Students Reach Milestone in Cambodia School Project
When Jessica Fuhrman ’12 launched a project last year to build a new school in Cambodia, she envisioned the school being constructed long after her graduation from F&M. But a recent email message from American Assistance for Cambodia (AAfC) changed the schedule.
“I woke up one day about a month ago and got an email saying we could have a school,” Fuhrman says. “The organization [AAfC] built the school, but the original owner had to back out. So now we have a school, and we’re about a year ahead of where we expected to be.”
The school is in Trapaing Kong village in Kampong Speu province, Cambodia. More than 480 students will attend the school.
Fuhrman has been spearheading The Cambodia School Project since the fall of 2010. With support from the International Women’s Outreach Committee (IWOC) and The Human Rights Initiative (THRI), she has worked with a core group of students toward a goal of $25,000, half of which will cover the cost of constructing the school.
“We passed $10,000 in just a year, which is kind of crazy,” Fuhrman says. “We’ve done dinners and T-shirt sales, and even some alumni outreach. It’s been a real grassroots effort, utilizing our personal contacts. We approach this with a belief that every little bit helps.”
The initiative aims to benefit Cambodia’s education system, which was essentially eliminated by the Khmer Rouge regime during the 1970s. Approximately 1.5 million people died under the regime in one of the world’s worst cases of genocide, eliminating nearly one-quarter of the country’s population.
AAfC has helped to build more than 470 primary and lower secondary schools in Cambodia since 1999. In addition to covering the cost of the physical building, the students hope to raise enough funds for an English teacher’s salary, a water filtration system, computers and other supplies.
Fuhrman’s enthusiasm for the project has spread to other students. Jennifer Dickey ’14 and Victoria Wagner ’14, members of the IWOC executive committee, are energized by the rapid progression of the project. “Getting the school has definitely been the most exciting part,” Wagner says.
“We’re just a small group of college students,” Dickey says. “I never thought such a small group of people could make such a big impact.”
The students raised more than $1,000 on Oct. 12 at an iWOK dinner hosted by Ware College House. The event was so successful that the students organized a similar dinner at Ware on Dec. 1 that raised an additional $600.
Now that the students have a physical school, they must come up with a name. They would like to recognize Franklin & Marshall in some way, perhaps calling the school “Lux et Lex,” in honor of the College’s motto. “Many people from the F&M community have supported the project, so we’d like to tie the name to F&M in some way,” Fuhrman says.
“This project opens another portion of the world to F&M students,” Fuhrman says. “It provides an opportunity to contribute to the academic literature relating to Cambodia. I see this evolving over time. We’ll never be done with it.”
If you would like to contribute to The Cambodia School Project, send checks to the following address. Checks should be made payable to American Assistance for Cambodia; memo: Franklin & Marshall.
Franklin & Marshall College
The Cambodia School
F&M Women’s Center
P.O. Box 3003 Lancaster, PA 17604-3003
