Education Scholarships for Cambodian Trash Pickers

Hello CCEdFund Family!

Thank you so very much for your continued support of our students! Your generous donations allow CCEdFund to provide life-changing scholarships to students in Siem Reap and Phnom Penh Cambodia. Since impoverished students' access to public education provides rudimentary education at best, your donations help these students attend CCEdFund's private partner schools who have verifiable measures of student learning in place.

In this report, we want to share a story of challenges. Often, we describe how our students are excelling at their studies and we are proud of them since we are careful to select appropriate partner schools for our students. However, our students come from challenging backgrounds and family circumstances that present additional difficulties for students' studies. Our students have been orphaned, trafficked, scavenged for survival, and/or lived in extreme poverty.

One such student is Khouch. She is in high school in Phnom Penh on a CCEdFund scholarship. When we first reached out for your support on GlobalGiving, she was a student we often described who had survived on a large garbage dump and who showed great promise and dedication to her studies. After being nominated by the children's center where she lived and with your financial support, she was approved for a scholarship in 2010. Since then, she has studied at two different schools on a CCEdFund scholarship as we work to find the best school for her. She is a great example of how CCEdFund continuously works with each student to determine the best academic environment for their current needs and their ambitious goals.

Khouch wants to be a veterinarian. Given her nomination and academic record, she receives one of CCEdFunds most expensive scholarships at close to $5,000 per year. But, beginning with her studies at Zaman, she has struggled to excel in her studies. Though she is focused, she is a few years older than her peers in her classes since she spent years on the dump sorting through trash for recyclables. To help her catch up, the children's center and CCEdFund have provided additional support and tutors. After two years, we recognized that Zaman was not the best fit for her. In 2012, she switched to a new school to have a fresh start and to help build her self-esteem. This year, she continues at the second school but is working with the center and CCEdFund to become successful as she begins volunteering with a local vet clinic. Even though CCEFund's scholarship recipients are typically high achievers, it is important to understand that they initially struggle with academic life as they transition. CCEdFund is committed to ensuring that they have the opportunity to succeed which is why we have worked with Khouch to find the right placement for her.

Each of our students' scholarships is granted with a commitment to help them succeed. Because of your support, we are able to continue this critical work, so - THANK YOU!

We look forward to sharing more in the next few months as the 2013-2014 academic year comes to a close.

Warmly,
CCEdFund

Links:

• Cambodia's Children Education Fund, Inc.