CAMBODIA Church Center Does Its Best To Help Poor Students Graduate

Posted: 9th July 2007

CCSC students Graduated 2007

PHNOM PENH (UCAN) -- The Catholic Church in Cambodia is hoping it will be able to continue offering scholarships and lodging to rural students who otherwise would not be able to live and study in the capital.

"I really thank the Church for providing me the scholarship to continue my studies at the university. If not for the scholarship I would have stayed at home," Neak Thorn told UCA News. Thorn, 21, is from a village in Kompot province, about 150 kilometers west of Phnom Penh, and is a freshman at the Civil Engineering College in the capital.

Father Enrico Fidanza, director of the Catholic Church Student Center in Phnom Penh where Thorn resides, told UCA News 73 candidates are waiting for a place at the center, which can support only 12 to 15 students a year. Space and money are big constraints, allowing the center to take in only six boys and six girls this year, the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions priest said.

The center, which caters to needy students regardless of religion, provides room, board and tutorial assistance at subsidized prices equivalent to US$12-25 a month, but free in some cases. With so many students waiting, it demands excellence. A student who fails two subjects must leave to make room for a more meritorious student, Father Fidanza explained.

Some of today's students may help those that follow them.

"If the center had not given me the scholarship, I would not have been able to study at the Royal University of Phnom Penh, because my family does not have enough money to support my study and stay in the city," Vong Sophy, a resident, told UCA News.

The 22-year-old information-technology major is confident of landing a top-notch job, since even as a student she works part time "analyzing and designing" systems in a private company that pays her well. Sophy said she would contribute some money in gratitude for the center's help providing a good opportunity for poor students to build their own future.

The center wants those it helps to take on this responsibility and asks students who graduate and find employment to donate 10 percent of their salary to the center for four years.

The center's founder, Jesuit Father Evan Ashley, told UCA News he has also started a new program through which former students sponsor a student at the center after they find steady employment. They would support the student with monthly tuition fees and other expenses.

According to the priest, each student requires US$1,000 annually for tuition fees, food, books, school uniforms and health care. "The money from students' families and from former students is not enough to run the center." He hopes it will be able to help more students, but acknowledges the constraints. "Lack of space makes it difficult to take in more students. Also, if we want more students, we will also need more money."

Pong Sa Metrey, 23, a Catholic Church Student Center committee member told UCA News that providing more scholarships to students is a goal that cannot yet be realized, which continues to be "a big worry" for the director.

Bishop Emile Destombes, who heads Phnom Penh vicariate, told UCA News he fears for the future of the center. "I do not know, because in the local Church we don't have any income; we depend on international funds." The Paris Foreign Missions bishop lamented, "I just received a letter from the Catholic Church in Italy saying that they decided to cut support for our center."

The center was opened in 1999 with eight students -- five boys and three girls. It was located then at St. Joseph's Parish in Phnom Penh. In 2002, after the number of students had increased, the vicariate build the current Catholic Church Student Center in Phnom Penh with donations from Missio Aachen, the German Catholic agency for pastoral aid. The center has so far served 131 students.

Article Source: UCAN