Jobs for Cambodian Youth 2015 - Part 2

For the past few years we have continued to post a micro project for the Jobs for Cambodian Youth. We are deeply grateful to all of you who have, in the past supported our past fundraising efforts.

We have continued this program because of the enormous impact it makes for the teens and young adults who participate.

Our employment opportunities revolve around our Champey Academy of Arts project. At any point in the year, our part time staff may range from 8 to 12 youth, and  the   roster fluctuates based upon needs at Champey and the needs of our student and young adult team.  For example, our roster is higher during our Summer Arts Camp Program when our student participation surges.

In addition to the regular Champey Staff, at the present time we provide jobs to 7 university students and one high school student.  Of the 7 university students, six of them are from our Kasumisou Scholars programs and include students from our AIDS Patient Family Support Program. We have one new staff employee who has just arrived in Phnom Penh from rural Prey Veng Province who is in the process of college application , hoping to get a scholarship .  In the meantime,  like our other students, she is working  part time  at our Champey Academy of Arts .Our high school student comes from our AIDS Patient Family Support program  and helps with arriving guests and works to develop her English skills.  Salaries for our student staff range from $ 80 to about $ 130 per month, depending upon financial need, and employment  status.

Why is  our jobs program so  important?

 In the US and many other developed  countries, there are plentiful job opportunities for teens and young adults. However,this is often not the case in the developing world.  Also in the developed world, there are opportunities for students of modest means to access student employment and other ways to help support themselves.

This is not the case in Cambodia where part time jobs typically may be in dangerous , unregulated construction trades, often payin just $ 3 per day or for students to work in local bars where they are often pressured into prostitution  and other inappropriate activities.

Our Jobs or Cambodian Youth provides safe and suitable employment to teens and young adults who are members of   our other programs such as our Champey Academy,  some teens from our AIDS Patient Family Support program or  for our  college students in our Kasumisou Scholars programs. These college students are from extremely modest backgrounds and their families are completely unable to assist in their support.  These jobs provide urgently needed funds to assist students with basic support of food and personal items while they attend college.

By supporting Jobs for Cambodian youth, you are also supporting the considerable efforts of a young adult or college student to move forward and break the cycle of inherited poverty .

Thank you for your generous support.

Barbara & Mark Rosasco

This is a YouthSpark eligible program for 100%  donor  match  on December 2, Giving Tuesday!

The Youthspark Match will be 100% of your donation until matching funds run out to a max of $500 per donor per project.

Jobs for Cambodian Youth , was started in 2013 as way to assist our growing roster of college students from “disadvantaged backgrounds”. The phrase “ disadvantaged backgrounds” is quite the understatement. Unlike the US, where the term “ disadvantaged” may mean lower income ( with  US government subsidies for a range of services including rent, medical,student loans  etc), in Cambodia, “ disadvantaged” means that the family has little or no money, that each dollar may mean the difference between eating and not eating that day. It means that parents in rural areas , while perhaps able to provide food from home grown gardens, have zero dollars to contribute to their childrens college expenses. Zero dollars means that kids hitch hike to the city and the only funds they will have for food and lodging will be those they can earn. Wages are low in city jobs: construction jobs can pay $ 3 to $ 5 per day for full time workers. Higher wage jobs like " bar boy or bar girl" are shortcuts to prostitution.

These challenges provided the motivation for the Jobs for Cambodian Youth. In our culture, it is common for students to have jobs to pay for incidentals and living expenses. Our Jobs for Cambodian youth is modeled on this ideal.

The project has continued to grow has and for the past year grown to provide a job track for 13 teens and young adults, age 24 and under. The backgrounds of our youthful workers have been diverse , ranging from graduate from our previous dance program, a new college graduate who was a member of one of our programs for more than 10 years, 5 college students from rural Prey Veng Province, one college student from our AIDS Patient Family Support program,

This program has evolved into an essential building block for our college students, who without the modest income and housing assistance it provides, would not be able to continue their studies. In addition to these practical benefits, it provides an essential “ real world” look at how organizations are build, staffing is managed and challenges are met. Additionally, we are providing real jobs for young adults where few opportunities with “ professional potential” exist.

Jobs include doing various administrative tasks and the majority of the maintenance work   at Champey. They fill in as needed and some also serve as part time apprentice “ practice” dancers assisting our teachers , and are a critical part of our at the Summer Arts Camp and Champey’s growth into a year round program for dozens of local youth. These young people are eager and able to serve by augmenting staff resources, as well as being companion and roll model to the campers and students.

We are deeply grateful for your continued support, for the pay from these modest jobs are essential to the ability of our students and young adults to buy food and support themselves.