Help Butterflies Fly Butterfly Schools – Hope in Cambodia

For over 10 years, we have been transforming lives in Cambodia through free education, art, and hope. Every donation helps a butterfly take flight. 💛

For more than 10 years — since 2012 — the Butterfly Schools have been bringing free education and joy to hundreds of children in Cambodia.

The project was born from a dream of mine, Ana Margarida Alberty, a Portuguese teacher and volunteer who believed that a small gesture could change the destiny of many lives.

Today, the Butterfly Schools include:

💃 Dance School

🧵 Sewing School

💻 Computer School

📚 Two daily English Schools

🌾 Three weekend English Schools in rural areas

All of them operate entirely free of charge, sustained only by donations and the dedication of local teachers and volunteers.

In January 2026, I will once again travel to Cambodia with two dear friends and volunteers — Zezinha Canhoto and Emília Gonzalez — for a one-month humanitarian mission.

Our goal is to use the donations to acquire clothes, toys, school supplies, medicines, hygiene kits, and other essential goods, so that the children can continue learning with dignity.

the Butterfly children receive valuable complementary education in various fields — knowledge that is not offered in state schools — giving them the opportunity to acquire skills for a better future, find dignified jobs, and break free from the cycle of extreme poverty and hardship in which they live.

🌐 www.helpchildrencambodia.com

We also aim to revive our mobile library and acquire more books!

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We count on your support to give wings to the Butterfly children! 🦋

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About the author

The team has been a one-person operation, run by Ana Margarida Alberty, a 69-year-old retired teacher who dedicated her entire life to language teaching and fell in love with volunteering in Cambodia when she first went there in 2012. Since then, she has been on the ground 16 times, always for 1 to 2 months at a time, determined to start new projects, help build schools, teach English, sewing and visual arts, and computer skills, in addition to traveling kilometers in a tuk-tuk, a mobile school, stopping in various villages to distribute clothes, books, and lots of joy.

Over the years, it has founded several schools and today has 8, in addition to the Traveling Library that brings reading to areas where children have never seen a storybook.

The Cambodian children's desire and thirst for learning, along with their smiles, are a powerful motivation in her life and a highly rewarding experience. However, she knows she needs a lot of help to be able to assist them. Godparents for all the children will become the new family for the children of Butterfly Schools.

Volunteers are needed on site and are very welcome! Your help is also invaluable.
The team has been the work of just one person — Ana Margarida Alberty, a 69-year-old retired teacher who has dedicated her entire life to language education and fell in love with volunteering in Cambodia when she first visited in 2012.

Since then, she has returned 16 times, staying for one to two months on each mission, always with the same determination to start new projects, help build schools, and teach English, Sewing, Arts and Crafts, and Computer Studies. She also travels for miles in a tuk-tuk — a mobile school — that stops in different villages to distribute clothes, books, and joy.

Over the years, she has founded several schools, and today there are eight Butterfly Schools, as well as a Mobile Library that brings books and stories to areas where children had never seen one before.

The eagerness and thirst for knowledge shown by Cambodian children, and their radiant smiles, are a powerful source of motivation in her life — Sponsors for the Butterfly children will become their extended family.

Volunteers are also needed and very welcome on site!

Your help is truly precious. 💛

Budget and due dates

The Butterfly Schools 2026 mission takes place during the month of January 2026, lasting approximately 4 weeks in Cambodia.

All donations will be applied directly to schools and local communities, without intermediaries.

📅Scheduling

• November – December 2025: Fundraising Campaign
• January 2026: Mission in Cambodia – delivery of materials acquired with donations, visits to 8 schools, volunteering, classes and activities with children, purchase of equipment needed to improve conditions.
• (from January 4th to January 31st, 2026)
• February 2026: Accountability report and sharing of results with supporters (report and photos published on the website and social media).

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Estimated Budget

School materials and books – notebooks, pencils, backpacks, whiteboards, books → €200

Clothing and toys – new clothes, educational toys, hygiene kits → €150

Uniforms and fabrics – for the dance and sewing schools → €150

Laptops and accessories – for the computer school and technical materials → €100

Tables, benches, and whiteboards – for the open-air schools → €200

Water containers and medicines – for families in need and first-aid kits → €200

Transport and local logistics – travel between schools, deliveries, and storage → €200

➡️ Total estimate: €1,200

Images

Documents

• Bilhete de avião comprovativo da minha viagem para o Cambodja.

  pdf • 2.12 MB