Getting accepted into college is a great accomplishment , but paying college tuition is only a part of the challenge for our students. Our college students come from extremely poor families and some are also impacted by the dual challenge of extreme poverty and the impact of HIV/AIDS in their immediate families. Within this context, it is amazing to consider that our college students have for years , despite formidable challenges, set and achieved annual goals such as completeing a year of school, passing exams to move upward to the next class, graduating from grade schoool, middle school and then high school . Keep in mind that it is estimated that only 40% of all Cambodian students finish high school and the national educational average is thought to be 6th grade.
However, regardless of the breathtaking accomplishments of our college age students to become "college ready" , the simple fact is that they come from families who are just too poor to help them with any aspect of paying for a college education.
Tuition , books, supplies and transportation can run from $ 400 to $800 per semester in Cambodia. Beyond those costs, our students also need assistance with housing, food ,and small personal expenses which can average $ 100 or more per month per student.
.As a small non profit, we are closely involved with our program participants and sometimes we are able to harness the power of one project to benefit more than just the group initially intended. Pairing our College program with Jobs for Youth is a great example of this.For some years we have run our Our Jobs for Cambodian Youth program side by side our program to help our college students to access the college education they have strived to reach.
Our Jobs for Cambodian Youth program has become a key " success link" for these students, providing vital employment income to several of our college students who are employed in various capacities at our Champey Academy of Arts project.
A central theme to all our programs is a focus on the power of education.Indeed, education and mentoring are key to helping children mired in the hand to mouth lifeftyle of poverty, see that bettering their lives is possible. The benefits of employing these college students goes far beyond the income that the jobs provide as their accomplishments also position them as peer mentors for the disadvantaged children who participate in our Champey Academy's art, dance and music programs. It is staggering to consider the impact that some of these kids must feel when they can see that their peer mentors are actually in college and to realize that one day, that could also be them !
Your support has allowed us to pay for tuition and books for our students and create one more " success link" in a chain of actions needed to enable these young people to continue to move forward in achieving our main goal for them of helping them to break the cycle of inherited poverty.
Our heartfelt thanks on behalf of all of our program's participants for your past and continued support.
Barbara & Mark Rosasco
Our college program currently serves 11 students. We are so proud that one of our students graduated this past year. Sdoeurn, graduated in October 2015 with a degree in accounting. Her ultimate dream is to become CPA .
Mark recently visited her familiy in Prey Veng. The family is of extremely modest means, even by local Cambodian rural standards, so much so, that the family relies on accessing basic amenities, such as a restroom, with a neighboring family. Most adults in her neighborhood have little education and many are illiterate. Sdoeurn's family farms a small plot for rice.
Sdoeurn came to our attention as a result of our dance program at Baphnom District High School in rural Prey Veng province. Baphnom High School has a student population of about 2500 students who come from throughout the district of Prey Veng. Kasumisou Foundation has, for the past several years sponsored a modest dance program in traditional Khmer ( Cambodian ) dance for 30-35 students. It is worth noting that many students attending the district high school walk or ride bikes along dirt roads for several miles , some coming as many as 5 miles to attend school.
Sdoeurn was one of several graduating high school students in the dance program at Baphnom High School who had approached Kasumisou Foundation to see if there was any way that we could help them continue on to attend college. Graduation from high school in Cambodia is quite an accomplishment in and of itself, as it is estimated that only 40% of all students graduate from high school.
Determined to attend college, Sdoeurn and her family borrowed money against their small farm to help her get a start in her college studies. She began attending classes in the autumn of 2012 and in January 2013 we started our college program, helping her and a few other determined new high school graduates to begin college.
During her college years , Sdoeurn worked as a junior dance teacher at our Champey Academy. Her modest earnings helped her to support herself . She shared a room with a roommate, with her share of of rent and utilities costing about $40 per month . Her staff job at Champey not only provided income but also helped to provide her with food: we provide rice and cooking facilities at Champey and each one of the staff chip in $0.50 per day (2000 riel) to buy some cooked food from a market stall which they then all share.
For the comning year Sdoeurn will work full time as a book keeper in our Jobs for Youth Program at our project, Champey Academy, where she will be building a work resume in her field to move her forward professionally to a better position.
Sdoeurn continues in her efforts to achieve her dream of becoming a CPA. Your support of this program has been vitally important in helping her and other students like her to move forward and break the cycle of inherited poverty.
We are deeply grateful to you all for your generous support and we are so very proud of our new college graduate, Sdoeurn.
