Tiny Toones is an organization based in Cambodia that empowers the youth through education and dance training. It’s truly a noble cause given Cambodia’s history and present situation, and what really impressed me was the story behind their founder:
Tiny Toones Cambodia was founded by Tuy “KK” Sobil, born in the Thai refugee camps in 1977, and raised in Long Beach before being deported to Cambodia in 2004. He witnessed that the underprivileged youth of Phnom Penh faced many of the same gang and drug related pressures that he did in the U.S. While KK was on outreach in Phnom Penh at his former job, educating youth about HIV prevention and drug harm reduction, word spread that KK formerly was a very talented break dancer from the States. Nine young kids approached him to be their dance teacher, but he turned them down at first, because he had stopped dancing over ten years ago. He soon learned that the children lacked the presence of positive role models and were very vulnerable to choosing a life style of hardship, because often times they were the children of sex workers or were the little brothers and sisters of active drug users.
Realizing that these children were at risk of repeating his own mistakes, he opened up his own home to serve as a youth center with break dancing as the main activity. KK’s goal and the mission of Tiny Toones Cambodia is to provide a positive environment for kids to focus their energy and creativity in the arts and education, so that they build self-confidence in their daily lives and feel supported in achieving their dreams.
The Come Up Crew is glad to be working with Tiny Toones for this Saturday’s edition of The Come Up. Hit the jump for a video promo.
