What is the CARE Foundation?
The Cambodian Americans for Rural Education (CARE) Foundation is a non-profit organization established to empower children and families in rural villages in Cambodia to improve their lives through education.CARE’s mission is to provide resources for Cambodian rural populations that will allow children to stay in school and enable them to take control of their futures, one village at a time.
CARE’s vision is to create a world in which all Cambodian children complete both primary and secondary school.
Why was CARE established?
Approximately 31 percent of Cambodia's population of 14.3 million people live below the poverty line. Many of those affected are children, particularly in rural areas.As rural families struggle to support themselves, economic pressures often force children to drop out of school to help with farming or other agricultural work. Additionally, many families simply cannot keep up with expenses needed to keep their children in school, like uniforms, books, and supplies.
Ultimately, less than 50 percent of Cambodian children complete primary school.
But children NEED education. Children who stay in school, learn to read and write, and acquire math ad other analytical skills are better prepared for and more likely to secure jobs, and to break the cycle of poverty.
CARE was established to enable children to stay in school, and ultimately, to take control of their own futures.
What are CARE's objectives?
CARE’s immediate objective is to ease the economic pressures that prevent many Cambodian children from attending school.To fulfill this objective, CARE seeks to provide supplies for students in given villages sufficient to last the entire school year. CARE will begin with villages in the province of Takeo.
CARE’s longer-term objective is to create a culture of learning in rural villages, in which all community members support children’s education.
To fulfill this objective, CARE seeks to build libraries, thereby providing rural villagers access to books and other learning materials. Plans for the first library, which will be built in Takeo province, are already underway.
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