(Fotos: Lotus Outreach International)

The "Rice 4 Education" project in Cambodia

Compassion in Action (MiA) and Buddhist Global Relief (BGR) have been supporting the Rice 4 Education Program (R4E) of our project partner Lotus Outreach International (LOI) for several years. LOI is a non-governmental organization (NGO) that operates in India, Cambodia, Vietnam, Guatemala, among other countries, and whose mission is to empower children living in poverty, especially girls, and young women, so that they can lead a self-determined life.

In Cambodia, the aid programs are not least of all a reaction to the consequences of the country's tragic history. Only 10% of the country's teachers survived the large-scale persecutions and murders of intellectuals by the Khmer Rouge regime in the 1970s. A whole generation of Cambodians had no chance of education. Today, the education of children and young people is crucial for the development of Cambodia.

R4E is a central component of LOI's scholarship programs in Cambodia. The distribution of rice to girls and their families ensures that they can stay in school, even though families are struggling with great economic difficulties and the challenges of drought, floods and a global pandemic. Girls are even more at risk than boys of dropping out of school to support their families. The travel allowance mitigates the direct and indirect costs incurred by families when they allow girls to attend school. Without it, the students of poor families would usually not be able to continue their education. This is because girls from poor rural families in Cambodia are generally expected to stay at home on the family farms or go to Thailand as migrant workers. They are at risk of being exploited in every respect, including sexually. R4E, like the GATE (for girls in primary and secondary schools) and CATALYST scholarships (education for young women at universities or educational institutions), is a building block to eliminate inequalities and enable girls and young women to lead a confident and independent life that improves well-being and prosperity in their families, communities and society.

R4E promotes gender equality, it changes the attitude of families towards the education of girls, and the students become role models of what is possible for young women in their communities.

Please help with your donation so that this successful work can be continued.

In this video, the project managers, the team and some of the scholarship holders introduce themselves:

Thanks to your generous donations, we can once again support the now very established, successful Rice4Education project together with Buddhist Global Relief, with $15,000.

Despite recent rising prices for rice, LOI aims to use this money to provide 50 kg of rice per month for a year to the families of 108 GATE students and 15 kg per month for one year to 32 CATALYST students (a total of approx. 464 people). That's 38 160 kg of rice in a half-year and 70 560 kg for one year. Rice is distributed in Phnom Penh City, in the province of Siem Reap and now also in the province of Pursat. The provision of this food aid for the students and their families contributes significantly to the fact that the families continue to be committed to the education of their daughters so that they stay in school.

Example:

Yim Lina is 15 years old and in the 10th grade at Hun Sen Angkor Thom High School. She lives with her family, her mother and two siblings, in the village of Samrong, located in the municipality of Leangdai, in the district of Angkor Thom in the province of Siem Reap.

In 2019, Lina learned about the scholarship through an announcement at her school, and was finally selected as a recipient. As a result, her family's situation improved considerably, so that she was no longer dependent on her mother's income. In addition to the monthly scholarship, additional lessons, lunch, monthly health care, maintenance of bicycles and school materials, her family receives 50 kg of rice per month through the scholarship.

Lina says: "The fact that we receive rice makes my family's livelihood much easier, so I don't have to worry anymore that I don't have rice to eat." Lina's mother, Thong Mon, added: "I no longer need to spend money on buying rice, and can spend my income on the education of my children and the daily meals, as the rice is enough for my family."

In the second half of 2023, the "Rice 4 Education" project was able to deliver 36,885 kg of rice to scholarship holders and/or their family members. In detail, 54 CATALYST scholarship holders (15 kg per girl/month) and a family (3 people) of one CATALYST scholarship holder (50 kg per month), 38 families of GATE scholarship holders in Phnom Penh (50 kg per family), 44 families of GATE scholarship holders in Siem Reap (50 kg per family) and 26 families of GATE scholarship holders in the province of Pursat (50 kg per family). 218 people live in the 38 families of GATE Phnom Penh, in the 44 families of GATE Siem Reap 222 people and in the 26 families of GATE in the province of Pursat 135 people, so that the 36 885 kg of rice benefited 632 people.

