What a feeling to experience the inauguration with the students and all the Sala Baï staff as we welcomed altogether the Cambodian authorities, the French Ambassador to the Kingdom of Cambodia, the Board Members of APLC, all the donors who had come in great numbers from all around the world, as well as the hoteliers and travel agencies, all having contributed their best to the construction of the new Sala Baï school!
Since 2011, we have been dreaming of this school. All of us in Cambodia and in France have worked so hard to make this dream come true. In view of the lack of professional opportunities, we knew that we could and must contribute to transforming the life of more young Cambodians. We were especially concerned to keep the 70% proportion of young women in each intake because of their very, indeed too high vulnerability in our current days.
We had to set up a modern teaching tool in line with the needs of the industry for qualified staff, to offer more skills than we could possibly consider before, due to lack of space, such as Beauty Therapy; to give our students a nice and modern place to work that is worth their huge efforts at adaptation and their remarkable motivation ; to better participate in the development of a country that is so dear to us; and lastly to sustain our activities in service to the poorest with education and development.
Our heartfelt challenge is paying off. In 2018, once the new dorms are completed, the school will be able to welcome 150 young Cambodians per intake!