College Scholarships for Young Women in Cambodia

Greetings to all our friends and donors.  I am happy to report that our fund drive campaign for a new primary school building in Chum Kiri was wonderfully successful -- the contributions we received totalled over $60,000, which will enable The Chelly Foundation to move forward with our plans to build five new classrooms for young children in the first through fifth grades.  For more on this project and pictures and stories from our Chelly Scholars, please take a look at our December 2021 newsletter on the home page of our website, www.thechellyfoundation.org (lower left green box, in two parts due to size limitations on the file).

Meanwhile, the young women whose University education is being sponsored through this site and through all of our donors continue to be coping well in this challenging time.  COVID has meant that many if not all classes are online, and in some cases students have had to give up their part-time jobs to move back home to Chum Kiri; others continue to live in Phnom Penh, including our two Chelly Scholars at the Harpswell Foundation in the city.  

Here is a letter from Channet, one of our scholarship students, describing her current experience:

My name is Channet.  Currently I am a year 3 student at the Royal University of Phnom Penh in the Department of Bio-Engineering.  I received a Chelly Scholarship in 2018.  When I started to live in Phnom Penh away from my family it was difficult for me since I never knew Phnom Penh.  I learned a lot of things while I have been here.  Now, we all have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.  It is really hard to adapt in this situation, to practice prevention and to study online.  Online classes have affected my studying because I need to find a place that has good service and sometimes it rains a lot and can be a nuisance.  Online classes are really different from traditional face to face classes, and I cannot connect with my friends.  E-learning has taught me how to search for documents on the internet, and I save time and money travelling to school.  I am doing an internship now in the Ministry of Environment.  I want to say thank you to my sponsors that have supported me since my first year til now.  I will try to learn more to bring my knowledge to help society.  I wish that all of my sponsors stay well.

We are pleased to announce that The Chelly Foundation will sponsor two new graduating 12th grade high school seniors to receive full scholarships at universities in Phnom Penh.  Each of these girls received "A's" on the Cambodian national exam that all 12th graders take -- they were the only two girls to accomplish that out of over a hundred girls in their graduating class at the local high school where we built the Chelly Library.  Their pictures are attached here.

I am so proud of all of our Chelly Scholars.  Those that have graduated are all working in good jobs, and in two cases have gotten married.  Our work continues to transform the lives of young women who come from truly impoverished backgrounds.

Thank you again for all of your support.  We simply could not have accomplished all of what we have done and are continuing to do without our donors.  Please stay safe.

Links:

• http://www.thechellyfoundation.org