University Education for Young Women in Cambodia

Thanks to the support of donors like you, our young scholars in Lotus Outreach’s GATEways program are graduating college and moving into skilled positions! They are becoming nurses, midwives, accountants, and more, building Cambodia’s small class of professional workers!

One such success story is Chenda, who is just 21 years old and has recently been hired as a professional nurse in her home village. Her story demonstrates how education has the power not just to transform the lives of individuals, but to provide the most direly needed services to communities.

“During my internship I helped to deliver 4 babies, and it was the happiest moment of my studies. I knew that I made the right decision.”

The youngest of 6 siblings, Chenda joined the GATE program as an 11^th grade high school student. Her parents were so poor, they worked basically as subsistence farmers, eating the rice they grew from a small paddy by their house. Her parents borrowed a lot of money from their neighbors and went deep into debt.

In her two years of study, Chenda learned French to help with the pronunciation of medical terms and practices. She completed a 2-month internship at a hospital in Banteay Meanchey, and she learned the basic nursing skills that have made her one of the most medically educated people in her home village! As such, she hopes to open a small pharmacy to give her village access to modern medicines for the very first time.

All of the GATE and GATEways scholars come from the poorest households in Cambodia, which itself is one of the poorest countries in the world. Your donations and support help us to make their dreams become reality, and many of our students –like Chenda– apply their skills to supporting the rural communities from which they come.

Chenda’s new salary of $170 US Dollars per month is allowing her to pay off her parents’ debts and to help her mom save for a new house. This level of income precipitously higher than the mean income in Cambodia– around $60/month, and Chenda is still only 21 years old.

The World Bank Agrees that investing in women’s education is the best way to encourage the right kind of global development. Supporting a GATEways girl through college costs just $100 per month, and it pays dividends to their families their communities for generations.

Thank you for supporting GATEways and women’s education in the developing world! Together we are making a difference for thousands as these scholars go forward in service to their communities.