Happy New Year
January 1, 2021
Happy International Women’s Day
March 1, 2021
HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY🥰
February, the month of love, but in 2021 the idea of a romantic dinner out is not a reality for most of us. Wherever you are, governments are working hard to combat COVID and it is no different in Cambodia. They have succeeded in containing the first community-acquired infection at the end of last year, and measures to contain it from overseas have ensured no more this year. You often see New Zealand as one of the front runners but people should look at Cambodia too!
With valentine's day coming up this weekend, rose stalls have appeared out of nowhere in Pursat, and cake shops have been flooded with reservations. In Cambodia it is the month of love and we are spreading this love out to you, our amazing supporters.💝
Adrian & Mayu 🦘👘
KINDLE BOOKS FINALLY RELEASED! 📘
The original TukBook series created by TukTuk, is now on Kindle and ready for everyone to read (and support TukTuk of course 😋). We are planning to make two new books this year, but we have already completed "Jack the Giant", "Happy Khmer New Year", and "Who Painted the Sky?", and these three books are finally available for reading on Kindle!!
The languages are Khmer and English, but we think you can also just enjoy the amazing illustrations ^^ You can watch "Jack the Giant" and "Who Painted the Sky?" as animations on YouTube (English subtitles version available).
THE NEW SEMESTER HAS STARTED!🏫
Due to the pandemic, the schools in Cambodia were closed for a while last year, but the new semester officially started on January 11th. It usually starts in November and finishes in August but this year school runs from January to October.
In January, we visited the education department offices and kindergartens in our target districts. Currently, class sizes should be less than 30 students meaning that they need to split a lot of classes in half. For this reason, most classes only run 3 days a week, and teachers are required to teach 6 days a week.
The little ankle biters are still highly motivated and especially energetic in the classes that we visited.
KHMER OF THE MONTH
Khmer Word: Bong Sroleanh Aun
This expression for "I love you". "Bong" refers to a man, "Sroleanh" means "I love you", "Aun" is a woman. Play around with the order of genders to make the right combination for your situation 😋
During Valentine's Day, there are many shops selling stuffed animals and bouquets in Cambodia. It seems that many young people spend time with their lovers in the city, but in the countryside, it is the day to say "thank you" to their families.
Khmer Food: Seang (preserved sweet soybeans)👇
DIGITAL LIBRARY IS TAKING SHAPE LITTLE BY LITTLE... 📱
Before the CLIP project introduced last month starts in earnest this month, each staff member is working on creating new TukBooks, activities, worksheets, and original songs every day. If you would like to check out the TukTuk teaching materials that have been completed so far, please take a look here ^^
In addition, the site in the "AccessBox" that can be attached to each kindergarten so that teachers and parents can freely take in online teaching materials is being completed little by little thanks to Lauren, Charlene and Neil of voluntukers.
This month, as a trial version, we are asking several teachers to actually use it and check the ease of use of the site and the categorization of teaching materials. Please look forward to future progress ♪
BLESSING FOR THE NEW TUKQUARTERS.. 🏢
Shortly after moving to the new office in January, a small service was held to bless the office and ensure our safety and prosperity.
It all began early in the morning when the monks and neighbours arrived, making offerings outside the office and praying together. After that, we all moved into the office where the monks walked around the rooms, sprinkling holy water, and chanting.
This was followed by our favourite past time, eating delicious Khmer food. We plan to be here for a long time so we are happy to invest in our future luck and happiness ^^
VOLUNTUKER SPOTLIGHT | Neil
Neil, who is an Irish expart living in Sydney, Australia is our volunteer of the month. He is a developer and all-around great guy with years of experience in startups and spending the last 3 years at PayPal. Neil is working with our UX team to get the software for the digital library up and running in time to install into schools in March. Thanks, Neil for all of the hard work you have put in and thanks PayPal for supporting Neil in his volunteering.
