In the heart of Phnom Penh, capital of Cambodia, this very special Montessori school hosts a hundred of students from 2-20 years.
SEAMETREY CHILDREN'S VILLAGE - Phnom Penh
At the origin of this project is a woman, Muoy You.
Her four children are university graduates and have high positions all around the globe. Yet this Cambodian woman grew up in a squat in Phnom Penh during the Vietnam War. Her father was a bicycle repairman and her mother an illiterate street vendor. But she loved learning and had good results at school. She won a scholarship in 1972 to study in France. This saved her from killing fields where her parents, brothers and sisters died.
A country to rebuild: In April 1975, the Khmer Rouge removed the entire population of Phnom Penh in the surrounding countryside to make them slave laborers. During the four years that followed, the ultra-Maoists have eliminated all teachers and other intellectuals, which had the effect of destroying all the culture and values of the society. Cambodia still hasn’t recovered.
Education for everyone:
Back in her country 20 years later, Muoy wanted to participate to the reconstruction of her country and change the fate of Cambodians by providing children of all backgrounds, workers, farmers, cleaners ... a quality education.
"I do not just want them to learn to read and write, she said, I want them to become professionals, writers, thinkers, artists ..." She opened a school in the center of Phnom Penh, which has grown over the years.
How? Solidarity.
Parents pay according to their means. The poor do not pay, others pay what they can, and the children of expatriates or wealthy locals pay the total price of schooling. For the latters, besides the quality of education their children receive, it is a motivation to participate in this project that gives obvious results.
Part of the building was converted to a guest-house which also helps the school to be self-financing, while visitors do some solidarity tourism. A swimming pool, a small restaurant, a juice bar sometimes held by students, nice big rooms in the heart of the city and daily encounter with Seametrey's children make a stay in Pnomh Penh very nice, and all profits go to school.
The school looks like a dream come true. All made of noble wood, bamboos and mats on the floor, it is composed of many large cool rooms, nooks and crannies, mezzanines and more importantly, a huge semi-covered garden, landscaped for playing on one side, and on the other, small workshops. Children can move freely in this real "children's village "
« Le café », which in addition to serving of snack corner allows children to learn how to use all kinds of utensils and develop the hand grip.
A "water area" essential to wash and rewash one’s watering can!
The reading corner, which is far from being the only place in the school where children can sit quietly and read many books in three languages (Khmer, English and French)
The painting area: Paint, crayons, markers, books about the great artists of the world are available to children in this corner of the garden.
Construction and climbing games... to develop motor skills.
To develop balance...
And learn how to control a ship in a storm!
Muoy You is a Montessori teacher with a great experience in education and has been trained at the International Montessori center in London « At Seametrey, we help each child reach his full intellectual potential by giving him a solid foundation, and we work to bring out the best of him, to make him happy to learn but also ready to share and enjoy the extent of his knowledge »
Downstairs, a 2 to 3 environment with the adequate material.
A "cultural" room for the 3 to 6: History, geography, biology ... The material of Cambodia’ s history is chosen with particular care in order to upgrade the history of the children’s country.
A room dedicated to language and english. Here the "metal inserts" so appreciated by the children who develop techniques of gripping the pen and the lines of drawing, which indirectly introduces them to different geometric shapes..
The sensorial corner
Mathematics and geometry.
And the practical life.
An artist's studio with an art teacher who is always present. The 3-6 can come freely to create any time of the day.
A beautiful library with books in Khmer, english and french.
Above the garden, on a mezzanine, a room dedicated to the learning of reading and writing in Khmer, the most spoken language in Cambodia, where children, from the youngest to the oldest, take turns throughout the day.
On the first floor, the older ones have a much more structured time-table: history, geography, mathematics, geometry, social sciences, philosophy, French, music, and chinese classes …
There are already a few Montessori materials for the 6-12 year-olds, but the trained volunteer has now gone. An other one is needed so they can start a real Montessori environment, as they wish.
Here a discussion in English taught by one of the many volunteers.
Students come here to do their research.
The olders’ reading corner, on an other mezzanine, where students can come between classes or at the end of the day, to read books and magazines quietly.
There is the Khmer staff, which consists of a team of 10 adults working since a long time in the children’s village. And there are the volunteers who work there for varying lengths of time, sometimes three months, sometimes a year. They have different skills such as music, art, English, Chinese ... or Montessori training. Trained volunteers train the permanent staff and the other volunteers.
This is where volunteers are housed, enjoying the same patio with pool than the guest house. Of all nationalities, all disciplines and all ages, volunteers are all driven by the same passion and form a nice cohesive team.
It's the end of the day and a little concert is improvised in the courtyard, "Give peace a chance" is sang in chorus.
For this extraordinary school to continue, and because there are plans to open another children’s village like this one outside of Phnom Penh, Seametrey needs new volunteers to teach and/or train their staff (see volunteer's corner for details)
