Over the last couple of days we’ve really experienced a different side of the CUFA Cambodian Leadership Challenge. We temporarily waved goodbye to the bikes and finally got the chance to see the Children’s Financial Literacy Program in action.
The program is designed to teach kids about saving money and how important it is to their future. More than 9,000 Cambodian children have received the training thanks to the $50,000 we raised before we left Australia.
We had our first chance to see the program in action when we visited a school on Saturday morning. The kids had come back from their school holidays to take part in the lesson, and they brought more than a few ring-ins with them; a class that usually holds around 35 kids had at least 70 or 80 smiling faces crammed inside.
There’s heaps more information about the program on the CUFA website, but I’ll give you a quick run-down.
A CUFA project worker visits schools and talks to children (usually around seven or eight years old) about the importance of saving money and what it could mean for them in the future. They use really simple explanations, like buying one ice cream instead of two and saving the difference.
The kids are asked to think of something they want to save for, which is usually school books, clothes or a new school uniform. They’re given a money box to help them save, which they need to take care of and make sure they don’t lose.
Most of the children get money from their parents each day to go to school and they’re encouraged to put aside a small amount every day or week. When I say a small amount, I really mean it. The kids might get around 30c a day to take to school and buy lunch so they have to be quite frugal to put anything in their money box.
After we’d helped to deliver the lessons (including some hilariously melodramatic role plays) we got a chance to play some games outside with the kids. It was so much fun and I can’t remember the last time I smiled or laughed so much.
The kids are also encouraged to join their local Savings Bank (more on those later) and get follow-up visits from the CUFA workers in their home.
We got a chance to visit a couple of the kids’ houses with the CUFA staff and it was such an eye opener. The first home we visited was quite basic – we sat under the house and met the boy’s mother and sister and discussed how much he’d saved, how much his mother gave him each day and how much he managed to save. He was so proud of everything he’d managed to save for a new school uniform.
The second house we visited made the first one look almost palatial. There were no walls between the rooms, only sheets or tarpaulins draped over for some sort of privacy. This young boy only received a third of the pocket money as the first child because his family was very poor. His mother could barely afford to clothe them, never mind give him extra pocket money so he could save.
Nevertheless, she was very proud of the regular contributions he was making into his money box and the plans he was making for his future.
We also had the chance to visit three of the credit unions (called savings banks here) that CUFA has built for villagers to keep their savings in. The buildings are only provided to savings clubs that have a good history of helping their village to make sure the funding CUFA receives goes to projects that are sustainable in the long term.
To qualify for a building, a local savings club needs to have at least 900 members and have a 20 per cent growth in members or savings once they approach CUFA for assistance. In other words, they already need to have the support and trust within the community.
Before a building is provided, the savings clubs operate under one of the committee member’s house so it’s hard to convince people their money is safe. Once the building is there, growth really picks up because there’s something substantial there to offer security.
Sitting in one credit union, we were asked by a general manager (all of whom were women) about ways to increase her margin on loans without putting up interest rates for members. It’s a discussion that’s happened in every credit union around the world and despite the 15 people from various roles in successful credit unions, we just couldn’t come up with a solution.
Today we’re driving to Phnom Penh to visit some more savings banks and the CUFA training centre, where we’ll see the programs they run for volunteers and committee members in the savings banks. It’ll be really good to get another view of the work they’re doing over here.
We’ll also get a chance to learn a little more about Cambodia’s recent history, especially the atrocities under the Khmer Rouge. We haven’t had a lot of time to experience things outside of the CUFA work and it will really be our first opportunity to get a an afternoon to explore and learn a bit more.
Oh, and we’ll also be quickly reunited with our bikes tomorrow for a lazy 20km ride around the city.
Pat
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