OUR SECOND BUILD
For our second project, Saavan’s Trust, again joining forces with ActionAid, is building a secondary school in Kampot, Cambodia.
As well as building six new classrooms, a library and a community hall, the build will also include a garden and vegetable plot offering improvements to the quality of teaching and the standards of education.
To kick start the project, a small team of family, friends and Trustees headed out to Kampot in January 2023 to work on the foundations. We spent five days on site digging, transporting rocks and cement, bricklaying, rendering, building steel pillars and creating concrete columns to form the base of the soon to be secondary school.
Access to secondary education for children in this area is often very difficult due to the long commute and transport costs, which is not only unaffordable for most families, but comes with the risk of traffic accidents, harassment, or abuse.
The new project will be on the same site as the existing Oddom Meanchey Primary, but will serve another three primary schools nearby, providing over 500 children access to secondary education – a provision the local community has been trying to arrange for over ten years.
We were greeted with warmth and love from the local community, who hosted several celebrations in honour of the new school. Every day we had the privilege of interacting with the local children, who were curious of the work we were doing. They became more confident as the week went on - asking us to play games and join in activities – with masses lots of high fives and fist bumps for good measure!
Fundraising events and the generosity of family and friends were our main source of funding, however the overall target of £150K wouldn’t have been possible without Bulletproof, our Brand Creative Agency which matched every donation pound for pound! This target covers all of the build and ensures ActionAid stay involved in the project for several years until the school becomes sustainable.
It is hoped the school will be up and running by August 2023 and we will keep everyone updated on the progress.
Once again thank you to everyone who donated, fundraised, and supported us on this truly life-changing project.
OUR FIRST BUILD
For our first project Saavan’s Trust worked together with ActionAid to build a school in Barmurikona, a small rural village within the Assam region of India.
The school has capacity for 850 pupils, providing local children a solid education and the local community a place to come together, discuss community matters and celebrate social and religious festivities.
Saavan’s Trust raised £149k in total for the build in Barmurikona via donations from individuals and companies and various small fundraising events, such as charity runs, cooking challenges and fitness related competitions.
In November 2019 the Trustees together with some close friends flew out to Barmurikona village and were greeted as extended family by the local community. After a gruelling schedule of clearing ground, digging foundations and breaking rocks for underpinning the site, the first bricks were laid by the trustees and friends on site.
The school was set for completion in February 2021, but due to COVID 19 there was an understandable delay. We’re proud to say the school opened in November 2021.
The school is already becoming an important hub for Barmurikona community and will employ local teachers who will empower and educate children who have no access to education from nursery level through to pre-university students, based on an English school system syllabus.