On Monday evening, a solidarity event took place with Marie-France des Pallières, the founder of the association “Pour un sourire d’enfant,” during which she was able to recount her incredible dedication to the children’s cause in Cambodia.
The tour takes place every year and allows encounters with French and European people to raise awareness about the situation in Cambodia and present their actions.
“Pour un sourire d’enfant” is a French NGO founded in March 1996. This organization aims to help disadvantaged and out-of-school children in Cambodia by guiding them from poverty to a profession.
A Look Back at the History of the Association.
Christian and Marie-France des Pallières, the founders, were young retirees on a humanitarian mission in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, when they discovered the unimaginable: an open-air landfill where hundreds of children lived and worked, feeding on waste and risking their lives every day. From these unbearable images came the profound certainty that they could not leave these children in such poverty.
At the end of 1995, they returned to France to raise awareness of the urgency of the situation, then at the beginning of 1996, they returned to the country with the means to start a program.
Their association advocates that every child should be able to attend school not only to learn how to read and write and receive vocational training but also to prepare for their future and adult life.
Their Actions.
Their program is divided into several points.
Nourish
Provide meals for every child welcomed into their program.
Care
PSE ensures medical follow-up for each child: hygiene education, health prevention campaigns, first aid, and medical consultations.
Educate and Enroll
Re-establish access to education for poor children in Cambodia.
PSE’s schooling programs are adapted to the children’s needs and offer a comprehensive education.
Job Training
The goal of the program is to lead the children to a profession.
Therefore, they created the PSE Vocational Training Institute in Phnom Penh because only the acquisition of a qualified profession allows disadvantaged youth to integrate into Cambodian society with dignity.
Four schools, in the fields of hospitality and tourism, management and sales, technical professions, and audiovisual, train students in numerous professions, all aligned with Cambodian labor market needs.
These vocational training programs did not exist in the country and are officially recognized by the Royal Government of Cambodia. The PSE Institute awards diplomas endorsed by the Ministry of Labor and Vocational Training.
Protect
Through discussions with the children, they realized that they also faced physical and psychological abuse at home. They implemented boarding schools, foster families, and summer camps to welcome and protect them.
Help Families
The social team, made up of about thirty social workers, identifies and manages the families’ problems.
They visit families in their living areas, conduct social investigations to prioritize the poorest (income level, potential debt, health condition, housing, etc.) and the most urgent cases (absence of parents, abuse, school dropout). Each social worker conducts a situation assessment at least twice a year with each family under their responsibility.
For 25 years now, “Pour un sourire d’enfant” has been taking the poorest children in Cambodia from poverty to a profession!
By the Numbers:
– 12,000 children saved from poverty.
– 5,500 “graduates” with decent and properly paid employment.
To support this cause, several actions are possible: becoming a volunteer, donations, or sponsoring a child.
