Leaving No Child Behind

Once CASF invests in a Cambodian’s woman’s education, we make a promise to keep her in school at all costs. This pledge requires oversight visits by our US Board and Advisors in order to build a personal relationship with each student.

For example, May celebrated moving into a new rental flat for twenty of our thirty university students. First order of business after the students moved was to relocate our office on the first floor of the flat. This involved choosing four men to help and finding a truck to haul books, furniture and files to the flat. The staircase was so narrow, the men hoisted desks to the fourth floor via ropes from outside the building. After fans were set in motion and students settled, our visiting advisor held twice daily conversational English classes for two weeks. The students so loved her that the white board became a living tribute to her visit; complete with her portrait and messages of endearment from her students.

Soon after this much needed training in English, the students were treated to creating a roof garden for flowers and vegetables. The raised beds were planted with morning glory, lettuce and other greenery to supplement the daily ration of rice, salt fish and an egg. Those who watched the planting were overcome with joyful emotion seeing so many hands digging in the soil when suddenly the homeland of rice fields were a stone’s throw away and homesickness vanished. The laughter, dancing in a circle, shared dining, and story telling makes every dollar of investment in poor, at-risk young women a sacred path to change Cambodia to a land where women are no longer second class citizens.



May was planting season in more ways than we can imagine for these students.