Minecraft brings new hope to Cambodia’s underprivileged kids
One of the joys of technology today is how it can bring people together. That’s what happened when 16 members of Microsoft’s APAC Finance team recently visited a very special charity organization in one of Asia’s poorest nations – the Cambodian Children’s Fund (CCF).
During their visit, the Microsoft staffers assumed the role of instructors for a session of CCF’s Hour of Code, which uses the popular Minecraft coding tutorial to get the kids interested in tech and to arm them with essential digital knowledge that one day might help them build worthwhile careers.
One of the children who took part was 13-year-old Sophea. Her mother passed away some years ago and her father moved away with her siblings not long after to find work. She has been with CCF for the past four years.
Although she understands little English, Sophea took to Minecraft quickly. She played it three times and reached Level 9. “There are many difficult challenges such ghosts. There was a river that we had to cross while the ghost was waiting to kill us,” she said. “It was a special day for me and my friends, we had the chance to learn something new that we have never learned before.”
But there was more to the visit by the finance team than just playing Minecraft. They also advised CCF staffers on how best to use Microsoft Office programs to help carry out administrative tasks, such as data report writing. The Microsoft volunteers helped set up a dashboard for CCF to use in their reporting procedures.
Microsoft works with nonprofit partners, like CCF, to make digital skills more accessible and inclusive for all youth around the world. The Microsoft Philanthropies Asia is partnered with CCF, to provide vulnerable young people with access to IT skills and computer science, that our technology truly does not leave anyone behind. Microsoft Philanthropies team has been partnering with Child Protection Unit (CPU), a CCF program that creates a cloud-based solution being used to solve child abuse cases in Cambodia. With access to Office365, the CPU can get better visibility, communication and collaboration across the organization, which in turn decreases the time it takes to solve cases and saves the lives of hundreds of vulnerable children in Cambodia. Access the video here.
Discover our free resources to empower all young people through computer science education and digital skills by visiting http://microsoft.com/digitalskills
To read more about Microsoft Philanthropies’ work to build future ready generations in Asia, click here.
