As we have already told you, the waste disposal site of Stung Meanchey has moved. This has caused an increase in the price that our families were paying for the plots of land on which to build their little shacks. Because they cannot pay these rents anymore, many are obliged to move far away. Others have to go because the local council wants the land back. This means that the children of these families, those who study in the Remedial Centre or who undertake Professional Training, are in danger of having to stop their studies if we can’t find a way to lodge them. The same problem applies to those of our children that come from Siem Reap or from Sihanoukville.

For the moment we are hosting some of them in foster families (but this is a very expensive solution), or in houses that we rent in the neighbourhood. But these houses are built for families and are not at all suitable for multiple occupancy: there are not enough showers and lavatories, and they constantly become blocked as they were not meant for such usage. Surveillance and control is difficult because these houses are dispersed; the management of time outside school hours is very difficult to organise because the young have nothing but the street to hang around in; the journeys to and from school and for meals at the Centre are not satisfactory in terms of security, etc, etc.

As for the youngest children whom we cannot leave a long way away from the Centre, we currently lodge them in classes or rooms which are, of course, not at all suitable. This is why a boarding school has become absolutely necessary, a secure, guarded building with direct access to all the infrastructure of the Centre. It is becoming urgent!

The plot of land was bought last year between the Mechanics School building and the sports field, facing the Hotel School. The backfill is done, the site preparation is underway, and the fence is nearly finished, as are the architect’s plans.

There is no luxury: the young will sleep on mats in the Cambodian way. On the first and second floor, there are bedrooms for 10 to 14 and lavatories. On the ground floor there are showers and study rooms. Sheltered walkways go all round the building and there are external staircases for security. Everything is planned so that we can isolate some parts of the building which will be able to be used as classes, especially at the beginning when the boarding school will not be used to its full capacity. Of course, we have also planned, on each floor, lodgings for “houseparents”.