Sustainability
One of the best gifts of education is the freedom to choose one's future.
Our ultimate goal is to create opportunities, through programs and projects, that enable families to create their own future without any dependence on us. That's one key reason why we're dedicated to providing an education pathway that gives these village students the opportunity to follow their passion and create a career through university education which fully realizes that passion.
Some examples: Accounting will always be a critical core business asset and thus, is a well-paying career. Pisey was one of our first alumni to graduate from university in 2019. She chose to attend Vanda Institute and major in accounting. Now, as an accountant, she is able to use her salaried income to support her family.
Rachana, another early university graduate, majored in Education. At first, the government assigned a teaching position far from her home in our village. She recently completed a competency test with very high grades—a rarity. As a result, she was able to choose her next teaching assignment. Now, she is teaching in the elementary school right next to our school and is living with her husband and firstborn near her parents in our village!
Today, over 20 of our alumni are attending university. Thirteen will graduate in 2024 and 2025. They are majoring in diverse fields: e.g., Software Engineering Food Science, Pre-med, Tourism Management, Teaching English, Cybersecurity, Fintech, Financial Management, Accounting, and Elementary Education.
With the support of people like you, we’re able to fund sustainability projects and initiatives to teach farmers how to plant less rice seedlings while doubling their yield (or more) by strengthening the rice seedlings' root systems.
SRI Training: Improved Rice Yields
In August 2017, 25 village farmers were trained by CEDAC, a French NGO (http://www.cedac.org.kh/ ), to grow rice using CEDAC's SRI (System of Rice Intensification) techniques which routinely increase yields by over 50% without the use of expensive fertilizer.
Heifer International Animal
Pass-On Program
We met with Heifer Cambodia executives and arranged training for three of our teachers to administer Heifer International's Animal Pass-On Program. The teachers would train three families to raise a pair of animals. When that pair has offspring, a pair of the offspring is given to both families, on condition that they arrange training for two more families each.
School Uniform Sewing Business
We have wanted to help start a women's school uniform sewing business. We've discussed this with the two brothers who own the tailoring business, Asia Tailor, in Phnom Penh's Russian Market. They felt they could find five used sewing machines and an embroidery machine to manufacture students' white school uniform blouses and shirts.
Students Build a Bridge
Board member Ken Colson, a man of the post-spry generation (he'd be considered a village elder if he was Cambodian), lamented that he had to cross a rickety system of planks to visit the home of Heung Mai, an 8th grade girl in 2017 who was attending our school on a scholarship that he continues to provide. He visited her home to meet her family and to witness the poverty that had caused her to drop out of 7th grade.
CPR, First Aid, Pre-Natal, and Infant Care Training
In February 2018, Sofie Gmerek, a Leland High School San Jose sophomore will conduct this training for her Girl Scout Gold Award project. Volunteers accompanying her will help 'train the trainers' so that teachers, high school students, and villagers will be prepared to continue the training for all village families. Sofie will leave behind CPR dummies and other equipment, purchased through her fundraising, for trainers to use.