Thank you to everyone who helped make this year's Bright Idea a success. Together we raised over 1400 dollars for IDEAS.
Hope you all had fun out there. See you next year.
IDEAS Students
Pictured are some of the students who recently participated in the IDEAS program. 8 of these students are now enrolled in local and national colleges.
Congratulations Saran!
Wonderful news from Cambodia. Saran, one of the first IDEAS students (class of 2009) has graduated from Nursing School! The following is a note we recently received from her:
"I am happy to finish my nursing course. I Studied 3 years, starting Dec 27 2009, in Stueng Treng Province.
Now I am planing to study to be midwife, at the National Midwifery College in Kompong Cham Province. I will register soon and start middle of Jan 2013, and study for one year. I will finish in December
I will be first ethnic minority nurse-midwife in Ratanakiri. I am Tampuan - Jarai."
Congratulations to Saran, and thanks to all of you who've helped support IDEAS.
"I am happy to finish my nursing course. I Studied 3 years, starting Dec 27 2009, in Stueng Treng Province.
Now I am planing to study to be midwife, at the National Midwifery College in Kompong Cham Province. I will register soon and start middle of Jan 2013, and study for one year. I will finish in December
I will be first ethnic minority nurse-midwife in Ratanakiri. I am Tampuan - Jarai."
Congratulations to Saran, and thanks to all of you who've helped support IDEAS.
Donate to IDEAS
If you are unable to attend this year's Bright Idea, but would still like to make a donation, one can be made via Paypal.
A Graduation First
Some great news from IDEAS. They have just sent word that for the first time, an indigenous female student has graduated from high school. This is a huge accomplishment, and a big step for the IDEAS program. Thank you all for your continued support. Hopefully Saran will be the first of many to graduate and move on to higher education. Below is the e-mail I received from IDEAS.
Greetings from Ratanakiri,
We have GOOD NEWS from IDEAS (Indigenous Development Education Accomodation Support):
A Jarai/Tampuan girl named Saran, age 21, has just become the first ethnic minority girl to pass the national grade 12 exam
Thus she has earned the coveted high school completion diploma (called 'bacceleureate diploma, after the French system).
Saran is also likely the first person from the Jarai ethnic group to graduate.
Saran joined the IDEAS dorm as soon as it opened last year. Her village is about 4 hours by motorbike from the provincial capital, in the most remote district of the province. Since her family has no motorbike, she could only rarely go visit her family.
She is now eligible for a government scholarship in Phnompenh (5% are earmarked for ethnic minorities) although it is unlikely that she will be able to make it through the hoops. I will meet with her tomorrow to see if I can help.
IDEAS is the new sub-project we started one year ago which housed 40 ethnic minority high school students for the 2008-2009 school year, and is preparing to house 50 this year (Oct 2009-June 2010).
IDEAS was started to fill the gap by providing housing so that ethnic minority students can access the one highschool in Ratanakiri Province, which is located in the provincial town. Anyone aspiring to continue their education must come to the provincial center.
There are 240 villages in the province, but many are without primary schools, so it is only the past ten years that any ethnic minority students have made their way through primary school and lower secondary and finally continue secondary school in the provincial centre. Only a handful of ethnic minority boys and no ethnic minority girls had ever managed to jump through the hoops to complete highschool, despite a population of about 75,000 indigenous peoples in the province, But this has just changed with Samouen being the first girl!!
We are so pleased to have the first ethnic minority girl in the history of the province reach this level. And IDEAS played a large role in her success.
She hopes to study to become a doctor.
We have GOOD NEWS from IDEAS (Indigenous Development Education Accomodation Support):
A Jarai/Tampuan girl named Saran, age 21, has just become the first ethnic minority girl to pass the national grade 12 exam
Thus she has earned the coveted high school completion diploma (called 'bacceleureate diploma, after the French system).
Saran is also likely the first person from the Jarai ethnic group to graduate.
Saran joined the IDEAS dorm as soon as it opened last year. Her village is about 4 hours by motorbike from the provincial capital, in the most remote district of the province. Since her family has no motorbike, she could only rarely go visit her family.
She is now eligible for a government scholarship in Phnompenh (5% are earmarked for ethnic minorities) although it is unlikely that she will be able to make it through the hoops. I will meet with her tomorrow to see if I can help.
IDEAS is the new sub-project we started one year ago which housed 40 ethnic minority high school students for the 2008-2009 school year, and is preparing to house 50 this year (Oct 2009-June 2010).
IDEAS was started to fill the gap by providing housing so that ethnic minority students can access the one highschool in Ratanakiri Province, which is located in the provincial town. Anyone aspiring to continue their education must come to the provincial center.
There are 240 villages in the province, but many are without primary schools, so it is only the past ten years that any ethnic minority students have made their way through primary school and lower secondary and finally continue secondary school in the provincial centre. Only a handful of ethnic minority boys and no ethnic minority girls had ever managed to jump through the hoops to complete highschool, despite a population of about 75,000 indigenous peoples in the province, But this has just changed with Samouen being the first girl!!
We are so pleased to have the first ethnic minority girl in the history of the province reach this level. And IDEAS played a large role in her success.
She hopes to study to become a doctor.
Back to School
Class is about to begin in Banlung and the IDEAS project has successfully provided 2 houses for young men and women in Ratanakiri while attending secondary school. There were actually more student applicants than beds available. Pictured here are 3 of the students who will be able to attend class because of IDEAS, along with the house's landlord and IDEAS co-founder Samouen.
House Success
A dorm that will house 25-30 indigenous boys is under construction, but will be done in time for the start of school in October.
This house will be home to 15 indigenous girls while they attend secondary school in Banlung.Education in Ratanakiri
In Ratanakiri Province, there are a great number of indigenous youth, in particular females, who wish to attend secondary school but come from remote villages, who do not have a chance to recieve a basic education. It is especially difficult for them to continue their education beyond grade 5, as this usually requires moving to live in a district center or provincial town far from their home village. This is because the only upper secondary school (offering through grade 12) is located in the provincial capital, and a number of the district centers offer only several of the lower secondary grades. The main difficulties are livelihood issues, financial means, and lack of accommodations. They face challenges such as high school fees, lack of quality of education, lack of parental support, and health issues. In the past several years the cost of rent in Banlung, the provincial town in Ratanakiri has more than doubled. Thus the primary challenge facing students who wish to attend secondary school is the raising housing costs.
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