Education Cambodia Project #12004

Build dreams! Send Cambodian Students to College!

by Kasumisou Foundation

Project Report | Mar 2, 2015
Slow and steady.....

By Barbara Rosasco | Secretary & Treasurer

Slow and steady wins the race.....

Mark has been in Cambodia the past couple of weeks where he has had an opportunity to visit with most of our “ Kasumisou Scholars”, the name that we will be using to rebrand this, our newest educational effort.

Ideally, education is a slow and steady process, punctuated by positive events such as successful exams, achievement milestone and eventually graduation. This effort is precisely that…a slow and steady effort. Our main goal in this program is to create a stable environment for our students, all of whom , at least in our western world, would qualify as “ at risk” due to their family’s modest resources, therefore causing our students to fall into the category of financially vulnerable. This means that not only are we paying tuition and books, but we are assisting with housing, mentoring and for several, providing part time employment at Champey Academy , which in turns supplies pocket money for personal needs.

From time to time there is unwanted excitement, such as now. One of our students had an unfortunate accident, where she was hit by a motorcycle, breaking her wrist. This simple misfortune in our world would be inconvenient, but in her world it is quite problematic. She now must pay for transportation for someone to drive her to class, with funds she does not really have. She is forced to delay her “ practicum” , which is essential to her nursing degree and all of this may delay her eventual graduation. Our support during this trying time will be vital to her continued progress.

As with our own kids, it is no small matter to help these students to get through college . It requires a considerable hands on approach and individualized assistance to ensure that unexpected obstacles do not derail long term plans and dreams.

We are deeply grateful to you, our donors, for your support and belief that our individual efforts, combined, collectively become a powerful force for change and enables these students to achieve what just a short time ago to them seemed to be the wildest of dreams, to have a college education.

Many of you may work for companies that will provide matching grants for education or other charities. We would be deeply grateful if you could ask about this, and if so, let us know so that we can investigate the opportunity for a possible match to your GlobalGiving donations.

More updates when Mark returns home to California.

Our sincere thanks to all of our generous donors.

Barbara Rosasco

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Nov 26, 2014
Congratulations to our newest College student !

By Barbara Rosasco | Secretary & Treasurer

Ravin with her mother

Kasumisou Scholars is a YouthSpark eligible program for 100% donor match ( up to $ 500) on December 2, Giving Tuesday!

November 2014 – Update on Kasumisou Scholars

Mark returned from Cambodia last week with bittersweet news.

The current census for the Kasumisou Scholars was at eleven students. All have come either from our AIDS Patient Family Support Program (FSP) or our RAP (Rural Assistance Program in Prey Veng province) . Currently three of our ’scholars’ come from the FSP and the remaining eight come from the RAP.

This summer, two of our students, each more than 10 years under the care and guidance of our AIDS Patient Family Support Program were ready to graduate from High School and they sat for the national high school exam in August.

One student. Ravin, age 18, passed her exam on the first try and she will enter our Build Dreams! Kasumisou Scholars program that helps Cambodian students to attend college and get vitally needed employment from our Jobs for Cambodian Youth project. Ravin has been under our care since age 4 and she has dreamed of studying Chemistry and Food Science at University. Now, her dream is coming true, thanks to you, our donors! Ravin will enter Phnom Penh’s Royal University to study Agriculture and Rural Development , while maintaining her interest in Chemistry and Food Science.

Vichet, age 20, did not pass the exam on his first try, but we are not giving up ! We have encountered this before . Vichet will repeat his 12^th grade year with tutoring and re-take the exam next year. Vichet has been under our care since 2002 and he comes from a resettlement area and was orphaned ( by AIDS) and lives with his Grandmother and an orphaned 11 year old niece.We are so proud of the great progress he has made in the face of such personal challenges and we are confident that he will achieve his goal and reach his dream of entering college next year.

All cambodian high school students must pass that national examination in order to be eligible for admission to most colleges in Cambodia. So our congratulations go out to Ravin, our 12^th student in the Kasumisoub Scholars program, and the 4th from our AIDS Patient Family Support Program.

All of this is possible because of the generous support of our donors and supporters. Thank you on behalf of our students for making " impossible" dreams come true!

Barbara & Mark Rosasco

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Sep 29, 2014
Update on " Kasumisou Scholars"

By Barbara Rosasco | Secretary & Treasurer

Mark has just returned from Cambodia , so it is a great time to provide an update on our program.

Ms. Li Bopha, the director of our Aids Patient Family Support Program, has now taken on the the additional responsibility of day to day contact and mentoring for our students. Bopha is a math teacher by training.

Like all things, programs that start as a “ good idea” evolve and become more formalized. This project was conceived as a way to send worthy low income students on to achieve their “ impossible dream”, a college education. In a country were only a minority of middle class students even finish high school, the idea of a college education for low income students really is , without a program like this, an impossible dream. Yet here we are, now in year two. We are informally calling our program “ Kasumisou Scholars” . With your help, we can continue to give these great kids the opportunity to take a giant step up and leave the subsistence lifestyle of the urban poor in an undeveloped country to achieving a middle class life. Together,right now, we are giving these students the opportunity to break the cycle of inherited poverty.

The current census for the Kasumisou Scholars are eleven students. All have come either from our AIDS Patient Family Support Program (FSP) or our RAP (Rural Assistance Program in Prey Veng province) . Currently three of our ’scholars’ come from the FSP and the remaining eight come from the RAP. These students have all successfully completed the national high school graduation examination and have moved on to university studies in Phnom Penh with scholarship assistance provided by Kasumisou. In addition, this year we had two kids from our FSP who have completed their high school studies . These two students are now waiting to get their results on the high school graduation examination. They must pass that national examination in order to be eligible for admission to most colleges in Cambodia. If those two students do receive passing grades on the national exam, they will join our Kasumisou Scholars program and enter university in Phnom Penh in November, raising our count to 13.

We hope that you will continue to tell your friends about our program and encourage their support. Our funding for this project is moment by moment and it is a big challenge to have the timing of donations match expenditures.

We cannot adequately express our appreciation to all of you, for it is your generosity that makes it possible for these students to have this amazing, life changing opportunity of attending university.

Your donations make it possible for us to continue to support these hard working students. It is one more example of how small individual acts of kindness can combine to create a nearly unimaginable force for positive change.

Thank you .

Barbara and Mark Rosasco

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