Help Saren Keang pursue her PhD in Canada
I'm creating this GoFundMe for my friend Saren Keang who dreams of pursuing her PhD. Saren is a smart and passionate woman who wants to learn and help other women and girls in Cambodia receive an education too. Please read her story below and consider helping her with living costs in Canada as she earns her PhD at the University of Guelph.
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Hi everyone! This is Saren, from Siem Reap, Cambodia.
I come from a very humble family where parents had very little education, and they needed support from children to help earn an income since we were young. I, myself, helped support my family by selling clams along the street since I was 8 years old.
My community did not believe in girls’ education. They put pressure on my family to take me and my sisters out of school just because they thought girls could never go far. I proved them wrong when I received a full scholarship to study at Asian University for Women in Bangladesh. I became the first girl in my family and among my relatives to have received higher education.
My goal to prove to my community that girls can be as successful as boys did not end there. I worked hard and received another scholarship to pursue my Master’s studies at Brandeis University, USA. In 2018, I’ve become the first girl from my village to ever receive a Master’s Degree. I surprised people more because I actually received not one, but two Master’s Degrees.
Because I have shown them what higher education can do to a person, parents in my community are now sending their girls to school and not questioning girls’ capability anymore. They look at me and see how far I’ve come and they want that for their daughters and granddaughters too.
I want to continue to be a reason why girls are encouraged to pursue higher education and their dream. I want to become the first girl in my community to hold a Ph.D. Degree and prove to society more that when a girl is supported to pursue her dream, the sky's the limit.
I have been offered admission to study a Ph.D. program at the University of Guelph, Canada this coming Fall. However, the offered funding is a little short to cover my living expenses. After paying the tuition fee, I will only have enough to cover the rent. I need support for food, books, and transportation. I’m asking for your kind support to help make my dream a reality so that I can inspire many more girls in my country and beyond to believe in themselves and follow their dream of getting higher education.
I’m asking $7000 in total to support my living expenses for the first year and to cover the flight ticket. The $6000 ($500 per month) will be used to cover the following:
- Food: $250
- Books: $150
- Transportation: $100
The remaining $1000 will be used to cover my flight to Toronto. That makes the total to $7000.
I have always tried to pay back to society after I received my gift/support for education. I’m an advocate for gender equality and higher education for girls. I have advocated about the issue on various platforms such as the Asia Society Texas Center in Texas and the UN headquarter in New York. I will continue my work as an advocate in Canada if I get your support to be there.
I also provide mentorship to many girls in my country in navigating their journey to get higher education and pursue a dream career through my side project, Dare and Dream.
I will continue to give back to society by helping to inspire other girls and advocating for their cause. By supporting me, you will receive a copy or a soft-copy (depends on where you are) of my book, “A Long Way from Home” which will help you to learn more about my journey of how I managed to overcome poverty and made my way to the US and received the two Master’s degrees.
My PhD research is on economic empowerment for women. It will inform scholars and development practitioners across the world on what they could do to help empower women especially in developing countries. Many women will benefit from my research.
Your generous donation will make a difference in my life and the lives of many young girls in developing countries who will receive my mentorship/inspiration. I will keep working hard and uplift girls in the younger generation to be their best selves and able to prove to the world that women are just as valuable and capable as men.
I hope you do consider supporting me in any amount of donation. Thank you and I wish you well in all your endeavors.
My Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/Keang-Saren
Dare and Dream Project: https://www.facebook.com/dareanddreamcambodia
More about me:
https://www.brandeis.edu/magazine/2017/summer/the-brief/keang.html
