To broaden the horizons, enhance the futures and provide a new vision for children living in poverty around the world, through health care and the gift of the Arts.

Our Vision

For groups of children living in abject poverty with the luxuries of stress-free activities that will give them hope and new possibilities for the future.

To develop exciting, varied programs of health and education in the Arts and show how important these can be to a child's lifelong well being, by:

- Adopting a holistic approach to learning, promoting the students’ physical health through hygiene training, dental support and immunizations.

- Enhancing their psychological well being through enjoyable educational activities that include dance, painting, photography, graphic design and computer training.

To offer programs that are designed as educational tools to foster a love of learning that encourages children to think for themselves and to apply this approach to any challenge they may face in their lives.

To provide a practical contribution towards the children’s education through scholarship funds and taking care of their material needs, so that their primary focus can be on learning.

To facilitate the provision of teachers and coordinate education programs for children with limited access to quality education, particularly within the Arts field.





What we do

Using a creative and innovative fusion of activities we aim to change the lives of children in the moment and most importantly in the future. Our programs hinge on collaborative cooperation of grassroots level, community-based groups, both local and international teachers, community leaders and of course the children themselves. We believe that this collaborative approach empowers both teachers and students, introducing them to new approaches to education, without undermining their valuable work. We offer children a new vision of the future by encouraging them to think independently and critically, explore their individuality and enhance their communities in ways that challenge conventional approaches to education. Our program involves a number of components:

• Identifying the Need

We network widely and work closely with child-centered local and international NGO’s, education institutes, community groups, local teachers, students and international aid workers based in the field to identify the groups Souls will target. Childrens needs are endless in developing countries which is why Souls must address a number of factors such as suitable access to children through an established organization and input and support from the local community before we begin our activities.

The individual needs of children vary dramatically depending on country, culture, age group, differential access to services, different family situations, health and sanitation, access to education, political and economic situation of their country and effects of conflict or natural disaster. Souls believes that children from all backgrounds, living in any situation can benefit from our programs. However, we have thus far tried to focus on the needs of children living in acutely difficult environments since it is there we identified the most need.

• The gift of the Arts

An integral element of The Souls Foundation program is the funding and facilitating of visual and performance art classes to children within its projects. We employ a combination of local and international teachers to perform regular classes in photography, painting, traditional dance, photoshop and computer training. The response to these classes has been astounding as children engage with and absorb new ways of expressing their creativity. Read a case study.

• Scholarship Fund

Through regular contact with the teachers and students of our programs, we identify possible candidates for our scholarship fund based on their individual drive and ambition. The successful candidates will have their complete studies funded and an allowance to help with their living costs while in education. Currently our scholarship fund supports Boramey Oum's archeology study in Cambodia. Read my story.

• Sponsoring Teachers

Teachers are very poorly paid in the countries we work in, and this constraint means they often cannot afford to volunteer their time, so we support them by giving them a regular monthly wage. The children in our programs also benefit from the financial support the teachers receive because they are exposed to committed, qualified teachers that they would not likely have access to under the public schooling system. In Cambodia for example, one of our teachers is also a professor at PUC's Computer Department.

• Providing Resources

We provide all the necessary materials needed to teach visual and performance Arts including cameras, computers, craft materials and dance uniforms; items that are usually out of reach to most of the students.

• Website

The Souls Foundation website gives the children in our programs the opportunity to gain insight into their world. Through varied artistic mediums including photography, painting, graphic design and traditional dance, children can use this space to showcase their work.

We are committed to a long-term, sustainable program, where ultimately the children will develop the skills to produce a website that will truly be their own. First, they are introduced to a specific means of artistic expression (e.g. photography), then they are introduced to the Internet and finally they learn how they can share themselves with the world through their website.







Stories

Case Study:

"It's been just one month since The Souls Foundation implemented a Khmer traditional dance teacher and a painting teacher into our shelter for young trafficking and sexual exploited victims. I used to be so anxious about the many girls who slept most of the day and often looked withdrawn and depressed, longing for the resources to provide them with new activities. But now they have new things to look forward to: a space where they can explore themselves and let go into fits of laughter or deep imagination. Last week I walked into the dormitory and found two girls lying on their beds drawing pictures and another weaving a bracelet and I felt a new atmosphere in the high walled compound. This is only the beginning of the program, but already I feel a waterfall of change."
(Antonia Marison, Project Coordinator, CCPCR, Cambodia)



Boramey's story

My name is Boramey; I am an Archaeological graduate student from the Royal University of Fine Arts, (RUFA). The Royal University of Fine Arts is a university in Phnom Penh in 1918. The school was closed by the Kmer Rouge from 1975 to 1980.

I am honored to be allowed by The Souls Foundation to express my feelings on this website. Seeing Cambodian children who have suffered abuse find joy in the classes offered by the Non-Profit Foundation, is a dream come true.

The Foundation helped me personally with grants and scholarships as I studied English at The Pannasatra university. Because of their help along with the support of family, teachers, friends, and peers, my goals for learning English and the opportunities it can unlock have opened before me.

I was able to participate in an Archaeological project with a Japanese group from Nanan in the Eastern area of Cambodia. My English technical skills acquired from the University enable me to communicate and cooperate well with the group. By the time I graduated from the Faculty of Archaeology at RUFA, I was granted a UNESCO Funded Fellowship to attend a short course of Petrography at Kanazawa University, Japan in November of 2006!

Ford Motor Company granted me partial funding for an archaeological research and site survey at Badeum Site, Steung Treng Province. As a project director, I led my first solo research. Eventually, lack of funds halted the work. Fortunately, The Souls Foundation stepped in and matched contributions allowing us to complete the project.

As a result of my language skills, I am also able to participate in the Sre Ampil Archaelogical Conservation Project.

I have found that my education has been like a tree; planted and given much tending and nurturing by people like Mr. David Kingston and others with in the Souls Foundation. Now I grow solidly upward, strong and capable; bearing fruit by contributing to important work.

For those who have been or are in the SOULS program now, I encourage you to keep striving to learn. Education is the door that will provide the opportunity to earn a good living and, also, fulfill your dreams and ambitions in life. To compete and keep up with the modern world, education is basic. Develop a love of learning and participate in contributing to change in the world. Those who change themselves, then look outward to help others, will be influential in helping build a stronger, safer Cambodia.

To compete with the modern world we need education. We also need a love of learning so that we can continue to change with the world, and not be left behind.