A local schoolboy has gone to Cambodia to help train teachers and to visit orphanages. Peter Knight, Year 11 student from Shearwater Steiner School, was so moved by a documentary he saw which showed the plight of millions of Cambodian children that during school holidays last year he decided to visit the country.

He will be one of three generations going: both his mother Karin Knight and grandmother Anne Turpin will accompany him. Peter’s family will not only visit Seam Reap (home of Angkor Wat) and Kampong Thom but are raising money to enable 50 teachers from around Australia to join them in the training over there.
Seventy per cent of people in Cambodia live on less than $1.25 a day and 70 per cent of the population is under the age of 17. With no teacher training facilities the children are not being educated.

However, an organisation called Teachers Across Borders delivers teacher-training programs throughout South East Asia and it is with this that Peter’s family and the additional 50 teachers will link up. Peter wants to film, photograph and sketch his experiences and create a documentary to share with his fellow HSC students in the hope that the local community might establish a relationship with the families he will be helping.

The family has decided that their luggage will consist of clothing they can give away to the needy in the communities they visit. In turn, they will buy what they need to support the local trade. They will also take over an extensive medical kit which they will leave behind them when they eventually depart.
Mother Karin Knight said that it was ‘important to show our children that one person can make a difference and that every child should experience how they can help by being on the front line.’

Anyone wishing to contact Peter Knight may do so via email yehm...@hotmail.com