Dear Friends and Partners,

In many parts of the world, children and students of all ages, sizes and nationalities are preparing to return to school. In Cambodia our long school break begins in September when children are needed at home to help with tilling the land and sowing the soil with rice – a staple of the Cambodian diet.

Cambodia is a developing country and children are an integral part of insuring that families have enough to eat throughout the year. For girls, there is an additional expectation – an expectation that her role in life is to marry and bear children – a social norm that determines much in a girl’s life. Education is not necessarily seen as a necessity for a young lady but rather a short-term luxury until she is married. An additional constraint to education for both sexes is the distance needed to be travelled to get to school – a constraint that prevents many children from attending school.