Children
While some of the children still occasionally skip school, by and large they have been attending regularly and Lyna wrote “I have some very encouraging info to report to you and that is the kids are doing very well with their study; they all have high grades. The Khmer teacher is very pleased with their progress, saying they are very smart and study very hard. It seems that there’s a competition among the kids and their families and no one wants to be left out now.”

Two children we were particularly worried about who had been withdrawn suddenly, have returned to school. The oldest is being held back a year to Grade 3 because of poor attendence, but they’re both doing better now, which was very welcome news.

Project
Lyna was working in Vietnam for much of November. She’s going for some social work training in December and the social worker has gone for some, a two-day training by Chab Dai Coalition, a Christian anti-trafficking and child abuse NGO coalition, and a one-year monthly course on training, funded by World Vision International.

There was a complaint about Lyna over fees paid for a birthfamily search, in which the client said that some of the money in question had been sent to RiverKids. None of it was, and after looking into the matter, I believe it’s a miscommunication and fee dispute, and I still have full confidence in Lyna. A detailed email on the matter was posted in response, and can be read here.

The forms have been slower to fill out than anticipated as the social worker is not experienced at personal interviews and reportedly apprehensive. Lyna hs accompanied him on some of them and expects him to be able to complete them soon. Basic information has been filled in, but not the family details.

We are thinking of getting holiday packages for the children. Instead of toys, we plan on putting together art supplies and bringing some art and drawing books for their afterschool class aas well.

The Kindercare orphanage address is:
#34, Str. 360,
Sangkat Beung Keng Kong I
Khan Chomkarmon
Phnom Penh

The address of the church which has lent us a room for the afterschool programme is:
# 24B, Str. 304,
Sangkat Beung Keng Kong II
Khan Chomkarmon
Phnom Penh

Our workshop project is starting to come together, and I’m hopeful that solid progress will be made by January.

We did hope to have holiday cards this year, but the design was not completed in time.

Financial
Also, I opened a DBS bank account (D006-9-046509) with the balance of the funds in it, S$2,393.09 (US$1,419.84). All the donations, fund transfers etc. will go through this account from now on, making it less of a tangle.

We’ve also decided to list donor names unless donors request anonymity. We’re working on a way to recognize donors next year as well.
On the 24th October, I transferred US$1,340 for the October fees. For November, I’m transferring US$$1,683 over.

The 10% buffer for October was used for stationary and some related costs, but I need to get a detailed listing first, so I’ve assumed a balance of $0 to carry over to November while October’s costs are finalized. Any balance from October will be joined to any balance of November, and both carried over to December. I also changed the spreadsheet so it’s clearer that personal costs of our family are distinct from RiverKids costs, and are not paid for by donations etc.