We met at the downtown Siem Reap location of Art Deli Cafe where I gave a slideshow talk about my own work, how I came to photography and how I make ends meet. Then I reviewed the work of each student, giving specific advice to each, talking about some of the common pitfalls of constructing an image, and examined different professional avenues each might want to pursue.

It was a great pleasure to return to teaching and it’s always an advantage to have students who are passionate about the subject at hand. Judging by the group photo at left, and subsequent student reviews, it seems everyone had a blast.

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(Worshop photos provided by i-Qlick)

Below you will find three examples of my students’ work and a short bio they provided...

My name is Sochea Rin, 27, or you can call me Dan. I am work as a Senoir Graphic Design at WING Cambodia Co,.Ltd, that is mobile money transfer. I enjoy photography around 7 months with Canon 450D Rebel. I like landscape and street photo. My Facebook name is Dan Ps.

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My name is Miller. I used to join Canon Marathon Contest and Melon Rouge Contest In Cambodia. In this both contest I got number 1 and moreover via internet I used to join a landscape contest 2500 members. They chose 10 members and then I got number 5. That’s all !!

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I’m an english teacher at the university here in Phnom Penh. I use photography to express my emotions and to appreciate beauty. I’ve been in Cambodia for 4 years. Been into photography for almost 2 years. I want to concentrate on photojournalism. Arvin Mamhot.

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Star student, Roeurn Kakada, reads aloud from a book at Room to Read's center at Chimeak Primary School.

On my recent visit to Room to Read’s new library and literacy programs in the Cambodian provinces of Kampong Thom and Siem Reap, I was struck by the enthusiasm with which the children approached reading – tiny boys and girls voraciously devouring one book after another.

I couldn’t help but think back to a time not so long ago when the Khmer Rouge burned all the books they could get their hands on in an attempt to purge the country of any trace of life before what was to be known as year zero.

Following nearly four years of brutal Khmer Rouge rule and 10 years of internal conflicts, in many ways the country had to start again from scratch.

Today, Cambodia is still struggling to shed its post-war status, but since my first trip here in 2006, I have witnessed so much positive change with each subsequent visit, and it was a true pleasure to see Room to Read’s programs in action there.

It’s so cliché to say it. Change starts with the youth, but sometimes the most salient concepts are the ones we should adhere to the most.

At Room to Read’s Ta Lek Primary School library deep in the rural parts of Kampong Thom province, I watched transfixed as the children threw themselves at the bookshelves with unabated appetite. Most of the parents cannot read, but today their kids can. They also regularly listen to Room to Read’s weekly radio program, which promotes reading, but they all unanimously agreed that reading itself is better than radio – the only form of modern entertainment available in their village.

Roeurn Kakada, an 11–year old girl I met at Room to Read’s centre at Chimeak Primary School just outside of Kampong Thom city, stood out as something of a star student. She reads several books every day, draws a lot, and plans to be an illustrator when she grows up, and who is to say she might not one day be employed by Room to Read. They published 25 new titles in Khmer in 2011, illustrated and written by Cambodia’s up and coming writers and artists, and they plan to release 30 new books in 2012.

Room to Read also introduced a pilot literacy program in 20 schools across Cambodia, two of which I visited in Siem Reap province. The program, supported by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports, saw the creation of a new textbook and the implementation of a phonic and whole language approach, which teachers say has facilitated an increase in literacy levels, and indeed, test results show a remarkable improvement in reading and writing abilities. The program also encourages community outreach as teachers encourage parents to support their children as they embark on the task of learning how to read and write Khmer, even though often times, the parents themselves are illiterate.

These are the kinds of programs that really work – simple, almost obvious, and yet so effective at lifting people out of the conditions of poverty. It goes without saying that education is indispensible to participation in the global economy, but it also enriches the human spirit by inspiring people to dream without limits, and rewrite their own destiny.

For more information on Room to Read’s amazing programs around the world, check out this New York Times article by Nicholas Kristof.

Please also consider making a donation to Room to Read.

Below you will find a selection of images. Click here for the full archive of images.

Roeurn Kakada, left, and Eung Vichaka read book at Room to Read's new center at Chimeak Primary School.

Children read at Room to Read's center at Chimeak Primary School.

Parents sit with their children at Room to Read's library at Ta Lek Primary School.

