Wednesday, 23 January 2008

U.S. Teen Brings New School To Rural Cambodia

Global Briefs
By: AsianWeek Staff, Jan 23, 2008

BANTEAY SREY, Cambodia — Hundreds of Cambodian villagers welcomed the arrival of a new school, a gift from an American teenager who raised $52,000 after reading about the hardships of growing up in Cambodia.

Rachel Rosenfeld, 17, made her first visit to the Southeast Asian country for the opening of the R.S. Rosenfeld School, which brings five computers and Internet access to 300 primary school students in a small village of Siem Reap Province, a poverty-stricken area that is home to the country’s famed Angkor Wat temple complex.

Rosenfeld, of Harrison, N.Y., said she learned about the village of Srah Khvav after reading a newspaper article last year that discussed the plight of poor Cambodian children, who often have no access to education.

To raise money, Rosenfeld sent out hundreds of fund-raising letters, sold T-shirts and offered naming rights for several structures in the school, a statement said. The $52,000 she raised was supplemented by the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, which contributed $10,000 and $13,000.

— MSNBC

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