School library for rural Cambodian children

To our contributors--we can't thank you enough. Our library funding has topped $1300. We are on our way to building a new library.

Our first library, at Turl Laveang Primary School in Battambang Province, will have its fourth birthday in December 2023. It has served the students and community since its opening and dedication in 2019. During the pandemic it douobled as extra classroom space to help keep the students safe.

Directors Tho Mith Chin and Sokkeang Kong traveled to India in October for the Cambodia Connect event, organized by The Better Cambodia. The event included a meeting in Manguluru that brought people from Cambodia and India together to discuss future cultural and economic exchanges. The Cambodian delegation also met with students at several universities to discuss possible exchange programs and the formation of student chapters.

Links:

• Visit our Facebook page!

International Youth for a Better World has entered into a partnership with a new organization, The Better Cambodia. The Better Cambodia is a private, partly charitable  media hub that reports on positive things happening in Cambodia. It is an outgrowth of The Better Asia, a news service created by Surya Narayan, which reports on positive social, environmental, and educational advances in Asia.

Narayan, who is originally from India, moved to Cambodia from New Zealand. He founded The Better Cambodia in 2022. He became friends with IYfaBW's founder, Tho Mith Chin, and learned about our organization. Thanks to this new connection, we are going to start chapters at some colleges in India, and we plan to expand from there to Bangladesh and Nepal. 

We are also working on forming a student chapter at the Community College of Rhode Island, with the goal of connecting students in the U.S. to currently active student chapters in Cambodia. The initial online exchange, we hope, will lead to an actual student exchange program.

Links:

• The Better Cambodia