Don Bosco Kep

The new places

The Don Rua Youth Center is not new, however. It was sponsored by the Sioch Group and the Government of Netherlands and was created to welcome groups of children and youth from other provinces coming to enjoy the stunning hilly and sea views of Kep, while in vacation or special meetings. This original mission is preserved, but the Don Rua Building has now two other goals: to be the school restaurant and stage at the ground floor and the art communication section and the hostel at the first floor. The restaurant school was possible thanks to the support of theEuropean Patent Office and it has the capacity to attend more than 500 persons, although the number of students this year still in 192. But when groups of visitors come, it will not alter the normal school operations. The Art Communication Section, as well as the re-organization of the youth hostel, has been possible thanks to the support of Stichting Scholenproject Cambodja Rotterdam (SSCR) and Wilde Ganzen from the Netherlands. The Don Rua Youth Center has four dormitories, two of them for assistance with their due rest rooms and, following already a Don Bosco Kep tradition, with names of the Cambodian provinces to promote in the young the knowledge and love for their own nation. The names of the rooms are Kompung Thom and Banteay Meanchey for assistance, Sway Rien for females and Prey Veng for males. 

The Mary Help of Youth Water Tower is the newest place and it belongs to the Water System Project for the technical school supported by donors through Don Bosco Mondo from Bonn. The goal is to guarantee water for a big educative center for the years to come. Most people in Kep Province have wells for water thanks to the Kep hills of the National Park. The 70 meters well of Don Bosco goes even downer the shallow sea floor. The water tower was designed by a group of volunteer experts including Mr. Joachim Tramper and Mr. Hans Kuechle and it has two water reserve tanks: one underground with a capacity of 50 mts3 and the tanks up with a capacity of 8 mts3. The pump brings the well's water up the tower, but as it takes a lot of power, Stichting Scholenproject Cambodja Rotterdam (SSCR) and Wilde Ganzen provided some solar panels that will deal with the pump, making it to work in an automatic way. Kamworks, a leading solar energy company, is currently installing the solar panels. 

The water tower leads the full water system of the school to guarantee sustainability and care for the environment. At the same time, the structure gave the possibility to create three dormitories for young lady teachers, as it is at the side of the Piet de Visser House, the residence for female students. The structure is 15 meters high, becoming the tallest building of the campus and even the Prey Thom District, so it is also a good observatory of the Kep Bay from where you can contemplate the Vietnamese island of Koh Trol and the Bokor Mountain at the other side of the bay. With this water system, Don Bosco Kep has the possibility to attend its school population in a sustainable way for the good of children and youth using the school services. 

Cultural program and blessing

The program began at 2PM at the Don Rua Hall with the presence of all the educative community. Fr. Albeiro Rodas, the Don Bosco Kep rector, thanked the donors that allowed the realization of projects like these two, as well as the role of so many volunteers. 

"There are two types of constructions in a school: the buildings, something we need to guarantee educative and formative processes and we need them from the support of those who know that giving for the education of children and youth is to build a best future for our societies; and the building of children and youth thanks to the joining of volunteers, teachers and many others, ready to share with the young, not letting the young alone and walking with the young toward a future of hope and opportunities," he said.

Bishop Olivier thanks also donors for their support to the development of this educative project in the region of Kep, Kampot and Takeo and offered gifts to teachers and students. He blesses the building and shared with the students that prepared a program of traditional dances. 

Kep is the smallest Cambodian province at the southeast, near the Vietnamese border and at the side of the Gulf of Thailand. It belongs to the region of Kampot and Takeo, a rural area with lacks of educative centers where young people could learn skills for good future employment, making that teenagers and young persons migrate to Phnom Penh, Sihanoukville or Thailand in search for better opportunities. In October 2011 it was opened as a technical school for the young population of the region and as it is located inside the Kep National Park, it marks the goal to create a sustainable and ecological school. Currently it has 192 students in sections such as audiovisual production, web development, IT & English, office administration, art communication, agriculture, electricity and hotel skills. It is also a same-equal-gender-opportunities school, so every section must have both genders. In the evening there are informal courses for children and youth from the nearby villages of English, computer and internet.

The Don Bosco Kep Children Fund attends children from three Kep and Kampot schools, while promote the Don Bosco campus as a safe and educative environment for children of the region.