Who We Are

CFC provides a free, quality education and so much more to more than 7,000 students each year. Not only do our students receive the education they need to lift themselves and their community from poverty but CFC also provides clean water for the community, two nutritious meals per day, and dental and medical screenings and lessons to ensure our students are healthy enough to keep their minds focused. Uniforms, bicycles to get to school, textbooks, technology, and so much more are examples of what is included in this cost.

CFC's educational curriculum has been recognized by the Ministry of Education as the model for all of Cambodia so not only does your support educate our students, it also provides the curriculum development and teacher training models for schools across the nation.

Would you like to educate a child for a year? Your dollar goes a long way in Cambodia, where it costs us just $180 per year to provide services to each of our 7,000 students. Click here to donate.

CFC serves more than 2,000,000 meals to its students every year. These nutritious rice porridge meals, packed with added vitamins and minerals and supplemented with local vegetables, provide the nutrition our students don't get at home. All at a cost of just $30 per student, a figure that is included in the $180 cost to educate each child.

Without good daily nutrition, children simply cannot learn, and their basic health becomes more vulnerable to disease.  CFC began the Food for Thought Program almost immediately after we opened our first school doors, and it has proven to be an essential component of our educational program.

Very early in its existence, CFC realized the deck was stacked against girls seeking an education in Cambodia. 

Social attitudes toward gender are a strong factor in inequity, as are economics. Staying home to accomplish chores, and caring for younger siblings contributes to the home, whereas a girl in school costs the family money for transportation, books, supplies, and uniforms. A significant dropout trend begins around sixth grade. Girls’ lack of education correlates with ongoing poverty, lack of self-determination, and vulnerability to abuse and exploitation.

CFC’s Gender Equity Program is breaking this cycle and today our schools are equally balanced between male and female students. We work hard to intervene and keep girls in school, educate boys and girls on gender equity from a young age, and are proud to say not only are our girls staying in school but our boys are supporting them and recognize their value and equality in society.

Caring for Cambodia supports and maintains 21 schools in the Siem Reap area ranging from preschools to high schools.

Textbooks, paper, and pencils are the obvious ingredients to educating a child, but in Cambodia, a bicycle that can make all the difference in the world.

Caring for Cambodia purchases more than 70 bicycles a year for students who otherwise would be unable to get themselves to one of our schools. We see the heartbreaking reality that some students are forced to drop out of school for the lack of simple transportation and we fill that need.

Consider the story of Chantha, a 14-year-old student at Bakong Motwani Junior High Shcool. Chantha dropped out of school in 2019 in a large part because of the hardship of getting to school. Sometimes, she was able to double up on a classmate's bike, and other times she walked. 

Upon noticing Chantha absent for ten days, her teacher notified our Gender Equity program manager that Chantha was missing school. 

Chantha's parents said they want to see their child complete school and have an education so she doesn't have to do the kind of work they do. Chantha also reported she was eager to go back to school.

The bicycle, provided by CFC, not only got Chantha back to school but on weekends and evenings, it is used by the family to go to the market and to reach work sites farther from home. The bicycle is changing their lives today and changing their future.

There are many barriers to education in a developing nation such as Cambodia, barriers that seem insignificant to us, but loom large in the lives of our students. 

One of those barriers is the ability to afford a school uniform. Thanks to the generosity of our donors, we make sure every student has a uniform for school. Sometimes we purchase uniforms at the local market for students in need but often, we can find a match from the more than 800 items donated annually by students at a variety of Singapore schools that support CFC.

At the end of each Singapore school year, volunteers work to collect uniforms that would otherwise be discarded or sit unused in a closet and bring them to Cambodia, where they help change the lives of our students.

Caring for Cambodia distributed more than 100 backpacks to students in need last year. The backpacks, which will last the students for many years, were donated by various groups and schools in Singapore. 

Each of our 120 community wells and water filtration systems provides up to 1.2 million gallons of clean, safe water for our students and the villages they live in. Filling this basic human need, coupled with our hand washing and dental care programs, helps ensure our students are able to stay healthy and attend school.

Caring for Cambodia's schools have 212 computers in use across seven labs in our junior high and high school campuses. The computers are always busy as our dedicated ICT staff use them to provide educational opportunities to both students and teachers.

Computer courses for teachers include topics such as G-mail, Google Drive, making screencast instructional videos, and Google form creation for testing. We also have mobile labs where teachers can check out laptops and/or projectors to use in classroom activities.

In the 2017-2018 school year, Junior High and Senior High Students were taught a Living in an Online World course, focusing on using online technology to develop connections with others, organizational skills, communication and collaboration ability, design skills, and their critical thinking. Students studied 2 hours per week.

Curriculum by Grade Level:

-        Grade 7: Coding

-        Grade 8: Digital Storytelling

-        Grade 9: Living in an Online World

-        Grade 10: Living in an Online World

-        Grade 11/12: Optional STEM/Robotics OR Game Development

Teacher training is the key to a sustainable education system, CFC training methods use internationally recognized best practices and are replicable, making CFC teachers change agents who now train their Cambodia peers. Much of our teacher training is conducted by volunteers from Singapore based international schools who give of their time and talents. 

CFC has also awarded more than 200 scholarships to its teachers, allowing them to pursue university degrees that pertain to their area of instruction or future goals.

Caring for Cambodia libraries make available more than 32,000 books, including more than 2,300 added last year.  These books, housed at libraries at each of our 21 schools, support early reading for our young students, book lending for students of all ages and detailed research programs for our high schoolers. Beyond our students, the libraries also serve community members and our own staff as they continue their lifelong journey of learning.

Children at CFC schools need classroom supplies just like students in the rest of the world. Scissors, paper, pencils, crayons, erasers, staplers, the list goes on and on.

Such items are difficult for our students and their families to procure, never mind afford. Caring for Cambodia received and distributed more than 13,000 such items from generous donors last year. Whatever our students and teachers needed beyond those items were purchased by our dedicated staff using funds donated by supporters across the world.

Teaching our students the importance of daily hygiene is critical to our success in preparing them for life. Students who understand the importance of handwashing, tooth brushing, and using clean water are healthier and better able to learn when they are in our classrooms. 

As highlighted by the recent Covid-19 pandemic, such lessons can literally mean the difference between life and death in a crisis but in a very real sense, they pay practical dividends every day as students and their communities are stronger and healthier.

Last year, we collected and distributed more than 15,000 hygiene items to our students ranging from full hygiene kits to bars of soap, towels, nail clippers, and bandages.