During fund raising discussions for Kidshelp’s new school, several application forms wanted to know how sustainable our work in Cambodia is. Would our schools shut down if international donors stopped funding? Would our nearly 20 years of work be lost?
We were able to share information on how existing scholarship students had learned to volunteer and how older students had mentored new students. How they were making a real difference in their community – eye tests and cataract surgeries, diabetes testing and development of local language education materials and video, career guidance and IT training for Grade 12 students, helping at KKS during vacations, but very little on past scholarship students. Although there are examples as some past students have returned to KKS as teaching staff, Ker Soviseth is our IT Support, qualified architects gave suggestions on the design of the new school and medically qualified members have supported when asked.
In January 2024, as part of the international visitor activities in Phnom Penh, we organised a dinner for as many past scholarship students as we could track down and discussed the idea of forming a “Kidshelp Scholarship Alumni Community” to give past students the opportunity to support some of our poorest new school students and to keep them informed about Kidshelp activities, as many had lost touch.
The idea was well accepted and in response to an initial open letter, Layheak Thach, one of our past students wrote: –
“What a great idea. I’ve never gotten a letter like this before. It is quite beneficial for graduated students to obtain further information, stay in contact with all situations, and, most importantly, to congratulate them. I really support this message and wish to help others who are less fortunate than me”.
Next was to identify all Kidshelp scholarship students who have graduated since start of the program and find out if they had Facebook accounts. Some students do not have accounts using names as we know them, some have multiple accounts with no indication which are active, and some students choose not to use Facebook.
We have to date, invited 62 graduates to join the Facebook Group and are still trying to locate another 15, the majority from 2013/14. We will continue to try and identify ways to include those graduates.
Next was to reach out to our alumni community and invite them to support existing students who attend Khemara Kidshelp School but whose family cannot afford to pay the monthly school fees (average $6.50 per month). Today 105 of 327 students are not able to pay the fees. Kidshelp members sponsor 62 of those students but that leaves 43 students unable to pay. The shortfall means KKS is unable to renew premises, books etc and rely heavily on sponsor donations. In a few words, it means the school project is not sustainable in the longer term unless we find additional support.
Since our appeal in May 2024, we are happy that 27 of our Alumni Community have responded and started regular financial support for some of these students. Em Sreylin, an alumni student working for ABA Bank, has posted on the Facebook Group explaining how to set up regular monthly payments, as this may not be common in Cambodia.
We do understand not all Alumni members are able to contribute at this time due to other commitments or personal circumstances and it was great that a few responded explaining their situation. Others responded offering to support Kidshelp in other ways. The Alumni Community is made up of different people with many different personal situations but hopefully all with a common sense of appreciation of what went before and a positivity for the future.
We thank all Alumni members who have responded in any way, and we will continue to reach out to others. We plan to arrange an event in January 2025 for all those who have responded although again we appreciate that due to other commitment not everyone will be able to attend. We will of course distribute newsletters, invitations to special events and news, to all members of our Alumni Community.
Picture above: January 2024 dinner with Kidshelp visitors and graduates
