About First Steps
How First Steps began
In Kok Thnot the only educational facility is a Government Primary School, which covers ages 5 to 12 years. After completing Primary School, the only option for secondary education is a high school which is over 1 hour away by bicycle. In terms of English Education and Vocational Training, the opportunities in this community are minimal. First Steps came about in full recognition of this lack of access to education, and given the benefits that English Education brings, in terms of local career prospects, the decision to build the school was a clear one.
Fundraising and Support
Grace Lutheran Primary School in Brisbane, Australia played a hugely significant role in turning the dream of building an English School in Kok Thnot into a reality.
So visited Grace Lutheran in July 2010 during his time in Australia and bonded with the students over a vision of helping the children of Kok Thnot. When GLPS independently started a fundraising campaign to raise money towards building an English School, a touching theme began to develop – children helping children.
Elizabeth Shobbrook, Year 6 Advisor and Teacher at Grace Lutheran formed the link between So and the school after they met whilst she was volunteering in Cambodia in January 2010. Elizabeth and her husband Doug recently founded Harvest Cambodia, an Australian charitable organization that works with Cambodian communities to provide growth through education. Stepping Stones have a close working partnership with Harvest Cambodia which provides ongoing support by supplying teaching resources, developing teacher training programs and placing Australian teachers who assist in training the First Steps teaching team.
Marco Van Meer, a Dutch friend of the Stepping Stones Team was also instrumental in raising funds for First Steps. Marco held a highly successful rope pulling fundraiser which was attended by over 200 people and even gained local media attention. It was through Marcos’ contacts that a connection was made with Homico, a Dutch NGO that supports local aid workers in developing countries. Like Stepping Stones, Homico also strongly believe in assisting local communities work towards improving their own futures. They generously donated money towards the construction of the two school buildings: four classrooms, an office and a library.
Construction
Construction of First Steps School began on the 4th of January 2011 with a small team of dedicated volunteers. Under the guidance of Steve Harris, a highly skilled Australian builder with over 10 years experience, the first step was clearing the plot of land and levelling the building site. With the help of the villagers, the team completed this huge task by hand within 3 days.
The next stage was to lay the foundations for the two buildings. It was important to do this to the highest standard to ensure long term durability against Cambodias’ changing seasons. After the foundations were laid, the process of installing the framework began. Two days later, on the 13th of January, the team were ready to start bricklaying the walls of the first building. Once both buildings were bricked and rendered, the roof, doors and windows were fitted and First Steps School began to take shape.
Throughout the construction process, desks were custom designed and made under the supervision of Pat Kneale, a native Australian carpenter. A significant project in itself, Pat and the team produced 40 student desks, 4 teachers desks and 2 book shelves for the library in less than 3 weeks.
By the end of February the First Steps team had added the final touches to the school building including painting, preparing the classrooms, setting up the library, as well as building a toilet block with funds kindly donated by the Rotary Club of Woy Woy, Australia. We also hired two local full time experienced English teachers to join the team. First Steps School officially welcomed students on the 1st of March 2011 with everyone keen to get started.