By Sarah Junkin
The Cochrane Times
A pair of young adults has joined forces
to help at risk youngsters in Cambodia attend a camp that will hopefully
change their lives for the better.
The Aug. 18 event is being
organised by yoga instructor Marni Butler of Cochrane, and Jared Clark, a
former Bow Valley High student who recently returned from Southeast
Asia where he came across the Kone Kmeng Foundation, a group that tries
to help churches in Cambodia respond to children at risk in their
community.
“A common problem in Cambodia is that parents expect
their kids to work to support their family at a very young age and
refuse to let them go to school to receive a proper education,”
explained Clark. “Things are slowly changing but these kids need a
chance to get out of this cycle.”
Butler
will teach an outdoor yoga class, but for those people interested in
less serene pursuits, there will also be a host of other fun activities
including an ultimate Frisbee game.
Clark added a healthy lunch
will follow courtesy of his grandmother from Red Deer, with all
donations going to help send 71 Cambodian children to the camp which he
believes will help them realise there are a number of more positive
options in life.
“That is the purpose of this camp, it will be the
beginning stage of their relationship with the Kone Kmeng Foundation,
who will help them all the way through school, all the way to
university,” he explained.
Clark first became interested in the
plight of Cambodian children when he spent about a month in the area and
became friends with a young woman named Sokleap Tray.
“She told
me about the children, and I couldn’t not do anything,” Clark said. “It
had a huge impact on me. I told Marni about it when I got back, and she
had this idea to help out. Crazy how love works sometimes.”
Although
Clark said he realises there are also children suffering at home in
Canada, he believes the plight of Cambodian children is different.
“We
have the opportunity to go to school,” he said. “It’s ingrained in us
that our parents are there for us. These kids are oblivious to the fact
they can go to school.”
Clark added the genocide in Cambodia in
the 1970s had a huge impact on families and communities as well. At that
time Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot tried to form a Communist peasant
farming society resulting in the deaths of 25 per cent of the country’s
population from starvation, overwork and executions.
“Every intellectual person was killed. There’s suffering here too, I know, but every kid deserves a chance to learn.”
Clark
said in all, 71 kids are hoping to attend the weekend camp where they
will be mentored and will likely form lasting friendships.
It costs approximately $60 to send one child to camp.
“It’s
one thing supporting groups to go to another country short term,” said
Clark. “But it’s more exciting, for me to see local people standing up
for positive change and loving their own people.”
Clark is hoping
some of the weekly Cochrane farmers’ market visitors that shop there on
Saturdays will stay on and hang out at the Ranche afterwards.
His grandma is planning to make some authentic Cambodian menu items.
“She’s been to Bangkok,” he said. “She’s a crazy cool lady and she said she’d come and help out however.”
The
event is by donation only, and Clark is planning to shave his head for
the cause and will be encouraging others to do the same.
“It’s going to be so much fun but also help so many kids at the same time,” he said.
Sarah.junkin@sunmedia.ca
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