"I want to be a doctor one day because I want to help people in the community and my family members," says 14-year-old Vouen Meat. She is one of many girls and young women who are being supported again this year by MiA together with BGR through the Rice 4 Education program, receiving a "rice scholarship." They come from poor backgrounds and their families would not be able to finance school and university education without outside help. Thanks to regular support, including the provision of the staple food rice, they are able to go to school and some even acquire a university degree. 

The Rice 4 Education project is realized in partnership with Lotus Outreach International (LOI), since 2009 partner of our American cooperation partner, Buddhist Global Relief. MiA has been involved since 2020. LOI works to improve the lives of women and girls in Cambodia and India through initiatives that promote girls' access to education, provide counseling, and offer refuge to victims of human trafficking and domestic violence. 

LOI's local partner in Cambodia is Lotus Outreach Cambodia (LOCAM). The organization is responsible for a number of programs, including CATALYST, Lotus Pedals, and Rice 4 Education.

Rice 4 Education provides rice scholarships to support families affected by malnutrition so that girls no longer have to support their families through their work, but have the opportunity to attend school or later university. The rice also provides the nutritional basis for the girls' parents and siblings, thus benefiting all family members. 

The rice scholarships are awarded under the GATE scholarship program and the CATALYST program (the follow-up program to GATE). GATE (an acronym for Girls Access To Education) provides educational scholarships for girls in primary and secondary schools. CATALYST builds on this foundation by supporting girls to pursue higher education at universities and vocational training institutions throughout Cambodia. All students in these programs commit to attending school for at least one year. 

GATE's Rice 4 Education program is implemented through the Cambodian Women's Crisis Center (CWCC), a long-time partner of LOI, in collaboration with local education working groups. These groups, consisting of teachers, parents, government officials and volunteers, deliver the rice directly to the families concerned. The rice distribution of the CATALYST program will be carried out by LOI staff. 

From July 2021 to June 2022, the program distributed 59,655 kg of rice (2,655 kg more than projected), was distributed to 563 people (projected was only 410), including the families of 80 GATE grantees, the family of one CATALYST grantee, and 68 female university students on scholarships in Siem Reap and Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Through CATALYST, we distributed more rice to 18 young female scholarship recipients than was included in the application.

This year, thanks to your support, MiA will again be there with a significant amount of donations to support girls, young women and their families, because education is a human right. For this, we continue to need your support.  

Phan Pich Choroniey, 17 years old, GATE Phnom Penh

Phan Pich Choroniey, 17, is the oldest sister of two brothers and attends 11th grade at Toul Pratast Sen Sok High School. Choroneiy and her brothers have been living with her grandmother and aunt since her parents divorced and never reconnected with her and her siblings. Her family moved from Old Building (a slum neighborhood in the capital city of Phnom Penh) to a new location in Khmuyhn commune in Sen Sok district. Before Choroniey received a GATE scholarship, she would often drop out of school to support her family through work. So sometimes they barely had anything to eat. Her grandmother and aunt do their best to earn money so the family can survive and the children can go to school. Her grandmother plants vegetables around the house, while her aunt works in a textile factory. Choroneiy feels lovingly cared for by her grandmother and aunt. Given her circumstances, she was selected for a GATE scholarship in March 2021. This provided Choroniey with school supplies, a school uniform, a bicycle, a monthly stipend, a monthly tutoring session, rice allowance, and other support according to the scholarship guidelines. Her grandmother says, "The support helps my family a lot. It reduces my daily expenses, my family has food to eat, and my grandchild has enough materials to study. I wish my granddaughter will graduate from university and get a good job one day. I would like to thank the donors:inside from the bottom of my heart for their support." Choroniey is very active and helpful and was elected to lead a youth group project at her school. She would like to graduate from university and become a teacher.

