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Milestone Newsletter · November 2021

Going to School for the First Time.

After two years of pandemic delays, a dream became a school. And for hundreds of stateless Vietnamese children — the first day of class, ever.

A teacher standing in the new Le Van Khanh classroom on opening day, with children at wooden desks raising their hands enthusiastically

The day has come.

After nearly two years — in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, and overcoming many adversities — our dream of building a school for the stateless Vietnamese children living in Cambodia has come true.

On November 1, 2021, we opened our school doors and began our first lesson for the children and their families.

Khanh, an 8-year-old girl in a pink jacket, kneeling on the ground with her hands clasped in greeting and her new backpack on her shoulders
Khanh, 8 years old, on her very first day of school.

"I'm so happy I got a new backpack and colorful books today. I've been waiting to go to school for so long." — Khanh, an 8-year-old stateless Vietnamese girl living with her grandmother on the Tonle Sap River.

Khanh is going to school for the very first time in her life.

A child without education is like a bird without wings.

A safe place to begin again.

With compassionate teachers and educators, our program is built to get the children learning as quickly as possible. Our program also helps children develop skills to cope with trauma — and supplies them with learning spaces that are fun, safe, child-friendly, and equipped with water and sanitation facilities.

A table outside the new school covered with stacks of colorful Khmer-language textbooks and rows of new black backpacks, ready for the students to receive
New backpacks. New books. A new beginning, laid out on a table for every child to take their own.

The journey to end poverty begins with a child.

Friends — we thank you.

Why this matters.

Children growing up in poverty face many tough challenges: hunger and malnutrition, limited access to education and medical services, social discrimination and isolation.

Your support helps us create programs to transform and change the lives of children and their families for the better.

A young shirtless boy clutching a notebook to his chest, standing barefoot in front of a makeshift tarp-and-bamboo shelter where his family lives
This is what your support reaches — children whose homes are made of tarps and scrap, who still believe in school.

The dream began with a school. It continues with you.

Be Part of the Next First Day

Help the next child walk through these doors.

A new student. A new backpack. A new beginning. Every sponsorship is a door that opens for someone who has waited their entire life to learn.

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