Two Families Use Education to Build a Post-Coronavirus Future
Two Families Use Education to Build a Post-Coronavirus Future
Two families in one of Phnom Penh’s urban poor communities are weathering COVID-19 crisis through education. In the best of times, most households in Moul Village live on 10 to 13 dollars per day. Though as businesses shutter and jobs disappear during the global pandemic, now they’re struggling to simply make daily food purchases. Some families that ISF supports have thought of returning to their hometowns across Cambodia’s countryside in hope of cutting expenses. Yet, we know that for many, this would be a one-way trip. With little-to-no access to quality schools, our students’ education would likely suffer, or come to an end. This is why our Community Engagement Team is working hard to maintain relationships and support systems in the communities we serve.
Sok Socheata* is a grade 3 student at our Steung Meanchey learning center. While school is closed to prevent the spread of Coronavirus, she receives weekly assignments and access to online learning. With tourism diminished by the crisis, her father, a moto taxi driver, had considered leaving the city. “If there were no English and Catch-Up assignments for my daughter, I would have taken her to my hometown,” he speculates. One of the other four members of her family has lost their restaurant job to the slowing economy. While Socheata’s parents are proud of her and value her education, their future is uncertain. With such a severe loss of income—making only fifty dollars per month—paying rent may well soon become an impossibility.
“If there were no English and Catch-Up assignments for my daughter, I would have taken her to my hometown.”
Living near to Sok Socheata, Duong Leakhena’s* family is struggling as well. She’s also at ISF’s Steung Meanchey campus studying in grade 5. This unprecedented health and economic crisis has split her family. After having not worked for a month, Leakhena’s mother—a garment worker— made the difficult decision to go back to her hometown in search of employment. In her absence, Sarah’s father has taken an admirably hands-on role in his daughter’s education. He makes time each day to help his daughter complete ISF Catch-Up Programme coursework.
Both of these fathers are becoming role models in their community as they engage in their childrens’ learning. As the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic ravages lower-income neighborhoods, ISF is working hard to support families like these. We want to ensure that they can not only pass through this crisis, but also that their children have the tools to build a future afterwards.
