By Travis Thompson
For the first time in Ponheary Ly Foundation’s history, supporter Jean Geoghegan and her friends, colleagues, and family in Ireland have made it possible to fund, en masse, the salaries of all 24 of our Khmer public school classroom teachers at two schools.
A Cambodian public school teacher inside a PLF classroom.
This is a huge accomplishment for PLF which has never found funding for all Cambodian teacher subsidies, all at once, with one group of donors. Everything flows from the Cambodian educators who stand in our classrooms, so this is a very important development.
The total donation as a group funds an average $44 USD per month subsidy for each of our teachers at Knar and Tchey. This amounts to $440 per school year per teacher, and when combined with their government salary puts their income at a rural liveable wage which they wouldn’t have without the Foundation and this support.
Geoghegan’s group running into a cold ocean to raise money for PLF.
Geoghegan and her network of people in Ireland got very creative in raising thousands of dollars. They held dinners, hosted make-up artist nights, and even inspired a group of people to run into a freezing cold ocean, all in the name of Ponheary Ly Foundation.
Thank you to Jean and her group for their efforts, time, empathy and understanding of the plight of public school educators in Cambodia.
A Cambodian public school teacher in a PLF classroom.
A Cambodian teacher in a classroom at Knar Primary School.
And in addition to the successful fund raising, Jean is currently teaching English to a group of young adults outside of Siem Reap. Thank you for all your work and great inspiration, Jean!