Route Out of Poverty for Cambodian Children

All of us involved with The Sharing Foundation were totally amazed and thrilled by the generosity of so many donors who contributed to this project and helped us achieve first place in the America’s Giving Challenge. THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!! With your support, we have fully funded these programs for the next year. Updated information on the evolution of these programs and other TSF initiatives can be found on our website at www.sharingfoundation.org.

Below are profiles of additional Cambodian students who participate in the Khmer literacy and English language programs. Thanks to donors like you, they now have the opportunity to obtain language skills that will help them access further education and better jobs. Your contributions really matter! We are extremely grateful for your support.

1. Profiles of Two Students in TSF’s Khmer Literacy Program,

Sok So, age 12, has been in TSF’s Khmer literacy school for three years and really enjoys school. She can now read, write, and spell. She loves the copy books and pencils provided by the school. So’s mother and father are farmers who cannot read or write. She is the fifth of eight children in her family. She now also attends the Roteang village school in the afternoon, in grade 4. She thinks she will grow up to be a farmer, but she wants to go to school “for a long time.”

Kam Samay, age 10, has also been studying at the Khmer literacy school for three years, and can now read and write fairly well. He likes his teacher, and enjoys the lessons with all the other children. Samay’s father died of cancer two years ago, and his mother died last year after a seizure. The family’s small stilt house burned down after a lamp tipped over; TSF rebuilt it for them. Samay and his six siblings have since been separated. Samay now lives in the little house on the farm with his brother, age 18, and one sister, age 11, who also attends the literacy school.

2. Profiles of Student in TSF’s English Language Program Ly Sophea, age 16, speaks English incredibly well, and seeks out any foreigner who appears in the village to practice her skills. She has studied in the TSF English school nearly every day for the last five years, and with TSF sponsorship, now attends 10th grade in the local public high school. She wants badly to go to University. Attending to studies is her highest priority, so she can pass the National High School Graduation Exam at the end of grade 12. She wants to be an interpreter when she completes her education.

Her parents had only rudimentary education in the first years of grammar school, but support her ambition. They are farmers, growing mangoes, bananas, and some vegetables which they sell in the local Koki market. Sophea says that, without TSF, she could never have gone past grade 6, or studied English. “Now I can hope to have a good job and support my parents. “