Back to School

As the weather cools, leaves start to change colors, and the last hurrah of summer that is Labor Day weekend fades into memory, Friendship with Cambodia, like many of you, begins planning for the new school year. You probably remember excitedly (or grumblingly, for the non-shoppers among our readership) searching for new shoes, the perfect backpack, stacks of paper, and if you were lucky, an awesome TrapperKeeper with New Kids on the Block on the cover.

Samphos wants to be a nurse midwife.

Friendship with Cambodia’s sponsored students start the new school year a little differently. Most of them are uncertain whether they will be able to attend at all.  In the impoverished countryside, most families struggle to survive.  Parents may wish to support their children in school, but basic economic concerns dictate that, once children are old enough to work, they drop out of school to help their families.  Only 6% of Cambodian children finish high school.  Women comprise less than half of that number.

 

Friendship with Cambodia is campaigning to educate rural girls. Statistics show that education of girls is key to ending the cycle of poverty.  Women who are educated:

• have fewer children
• immunize their children
• improve nutrition, sanitation, and income for their family
• make sure their children get a good education

Without an educated population, Cambodia cannot progress or solve their problems, such as a 45% malnutrition rate in children.

Lay-Chheang wants to be a teacher.

One out of 10 girls is sold into prostitution.  Mothers who cannot feed their children allow their daughters to go to the city to work as housekeepers, not knowing they will be sold to a brothel.  When girls are sponsored in school, they are not vulnerable to being sold as a sex-slave.

Rural students understand the problems facing rural Cambodians and are more suited for finding appropriate solutions. Eighty-five percent of the population is rural. Very few rural students are able to go to university. Their families, who earn an average of $1 a day, cannot afford it.

Our students become role models in their village.  Traditionally, rural families in Cambodia do not value education.  We need success stories to help inspire rural families to see the benefit of education.

Srey-Deth wants to be a lawyer.

$125 a month sponsors a student in university for a year

$30 a month sponsors a student in high school

Any amount helps. Donations are tax-deductible. To learn more about sponsoring a student in high school and/or university, visit: http://www.friendshipwithcambodia.org/donate_sponsor.php

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Why I sponsor a student

~ by Lowell Hill.

Printed in Responsible Travel Guide, Cambodia: Improving Lives Through Thoughtful Travel Choices by Pujita Mayeda and Friendship with Cambodia. 

http://www.friendshipwithcambodia.org/programs-education.php

 

When we first traveled to Cambodia, Friendship with Cambodia showed us life in a rural village. There we met a few young people who were good students but needed support and encouragement to stay in school. It was obvious that these kids would likely lead better lives and contribute more to their society if they had the opportunity to keep learning – reading, writing, arithmetic, English. It was easy to decide to sponsor one of them, a shy young man with the dream of becoming a village chief. When I wrote to him, I encouraged him to study hard and practice talking to groups of people. My mother was able to move beyond the coal-mining town she grew up in because she was a good student and was supported in her desire to go to college. There was no question that her children would go to college.  The more I see of the world, the more I believe that education, for girls as well as boys, is the leading hope for improving it.

To learn more about sponsoring a student through Friendship with Cambodia, visit:  http://www.friendshipwithcambodia.org/donate_sponsor.php

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New FWC Scholarship Created: Courage Award

A special thank you to Linda Young for creating a new award for Friendship with Cambodia’s sponsored university students!  This scholarship will fund one of our sponsored university graduates in post-graduation studies (i.e. teaching certificate, midwifery certificate or graduate school).  The first award will be made the summer of 2011.

About the FWC Courage Award:
Friendship with Cambodia will grant this award to a sponsored university student that has demonstrated great courage to overcome obstacles in pursuing his or her education. He or she must also show great compassion toward  fellow students, respect for teachers, and a determination to work toward building peace-based communities. The Courage Award will fund postgraduate degree expenses in the student’s chosen field.

This award was created to honor two people who have, in their own way, fostered global education: Douglas Stearns and Daisaku Ikeda.

Douglas Stearns, whose passion for bilingual education led him to establish the International School in Portland, Oregon USA. From pre-school through the 5th grade English-speaking students are fully immersed in Spanish, Japanese, or Chinese language.

Daisaku Ikeda, life’s work has been dedicated to creating opportunities and organizations that support the unlimited growth and development of people’s lives worldwide. He founded the Soka (Value) educational system from pre-school through university level.  In 2010 there are two Soka Universities, one in the United States and one in Japan.  Mr. Ikeda is also a master teacher of Buddhist philosophy and practice. His dedication has led to a global network of people working to create peace-based communities through Buddhist practice.

Mr. Ikeda first visited Cambodia in 1961. While visiting the historic site of Angkor Wat, he wondered at the great civilization that had been there in the past. Mr. Ikeda sent a prayer to all the Cambodian people that they would again create a great society, one of lasting happiness for all their citizens.  In 1975 Mr. Ikeda met with Cambodian Prince Sihanouk while he was in exile in Beijing, China. The Prince shared with Mr. Ikeda, “I am used to strife. No difficulties can make me tired.”  On March 19, 2002, at the commencement ceremony at the Soka University in Japan, Mr. Ikeda received, an honorary professorship from the Dean, Pit Chamnan, of the Royal University of Phnom Penh. It was the first such honor awarded by this university.

To quote from Daisaku Ikeda, “Education deals with the essence of what it means to be human. No undertaking is more valuable, more sacred.”

 Want to contribute to the Courage Award fund or to the University Student Fund?  Visit our website to learn how!

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Student Sponsorship Program in Cambodia

The Need

Cambodia is recovering from thirty years of violence, including the genocide (1975-1979) that killed one out of four people and targeted those with an education.  Only 25% of the teachers and 50 doctors survived.  Today Cambodia is one of the most impoverished countries in the world.  Many families cannot afford to send their children to school.  The children need to work to help their families get enough food to eat.  Half the girls and a quarter of the boys never learn to read or write.  Three-quarters of the children who start school drop out between third and sixth grades because of poverty.  Only 12% finish high school.  Girls have fewer educational opportunities than boys and, at the university level, only 20% of the students are female.  This is why three out of four of our sponsored students are girls.

Our Student Sponsorship Program

The greatest wish of most children in Cambodia is to go to school.  Their parents need financial help to afford the school uniform, supplies and fees, and to supplement their lost income.  Children who live in remote villages need to buy a bicycle to ride to school.  Our sponsorship program helps students who are doing well in school but facing hardships in their families to stay in school.  We work with poor rural families in eight provinces.

 

Sponsored Student

 

Here is the story of a one of our students:  Puth was abandoned by her parents and now lives with her aunt.  They can afford to eat only one meal a day.  She grows and sells vegetables to earn money for her school supplies.  Puth wants to become a teacher.  She is now in our sponsorship program.

Friendship with Cambodia also funds Cambodian social workers who meet regularly with the students, monitor their progress, and give them encouragement.  They counsel the students on career options and teach the students how to improve their communities.

Now that our some of our students are graduating from high school, we have established a University Student Fund to help support students attend college.  These students become role models for their villages, where no one has gone on to higher education.  We are proud of them for working so hard in school in spite of their challenges.

Our goal is to empower people now living in dire poverty to improve their own lives.

How You Can Help

Student sponsorship is $30 per month ($360 per year).  Sponsors will receive a letter and photo from their student each year, and can write to their student.  Your kindness will make a student very happy and will improve life in Cambodia.

For more information on sponsoring a student visit our website: www.friendshipwithcambodia.org.

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