Sharing Foundation: Helping to Care for Cambodia's Children

Help meet the physical, emotional, educational and medical needs of orphaned and seriously disadvantaged children in Cambodia.

The Sharing Foundation Provides a Route out of Poverty for Cambodian Children

Excerpt from Summer 09 Newsletter:
Eight years ago, Seiha, Sarem, Ratha, Darien, Makara, Sokret, Sowat and Naveth would have said this day could never possibly happen, but on Thursday, August 13 TSF celebrated their graduation from universities in Phnom Penh on TSF scholarships, on top of their four previous years of sponsored high school!

TSF first met these students when they enrolled in our English school, along with about 450 other youngsters, back in junior high school. They did well enough then to be selected for sponsorship to High School at Jayavarman VII, where financial s u p p o r t a n d encouraging letters from TSF sponsors kept them working hard for four years in special “private classes.” The group again narrowed at the end of high school when the students had to pass the National High School graduation exam, and score medium level or higher in English when tested at the Australia Center for Education [ACE] in Phnom Penh. In the fall of 2005, with the help of an educational consultant, we “interviewed” multiple Universities in Phnom Penh, to fit fields of interest to our students. Elephant, our in-country director, found a three-story large house to rent as a dorm, and outfitted it with needed furniture, lights and kitchen supplies, and secured a bicycle for each student.

In October four years ago, ten scared countryside kids, sons and daughters of farmers, not
one of whom had a parent or relative who had graduated from high school, moved into the city. Our graduates have had full sponsorships for four years--room, board, books, uniforms, three dorm computers with internet access, a bike each, field trips as required, and a small allowance of 5-10 dollars per month, according to need. We have insisted that all the students also continue their English language learning –the key to most good jobs- by going to the Australia Center for Education [ACE] where, despite some helpful scholarships, TSF committed a lot of funds. Thanks to their faithful sponsors back in the USA, who have nearly all helped massively support “their” students financially for eight years, and continued to write to them as well, most students survived. The average cost of each year’s college education has been $1600/student. This opportunity has totally changed the life prospects of these Cambodian children – now the first college grads ever in their small rural village.

More Info
http://www.sharingfoundation.org

1. We care for the health and welfare of orphans and disadvantaged children in Cambodia

2. Poverty reduction through education