Kimsray got her passport!!

Yaay!!



The first step to getting to college is completed! If only studying for the SAT was this easy...

Lots of news!

It's been crazy lately and I haven't had a chance to write but lots has been going on with Kimsray!

** For one, she graduated from vocational school!! Kimsray is amazing and actually graduated second in her class! The grad was awesome, there were dancers and even a fashion show. I tried to take video but I got so into it that I kept forgetting to turn it on at the good parts!

Here are some pictures of the ceremony:

Kimsray with her diploma!

Kimsray's class singing at the ceremony.

Kimsray giving a speech.

Kimsray's class with their diplomas.

** Kimsray found an amazing tutor who usual charges astronomical fees to tutor people for the SAT but agreed to tutor Kimsray for free!! Kimsray has been reading and studying the SAT books she bought and now she'll have an actual tutor to help her achieve her goal.

** Kimsray also found free TOEFL classes that she's now attending on the weekends. A local NGO here in Phnom Penh teaches the courses and it's an amazing opportunity for her to learn how to pass the exam. These courses and tutors are also such a huge relief to both of us because now we know that she can keep studying even after I leave Cambodia!

** The latest news is super exciting, my amazing friend Xan from back home has decided to join the 2009 Big Shoulders Swim in Chicago on September 12 and to use it to raise money for Kimsray! Personally, I think she's a little insane, the swim is a 2.5km race in the (as she puts it) "super choppy, 65 degree water of Lake Michigan". Xan is incredible and she's hoping that her friends will donate to the cause to help add to Kimsray's College Fund! I'll be adding more updates and pictures from the event as they happen!

Thanks to everyone who has been supporting us and sending in money. We're a long way from our goal (I'm trying to figure out where to find one of those little fundraising widgets!) but we're getting there slowly but surely.

Thanks so much!
kat & kimsray

Kimsray's Books!

Kimsray has SAT books!! Thank you so so much for everyone who has donated so far, these things were expensive! Kimsray only looks this excited because she hasn't actually begun to study yet... Just wait until she opens them! Muahahaha!



Thanks again and please, donate to the cause!! Kimsray is working hard but it won't do any good if she can't afford the exam!

Thanks,
Kimsray & Kat

Kimsray on: Kimsray

Kimsray is an incredible girl. She grew up with just her mother in a province outside of Phnom Penh, Cambodia. She's smart, sweet, hard working, and hugely ambitious. As a vocational student she has earned one of the most prestigious internships at UNICEF and is the pride of all of the nuns at her school. Kimsray is phenomenal and is going to do great things some day. But she needs to go to college to do them.

So, why do we need help? I’m not sure if you remember applying for college, but it’s expensive. And it’s even more expensive for international students. Not only does Kimsray have to pay for the SAT and TOEFL (at over $100 each) but she also needs a passport just to take the TOEFL (which costs $139), not to mention to eventually leave the country, and she needs study materials, application fees, shipping costs (it cost me $38 to mail six pieces of paper to UNICEF from the states and $11 to mail 15 postcards from Phnom Penh to the US. Imagine how much it will cost to send application materials), internet café, printing, and copying fees (Kimsray doesn’t have a computer), phone cards for interviews, and a host of other fees and costs. And this is before she even finds out if she gets in. Considering that the average annual salary in Cambodia is $290 and that Kimsray’s mother makes $120 as a cook (making her almost well-off by Cambodian standards), how long do you think it would take her to save up enough money?

Once Kimsray is accepted, we’re hoping to apply and help her get as many scholarships as possible to pay for the actual schooling. Luckily, American and Canadian universities are pretty phenomenal about helping international students pay for school once they get in, but we have a lot of work to do before we get there.

I know it’s corny, but I really do believe that we can change the world one phenomenal woman at a time and I think Kimsray has the potential to be a positive force for Cambodia and the world. If girls get the educations they need, they will be the ones make their countries into great nations. It is only once the women in developing countries have the opportunities that they deserve that we can erase the corruption, violence, and poverty that are keeping them down, and finally succeed in making the world just that much better. Kimsray is just one step out of many, but she is a big step, and a step we can all take. Some people may say that helping just one girl in a country struggling as much as Cambodia is like spitting in the wind, but I think it’s more like lighting a fire in a barn house. All you have to do is light one girl with education to watch a whole village burn. Light enough villages and you can set a nation on fire. And with your help, I think we can collect a lot of matches.

I am fully committed to attending Kimsray’s college graduation in the spring of 2014. If you help us now, we’ll send you a graduation announcement!!

If you want to help, just click on the link to the PAYPAL account on the left. We would also love any emails and comments on the site to keep us motivated! As we accomplish our goals we’ll let you know about it. You can bet good money that I’ll be writing a lot more about it on my own blog, and that Kimsray will be writing a blog of her own right here on the site about how the process is going. Our goal is for Kimsray to apply this fall to start school the fall of 2010! This is a BIG GOAL but we accomplished big goals all of the time in Teach For America and I have no less faith that we can do so here.

If everyone who reads this donates $5, or more if you're ballin', I know we can make it. I’ll even send you a receipt!

Thanks for your time, participation, and understanding,

kat & kimsray