Build dreams! Send Cambodian Students to College!

Building dreams:   The challenge of trying to make dreams come true.

Matching Grant Opportunity:   Please consider supercharging your donation, by  making a donation on June 12, 2013 from 9:00am Eastern Daylight time during the GlobalGiving Match day. Global Giving will give " Super Star" projects such as ours a 50%  match on  donations up to $1,000. 

We have not given up on our goal to  help rural Cambodian students fulfill their dreams of attending college, although over the past  6 months we have only raised $ 160  in total for this project.

None the less, we have taken the plunge to help these students . Had we not done so, more than likely our four students would have drifted to meaningless work  for rock bottom wages  and lost their opportunity to realize their dreams of attending college and building a successful  middle class life.

Here is a brief update on our students:

All four of  these  students came from our Rural Assistance Program in Bapnom Province, Prey Veng, Cambodia and all four were active members of the student dance program sponsored by  Kasumisou Foundation at Babnom  High School. The student dance program  provided instruction in traditional Cambodian dance free of charge  to any student  who wanted to participate.

Additionally, these four students  participated in Kasumisou Foundation’s “ Green Champions Project ” a student- led program to reforest local areas. Students created nurseries for tree seedlings, transplanted the seedlings along a long  treeless dusty road ( about a mile long) commonly used as a main  pedestrian and bicycle thoroughfare. Our students  tended the  young trees, watering them and  protecting them from destruction by  foraging live stock.  The Green Champions project   objective is  to provide trees for  shade by  reintroducing  pioneer native  tree species . These trees will also  create improved biomass to help to enrich depleted soil and  will encourage birds and other animals to re-establish a presence . These factors will combine  and lead to the long term  improvement  of  an area that had been subjected to decades of land degradation and mismanagement.

As a result of their academic achievement and their participation in these two rigorous programs , our  four students had been selected as those most likely to succeed by the teacher overseeing these programs at Bapnom High School.   These four students not only graduated from high school, but showed their skill, talent ,  self-discipline and leadership  through their continuing  participation in these two programs.

Born Laiy ~  Female, Age 19

• ·         Royal Scientific Institute of Health- School of Nursing
• ·         Paid $850 for one year’s tuition and books
• ·         Shares housing near the school

Nhes Sor Sdoeurn ~ Female – age 19

• ·         Vanda Institue of Accounting
• ·         Paid $ 450 for tuition, books,supplies
• ·         Shares housing with several  classmates.  Helps with accounting,  dance instruction to younger   students  and  marketing at the  Champey Academy of Arts, a Kasumisou Foundation project.
• ·         Receives $ 70  per month to cover food, share of rent, personal expenses

Chhoun Lean You  ~ Male – age 22

• ·         Norton University-English & Communications
• ·         Paid $ 450 for tuition, books, supplies
• ·         Lodging is sharing a  storeroom at Champey Academy of Arts   with fellow student Hun Serey in exchange  for helping out with tasks at school including class instruction  and marketing.
• ·         Receives $ 70 per month to cover food, personal expenses

Hun Serey ~ Male – age 19

•           Norton University – Business Management       
•           Paid $450 for tuition, books, supplies
• ·         Lodging is shared storeroom at Champei  Academy of Arts with fellow student You  in exchange  for helping out with tasks at school including class instruction  and marketing.
• ·         Receives $ 70 per month to cover food, personal expenses

If any of these four  students wish to return home to visit their families, the flat bed  trucks that serve as shared “ taxi” will take 4  to  6 hours each way and cost $ 14 round trip.  The students ride bicycles to school and they are responsible for all of their personal expenses including clothing.

 We hope that once you have a chance to learn more about our students, that you too, will want to become a part of their amazing success story. 

Thank you for your generous support of our efforts to help these students!

Barbara & Mark Rosasco