On April 7th this year I will be running the Sihanoukville International Half Marathon in Cambodia to raise money for SeeBeyondBorders, a UK based charity that supports teachers in Cambodia.

In December last year I was lucky enough to visit both Siem Reap and Phnom Penh in Cambodia. Whilst in the capital, Phnom Penh, I visited the memorial grounds and museum commemorating the genocide that devastatingly led to the death of nearly a quarter of Cambodians throughout the late 1970s. It was shocking to learn about what happened in this time so recently, especially something of such scale that is seldom taught elsewhere.

Cambodia is still suffering from the lasting consequences of this period, and unfortunately, the education of their children has been affected significantly. As Polpot’s regime targeted predominantly those who were educated, as many as 90% of Cambodia’s teachers were killed in the 4 year genocide. By 1980, there were only 15 secondary schools left in Cambodia.

SeeBeyondBorders UK provides access to quality teaching at primary schools in rural Cambodia. They support teachers to train other teachers, and provide mentoring to develop their skills. They also actively work with the government to ensure teacher professional development is part of the education strategy. Since 2009 they have trained 523 teachers in 199 schools to educate 27,000 children. As Cambodia slowly recovers from civil war, education is a clear route out of poverty.

Thank you for reading and feel free to donate if you can :)