Lavalla has new students

This is the 20th year of operation for Lavalla school and the photos are of the group of new students. After a few weeks of being here the students are presented with their school uniforms. It is a bit of a rite of passage for them as the newcomers happily identify with their school and new companions. The photos show them before they get their uniforms and then after when they are in approximately the same positions. There are a few who have only recently arrived and are waiting for their uniforms to be made.

The average age of the group is around 14, more than 20 of them beginning Grade 1. They come from many parts of Cambodia, all are very poor, their disabilities including C.P., amputations, most of those the result of accidents, congenital abnormalities, muscular dystrophy and for some consequences of meningitis.

Currently at LaValla, there are 90 students all but 4 residential; Villa Maria, 76, all residential and attending the high school in Takhmao; and in a rented house nearby 21 university students who travel to and from university in Phnom Penh each day.