Build dreams! Send Cambodian Students to College!

Please join us  Wednesday, July 18  at 9:00am for  GlobalGiving's 50%  Bonus Match Day!

Contributions up to $500 can receive a 50% match.   Matching funds ( $120,000)  will be awarded first come , first served , so please set your clock for 9:00 am New York Time!

Meet our newest college student ! 

Vichet , a young man, now age 23, was orphaned at a young age.  We have known Vichet since 2002, when Kasumisou Foundation through its Family Support Program ( FSP) began to provide social and housing support for Vichet and his grandmother . In more recent years for his young cousin , now age 13 has come to live in the same household.

As many of you know, our FSP while providing essential living support such as food, housing, access to medical care and the like, strongly emphasized the value of education as the primary way to break the chain of inherited poverty.

USAID statistics from 2011 estimated that while 96% of children receive at least some elementary education, just 34% attend lower secondary school and just 21% upper secondary school ( high school) with graduation rates being estimated at a much lower rate.

It is a considerable accomplishment to even make it to high school and diplomas are awarded only upon completion of a national examination. Vichet’s educational progress was uneven, but he stayed with it and last year completed grade 12. However he failed to pass the national exam for a high school diploma certificate. Despite often working full time loading trucks and delivering household products for a distributor, this year Vichet to continue to study on his own  and was able to pass his exam. Vichet continues to work, ,making about $ 150 per month, most of which goes to pay the family’s food expenses .

Vichet started studying English at Panasastra University in Phnom Penh at the end of June as part of our Kasumisou Scholars college program.  He attends classes in the evenings after finishing his work. Vichet is taking foundation courses in English to prepare for enrollment. Hopefully after completing two semesters of foundation study, Vichet will enter a degree program in English language and literature.

Vichet’s goal is to qualify for work as a tour guide in Phnom Penh. However, he is very intelligent and hard working, so depending upon the results of his university studies we may encourage him to pursue a more ambitions goal for his future.

We hope, in the near future , to invite him to join the staff at our Champey Academy of arts and to live at the school. This would allow him to avoid a very long daily commute between his grandmother’s home in the resettlement district and his job and university in central Phnom Penh.

This project shows how a life can change and catapult forward with the right combination of financial and social support combined with a strong work ethic of a young man determined to lift himself out of poverty.

This is only possible due to the generosity of you, our donors.

We hope that your can join us on July 18^th for the GlobalGiving Bonus Match day to help your donations work even harder.

Barbara & Mark

Update on our Students

Our four  college students began classes in November.  While we would like to be able to present an action packed report, in reality, education is  a slow and exacting process . All of our students continue to be on track and one has recently received some  really good  news.

Srey Ravin* (female, age 22):

Ravin has grown up in our Family Support Program ( FSP) .  Ravin  and her mother were among the first clients of the FSP and we have known Ravin since she was about 4 years old.  Ravin is HIV negative but she does have some physical impediments, as one leg is longer than the other so she walks with a significant limp. Despite this challenge, Ravin has, for years,  continued to bike to school and then to university.

Despite  the economics of her challenging home environment , Ravin has always set her sights high and worked hard in school. We frequently remind our supporters that Cambodia is a country where it is estimated that only 40% of all students even attend high school and far fewer graduate, but even so, Ravin completed her high school coursework and passed the national examination.

Four years ago Ravin entered a four year program at the Royal University of Agriculture (RUAH).  Her major field of study is food science and as before, she has always strived to be highly ranked in her class of 38 food science majors.  Ravin had recently applied for a grant of $1000 from US AID to assist her in completing the thesis required for her degree at RUA. We are so pleased to tell you all that Ravin recently learned that she will be awarded her grant and she will be able to proceed with her thesis. Ravin remains focused on her career goals and she dreams of an opportunity to study abroad after completing her bachelor’s degree at the RUA.  

Despite a series of remarkable life challenges, Ravin has continued to pursue her goals and she now dreams of the opportunity to study abroad. Ravin speaks English but the logistics of study abroad without significant economic sponsorship remains a yet to be solved challenge. In the meantime, Ravin is also looking at possible  opportunities in Asia, possibly in Japan.

Ravin is a great example of how a combination of essential support, mentoring and access to opportunity can significantly change the course of a life . None of this would be possible without the generous support of our kind donors. Our heartfelt thanks and appreciation to everyone who has made this remarkable young woman’s access to opportunity possible.

Barbara & Mark Rosasco

Links:

• Kasumisou Foundation Website