Location and History
The Sweet Mango Pagoda, named after the numerous mango trees planted and growing there, was founded in 1981 by a Cambodian childless couple after they had offered their mango tree plantation to the monks. Before the establishment of the Sweet Mango Pagoda, from 1968 onwards, this piece of land used to be an ashram and was used as a meditation place.

The Mango Tree Garden, recently registered as a local Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), is located on a piece of land belonging to the Sweet Mango Pagoda in Ang Snuol District (25 km west of Phnom Penh), Kandal province.

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Philosophy of the Mango Tree Garden
The Mango Tree Garden is a community based program. The program has a holistic and child-centered approach; the children are respected and honored in their childhood and their natural, cultural, and spiritual surroundings where they live in. They are given back their childhood through creative play that is sensitive to the local culture. Creativity is a means to both (re)discover one's own strengths and originality as well as to draw from cultural, natural and spiritual resources to heal wounds. The Mango Tree Garden is a place where children can come home to their imagination. Home is where the children play.

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Activities
Through story telling, drawing, painting, drama, singing and dancing children are given the opportunity to find and to live their dreams, to express themselves and to heal their wounds. Facilitated and guided by adults the children find their place in the garden and the garden finds a place in their hearts.

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The Children
The Mango Tree Garden is currently engaging around 80 children (6 to 13 years old) who are from four different villages in Ang Snuol district. These children, of which many are orphans, are from poor farmer families. Many of these children are at risk to develop a mental health problem sooner or later in life and therefore given the chance to benefit from the program. Another reason for involving these children is the fact that they are living in the villages in Ang Snuol. As the Mango Tree Garden is a community based program it aims to accompany children in their communities.

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