Our mission is to build bridges to opportunities and resources previously unavailable. We work with local leaders who want to see positive, community-driven changes in their community, but lack the financial resources to bring them about. Our approach is grassroots and emphasizes flexiblity and transparency, with a willigness to admit and learn from any mistakes. More and more we see ourselves as a Cambodian non-profit that receives financial support from the United States until we can create self-sufficient programming.
We currently provide English language classes for three communities in the Cambodian countryside. We offer eight free classes daily between our three sites, reaching over 250 students. Hard-working students gain fluency in the language and are able to access the tourism generated job market in Siem Reap where many positions pay a living wage.
We also offer additional services at our site in Siem Reap including a sewing program and fair trade cooperative; a clean water program that teaches hygiene and distributes water filters; an English and Khmer library staffed by a trained librarian; and educational field trips for students twice annually.
In 2012 we started a social enterprise The Big Yellow House, a not-for-profit guesthouse and fair trade boutique located in downtown Siem Reap. Profits from the business are transferred to Bridge of Life School.
In the future we hope to renovate both our schools with more modern technologies, build computer labs and offer typing, word processing, and internet/email courses, and also develop a chicken cooperative on our land staffed by local residents with profits split between workers and our non-profit.
For more information about our organization please visit our website or email info@bridgeoflifeschool.org
