College Scholarships for Young Women in Cambodia

We have wonderful news to report.

First, Sey Jakkrya, the young woman featured in our last report, did get accepted into the Harpswell Foundation program.  She is one of only 20 or so high school graduates from all of Cambodia lucky enough to receive an invite this year.  Jakkrya is also a Chelly Scholar, meaning we pay her tuition to university while Harpswell provides an enrichment program aimed at maximizing opportunities for success.  Check out The Harpswell Foundation on-line.

Second, when we started the GlobalGiving Campaign two years ago, we aimed at receiving donations sufficient to fund two young women from Chum Kuri in 2017 and two in 2018 to be able to go to college in Phnom Penh.  Thanks to our generous donors both thru GlobalGiving as well as to The Chelly Foundation directly, we were able to send 4 young women to college in 2017 and now, in 2018, have added nine additional students (six on full or partial tuition scholarships, and three on a housing stipend only).  So all total, we are supporting 17 young women (and two young men) in college this semester.  Our first Chelly Scholar, Manouv, graduates next Spring.  More on her in a future report.

Thank you to everyone who has donated to this very worthy cause!  We are together transforming educational opportunities for the children of Chum Kuri.

Thanks to all of our donors, The Chelly Foundation is expanding its reach in providing more scholarships to young women this year. The promise we made to our GlobalGiving donors was that we would fund two scholarships for young women in the 2017-2018 school year, and two in the 2018-2019 school year.  Last year, we exceeded our goals by providing three scholarships to young women, and this year we intend to match that number!

While we await the results of this year's National exam for 12th graders (coming out around September 10), we can report that one young woman in particular has impressed us during the past year: her name is Jakkrya (pictures below including with her family).  Jakkrya comes from a family in poverty.  She is without a father, and her mom works long hours as a farmer to make ends meet.  Jakkrya does very well in English in school, and wishes to be either a teacher or even a banker (if she gets to go to university).   Earlier this Summer, Jakkrya inteviewed for a place at the Harpswell school in Phnom Penh, and she is the only girl from Chumkuri District who passed the first round interview and exam.   Whether or not she receives an invite to attend Harpswell, The Chelly Foundation will provide her with a full scholarship to university in Phnom Penh starting this Fall.

When the National Exam test results come back, we will invite at least two more young women to become Chelly Scholars. 

In addition to pictures of Jakkrya, abve is a picture of some of our existng group of Chelly Scholars, taken on a day that they returned to their local high school in Chumkuri to help with a special celebration at their school sponsored by our Foundation.   Every Chelly Scholar pledges to do their best in school and to be a role model for younger children currently in school in Chumkuri.  We are proud of every Chelly Scholar for being such shining lights and we know they will continue to inspire.....