Patrik Roux, NGO “AVEC” FOUNDER
Either at the shelter or through the countryside, thousands of children call him ”Papa”.
Before coming to Cambodia, “Papa” used to work with multi-handicapped people in Switzerland, helping them to find work. These activities confirmed his vocation to work for the most fragile people.
Patrik works with his wife Theavy Bun. Together they are able to cope with the most awkward situations and respond to the requests for intervention from the local authorities.
Patrik Roux loves above all to bring help and comfort to the poorest families, he is a fervent defender of education as a factor of change…
“AVEC” DIRECTOR
Theavy manages the shelter and deals with the localisation of vulnerable children, talks with the families and the village headmen. Thanks to her, “AVEC” gets remarkable results in schooling.
Theavy Bun during a rescue of four severely abused children in a village on the border with Thailand.
For years Theavy did everything in the shelter. Now she is being helped by three young Cambodian academics who deal with accounting, localising the children in villages, distributing pocket money , etc…Taking care of about 40 children and following the training of about 400 others demands very good organization
The whole team of volunteers of the NGO AVEC. There are the teachers, the substitute mothers, the teachers of the training centre, that’s not far from the 20 people who work for the good of abused children in Cambodia.
In November 2014 a fashion designer training was launched by Jade Meyer, a Belgian fashion designer herself. She created totally new course material, as our training is a mixture between French and Cambodian ways of dress-making.
The training is limited to 20 students because we have to adapt to many problems, such as illiteracy for example. Two Khmer seamstresses are now in charge of it.
Three young student fashion designers and seamstresses who, for a year, learn free of charge a trade that will change the destiny of their lives in a lasting way.
Our training centre opened in October 2014. 400 children follow English and computer science courses given by 5 young trained teachers. Every day you can hear children’s voices learning happily how to use a computer…when most of them don’t have electricity at home!
When you are a poor rural child in Cambodia, having access to computers opens up new horizons. This action is part of our program to provide schooling and to fight against child abuse.
In each room of the shelter, a Khmer mum lives and sleeps with the children. We call them “replacement mums”. These women are either widows or abandoned wives with dependent children; this is why this “job” is a good outcome for them; “AVEC” is happy to be able to offer it. Stewardship, cooking, caring of the children are their essential tasks in the shelter. Their own children go to the local school in the morning – as is the rule in Cambodia – and can come and take advantage of the shelter in the afternoon.
The replacement mothers who live and take care of the children in the shelter 24 hours a day are often abandoned women living in precarious conditions. Working at the shelter is a new start, a new chance given to these courageous women.
