Arts in the Slum at Tiny Toones
A few days ago, Shanty Town Spirit founder, Ermine Norodom visited another local grass-roots organisation called “Tiny Toones” in the Chba Ampov slum. Shanty Town wants to collaborate with more NGOs and build bridges to better care for these slum communities. Some of the children from Ermine’s project have been going to Tiny Toones for the past few years to access dance and other activities.
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| Artwork by famous Artist David Choe from New York , he painted it as a gift for Tiny Toomes. |
Tiny Toones provides a safe, positive environment for children and at‐risk youth to channel their energy and creativity into the arts and education, whilst empowering them to build their self‐confidence in their daily lives, aim for better employment possibilities, and feel supported pursuing their dreams.
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| Engliss class |
Tiny Toones provides free education to around 100 children every day. For most of these kids, this is the only education they will ever receive as their families are too poor to send them to school. We were greeted in English by very happy friendly children as we moved throughout the centre between classes.
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| Kids from the center |
We then met the Tiny Toones founder and former dancer, Tuy “Kay Kay” Sobil, who was born in a refugee camp on the Thai border and grew up in Long Beach, California. He has an incredible story, turning his life around from crime, violence and gangs to being a strong leader providing opportunities to poor kids in his homeland. Kay Kay motivates all the kids to learn and every day they attend classes in dance, art, English, Khmer and computers. If kids show potential, then Tiny Toones can pay for their integration into the mainstream schooling system.
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| Dance class |
Due to lack of funding, Tiny Toones had to reduce its staff and although they would like to feed the hungry minds of the students and give them lunch every day, unfortunately they can’t afford to. In order to keep doing this important work, Tiny Toones needs your help. They need more teachers, equipment, centre maintenance, another tuk tuk to transport kids to and from the centre, more funds to pay for mainstream educational integration, and volunteers who could help with teaching, communications and fundraising. Find out more: tinytoones.org
Text by Jessica Sanders
Text by Jessica Sanders
You can help these kids
by sponsoring the Shanty Town Spirit program
Click on Make a difference
Or contact
Ermine Norodom: +855 (0) 17 49 27 19 (French and English)
Phirun Prak (Arun): +855 (0) 96 663 6666 (English and Khmer)
Location:
Cambodia
