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   Newsletter Summer 2016       
A Note from Bill and Nancy

The first time we visited Kaun Khlong Village in 2008, no one spoke English. We don’t speak Khmer so communications were pretty rocky. What a difference 8 years makes. Now most of the young people in the village speak some English and all of our scholarship girls have excellent English language skills. That’s partly because of the Cambodian Village Fund’s English language program. We have 4 teachers who teach a total of 8 classes every weekday to 250 students. Our scholarship girls’ English is so good that we’ve been asking them to help us write our newsletters. In this issue 11th grader Samy helped with the article about Taekwondo and another 11th grader, Seyha, helped with the story about the girls moving to Battambang.


Rambo, Manager of CVF English Program
Neil Patel Learning Center
New Library
CVF Opens Third School

There is always a big celebration when a new school is opened, and the dedication of the Neil Patel Learning Center at Prey Touch Secondary School was no exception. The new building has 2 classrooms and a library/media center for the 7th-9th graders. The students and teachers from The Bishop’s School were there, as well as the students, parents, grandparents and teachers from Prey Touch Secondary School. The District Governor and the Vice Governor of Battambang Province were among the speakers. The dedication also included a blessing from monks and the Cambodian National Anthem led by girl scouts. Following the formal ceremony we toured the new school and had a delicious lunch at the School Director's house

The $30,000 building was completed in January. Neil Patel, an Internet entrepreneur, contributed $15,000 of that. The Bishop’s School donated money for the Library/Media Center.


Dedicating the School
Dr. Moseley Checking Out Library
Two New Schools Under Construction

Thanks to the generosity of 2 individuals, we are in the process of building 2 new schools. The Timothy Sykes Learning Center, at Prey Touch Secondary School, will contain 5 classrooms for grades 7-9. The 3-room Syed Balkhi Center of Learning will replace the dilapidated building at the Dob Krorsang Primary School. Both buildings are scheduled to be completed in February 2017.


Future Home of the Timothy Sykes Learning Center

School to be replaced by Syed Balkhi Cernter of Learning
Contract signing for both schools
Setting Up the Media Center
New Media Center

With financial help from Francis Parker School, we have a new Media Center for our English Language Program at Kaun Khlong Primary School. The Media Center contains books, videos and computers to help English language learners. When students from San Diego’s Francis Parker School visited Cambodia in February, they worked with our English teachers and scholarship girls to purchase supplies and set up the Media Center.

Bishop's School Goes to Cambodia

In March Bill and Nancy traveled to Cambodia with 25 9th graders and 6 teachers from the Bishop’s School in La Jolla. We admit that we were a little concerned about traveling with so many 14-15 year old kids, but they were great travelers. We visited the tourist sites in Phnom Penh and Siem Reap, but the best part was going to Battambang and our village. The Bishop’s students met their pen pals, visited their houses in the village, taught classes at our English language program, and attended the dedication of our newest school, the Neil Patel Learning Center. Several students reported this was a “life changing” experience for them.


Students from The Bishop's School Visiting Pen Pal's Houses

Students from the Bishop's School at Angkor Wat
Bishop's Students Teaching English
Samy Getting Ready for Her Taekwondo Lesson
Learning Taekwondo

Twelve of our scholarship girls are learning the martial art of Taekwondo. Samy, an 11th grade student, said that she wants to learn Taekwondo because it is good exercise, will make her strong and also will give her good self-defense techniques. In addition, Samy says Taekwondo builds self-confidence. The girls study Taekwondo one hour each day on weekends.

With the Grand Master
11th Graders Finish First Semester in Battambang

Last August, after completing 10th grade, 5 of our scholarship girls moved to Battambang to attend Preah Monivong High School, one of the best public high schools in Cambodia. They live with other high school and university girls in the house we rent. These 16-17 year old girls faced many challenges--living away from their parents for the first time, managing their time with little adult supervision, cooking their own meals, doing laundry and cleaning the house.

Here’s what 11th grader, Seyha, said about her experience: “When I started at the new school, I didn’t know anyone and it was difficult to make new friends because the students at the new school like different things and have different habits. The new school is hard. I go to school 8 hours each day and take extra classes 4 hours each day and do homework 2 or 3 hours each day. I study 14 subjects, including chemistry, physics, biology, math and philosophy. Living away from home is difficult because I miss my family and feel homesick. If I don’t have to study on Sunday I usually go to my village in the morning. But I like living with my best friends in Battambang. I enjoy preparing meals and cleaning house with the other girls because it’s a time we can be together and share.

I especially like washing clothes together because we talk and laugh, so it is a happy time.”

11th Graders Seyha (front) and Sroem

Samy, Dany, Bill, Seyha, Vanna and Sroem
Cooking Dinner
Thank You for Your Support

Our work is made possible by donations from friends and supporters. We promise to get the most from your donations, with 99.1 % of revenue going to Cambodia. We keep our administrative expenses low because we do most of the administration ourselves, including writing newsletters, maintaining the website, managing finances and accounting. We do this at no cost to the Cambodian Village Fund. If you are able to help, we will put your support to good use. And remember, in Cambodia a little goes a long way.

Donate on our website cambodianvillagefund.org paying by credit card or PayPal. Or send us a check.

The Cambodian Village Fund
c/o Bill and Nancy Bamberger
4376 Argos Drive
San Diego, CA 92116-2330

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