A grand reopening in Siem Reap

From our Kaliyan Mith team in Siem Reap, Program Director Ampor provides a tour of the newly re-opened Drop in Center in Siem Reap, servicing the most vulnerable and at risk children in the Siem Reap town center.

Kaliyan Mith has this month re-opened a Drop in Center in Siem Reap town center on the first floor of a new building. The building is still in need of some minor renovations, but it’s a great building with lots of potential and is in a super location for our work. Four other project activities (sewing and screen printing training workshops, Home Based Production and Restaurant Vocational Training Level 2) will eventually be run under the same roof.

In central Siem Reap the majority of street working children are aged between 11 and 15 and are not attending school. They are amongst the most vulnerable and at risk children that Kaliyan Mith work with – a high number are not in contact with their families. This newly opened Drop in Center will provide non-formal education, life skills, recreational activities, etc and help Kaliyan Mith social workers better engage with these children, and open individual case management to work with these children on building a better future.  Since its reopening just last week an average of 20 children per day are already regularly attending the Drop in Center.

Kaliyan Mith also conducts night outreach along the riverbank in Siem Reap – a popular location for young sex workers, drug users and older street living youth. The new Drop in Center is close to the riverbank, and following surveys in which our young target group expressed an interest in attending an early evening drop-in/youth club, Kaliyan Mith is now working over the coming months to establish this project for vulnerable youth.