By Jeff Shaffer Staff writer
Standard Journal (Milton, Pennsylvania, USA)
“The need for understanding, tolerance and education is glaringly important” - Mike Conn, Milton high school teacherMILTON — Soon enough there may be another school with Milton’s name on it; this one will be nearly 9,000 miles away.
The Milton Area School Board gave its blessing to Mike Conn, a high school social studies teacher, to start a club and raise $30,000 to build a school in poverty-stricken Cambodia Tuesday night.
As some readers may remember, Conn, his daughter from New York and other educators visited southeast Asia — Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia — this past summer. The trip was featured in Standard Journal.
The poor children of Cambodia weighed particularly heavy on Conn’s heart.
“I thought I knew what I was in store for,” Conn, a seasoned world traveler, told the board. “But, I didn’t.
“It was the most amazing travel experience of my life. I won’t forget those children.”
The teacher went on to show a short video of the day-to-day of life for many Cambodians. The average monthly salary is $20; they dig through trash for food and recyclable materials to sell. The country is full of landmines and leads the world in amputations because of the destructive devices.
A former French colony, Cambodia has yet to recover from a ruthless regime that assumed power about 30 years ago. Conservative estimates suggest that 2 million people were killed by Pol Pot and his followers.
Conn believes educating the next generation is the first step in turning the country around.
“The need for understanding, tolerance and education is glaringly important,” he said.
Conn, who has high hopes of reaching the goal by the end of this school year, will be working with American Assistance for Cambodia (AAfC), which has already built hundreds of schools in Cambodia. But still, many more are needed.
If all goes according to plan, Milton may be the first public school in the country to construct a learning facility in Cambodia, Conn said. The school will be named after Milton.
The money will pay for a five- to seven-room school, large enough to hold 500 children. A well will also be dug to provide fresh water. Students will receive text books and other supplies, and even a satellite dish for Internet capabilities on new computers. The school will also be provided with teachers through AAfC.
“We could be their window to the world,” Conn said.
He added Milton students are very excited about taking on this project, and raising the money should be “very doable.”
In addition to the board, superintendent Dr. William Clark said he’ll be looking forward to the project.
“It struck a chord with me, as a parent of a child from a Third World country,” he said.
Clark also mentioned Milton has taken on some other great projects, such as building homes for Habitat for Humanity.
Jeff Shaffer: 570-742-9671
jeff@standard-journal.com
7 comments:
Thank you very much for helping Khmer children. Khmer children do need help.
stimates suggest that 2 million people were killed by Pol Pot led to power by Nixon/Kissinger.
We got enough schools. What we need is extra money for teachers. School is no good without teachers. Thus, it is more useful for NGO to pay the existing teacher directly to keep them from being corrupted and set a bad role model for students.
The British embassy said it welcomed the progress made in the case.
Yes, and we hope to see some progress made by the UK to help us identified the UK pedophiles in Cambodia that prayed on our children everyday.
A person with moral principle, need not corrupt if she/he is understood the important of education. Many school in Cambodia beared HunSen's name. WHAT KINDS OF STUDENTS DO WE PRODUCED?
Khmer schools will produced many good moral student, not westerner schools.
I don't like Hun Sen School because it doesn't have modern toilet! I believe the American designed school would have modern toilet system!
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