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The Tonle Sap is Southeast Asia‘s largest freshwater lake which is located in Central Cambodia. In order to accommodate drastic changes in water levels during the rainy season, residents have created floating villages consisting of homes, schools and gardens. The people among these villages are able to catch enough food to survive, yet their access to basic services is limited and the schools lack materials they need to support children‘s education.

Due to a lack of resources and minimum government funding for schools in Cambodia, there is a shortage of teaching materials and school facilities. The funding is often insufficient for even the school‘s most basic needs, leaving teachers to buy items like chalk with their personal money. The Prek Toal primary school is a floating school on the Tonle Sap that hosts over 160 students annually.

Unfortunately, the school has severe damage, half of the school is sinking and the remainder of the school is in great need of repair. In addition to the damage, the school is also lacking in many of the materials and resources it needs to thrive. Without this school, many children of the Prek Toal community will be without basic education.

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The goal of the Faces Of Prek Toal series is to raise awareness of this issue as well as bring attention to the struggles of the education system in Cambodia as a whole. In 2014, Tasha Van Zandt, a Minneapolis based photojournalist, traveled to the Prek Toal floating village to document the school and the community. Natasha‘s intent is to raise funding to rebuild the school into a safe and productive environment and to provide it‘s students with the materials and support they need to succeed.

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