Build dreams! Send Cambodian Students to College!

by Kasumisou Foundation
Build dreams! Send Cambodian Students to College!
Build dreams! Send Cambodian Students to College!
Build dreams! Send Cambodian Students to College!
Build dreams! Send Cambodian Students to College!
Build dreams! Send Cambodian Students to College!
Build dreams! Send Cambodian Students to College!
Build dreams! Send Cambodian Students to College!
Build dreams! Send Cambodian Students to College!
Build dreams! Send Cambodian Students to College!
Build dreams! Send Cambodian Students to College!
Build dreams! Send Cambodian Students to College!
Build dreams! Send Cambodian Students to College!
Build dreams! Send Cambodian Students to College!
Build dreams! Send Cambodian Students to College!
Build dreams! Send Cambodian Students to College!
Build dreams! Send Cambodian Students to College!

TWO NEW GRADUATES !

In late  2022 Ms. SR and Ms. S both completed their requirements for graduation with a Bachelor's degree.  Ms.. SR has a degree in English and Ms. S has completed a degree in  Inernational  Relations. Both  of these young women now have dreams of attending  graduate school 

These very accomplished young women have both had to  overcome significant   challenges in  their lives. Many of our other students,  in act,  have also ucceeded despite obstacles such as  extreme poverty, illness, loss of one or both  parents, physical  disability and more. Despite these challenges, the students in our program had set their "eyes on the prize" and continued, over the years to move forward, breaking through  every sterotype of  " disadvantage". Hard work, tenacity and sometime a bit of luck has enabled them to move forward toward  a life changing achievement of a college degree.

Cambodia, is ranked neart the bottom of ASEAN countries for higher education among its population.

According to various 2020  articles including materials from The World Bank,it is estimated that in Cambodia

  • 93.5% of children enroll in elementary school  with an estimated  9% drop out rate
  • 56 %   of children enroll in middle school with an estimated  20% drop out rate
  • 25 %   of children enroll in high school with an etimated 12% drop out rate

It is estimated that there are approxixmately 45  colleges and college level schools  in Cambodia and an estimated annual enrollment that  totals  between 4,000 - 4,999 students.

Our  program, started in 2013 , has remained small .because  as a small foundation without an endowment or professional fund raisers on staff, we wanted to be  cautious not to begin something  long term, like a college program, unless we felt reasonably confident that we could sustain  the journey of our students toward completing their degree.

The credit for the hard work that has led to the many  achievements of our students , belongs,  of  course , to the students themselves. The debt of gratitude and our profound thanks  for the 494 individual donations that, over a 10 year period  raised a total of  $49,213.47 on GlobalGiving, goes to you, our generous donors.

Please join us in congratulating our two newest college graduates !

Barbara & Mark 

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It is hard to believe that our final student is nearing the end of her studies.

As a very young child, Ms. S  had  lost a parent to AIDS  and throughout most of her  childhood, she had  received support through our AIDS Patients Family Support Program.    Now at  A24 years old, our Ms. S   is about to achieve her dream of a college degree. 

Always an eager and hard working student, Ms. S will complete her Bachelor’s degree in International Relations.  She plans to continue working part time at Champey Academy while pursuing her next big goal, a Master’s Degree.  Her dream is to work for an NGO or international organization in the field of education with a specific goal of helping disadvantaged Cambodian youngsters to complete their educations, where her own journey to success could show students some  tangible results of the value of education. Now , Ms. is in the  final class  of her program and she should complete this in the first quarter of 2023, just  a bit later than initially expected.

We are very proud of Ms. S and  we  are eager to see her achievements   as she moves forward. 

Ms. S's  accomplishment was made possible  by your generous  support. Your  faith in her  ability to succeed and your generosity has transformed  the life path  of  Ms. S.  and we are deeply grateful.

We hope that you will join with us on Tuesday, Nov 22 , Giving Tuesday at GlobalGiving, where donations will receive a proportional match from a pool of $1.2 million dollars. 

Wishing you a joyful Thanksgiving,

Mark & Barbara

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It is  and has been a considerable challenge to report on the very slow moving process of completing an education. There is not a lot of excitement along the way, but rather the slow rhythm  of  making progress.

