Educate Cambodian Kids Impacted by AIDS

Update on Educate Cambodian Children Impacted by AIDS – Micro Project Update

One step away from poverty , one step toward future opportuity

Since its beginning in 2000, Kasumisou Foundation  has provided educational assistance for the children in the Help Destitute Moms with AIDS Care for their Kids and  ( a part of our AIDS Patient Family Support Program).

In a nation where educational  access is uneven at best,  few children finish high school.  The impact of access to education is felt even more keenly among fragile families where HIV/AIDs is present and who lack the financial means to secure the resources needed to allow their kids to  attend school consistently. Over the many years, one of our central goals for all of our programs,  has been to keep kids in school, to help them to break the cycle of inherited poverty. In direct response to the funding opportunity presented by the collaborative effort of Youthspark and GlobalGiving, for the first time ever, we were able to raise a significant portion of the annual funds that are required for this long term and vitally important effort.

Last Fall, the funds that you, our donors generously provided, enabled us to pay for a “ school year” of tutoring (as needed), to purchase school uniforms , book bags and supplies and to provide the fees to our kids  that all students in public schools must pay to the teacher if they are to have full access to education. For our students, who without our help would be destitute and homeless, access to these small funds is  vitally important and represents a critical barrier to accessing public education. At times, some of the children for whom we also  pay fees, are   orphaned kids  in the municipal orphanage or at a local hospice, where there are no funds available .

The reality is that education is a long slow road. Progress may be uneven and sometimes the progress is so slow as to be nearly invisible. Yet, we are proud to say, over the years we have now congratulated an ever growing number of high school graduates, now numbering several dozen. And, beyond our wildest expectations, we have three students from  our AIDSs Patient Family Support program who are college students and another two students , long in our programs, who have graduated from college.

Now , like kids all over the world, our students will soon be embarking on their summer break. For us, this represents a huge victory—we have gotten our kids through another year … a journey one more step away from permanent poverty but one more step toward the possibility of future opportunity.

Without our many  generous  supporters, now scattered far and wide over the years, none of this could have been possible. Together, with the kind support of you, our donors, we have changed the world greatly and  for the better for many of the children in our program.

Our sincere thanks to you all for joining us in this effort. We hope that you feel as proud of the accomplishments of our kids as do we.

Barbara and Mark Rosasco