Friends House in Phnom Penh

Best Friends in Cambodia

Student activities

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1. 1. The Friends program has been described as 'child-centred'. What does 'child-centred' mean? What evidence is there in the case study to fit this description?
   2. What are the children's rights at Friends House and the school and training centre? What are their responsibilities?

2. In what ways are the following experiences similar to or different from your experiences:
   1. the sorts of rules at Friends house and those at your house,
   2. the Friends' school curriculum and your school curriculum,
   3. the children's meetings and meetings of the students' council at your school?

3. Imagine you are either a child or a staff member at Friends House. Choose one of the following formats to describe a typical day at the house, including details about what you or others have done at the school and/or training centre:
   • a letter to a friend, a diary extract, an interview between you and a reporter for an Australian aid magazine, an article for a Cambodian newspaper, a short story, a poem, one or more 'before' and 'after' photographs or cartoon frames, or
   • an oral presentation, an interview with a partner or a role play in pairs or a small group for the class.

4. Research Cambodia's recent history including the colonial era, wars this century and different political regimes. In what ways have such events contributed to the destabilisation of Cambodia's social structures and economy? What is one of the most enduring and tragic legacies of war in Cambodia? How is the Australian Aid Program helping those affected by this problem?

5. Take turns in asking a partner 'what if?' questions about the case study. For example, 'What if there was no school for the children?' 'What if the house could take more children?'

6. The following activity has three parts:
   1. Imagine you are a decision-maker at Friends training centre. You are faced with reduced funding and can only offer three courses.
      1. Which three courses would you maintain, and why?
      2. Share your selection with a partner and try to reach agreement on three.
      3. Share your discussions with the class, including the ease or difficulty you experienced in attempting to select only three. Can you prioritise further?
         • What did this aspect of the activity highlight to the class about the decision-making process in aid projects?
         • What sorts of reasons did students give for why some courses should be retained more than others?
   2. You have received more funding and you can either extend existing courses or provide three more.
      1. What sorts of extensions to courses and/or new courses would you introduce, and why?
      2. Share you ideas with a partner, then with the class, as with the previous exercise.
   3. With your partner, select one of the existing courses or one of your proposed courses and draw a large flow chart or futures wheel showing how children might benefit from taking it.

7. If you were in charge of the media campaign to raise Cambodians' awareness of street children and how they could be helped:
   1. what sorts of information about the street children would you include in the campaign,
   2. in what ways would you suggest they could be helped, and
   3. what methods would you use to ensure that most people received your message? (Consider that Cambodia has an adult literacy rate of 38 per cent - Human Development Report most recent estimate - 1992.)

8. Visit a Cambodian cultural display or performance. What does the display or performance contribute to your understandings of traditional life and the arts in Cambodia?

9. Youth homelessness is a global problem. Although usually the result of poverty, street children can be found in all of the world's richest countries.

   Invite a guest speaker from a non-government organisation, or obtain information from AusAID, non-government organisations, global education centres or library and Internet resources, to investigate the experiences of street children in either a developed country, such as Australia, or in a country undergoing development, such as India. In particular, find out what is being done to help the children, including how the children are helping themselves.

10. Using information in the case study, write a happy ending to Srey-Touch's story.

11. Much of Australia's overseas aid to Asia goes to Cambodia. For an overview of recent Australian aid initiatives, visit AusAID's Internet site or obtain AusAID's colourful publications or statistical summaries of Cambodian programs. Alternatively, find out more about how AusAID helps children in numerous countries. (Contact details in Teachers' Notes.) Make colorful posters either showing how Australia's overseas aid program assists Cambodia or how it assists children in other countries.