But, this summer we are celebrating!  Two truly exceptional young women in our Kasumisou Scholars/Build Dreams program will mark the successful completion of their undergraduate studies and will receive their Bachelor’s degrees from local universities in Phnom Penh. 

Both of these young women have been with us since they were toddlers.  One of them is now 26 years old and the other is now 23 years old.  Both of them lost a parent to AIDS and throughout most of their childhoods their families received support through our AIDS Patients Family Support Program.   

One of them will receive her degree in English language and literature and her dream is eventually to be a professor of English.  To achieve that dream she will need to complete graduate studies in English and get some experience as a teacher of English.  She currently works in the office at our Champey Academy of Arts school of traditional arts in Phnom Penh and, in addition to her regular office duties at our school, she volunteers in her spare time there to teach English to a few students and one of our dance teachers.  She plans to continue working full time at Champey Academy before eventually pursuing a Master’s degree in English.  The other woman, who also works in the office at Champey Academy, will complete her studies in August for a Bachelor’s degree in International Relations.  She plans to continue working part time at Champey Academy while pursuing her Master’s Degree.  Her dream is to work for an NGO or international organization in the field of education with a specific goal of helping disadvantaged Cambodian youngsters to complete their educations.  

We are very proud of the accomplishment of both of these young women and expect great things from them as they proceed further in their educations and their chosen career fields.

It has been the steadfast support of you, our generous donors who have made the transformation of these two young women possible. Your belief and generosity has forever changed their life path.

We are deeply grateful. On behalf of these young women, please accept our heart felt thanks.

Barbara & Mark

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Please mark your calendar: Little by Little Donor Donor Match Campaign April 4-8 

 

In this update, we are so pleased and proud to say that three of our scholars are fast approaching the “ finish line” in pursuit of their goal of a college education.  Today we will spotlight two  of our three students who work full time at our dance and art school, Champey Academy, handling accounting, reporting and other administrative tasks.

Ms. S.P., now 26 years old,  has begun her final term of study in  her  fourth year of her Bachelor’s degree program in English language and she is on track to graduate in August

After graduation,  Ms. S. P. ,who currently works full time while at  Champey Academy, will begin to work  half time  as she seeks a job as an English teacher to gain teaching experience.  Her  near term goal is to be able to teach half time and work half time.  Ms.S.P. is  hoping to continue her education and work towards a Masters Degree.  During Covid, Ms. S.P, had, on her own initiative ,  begun to teach English to  some of the Champey students.

Ms.  SM., now 23 years old, is also in her fourth and final year of her Bachelor’s degree program for International Relations.   She now expects to complete the program of formal study in August , after which she will be required to complete a six month internship before receiving her degree. Ms. SM, too, is  hoping to pursue a Masters Degree in support of  her long term career goal, to work for an organization which supports education for disadvantaged children in Cambodia.

Our third student, Ms. SW is now 21 and she is  in the final year of her three year Associates program in nursing and she is on track to finish her program in November of this year, after which she hopes to eventually pursue a Bachelors degree in nursing abroad.

It is worth mentioning that these three   students have  managed to keep on track despite classes being switched back and forth from  remote learning during COVID, as well as unexpected  schedule changes and other challenges. With eyes on the prize, these three remarkable young women are shining examples of the impact that education can have in breaking the cycle of inherited poverty. These lives are being  forever changed  after receiving  the opportunity  to  explore and develop  their potential.

Despite the  personal tragedy and hardship that  each of these young women experienced during childhood, they  have remained in school, excelled in their studies and  they are now on the very edge of realizing their life long dream of achieving a college education and the ability to step into a new life.

Your support makes this possible.

None of this would have been possible without the support of  you, our generous donors, for which we are deeply  thankful. Not only did your donations help us to support these three young women during   perilous times of great hardship during their childhood, but your support now has  empowered  these three young women to break the cycle of inherited poverty by seeing the  possibility of a different world and working, bit by bit  towards their goals.

