Cambodia

Focus: Public Health & Poverty Reduction
Location: Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Languages: English & Khmer
Dates: August 2 - August 29, 2009
Housing: Single & shared residences
Program Fee: $5,300; Application: $35 Deposit Due at Enroll: $500
Notes:  Two meals daily, airfare, housing, airport transfers, entrances, emergency medical evacuation, and course fees.  Not included: personal basic medical insurance and personal expenses while in country. This is not a Northeastern Dialogue.
Admissions: Online   

How many ads have you seen featuring big eyed children pleading for your money? How many times have you wished you could do more than just write a check? Have you ever dreamed that you could actually do something to help. If you have ever wondered, “could I change a child’s life?”, then Global PACT Cambodia is for you. This Activist Training Program is about learning how to build organizations that will keep children off the streets and provide safe havens for kids who are on the streets. This is not a volunteer vacation. This is not about cooing over cribs. This is not tourism.

Global PACT will bring you to the Center for Children’s Happiness (CCH) – home to 150 children found working as rubbish pickers at Steung Meanchey landfill in Phnom Penh. Your partners will be CCH alumni and young NGO workers from around Phnom Penh. Together you will design projects to improve the lives of Cambodia’s poorest children. The program begins with a tour of  Phnom Penh - from its glorious temples and the cafes on the banks of the Mekong, to its infamous dump, slums, and sweat shops. We will take three one-day excursions with CCH into the countryside to visit villages, NGOs and development projects. The cultural high point of our program will be a two-day trip to Angkor Wat, the fantastic complex of temples in Siem Reap five hours north of the capital.