Projects
Cambodian Threads Scholarship Fund:
In March of 2011, we officially founded the Cambodian Threads Scholarship Fund. Our first initiative was supporting Venerable Kou Sopheap in his English tuition initiative.
Venerable Kou Sopheap, a Khmer monk who has reached the highest level of intellectual prowess through studying at the Troy University of Alabama and Pannassasstra University of Cambodia (where he currently is completing his Masters of Education and is teaching Buddhism), is a brilliant and gracious person. Jacob Daniels, founder of CT, taught English to Sopheap from August to December 2009 before Sopheap went to America on an exchange scholarship. About this experience Jacob said, “It was immediately clear after meeting Sopheap that he was a special man. His critical thinking was obvious, but beyond was a sincere altruism that reflected in every conversation and action. Venerable Sopheap is the future for Cambodia.”
Venerable Sopheap started the project last year for students in his village to study English on the weekends, and it has been successful thus far. His project aims to help two groups of students: young learners of about 6 years old and teenage students of about 13 years old. In total the group equals about 50 students. This program was due to expire in April and needs support to continue for another year. Therefore, when Sopheap informed us about his project and asked for a contribution, we were eager to help.
As 2011 progresses, we are aiming to fund English classes for several students in Prek BongKong, Cambodia. Cambodian Threads founder Jake Daniels is currently putting pieces in place to begin the project, an we are optimistic that we will have the groundwork laid by Fall 2011.
Cambodian Threads School Supply Initiative
Our main educational development project in 2010 was the Cambodian Threads School Supply Initiative. In the village of Prek BongKong, public school children often cannot afford even very basic school supplies, such as pens, notebooks, and paper. So, when seeking a way to give back to the Prek BongKong community during our first year of operations, we decided that a simple yet highly effective method would be regular donations of school supplies to the Preah Takov Primary School in Prek BongKong.
We were met with overwhelming enthusiasm at the school by teachers and students alike. However, while we feel that the project was highly beneficial to the Preah Takov Primary School, we reasoned that as we move forward and expand in 2011, our resources can be better spent on the Cambodian Threads Scholarship Fund, helping to support English classes for disadvantaged children in rural villages throughout Cambodia. We believe that Education is the only way to truly break the poverty cycle in rural areas such as Prek BongKong, and funding English classes for students in these areas will open up a wide variety of doors for children whose options are currently very limited.