We hope you will join our celebration by participating in GlobalGivings Little by Little Campaign Apriol 4 - April 8 

GlobalGiving will host its “ Little by Little” matching fund event from  April 4 through April 8, offering a 50% match ( $25)  on donations up to $ 50 per each individual, unique donor.  We are hopeful that you will continue to support the efforts of Kasumisou Foundation in this or one of our other programs as a way of expressing your appreciation and celebrating  the achievements of these remarkable young women. 

We are deeply thankful!

Barbara & Mark Rosasco

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GIVING TUESDAY IS TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 30 and  every donation will receive a boost!

Despite the challenges posed by the government’s Covid restrictions and, specifically, the requirement for schools to change to remote learning, our three Kasumisou scholars have continued to make steady progress toward their academic goals.  As things in Cambodia continue to open up, we are expecting the government to soon announce reopening of the schools for in-classroom learning.    

 We are pleased to provide this update on the achievements of three students ! 

At the end of this month Ms.  Sm., now 23 years old, will start her fourth and final year of her Bachelor’s degree program.  She expects to complete the program of formal study at the end of November 2022 after which she will be required to complete a six month internship before receiving her degree. After that she is hoping to pursue a Masters degree and, ideally, she would like to do so in a foreign country, possibly in Thailand, for example. Her long term career goal is to work for an organization which supports education for disadvantaged children in Cambodia. 

Ms. S.P., now 26 years old, is about to begin the fourth and final year of her Bachelor’s degree program in English language.  In order to complete her degree she needs one more term of study to be followed by one term of practical experience for which she expects to teach English. Each academic term lasts 16 weeks so she is expecting to complete all requirements for her degree in around July 2022.   After receiving her degree she will consider pursuing graduate study but has not yet made a final decision about that.

Ms. Sw., now 21 years old, is about to start the final year of her three year Associates program in nursing.  She expects to complete the program at the end of November 2022 and, after doing so, she would like to pursue a Bachelor’s degree abroad.   

Overcoming nearly impossilble challenges

It is worth noting these three fine young women have each had to overcome seemingly impossible circumstances . In Cambodia, it  is estimated that only 21% of students complete upper grades in high school, our young students are truly remarkable.

Ms. Sm and Ms Sw are sisters whose mother was an early participant in our  Family Support program .  The mother  was  terminally ill and passed away 19 years ago. At that time, the mother and the two sisters were blessed with the  extraordinary kindness of their mother’s childhood friend , who not only took the family in, but who continued to care for and support the children for these past 19 years. The family, of very modest means ,lives in a small flat. Despite this personal tragedy and hardship, these two sisters have remained in school, excelling in their studies and  they are now on the very edge of realizing their life long dream of achieving a college education and the ability to step into a new life.

Ms. Sp   and her family ,  joined our Family Support Program in 2001. Her father passed away in 2002, and after  we conthe passed away, we continued to support the family while the  3 children were in school. Now, the children are grown, and  all, like Ms. Sp, are self supporting, as is their mother. We have continued to sponsor and support Ms. Sp’s education goals and we are so proud of her accomplishments, as she too, is on the verge of completing her dream of a college degree and entering a new life.

Your support made all  the difference!

None of this would have been possible without the support of  you, our generous donors, for which we are eternally thankful. Not only did your support help us to support these three young women during the very perilous time of great hardship during their childhood, but your support enabled these three young women to break the cycle of inherited poverty by seeing a possibility of a different world and working towards their considerable achievements.

Now, as we approach the Thanksgiving holiday and the annual Giving Tuesday fundraising event on November 30, we are hopeful that you will continue to support the efforts of Kasumisou Foundation in this and our other programs.as a way of expressing your thanks for these remarkable young women and their achievements.

Thank you very much , we are deeply thankful  to you for your generous support.

 

Barbara & Mark

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Organization Information

Kasumisou Foundation

Location: Menlo Park, California - USA
Website:
Project Leader:
Barbara Rosasco
Secretary/Treasurer
Menlo Park, Ca. United States
$49,213 raised of $99,000 goal
 
494 donations
$49,787 to go
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