World Assistance for Cambodia

In rural Cambodia, hundreds of villages still lack a functional primary and secondary school. Through World Assistance for Cambodia’s Rural Schools Project,private donors from all over the world have helped construct over 550 primary and secondary schools in rural Cambodia.

World Assistance for Cambodia/Japan Relief for Cambodia, in partnership with the Cambodian Ministry of Education Youth and Sports, builds schools in poor, remote villages all over Cambodia. After the completion of a school building, the ministry provides licensed teachers to teach the compulsory national curriculum at the school. Enrollment is open to the public and is free of charge.

A donor who contributes toward cost of building a school can name it. The cost of building a brand new three-room school with furnishings and toilets is $45,000. A donor wishing to sponsor and name a school that was built by matching funds but that is already completed can do so for $15,000. A school built through World Assistance for Cambodia can be further enhanced by support of additional programs such as the English/computer training programs, vegetable gardens, the Girls Be Ambitious program to help keep girls in school and scholarship programs for high-achieving students who would like to benefit from further education.

Six solar panels are affixed atop a roof of a school that runs multiple computers for the English/computer classes operated by World Assistance for Cambodia/Japan Relief for Cambodia. Three solar panels can power up to three low-energy computers for an average of nine hours a day. The cost of installing three solar panels is $2,000.

An English/computer teacher at the Mortgage Force School in Koh Kong Province instructs a student. Donors may sponsor English/computer classes to a school they’ve funded the construction or to any other school built through World Assistance for Cambodia’s program. To set up an English/computer program, hardware such as low energy computers that run a Khmer (Cambodian-language) Open Source operating system and keyboard ($500 a unit), solar panels to power the computers ($2,000 for three panels) and internet ($1320 for two years of GPRS or a satellite connection for $4,950 for two years) are initially added. The annual on-going costs are the English/computer teacher’s salary for $2,750 and the annual cost of the internet subscription. By adding an English/computer program, students, the teacher and the donor can exchange e-mails and digital. The computer program also makes it possible to operate other programs such as the vegetable garden and Girls Be Ambitious program that are monitored by the English/computer teacher.

A group of students at the Kirivorn School in Koh Kong province pump the water well located on the grounds of the school. The water is used for drinking, cooking, watering the vegetable garden and for the toilets. Under Cambodian law, all wells must be accessible to the public. Residents of the Kirivorn village use this well to pump water for their own use. The cost to dig an additional well is $2,200 to $3,000, depending on the depth.

Students at the Kirivorn School in Koh Kong province carry water from the well to fill the Hagar water filters in the class rooms to make the water safe for drinking.

A Hagar Water filter in a classroom at the Kirivorn School in Koh Kong province purifies the water to make it safe to drink. The cost of adding two Hagar water filters is $300.

Early in the morning, student volunteers help tend the vegetable garden at the Rieko Yano School in Prey Veng province. The vegetables are used as ingredients for a meal prepared for the students by a cook in the school kitchen served before their classes. The initial set up cost of a garden is $8,250 that includes preparing the soil for growing vegetables, seeds, fertilizer, construction of a kitchen, utensils, cooking ingredients and the salaries of one gardener and one cook for two years. From the third year, the annual ongoing cost to support the gardener, cook, seeds and ingredients is $2,200.

Students volunteer at the Rieko Yano School in Prey Veng province to help tend a vegetable garden at their school. The vegetables are used fora pre-school meal. At the end of the school year,student volunteers receive a Certificate of Service Learning.

When a vegetable garden program is started, a small outdoor kitchen for the cook to prepare the meals for the students is built on the school grounds.

Early in the morning, the cook at the Rieko Yano School in Prey Veng province lays out the ingredients that include vegetables grown in the garden on the counter of the kitchen in preparation to cook a meal that will be eaten by students before the start of classes.

Students at the Rieko Yano School in Prey Veng province help themselves to the morning soup made from freshly picked vegetables grown in the garden.

Students at the Rieko Yano School in Prey Veng province sit down together and enjoy their soup for breakfast.

At 7 a.m., at the start of the school day, the deputy principal of the Rieko Yano School in Prey Veng province call upon the students to gather in front of the school to salute the national flag and sing the national anthem.

An addition of a library, provides a quiet and calm space where students can enjoy a choice of quality reading material and study on their own. The cost to build librarybuilding witha 72 square meter floor space, ten tall bookshelves, four large tables and 32 chairs is $15,000. About $3,000 is the suggested budget to fill a new library with age-appropriate Khmer-language fiction, non-fiction and reference books. Here at the Kirivorn School library, students browse through newly donated books from Nishimachi International School, the sponsors of the school and library.

A primary school student at the Kirivorn School in Koh Kong province reads the Khmer (Cambodian-language) translation of Harry Potter in the school library. J.K. Rowling, the author, donated the Khmer translation rights to Bernard Krisher, founder of World Assistance for Cambodia/Japan Relief for Cambodia to help encourage Cambodian children to read.

Eleven-year old Moul Somphors attends Kirivorn School in Koh Kong province through the sponsorhip of the Girls Be Ambitious program. Conditions of poverty, make it difficult for girls like Moul Somphors to attend school because they are made to work in the fields, do chores or look after younger siblings. The Girls Be Ambitious program awards participating families $10 each month their daughter attains perfect school attendance (except for excuses absences such as illness and family emergencies. ) The $10 can be used by the family to hire an adult to do the work previously assigned to the girl enabling her to attend school and gain literacy.

Kong Doch and Hen Chanhong, both eighth graders receive full-scholarships to participate in the Bright Future Kids program. Highly-motivated, academically talented students from World Assistance for Cambodia’s primary schools are eligible to apply to this magnet scholarship program. The monthly scholarship support is $125 a month or $1,500 a year per student.

Chhem Bunna is also eighth grader enrolled in the Bright Future Kids program. Bunna enjoys studying English, computer and science. During his free time he reads books about culture and history and plays sports. His dream is to one day become a doctor or a judge.