Stinson Air & Solar Powering Cambodia’s Classrooms Of Hope

Posted on 09 April 2019

Our First Trip To Cambodia

We are so excited to share with you the success of our first trip out to Cambodia in support of our work with the Classroom of Hope charity. Tracy and I were proud to attend the opening of two new schools in the country’s Northern regions, including; Keo Pich Primary School (Siem Reap Province) and Ou Sralao Lech Primary School (Battambang Province). 

After announcing our involvement last year, we just couldn’t wait to venture out to see the progress. It’s hard to imagine the impact of supporting such a worthy cause until you see it first-hand, which is why it was such an honour to attend the openings. We captured some of the highlights in our video below, with more photos available on our Facebook page.

 

Introducing Sustainability Initiatives To Make A Difference

We travelled for hours on predominately on off-road tracks to attend the remote schools, where we were greeted warmly by students, teachers and staff on the new premises. As you can see in the video, a variety of sustainability initiatives have been introduced to the school to help the students and their families, whilst supporting the invaluable education provided in the area by the teachers and on campus staff.

As well as the main objective of bringing educational facilities to the area, an additional two main focuses of the Classroom Of Hope schools project has been providing fresh water and renewable electricity to students and their families in these highly remote areas.

Fresh Water & Renewable Energy – How It Works

The new solar charging station had made a huge difference to the community, powering up to 20 car batteries per day, which the students bring home for basic lighting, cooking and power needs. There is also a fresh water source on campus which is again utilised at home, with families pay a nominal fee for power and water supplies. This in turn supports the staff and keeps the school running, ensuring that their pivotal education programs continue. I encourage you to have a look at the impact report which showcases a range of photos, stories and progress shots of the school being finished.

Our Future Plans With The Classroom Of Hope 

We paid our own way throughout the journey to ensure 100% of all Classroom Of Hope donations went towards the school, and it wasn’t until we were on our way to the remote school that it really hit home just how much these families needed our assistance. Having reflected on a positive trip, our focus is now to plan on building at least one new school per year. Part of these plans currently include providing support to areas of need in Myanmar, as well as various pop-up schools in Lombok in response to last year’s devastating Indonesian earthquakes. 

A Big Thank You To Our Sponsors

We were simply blown away by the overwhelming level of support from our fundraising campaign last year, and we cannot thank all of our partners and sponsors enough for getting behind the fantastic Classroom of Hope charity. We would like to acknowledge the following companies for helping us make such a profound difference to these remote communities:

Want To Get Involved? 

If you would like to learn more or are interested in joining us for this worthy cause, we welcome you to contact us. We might even see you on the trip with us next year!

Brad Stinson
Managing Director | Stinson Air & Solar