Children gather around as a woman reads aloud in Room to Read's library at Ta Lek Primary School.

Children read together at Room to Read's library at Ta Lek Primary School.

Children learn to read and write at Lvea Primary School where teachers implement Room to Read's literacy program.

Children learn to read and write at Lvea Primary School where teachers implement Room to Read's literacy program.

Children learn to read and write at Lvea Primary School where teachers implement Room to Read's literacy program.

Children learn to read and write at Lvea Primary School where teachers implement Room to Read's literacy program.

Children learn to read and write at Sok San Primary School where teachers implement Room to Read's literacy program.

Cambodia’s garment industry could rightfully be credited with pulling the country out of its post-war economic catastrophe. Investors from China, Malaysia and Singapore first opened factories here in 1994, just on the heels of two decades of war.

Buoyed by the favourable trade conditions granted by the United States – conditions that mandated Cambodia’s garment sector adhere to international labour standards – the industry grew an estimated 40 per cent each year between 1995 and 2006.

The International Labor Organization played an instrumental role in overseeing the endeavor through its Better Factories Cambodia (BFC) programme, established in 2001, which effectively promotes application of labour law and labour standards in the export sector.

But Cambodia’s heavy reliance on western buyers and largely external Asian investors is precisely what made it especially vulnerable when the 2008 financial crisis hit. Many workers suddenly found themselves without a job or with reduced wages because there was less work to be had.

Despite the creation of some 37,000 new jobs in 2010, and a general assessment that Cambodia’s garment sector has more or less survived the financial crisis, existing jobs still fall 30,000 short of pre-crisis numbers, and ironically, many factory managers now complain that they are unable to recruit workers.

Although the minimum wage was raised in 2010 from USD 50 to USD 61 per month, the food and fuel price crisis has made making ends meet a serious challenge for Cambodia’s garment workers, the vast majority of whom are also sending money home to support their families in the provinces.

Kibera, Kenya’s largest shantytown, is at the fault line of the youth employment crisis sweeping the world.

Three years ago, youths were tearing up the railroad tracks that run through the informal settlement during post-election violence over the lack of jobs. Furious over sky-high unemployment, thousands of idle youths took to the streets to disrupt and burn the businesses and houses of perceived members of the economically advantaged.

Today, residents have rebuilt their communities, and the hustle and bustle within the informal settlement has shifted from frustrated violence to productive work. Yet employment remains a huge challenge, particularly among the youth – a point analysts study closely as the country gears up for new elections next year.

Government neglect of Kibera has resulted in major gaps in public service. One of the key challenges is sanitation. People don’t have toilets, showers or running water in their homes.

Over the last five years, Kibera residents have banded together to create public bath houses, latrines, clean water kiosks and other projects that benefit the whole of the community. These initiatives have turned out to be among the more stable forms of income for the youth and women’s groups that run what the Umande Trust co-operative calls “bio centers.” Umande, sponsored by the ILO under its COOP Africa Challenge Fund, has over 50 bio centers across Kenya’s informal settlements. They convert human waste into bio gas that is used to heat water for the showers and sold to residents for cooking.

Click here to read the corresponding article on the ILO’s website.

Starting in 2007, the International Labour Organization began providing grants to co-operatives in eight African nations through its COOPAfrica Challenge Fund facility, funded mostly by the UK’s Department for International Development and the government of Finland, allowing for a total of USD 3.7 million in grant disbursements to date. Kenya has been one of the largest recipients, benefitting from USD 1.3 million for a total of 28 projects from 2008 to 2010.

One sector where a clear impact can be observed is the dairy farming industry. Above is a collection of images from two dairy farmers co-operatives in Kenya who received grants of about $50,000 each. Limuru Dairy Farmers Co-operative Society in Kiambu district used the grant to launch its own animal feed processing plant, and Wamunyu Farmers Co-operative Society in Machakos district acquired two cooling facilities to store freshly delivered milk.

Click here to see the corresponding article I wrote for the ILO on their website.

This will be my third year at the festival. The first was in 2007 when I was green and knew nothing of the milieu, and the second was in 2008 when my multimedia expose on the Kenyan post-election crisis was screened. It is a true honor to return to Angkor Photo in this capacity, in many ways a product of the concept behind the festival – one of exchange, inspiration and encouragement.

Look out for an update post in November about the winners and their work.

For more information about the festival, please visit the APF website.