The Covid-19 pandemic is no obstacle for determined Xavier Jesuit School students in Cambodia, who eagerly ride great distances in rain, hail or shine to their campus after six months of school closure.
Staff and students have overcome immense challenges of remote learning when the Cambodian government imposed heavy restrictions on community life in March in order to control the spread of Covid-19.
“With the help of mobile phones we have been able to teach classes remotely and deliver worksheets to those who live far away,” said Fr Jinhyuk Park SJ, Director at Xavier Jesuit School and project partner of Jesuit Mission Australia.
Founded in 2015 by Jesuit Service Cambodia, the school is committed to providing affordable, quality education to students from Sisophon, one of the poorest provinces in the country.
This year however, students of vulnerable families fell into deeper levels of poverty and hunger, as casual employment opportunities disappeared with people being forced to stay inside.
Some families were forced to reduce the number of meals they have per day, as they simply did not have enough food and became dependent on the support from project partners and Jesuit Mission.
“We supported families through income-generating activities such as mask production and distributed 100 emergency packages for the most vulnerable families,” said Fr Park.
Combined with the challenge of the pandemic, torrential rain in October brought severe flooding, spoiling rice fields, damaging the livelihoods of many Khmer villagers and bringing areas of the school underwater.
However, the students continue to demonstrate their resilience by prioritising education and even playing in the flood waters.
“It is fantastic news to hear how the school has responded and to see that the students continue to flourish. It seems that no pandemic or flood can slow these students down,” said Helen Forde, CEO of Jesuit Mission.
Jesuit Mission’s Gifts for Change programme gives people the opportunity to help get a child to school by purchasing a bicycle for them from Jesuit Mission.
Each gift purchased comes with a card that can be shared with a loved one.
More information can be found on Gifts for Change here.