Who we are

Family Care Cambodia (FCC) is a non-profit, faith-based organization founded and directed by Alex and Ann Soldner, in 2002. We provide education opportunities, teacher, parenting and social worker training, trauma recovery and healing, mentoring, inspiration and support to hundreds of underprivileged children and youth in Phnom Penh, and the rural provinces of Cambodia. We were legally recognized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 2006; the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports in 2009 and the Council for the Development of Cambodia in 2009.

Our goal is to build up children and strengthen families. We do this by assisting in childhood trauma recovery, providing opportunities for early education, bi-lingual training, creative arts, and IT skills training, and by equipping parents, teachers and caregivers with the skills and resources they need to accomplish their important tasks

 

Our values:
Family

We believe that families are the building block of society and that every child deserves the nurturing, protection and support of caring adults.

 

Love

Our main motivation in all that we do is love for God and love for our fellowman. We believe every child deserves to be loved and nurtured. We believe that every child can learn to love and respect themselves and others, and can make a meaningful contribution to society. We believe that love fosters tolerance and acceptance and can strengthen individuals, families and society as a whole.

 

Respect for the Nation

We regard our local co-workers, beneficiaries and partners with the utmost honor and respect. We appreciate and admire the indomitable spirit of the Cambodian people to overcome adversity and to thrive against all odds.

 

Worth of the Individual

We recognize the value and importance of each individual and acknowledge the whole person- body, mind and spirit.

 

Commitment

We are committed to using our time, energy and resources to impart kindness, encouragement and tangible help to the children we work with and all those we encounter in the community.

Mission statement

Vision:

A world in which all children are nurtured and valued, and given the chance to discover and develop their unique gifts, regardless of nationality, culture or economic status.

 

Mission:

To help children develop their full potential in a loving and nurturing environment. To strengthen and encourage parents, teachers and caregivers and to equip them with the resources for the job.

Where we help

Our story

Our team

Our story begins in 2002 when we, Alex & Ann Soldner, responded to a need for qualified and committed volunteers to help in the rebuilding and recovery of Cambodia. Firm believers in the adage that “the best ability is availability”, we have sought to invest our time, resources, experience and talents to help any situation or person, as best we can.

The parents of 8 children (and now 5 grandchildren), we had lived and worked in Southeast Asia for the past 25 years in such countries as India, the Philippines, Hong Kong, and Thailand. During that time we’ve helped established community homeschooling cooperatives, participated in disaster relief for flood and landslide victims, organized teacher trainings and seminars, developed curriculums and led English camps and courses for rural students. Ann served as a natural labor coach, assisting many women through healthy, natural childbirths, and also developed a program to prepare abandoned preschool children for adoption abroad, eliminating the main causes of reactive attachment disorder and earning an award from the Thai Prime Minister.

Since coming to Cambodia, our heart has always been “for the children” and our desire has been to provide the same standard of love, nurturing and development to the children and young people we work with, as we would want our own children to receive.

The first project we initiated was “Family Time” with the children from Kolap-4, an orphanage under of the Ministry of Social Welfare. Each weekend for 4 years, the children came to our home for a morning of fun creative activities and a healthy lunch. We found sponsors for many of the children to cover their basic needs, provided scholarships to international high school for several and worked on sourcing dental care for all.

Through that project we began a partnership with ASPECA and their dedicated dental team. In the following months we traveled with their mobile dental unit, providing free dental care and dental health classes to thousands of children in schools and orphanages throughout Cambodia.

While traveling with the dental mission, we met the director of Phum Thnal Primary school in Siem Reap, and began a partnership with the staff and students there. We listened to the teachers as to what the greatest needs were and began a project to meet those needs. In 2005 we built a teacher’s office and counseling room, and began free English classes during the lunch period. In 2007, we renovated a classroom and installed 20 computers so that English and computer classes could operate all day. In 2008, we facilitated the building of a 3 classroom building for the school, thus enabling English and computer classes to run simultaneously, and provide 200 students with free English and IT training daily. In 2014, we expanded this successful model to another public primary school, Sandan, where we have installed an IT lab and hired teachers to provide another 200 primary school children with daily English and IT instruction. We are currently operating and supporting daily classes for 400 children.

As we developed our rural education programs, we were introduced to CCPCR, a local Cambodian organization dedicated to the rescue, recovery and reintegration of child victims of human trafficking, sexual abuse and domestic violence. We began a partnership in 2006 to assist them in their excellent work. Over the years we have raised the funding to cover a large percentage of the operations budget for the Phnom Penh residential shelter. We provide trauma informed training to the staff and caregivers and conduct weekly creative art therapy sessions to help the children recover and build up their resilience.

Along the way, we have also noted the great need for local language publications and tools both for children and for parents, teachers and caregivers. To this end we have translated children and adult books, powerpoints, seminar materials, magazines and radio programs aimed at inspiring and motivating children, parents, teachers and caregivers.

We firmly believe that Cambodia’s future rests in the hands of the young men and women who are motivated to reach out to others and use their talents and abilities to improve their communities. Therefore we partner with Cambodian organizations and individuals who are likeminded, using our time and resources to help them succeed.

Mr. Alex W. Soldner

Founder & Director

Mrs. Ann Soldner

Co-founder and Assistant Director

Mr. Em Bun Thoeun

Siem Reap Program Manager

Mr. Chea Chan Raksa

National Advisor & Kampong Speu Program Manager

Mrs. Heng Thida

National Advisor and Kampong Speu Program Manager

Mr. Suon Borith and Mrs. Chantorn

Kratie Program Managers

Give what you can

Help support our work through donations. Find out how you can donate by following the link below.

Volunteer

We are looking for volunteers and interns who are culturally adaptable and enthusiastic about educating children and working closely with local Cambodian families, teachers and students.

Contact us to learn more.