On taking a leap and the gift of education

My reflections relate to my parents. I don't know what they gave financially, but I watched them give their time to a number of educational and community organisations. They always looked outwards; they were very engaged with the world and used their professional skills to give back to the community. Even when I was young, I understood that this was important to them, and as I grew up that practice became part of my own psyche.

Well, I'm very aware how fortunate I've been. I was brought up in a comfortable environment, I had a good education and the opportunity to realise many of my goals. And as a result, I've wanted to be an active contributor and to make a difference to the lives of those less fortunate. I think that's what drives me in a general sense - it's about the reward of seeing that what you do, even in a small way, can make a difference.

When my children were older, I had the opportunity to travel to developing countries where I had a lot of experiences that affected me deeply. Most of us live such a comfortable life in Australia and it's shocking and distressing to see how vast numbers of people live in poor countries, and often without hope, which is heartbreaking to witness.

Seeing children in poverty especially breaks my heart.  In the early 2000s, the Worldwide Make Poverty History campaign launched, and it really resonated with me and my own experience of poverty in developing countries. When I was travelling, I'd often feel the urge to contribute personally but I didn’t know what to do.  For so long I had this passion, this little flame burning away inside of me, to do something to help fight against poverty

The Make Poverty History campaign gave me an impetus.

So, I went back to Cambodia, because on my first visit I’d learned that much of the country was extremely poor, and under-resourced, and the rural areas particularly didn't receive much effective NGO development aid or assistance. It was a country that was crying out for help.

I spent some time travelling back and forth researching the situation and the issues that Cambodia faced.  About a year in I met with a group of monks at the local pagoda in a rural community some distance outside Siem Reap. 

The monks told me they could no longer afford to carry out one of their traditional roles, caring for orphan children and educating the poor children in that community.

I realised that I could do something to help. At the time Cambodia had one of the highest illiteracy rates and school dropout rates, and I believed that education was the most effective pathway out of poverty.

I set up Opportunity Cambodia to enable these children to get an education and skills training. It was a challenge because there were virtually no trained teachers, few facilities and an almost total lack of education materials. The headmaster of the local secondary school told me that I wouldn’t succeed because other NGOs had tried but no one had managed to get these kids to school in the first place, let alone encourage them to stay there and learn.

But as I dug deeper, I learned that there were serious reasons for the lack of interest and attendance. Firstly, there were untreated health problems, like tropical diseases, and many of the children were malnourished, which affected their ability to concentrate and learn. Child labour was another big factor because many of these children were expected to help in the home and in the fields. And finally, most of the families were illiterate, which meant they didn't encourage their children to go to school. This was a marginalised community with no electricity, no clean drinking water, very inadequate shelter, very little employment, dysfunctional families, child abuse, domestic violence, the whole gamut of things that often happen in very poor communities. It was a community beyond the help of sporadic aid programs that did not endure on the ground.

I decided that if my organisation could work on the ground, in the community, in a permanent way, we could deal with the basic issues - addressing the children’s health problems, providing daily nutritional food, supporting their learning, working with the families, so that they would have a better chance of succeeding. After two years, most of our children were doing as well as their peers at school and some were even earning prizes on speech day. Once we’d proved that our approach was working, I bought land in the village and built a purpose-built education facility for children around the ages of seven and eight.  It was not an orphanage but a learning centre where we practised a ‘whole of person’ approach to education.

I think the impact of a reasonable education can’t be overstated. I think it is well known in the field of international development that education is the single most effective way of bringing people out of poverty. In my experience this is particularly so when girls are educated.

We set out to enable the children we took into our program to stay at school till at least Grade 9, when they would leave and receive skills training, and thus employment, in an appropriate field. Many of our children achieved this goal. However, there were a large number, most particularly the girls, who wanted to go on to high school. This led to our opening a Centre in Siem Reap as there was no high school in our Commune. Once through high school many of them wanted to go to university.

By that time, I had learnt that one of the greatest threats to the economic and social development of Cambodia, still one of the poorest countries in our region, was their very young population, and the chronic lack of professionally educated young people – nurses, teachers, administrators etc.. We decided to support our students through university. We also introduced a program to provide scholarships for other financially disadvantaged young people from rural communities, to attend university.

Very few rural young people, especially girls, were able to go to university because of the expense, and the difficulty of surviving in the big city for young people many of whom had never been to the city and had no support systems. We provide a home and all necessary support for our university students.

Our program is very successful. At this stage we have some 70 young people at university or already graduated, taking degrees in nursing, teaching, medicine, law, engineering, IT, finance, agriculture. It seems a small number, but I've learned that you do what you can, knowing that the ripple effect happens and the impact will spread over time.

I’ve learned that it’s really important to have focus, and to be clear about what you want to achieve. It’s easy to get deflected by other problems, especially in developing countries where there are so many problems, and so many things you could be doing, and your funds can be easily dissipated.

This has been a fascinating experience on many levels, and I’ve learned so much. It’s given me the joy of seeing these wonderful young people grow up, realise their dreams and contribute back to their families and community. They will be the role models and the leaders that their country so desperately needs. Even though my project is small, the rewards have been huge. And whatever I’ve given out, I’ve received back many times over.

 Perhaps the biggest thing I’ve learned is not to be afraid to take a plunge into the unknown.  My family was grown up, I wasn’t young, when I started this project.   Every time I took a challenging or daunting step, it opened the way to the next step, and the momentum kept building. I ended up doing something that I would never have dreamed possible, and I don’t think it would have happened if I’d tried to work it all out logically, ‘belt and braces’, beforehand.

I think many young people today are finding life more expensive and difficult than we did, and often they feel they’re not in a position to give. But it's important that we help them understand that you don't have to give a lot. A small amount can go a long way, especially if it’s well targeted. The amount of international giving has reduced in this country, and it is important to recognise that we don't just live in Australia, we live in a region where there is huge poverty and a lack of funds and resources.

A lot of young people come back from travels in developing countries filled with that same intention that I had, to help. But they're overwhelmed by the size of the problems and struggle to see how they can make a difference. I want to tell them not to give up.

The key is to be clear about what you want to do. Do your research and connect with an NGO that interests you. There are so many small, amazing groups working on the ground, often more successfully than the big agencies. Start small and recognize that in a lot of these countries, a little bit of money goes much further than it would in Australia. Just do something. Take the first step, then the second step, and things will flow from there.