KEP
CITY: 4 November
2013
-- Bishop
Olivier
Schmitthaeusler, the Apostolic Vicar of Phnom Penh, led the
official opening of the water tower and a youth hostel for the
educative community of the Don Bosco Technical School in Kep
Province.
This took place on Thursday 31 October 2013. Fr John Visser
was present
as national representative for the Don Bosco Foundation of
Cambodia,
while the donors were represented by Mr Gerard van Hal, the
benefactor
of the Hatrans Center, and Mr Hans Krake, both from the
Netherlands.
The new places
The Don Rua Youth Center is not new, however. It was sponsored
by the
Sioch Group and the Government of the Netherlands and was
created to
welcome groups of children and youth from other provinces
coming to
enjoy the stunning hilly and sea views of Kep while on
vacation or for
special meetings. This original mission is preserved, but the
Don Rua
Building now has two other goals: to be the school restaurant
and stage
on the ground floor and the art communication section and
hostel on the
first floor. The restaurant school was possible thanks to the
support
of the European Patent Office and can hold more than 500
people,
although the number of students this year is 192.
The Mary Help of Youth Water Tower (see main pic above) is the
newest
construction and belongs to the Water System Project for the
technical
school supported by donors through Don Bosco Mondo, Bonn. The
goal is
to guarantee water for this large eudcational community center
for the
years to come. Most people in Kep Province have wells for
water thanks
to the Kep hills in the National Park. The 70 meter Don Bosco
well goes
deeper still. The water tower was designed by a group of
volunteer
experts including Mr Joachim Tramper and Mr Hans Kuechle and
has two
water reserve tanks: one underground with a capacity of 50 sq.
m and
the tanks above with a capacity of 8 sq. m. The pump,
engineered by
Stichting Scholenproject Cambodja Rotterdam (SSCR) and Wilde
Ganzen is
assisted by solar panels. Kamworks, a leading solar energy
company, is
currently installing the solar panels.
The water tower structure also offered the possibility of
creating
three dormitories for young female teachers, and stands beside
the Piet
de Visser House, the residence for female students. The
structure is 15
meters high, the tallest building on the campus and even in
the Prey
Thom District, so it is also a good observatory over Kep Bay
from where
one can contemplate the Vietnamese island of Koh Trol and the
Bokor
Mountains across the bay.
Cultural program and blessing
The afternoon program began at the Don Rua Hall with the
presence of
all the educative community. Fr.Albeiro Rodas, the Don Bosco
Kep
superior, thanked the donors and volunteers involved in both
projects.
Bishop Olivier also thanked donors for their support for
development in
Kep, Kampot and Takeo, by way of this educational community
and offered
gifts to teachers and students. He blessed the building and
shared with
the students who prepared a program of traditional dances.
Kep is the smallest Cambodian province and is in the south
east near the
Vietnamese border overlooking the Gulf of Thailand. It belongs
to the
region of Kampot and Takeo, a rural area with great lack of
education
centers where young people can learn employable skills,
forcing many
young people to migrate to Phnom Penh, Sihanoukville or
Thailand in
search of better opportunities. In October 2011 the Salesians
opened a
technical school for the young population of the region and as
it is
located inside Kep National Park, it features the goal of
creating a
sustainable and ecological school environment.
There are currently 192 students in sections such as
audiovisual
production, web development, IT & English, office
administration,
art communication, agriculture, electricity and hotel skills.
It is
also a school based on gender equality, so every section must
have both
genders. In the evening there are informal courses for
children and
youth from the nearby villages in English, computers and
internet.
The Don Bosco Kep Children Fund looks after children from
three Kep and
Kampot schools, while promoting the Don Bosco campus as a safe
and
educational environment for children of the region.
