CHALLENGE JANUARY!

A small team of us (Stefanie Austin, Megan Mccormick, Emma Tilley, Mama Tilley) have decided to give something up in our lives during the month of January. Some of us are going VEGAN for January and some are doing DRY JANUARY! We would be eternally grateful for any donations you can provide… no matter how big or small. Help fund us to go and educate these communities and help those living with special needs in Cambodia have the best chance in life!

Any money that is raised through this event will go straight towards helping those with special educational needs in Battambang, Cambodia.This is the first of many fundraising events that we plan to run this year.

If you would like to keep up to date with events we are running and the work we are doing in Cambodia, please leave your email address in the comments!

Where it all started

Days after qualifying as speech and language therapists, we set off to travel South East Asia. We worked as teachers in an international school in Cambodia for 3 months, which is when our love and passion for the country and its people began. A one way trip to Asia, with no definite plans, turned out to be the most inspiring and eye opening experience of our lives.

During our time as teachers, we were exposed to the lack of awareness and understanding of special needs in Cambodia. The concept of Autism and other forms of learning difficulties were unheard of and overlooked. Often children with any form of disability were seen as ‘bad children’ and were punished for their behaviour or for the difficulties they had.

A bit about us...

As speech and language therapists, who currently work with children/adults with special educational needs in the UK. We feel it is our duty to educate and raise awareness of special needs worldwide, starting in Cambodia.

Since visiting Cambodia on three separate occasions, we have a large network of Cambodian friends who want to work alongside us to advance the knowledge in this country and to help people with disabilities to be able to unlock their true potential.

Current Action Plan

We are currently in the process of registering our charity ‘CAMUniKate’ in the UK. This charity will aim to educate local teachers in Cambodia about how to teach children with communication difficulties to maximise their participation in school. This will be done through offering free workshops and teacher training days. In addition, we have plans to open a primary school for children with communication difficulties in Battambang, Cambodia. This will be the only school for children with special educational needs in Battambang, Cambodia.