Barbara & Mark Rosasco
The Fall marks the start of a new academic year for our 11 college students. Our last update focused on introducing our students to you, our supporters, so that you can have a clear idea of who your donations support and the accomplishments our students. Please keep in mind that all Kasumisou Foundation programs are completely donor funded.
It is now time to pay the Fall 2015 tuition for our students. The annual tuition for most of our students comes to about $ 450 per year, with one current exception for a student of about $ 850 per year, plus about another $100 to $ 150 for books and supplies. All of our students are from disadvantaged families and they receive very little or in most cases, no financial support for food, lodging and clothing. To cover this gap, we provide small monthly living stipends of $ 70 to $ 100 per month per student, which function as their sole support beyond free housing which we provide to 8 of our students.
In order for our students to continue on in their studies we must now pay Fall semester tuition bills :
Fall Tuition fees $2675 ( covers 11 unitersity students )
Books etc $ $375
Student food allowance ( FALL) $3080 ( covers 4 months x 11 students )
Total Funding for Fall 2015 $ 6,130
Your support has made it possile for these students to start their studies. Your continued support will make it possible for them to continue.
Won't you join us in helping to fulfill the dreams of these 11 students to complete a college education?
We are deeply grateful to you for your continued support.
Thank you,
Barbara & Mark Rosasco
Meet Our College Students
The Fall semester is about to begin and it is an ideal time to introduce/reintroduce all of the students in our Kasumisou Scholars program.
Each one of the 11 students in college program is a young adult who has participated in at least one of our programs and who, against remarkable odds, has successfully completed high school. In a country where only an estimated 40% of all students finish high school, all of these 11 students have overcome significant challenges and obstacles to achieve their dream of starting a college education. Several of these students are “ firsts” in their family. He or she is the first person in the family to attend school and to know how to read. For others, the student may be the first to graduate from grade school or middle school or high school, and now, for all of our scholars, become the first to attend college.
The personal stories our students and their achievements inspire us to continue to help other disadvantaged children and students, such as those in our AIDS Patient Family Support Program and our Rural Assistance Program, to move forward. These personal stories of triumph by social and economic peers, enable students in fragile families, who are disadvantaged by parental illiteracy, extreme poverty, or HIV status, to believe in themselves so that they can work toward a brighter future.
Although tuition and living costs for each one our college students are very modest by American standards, it is important to keep in mind that unlike the USA, there are no student loan or aid packages in Cambodia, and these students don not receive family support. Their own families are making ends meet week to week. And, collectively, it takes significant funding to support our 11 young adult students.
Your generous support is what enables these students to pursue their dreams and we are so very grateful to you for your past and continued support.
Barbara & Mark Rosasco
Links:
Wednesday, July 15 9:00 am EDT is the start of Globalgiving.org Bonus Match Day
Since the beginning of our AIDS Patient Family Support Program ( FSP) in and other programs like our Rural Assistance Program ( RAP) , since 2000 we have encouraged kid to stay in school. At first the goal was just to graduate from middle school, then it became high school. Some of the students in our programs even dared to dream of a college education.
We have 12 college students now, either from our FSP or our RAP, all from families where they are "firsts": first to be able to read, first to attend school, first to complete high school and definitely the first to attend college ! ( please visit our project pages for both of these on GlobalGiving)
Without you, our donors, none of the programs would be possible. As you review our projects, you will see that they are interconnected. As a way to manage scarce resources and funding, we first try to see if we can use existing programs to supplement needs in other Kasumisou projects. For example our college students have access to safe employment via our Jobs for Youth program so that they can earn money for personal expenses while attending college. Some of our students live at Champey Academy, our art school.
Stable funding is important to the success of our students ability to continue on in their college programs and the Bonus Match day is vitally important to our ability to fund their tuition. .
We would be grateful if you can review our program updates and consider whether you might again join us in our effortss. We have summarized the features of the Bonus Match below.
Thank you again for your kind support,
Barbara & Mark
How Bonus Day Works
Give a boost to your donation dollars ! Your project can earn a 50% match because we are a GlobalGiving 5 Star partner! All donations , of any and every amount, are happily accepted. A $10 donation can become $ 15 and it all adds up! There is $ 115,000 in matching funds, first come, first matched.
How it works:
Bonus # 1 : Your online donation using GlobalGiving Gift Cards , credit and debit cards or Paypal can be matched up to $1000 per project per donor.
# 2 Bonus Opportunity ~ $1000 prize for most funds raised by a project
#3 Bonus Opportunity ~ $1000 price for most unique donors to a project.
Go viral and spread the word! Organize your friends and community members to each make small donation ( $ 10) to our project,and put us in the running to win this prize!
Special notice to UK taxpayers: Our projects are now posted on GlobalGiving UK!
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