Pronh Sotheavy, 15, GATE Siem Reap 

Pronh Sotheavy, 15, is a 9th grade student at Somrong High School in South Nikum district. She lives with her parents. Her family has four children and she is the eldest daughter. When her family ran into financial difficulties in 2016, they moved in with her grandmother. Her parents then took out a bank loan and started an ice cream business to feed the family and repay the debt. During the Covid 19 pandemic, her parents' business came to a halt, causing a massive deterioration in their living conditions. Pronh heard about the GATE scholarship for poor schoolgirls through her primary school principal, applied and was selected as a scholarship recipient. As a result, she received support in the form of school uniform, learning materials, a pair of shoes, a monthly stipend, a bicycle, and most importantly, 50 kg of rice per month, which can feed the whole family and reduce daily living expenses. Sotheavy's father is currently working as a poultry farmer in Thailand. Every 3 to 4 months he sends money home - a part to cover the family's daily needs, the rest to pay back the loan. Sotheavy wants to become a teacher because she enjoys working with children and wants to work close to her family. She thanks everyone who gave her the opportunity to attend school as a scholarship recipient. 

Vouen Meat, 14 years, GATE Siem Reap 

Vouen Meat is 14 years old, the middle of three daughters, and lives with her family in Trapeang Kranh village in Chub Tatrav commune, Angkor Thom district. She currently attends 9th grade at Chub Tatrav Secondary School. Every day Vouen Meat rides her bike to school, it is about 7 kilometers from her home to the school, and sometimes she rides there on a motorcycle with her friend. Her parents work in potato farming, earning about 20,000 riels ($5USD) a day. This is not nearly enough to support the whole family and the education of their three daughters. Vouen Meat was selected as a GATE project scholarship recipient after she applied. With the scholarship package, Vouen Meat received study materials, a bicycle, a school uniform, rice and a stipend. She is very happy to receive the scholarship and to be able to continue going to school. During a Covid 19 outbreak, all schools were closed and many families in the community had to move to the Thai border to work, including Vouen Meat's family. Despite these conditions, Vouen Meat never gave up studying and regularly studied online. "I want to be a doctor one day because I want to help people in the community and my family members," she says. 

Texts: Ursula Richard, Photos: Lotus Outreach International

During this year 2022, we are again supporting female students in Cambodia to keep them in training schemes through so called "rice scholarships". Those girls in question come from poor backgrounds, where their families cannot afford school and university education without outside help. This regular support by way of securing rice makes it possible for the girls to continue their schooling and even earn a university degree. YOUR donation will help provide a pathway out of poverty and dependency for these young women.

The project has been realised in partnership with Lotus Outreach International (LOI), a partner of our American coooperation partner Buddhist Global Relief, since 2009. LOI is committed to improving the lives of women and girls in Cambodia and India through initiatives that promote girls' access to education, provide counseling, and offer refuge to victims of human trafficking and domestic violence.

An important approach of LOI's education programs is to provide economic security for impoverished female students and young children in rural Cambodia by providing rice. Reliable food security for families affected by malnutrition often creates the foundation for these girls to be able to pursue their education without having to support their families through child labor. Rice also provides the food base for the girls' parents and siblings and thus benefits all family members. The resulting food security enables the families to release the girls from working in the house and on the farm, and to enable them to be enrolled in education programs.

BGR has funded travel support for Lotus Outreach's GATE scholarship program since it first established contact with this project in 2009 and for the CATALYST program since its inception as a continuation of the GATE program.

GATE (an acronym for Girls Access To Education) provides educational scholarships for girls in elementary and secondary schools. CATALYST, also supported by a BGR grant, builds on this foundation by helping girls obtain a higher education at universities and vocational training institutions throughout Cambodia. All students in these programs commit to attending school for at least one year.

Last year, the BGR scholarship was expanded to support not only the female students in the GATE and CATALYST scholarship programs, but also the families of 301 kindergarten children. For this year, we, Mitgefuehl in Aktion e.V. (MiA), have committed a larger sum to sustainably support this work alongside BGR.

The GATE rice assistance program has been realised through the Cambodian Women's Crisis Center in collaboration with local educational support groups in the student villages. These groups, consisting of teachers, parents, government officials and volunteers, then deliver the rice directly to the recipients. LOI staff conduct the CATALYST program's rice distribution.

A total of 46.5 tons of rice was distributed to 181 families under this program from July 2020 to 2021, providing nutritional assistance to a total of 766 people.

Text: Raimund Hopf, Photos: Lotus Outreach