Just before Christmas, Regents International School Pattaya sent two of its staff on a Leadership Training Programme to Cambodia. Dean Barrick (Boarding House Parent) and Meena Charoensa-Nga (PE Assistant and Swimming Coordinator) undertook a 650km journey to the Takeo Province in Cambodia to help build ‘The White Dove Weaving Centre’.
The average family in this region survives on around 50 cents a day. By building this centre and training the local women to use the looms, the volunteers on the Round Square Leadership Training Programme have helped to provide a sustainable, independent future for the local people. The project, which raised $11,000 in total, enabled not only the construction of the weaving centre but the purchase of a fresh water pump, ten local chicken farming businesses, mosquito nets, 55 bicycles for children to access school, a teacher to train the community and design the scarves for the first 6 months and a year’s worth of electricity!
Dean Barrick, Meena Charoensa-Nga and the rest of the team get busy with the construction!
The White Dove Weaving Centre is one of many projects initiated by the Round Square Leadership Training Programme. In addition to providing benefit to local communities, it also gives staff at schools which are part of the prestigious Round Square organisation – like Regents – the best possible training in the skills they require to lead student trips.
The team applies the finishing touches.
Paul Crouch, Assistant Principal – Community and Student Enrichment, commented, “Sending our staff on Round Square leadership training projects allows them to develop the skills and confidence to create and lead life-changing service projects for a large number of our students, staff and parents in our own community.”
Dean Barrick, Boarding House Parent reflects on his experience in Cambodia, “Nothing I have done or achieved in my teaching career has even come close to the joy and pleasure I got from being a part of this project. A truly life changing, inspirational journey.”
(L to R) Meena Charoensa-Nga (PE Assistant and Swimming Coordinator) and Dean Barrick (Boarding House Parent) from Regents International School Pattaya.
The loom in action!
