Cambodia connection continues

Students take time out from their studies to greet visitors from Marlboro last winter, during the third service-learning trip to Cambodia in the past five years. Photo by John Willis

Marlboro students and faculty have taken three service-learning trips to Cambodia in the past five years, but their commitment to sustainable development projects in the Southeast Asian nation does not end there. In May, participants in the last trip, led by visual arts faculty members Cathy Osman, Tim Segar, and John Willis (The Marlboro Record, Spring 2014), presented a three-day information and fundraiser event in the dining hall about their ongoing relationship with Cambodian communities.

“This was an opportunity for other members of our community to look beyond the cozy green hills of Vermont and support the good work we contributed to on our trips to Cambodia,” says John Willis, photography professor. The group that went in January traveled to Champon Chhnang, Pursat, Siem Reap, and other communities, where they visited schools and participated in service projects, such as water quality testing led by Tim Segar and senior Theresa Chockbengboun. They are quick to differentiate this work from recent reports of disreputable orphanages in Cambodia and groups raising money for development projects there under false pretenses.

“We raised enough money to build a latrine building for the Khmer Children’s Education Organization (KCEO) school, in the rural village of Ang,” said John. It’s the first latrine they’ve had at the school, which hosts 145 students as well as many other local youths each day before and after they attend the government school. “We also raised some money for the Massachusetts Cambodian Water Project’s work, which provides rural villagers access to clean drinkable water.”

Building on this event, John, Cathy, and junior Matthew Czuba, with assistance from other participants and KCEO’s founding director, are developing a website to continue raising funds for the KCEO school. Students there attend classes in everything from English and Khmer language to computer skills and hygiene. Many of the students are on full scholarship, including some young Buddhist monks, and the rest pay on a sliding scale according to family ability. The school has been essentially self-funded, thanks to founder Marin Him and his family, who have dedicated their lives to the facility’s operation. The new website will allow the school to grow and flourish by raising awareness, seeking support, and promoting KCEO’s mission.

To learn more, or to support Marlboro’s relationship with the KCEO school, go to khmerchildren.org.