about when he comes in May. Now we are planning for the video by writing the script and brainstorming the video shots. We are happy to make video for Mr. Nelson and to show the activities of fixing the well to our audience.

Som Oun is 14 years old and lives Kok Snoul village in Siem Reap Province, Cambodia. He is in grade 8 at Somdach Ouv High School and an alumni of Tchey School. His first video “Water Wells in My Village” hooked Som Oun on being a cameraman. He continues to make videos as part of the PLF Video Production Team.

In 2008, The Ponheary Ly Foundation brought us computers in Chey Primary School. They were One Laptop Per Child (XO) computers that had software Write, e-toys, Paint and Scratch. I started studying computers in 2009. I was very glad when I could study computer. At first, we have only 16 XO, but from year to year we have more and more computers. In 2010 the PLF brought 13 desktop computers and 20 more XO laptops. I am really enjoy computer XO and desktop. It has given me a lot of knowledge about Microsoft Office that I never knew before. I love Microsoft Office.

In December 2011 we have started to make a project video that taught by Diana the Traveling Teacher. She came and taught us how to make a video and use camera, and to study about of to the brainstorm ideas for our projects. It was the first time for us and very difficult to make a video. Even though it was new and difficult for us, I wanted to try to do it because I have seen Toy Story and Titanic and I wanted to know how to make movies too. The hardest part for us to learn was how to brainstorm ideas for the videos and how to make storyboards before we start to take the video. We had to think a lot about what our video would look like. My team and I decided to make a video about My Future Dreams and how much I love computers. We made this project by Camera, Ipad, and use Imovie. We have only one week to make a video, it is a short time for us.

We were really proud when we finished our project and put it onto Youtube. Also we felt really wonderful when we saw comments with our video and we read them. It was really cool for us because we did not know about Youtube and that we can make a video and put it there for people to watch.

Nowadays we start to make a new New Digital Media Lab. This time we work with a very different computer. We make a blog and more videos. We now have Macbook computers that have the software iMovie and SD card ports, an iPad, and new video cameras that have very good quality. Also we now have tripods and microphones.

Especially, I want to make a new blog, because I never know it and never think that can make it before. I am really happy when I make a blog because I can show many people our lives and activities that we have studied, and we can put our videos here. And you can comment and tell us what you think.

Please leave a comment. And tell us where you are from! ~ by Sothy

Sothy is a graduate of Pouck High School in Siem Reap Province and a Tchey School alumni. He is currently a student at Pannasas Tra University. He is also an assistant English teacher and XO computer teacher at Tchey School. He continues to study technology through the Ponheary Ly Foundation. If he could go anywhere in the world for a visit, he would go to Australia to see the opera house.

Accompanying Ponheary is Farida Mot, PLF Field Director. This is her first trip out of Cambodia and to say that Farida is excited about the conference would be a serious understatement. Look for her post about the event when they return.

Ponheary and Farida in the home of PLF supporters Tami Kim and Jae Cho

Friends in Singapore have surrounded our team with familiar faces and helped out with transport and lodging, not to mention introducing our team to the joys of Singaporean food~!

Thank you Singapore for making this possible

Nicole and Ernest introduce Ponheary and Farida to the finer aspects of Singapoream dining.

Ponheary giving her presentation (above)  and Farida brainstorming with her international group (below), from Philippines, Vietnam, Singapore Malaysia & Bangladesh

Her name is RATHA. She is 9 years old. She studies in grade 2 at CHEY School. She likes to go to school. Her favorite subject is math. She lives with her mother and her grandmother. Her family is poor. She doesn’t have father. Sometimes they don’t have money to buy good food.

Her mother wants her to keep studying. Her mother stopped studying in grade 2. Her mother wants her to finish studying and have a good job. When she finishes studying and has a good job she can eat a lot of good foods and help her family. She likes to study very much. She hopes that Ponheary Ly Foundation will keep helping her to study. She wants to be a Tailor and make clothes.

In her free time RATHA likes to help her mother grow plants, play with the children in her village, do her homework and read Khmer storybooks.

RATHA thinks in her future she can have a good job and help her family. For me I think she can have a good job if she studies a lot.

Can Ratha have a good job in the future?

What do you think?

Chenda, 16, studies in grade 9 at Sumduch Ouv High School in Siem Reap Provence. She likes to study Khmer and English. She has studied computers at the PLF Tchey School lab since 2008. Her favorite project so far was her video “How to Plant  Banana Tree”. In her free time, she likes to play with the children in her village.

In February 2012 the Ministry of Education Youth and Sport celebrated a sporting event for all of the government schools in Siem Reap Province. Competing in the event was a team from the Bamboo Shoot Dormitory, all of whom attend Angkor High School.

The first match with Teacher Training School team

The girl’s volleyball team lives in Angkor High School Dormitory and are supported by their high school and parents, NGO2 and PLF. The girl’s team has twelve players and they all study in grade 11. In the team have two girls that came from Preah Vihear Province and ten each came from another district of Siemreap Province; most of them are from villages more than 50 km away. They have practiced volleyball since last year and been coached by a professional high school sports coach from Kampong Thom Provice.

In 2011 the team got the silver trophy (2nd) of Siemreap Girl Volleyball Championship. In this year 2012, they got three matches with 4 schools and they won all of three matches. The first match of them started on 11th with Teacher Training Center School. The second match started on 16th with Wat Chork School and the third match started on 18th with Dom Dek School. the team received the gold trophy (1st) on 28th February 2012, the day of closing event.

PLF Volunteers go to support the girl on the second match and congratulation with their victory

After that they got invited by the government to challenge The Girl Volleyball National Championship at Kampot Province. The event will take place in two weeks and join by all of girl volleyball team from all of province in Cambodia. They will go on 25th of March to there.

We’re proud of them that they join in the National Competition. Their transportation, eating and sleeping are sponsored by Ministry of Education Youth and Sport. Our Foundation wants to sponsor to them around $225.00 USD for sports drinks and snacks for the two weeks there.