Bret Harte teachers Jim and Denise DeLong, center, with the students of the Doris Dillon School. The sign reads “The Doris Dillon School, donated by Bret Harte Middle School/Almaden community, The Ministry of Education and Sports and the Asian Development Bank, 2007.” April 24, 2008
By Jeanne C. Carbone
Staff Writer
Almaden Times (San Jose, California, USA)
For exceptional teachers, inspiration for education never ends. Doris Dillon was one of those exceptional teachers. And now a world away in Cambodia, a school is built in her legacy.
“I would like to tell you of Doris Dillon, whom your school is named,” said Bret Harte Middle School teacher Jim DeLong in his speech for the inauguration of the school. “She was a teacher in Almaden Valley. All of you have a favorite teacher who is very special to you. Her students, even many years later, after they became adults, felt that way about her.”
During spring break DeLong and his wife Denise, who also teaches at Bret Harte, traveled to the Doris Dillon School in the Cambodian village of Banteay Meas. They were joined by DeLong’s sister Michaelene and her husband Rod Pyle as well as Bret Harte teacher Laura Fujikawa and her 17-year-old daughter Susan Gelman for the inauguration.
“Bernie Krisher, the 77-year-old founder of the American Assistance for Cambodia, the nonprofit organization that has built over 400 schools in Cambodia, told me that the inauguration of this school that we all worked so hard to build would be ‘one of the most memorable experiences of my life,’” said DeLong. “Needless to say it was.”
The genesis of the Doris Dillon School in Cambodia started on New Year’s Day 2007 when DeLong read about the American Assistance for Cambodia. Six months later, with the help of the Bret Harte Invisible Issues Club and Almaden community donations, the Doris Dillon School broke ground.
The need for schools started long before the American Assistance for Cambodia. In 1975 political leader Pol Pot who led Khmer Rouge guerrillas against the government proclaimed the country the Democratic Republic of Kampuchea and served as its premier [1976–79]. Under his rule there was a systematic murder of members of various groups; the complete destruction of individual rights; forced labor, disease and starvation in Cambodia. He transformed the developing country into a xenophobic agrarian society. Over 1.5 million out of a population of approximately seven million died during his rule, which ended with an invasion by the Vietnamese in late 1979. As any type of individual “thought” was forbidden, schools were closed.
Though the Doris Dillon School is now teaching 114 high school students in the five-room building, it still has needs. Currently, the school has one solar powered computer. DeLong would like to provide at least 10. He’d like them to set up and coordinate a fair-trade Web site to sell the unique handmade silk scarves made in nearby villages. He estimates the cost to be $6,000.
This year, Bret Harte’s Cultural Fair on May 21 and the Almaden Art and Wine Festival in September will be selling the scarves, leather shadow puppets, bamboo bracelets, woven handbags, framed artwork and banana leaf gift bags—all made by Cambodian crafts people. He also urges anyone interested in helping to donate cash or digital cameras and memory cards, photoshop software, art supplies, Microsoft Windows compatible webcams for computers, musical instruments and scanners.
“Or-goon in Khmer, or thank you all for any help you can give towards making this become a reality for these students.”
To send donations, make a check out to “American Assistance for Cambodia” and mail to Jim DeLong, 1021 Mount Darwin, San Jose, CA 95120 noting it is for the Doris Dillon School. For tangible goods, e-mail at James_DeLong@sjusd.org.
“I would like to tell you of Doris Dillon, whom your school is named,” said Bret Harte Middle School teacher Jim DeLong in his speech for the inauguration of the school. “She was a teacher in Almaden Valley. All of you have a favorite teacher who is very special to you. Her students, even many years later, after they became adults, felt that way about her.”
During spring break DeLong and his wife Denise, who also teaches at Bret Harte, traveled to the Doris Dillon School in the Cambodian village of Banteay Meas. They were joined by DeLong’s sister Michaelene and her husband Rod Pyle as well as Bret Harte teacher Laura Fujikawa and her 17-year-old daughter Susan Gelman for the inauguration.
“Bernie Krisher, the 77-year-old founder of the American Assistance for Cambodia, the nonprofit organization that has built over 400 schools in Cambodia, told me that the inauguration of this school that we all worked so hard to build would be ‘one of the most memorable experiences of my life,’” said DeLong. “Needless to say it was.”
The genesis of the Doris Dillon School in Cambodia started on New Year’s Day 2007 when DeLong read about the American Assistance for Cambodia. Six months later, with the help of the Bret Harte Invisible Issues Club and Almaden community donations, the Doris Dillon School broke ground.
The need for schools started long before the American Assistance for Cambodia. In 1975 political leader Pol Pot who led Khmer Rouge guerrillas against the government proclaimed the country the Democratic Republic of Kampuchea and served as its premier [1976–79]. Under his rule there was a systematic murder of members of various groups; the complete destruction of individual rights; forced labor, disease and starvation in Cambodia. He transformed the developing country into a xenophobic agrarian society. Over 1.5 million out of a population of approximately seven million died during his rule, which ended with an invasion by the Vietnamese in late 1979. As any type of individual “thought” was forbidden, schools were closed.
Though the Doris Dillon School is now teaching 114 high school students in the five-room building, it still has needs. Currently, the school has one solar powered computer. DeLong would like to provide at least 10. He’d like them to set up and coordinate a fair-trade Web site to sell the unique handmade silk scarves made in nearby villages. He estimates the cost to be $6,000.
This year, Bret Harte’s Cultural Fair on May 21 and the Almaden Art and Wine Festival in September will be selling the scarves, leather shadow puppets, bamboo bracelets, woven handbags, framed artwork and banana leaf gift bags—all made by Cambodian crafts people. He also urges anyone interested in helping to donate cash or digital cameras and memory cards, photoshop software, art supplies, Microsoft Windows compatible webcams for computers, musical instruments and scanners.
“Or-goon in Khmer, or thank you all for any help you can give towards making this become a reality for these students.”
To send donations, make a check out to “American Assistance for Cambodia” and mail to Jim DeLong, 1021 Mount Darwin, San Jose, CA 95120 noting it is for the Doris Dillon School. For tangible goods, e-mail at James_DeLong@sjusd.org.
2 comments:
Is it really going to work this time? I don't thing so. We need to change the way we educate Khmer people if we are to succeed. We can't stick with something that failed everywhere for generation after generation. We'll stay as slave forever that way.
My beloved Khmers!
There are no schools that cannot become successful and no students who cannot learn, but unfortunately are Khmers having with high expectations, a challenging curriculum, well-trained teachers, involved parents and visionary school leaders? So they can academically and mentally give students the enough tools they simply need to lift themselve out of miserable and suffocating poverty... Having many schools without the well-strained and reasonable salary teachers are more likely as the houses without any roof in the middle of the heavy thunderstorm and downpour!
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