OBK is the paradise for these “little monkeys”, as the monitors affectionately call them. A colourful place where kids can play, jump, climb, dance and enjoy lots of activities with their friends.
This project started five years ago, as a response to Central’s monitors who noticed that the youngest children – between the ages of two and seven – were not in the right programme and needed a special one for themselves. This way, their needs would be better met and they would have all the attention that these ages require. In addition, it is the perfect place for PSE’s employees to leave their children during their working day.
“Most of the parents who bring their children here, have been chosen by the Social Team. They usually look for the poorest and neediest families to help their children. They are very prudents and take good care of their children. That’s why most parents trust and believe in the organization,” OBK’s manager, Sitha Chan.
At this short age, they are like sponges and absorb everything immediately, and are always full of desire and energy.
However, these facilities are not only used during the School Continuity Program in the summer. Throughout the year it is a school, of which many of the project’s children are students. Which makes things much easier for the monitors, as the children they take care of are already in the educational system, entering the world of PSE and its dynamics.
In OBK, the activities are really diverses and adapted to the kids’ ages. At this short age, they are like sponges and absorb everything immediately, and are always full of desire and energy.
Any kind of routine, such as brushing your teeth or taking a shower, becomes a game that everyone plays everyday in the same order. The first thing they do when they arrive is having breakfast together, and those who already had breakfast at home can freely play until their friends finish. The monitors, singing and dancing, welcome the children for this one day more they will spend at the paillote. Afterwards, some chuas are made, dividing the kids into different teams allowing the Khmers monitors to sign up the kids who came. This has to be done every day so that on Friday they can receive the rice compensation if they have come at least three days out of five.
The flag ceremony is one of the most important part of the day. In Cambodia it is very important to do it every day with all the children sing the national anthem, explaining why the monitors make them repeat it several times : to emphasize the great meaning it has.
After this emotional moment, they explain the objectives to be achieved during the day and the different activities that are going to be developed so that the kids feel really involved at any time. It is really important that the children feel themselves as an essential part of the project. For example, some children do not want to play to the proposed activities and they are not obliged to do so, but in exchange they are asked to participate to the daily tasks, such as cleaning the classrooms. In this way, they get busy otherwise and feel they are fullt invoved in OBK’s life and keep looking forward to come.
Then the activities begin. They are different every day, and shorter exercises are alternated with larger ones to which everyone participates, such as decorating and putting a name on a toothbrush so the kids don’t lose it. The most fun and special day is, without any doubt, Friday with the Olympics.
Every morning, around half past ten, activities are stopped for daily meditation. Not all the children manage to concentrate, but it helps them to relax a little after the excitement that the morning games produced.
Nothing that is done in OBK is boring, in the chua in front of the sink where they brush their teeth the children are always smiling. When they’re done, two monitors take care of their showers. The kids are independent when it comes to get dressed and undressed, which facilitates the work of the volunteers. Afterwards, the lunch is served and they get ready for the siesta (“nap” in spanish, used this way during the summer programs.
Nothing that is done at OBK is boring to them.
The nap ends with songs and dances from the monitors, so that the children wake up lively and happy. There’s also big games every week, which differs depending on the day of the week. Mondays are for Ferias (fair), Tuesdays are for the water parties. “What I like the most is the waterparty”, Dara Chan, one of the children of the project. On Wednesdays, they prepare a show with three big categories – cinema, painting or outdoor games – among which the children can choose and change as they wish.
On Thursday, games are more emotional-intelligence-oriented. For example, they make a theater about a colored monster who has to separate his emotions with the help of the children while the monitors play the narrators of the story. This is a good way for them to learn how to differentiate them. The exercises done with them are simple and basic, adapted to their age.
“For the exercises with emotional intelligence, we are doing a lot of painting activities, because these children are very reassured and for them it is very easy. For example, the other day, they painted the contour of their hands and colored it according to how they had felt throughout the week and at home. Blue was happiness, red was anger, sadness. We were happy because we saw that most of the hands were blue almost every day,” explains Paula, European coordinator of OBK.
“For the exercises with emotional intelligence, we are doing a lot of painting activities, because these children are very reassured and for them it is very easy”, Paula.
Finally, on Friday there is a party during the afternoon uring which are given the prensents obtained during the morning Olympics and the weekly rice bags.
In OBK, joy is found at every corner, in every classroom, in every activity. Children give the best of themselves both in games and their very new friendships. These “little monkeys” fill the entire OBK grounds with vitality and love for all the people who care for them.
