Our Goals
Thomlang – CYS is an organization that seeks to amplify and support the work our Cambodian members are doing to build their lives.
Growing up in a developing country continuously brings challenges and outside support is often needed to help overcome certain obstacles.
Most of our members grew up as orphans and do not have the privilege of having a dedicated support system that may be provided by a traditional familial structure.
It is our goal to empower these young and motivated Cambodians to fulfill their personal goals. We want to achieve this by stabilizing those individuals’ lives, giving them guidance as well as financial security and thereby allowing them to evolve into strong, educated, and self-sufficient adults.
Ultimately, we will be supporting several young Cambodians in finding their path and building a successful and independent life for themselves.
How we can help:
Education
It is often said that education is the key to success. However, that key does not come free. Despite having the intelligence and desire for continued education, many young Cambodians are unable to afford tuition fees and other costs that are associated with receiving education. This barrier prevents them from enrolling in university, language schools, vocational training, and more.
Besides tuition fees, studying also takes time – time in which students are unable to work a full-time job, which means that these individuals would have less or no money to support themselves in their everyday life.
CYS helps by covering tuition fees and providing additional financial support including rent, meals, school supplies, and other daily expenses. Providing these essentials allows the students to fully engage with their education and become leaders in their communities.
Professional Mentorship
CYS provides professional mentorship for our students. We use their interests and talents and help connect them to opportunities that they otherwise might not have access to. This can take the form of coaching them through university and job applications, connecting them with internships, helping them enroll in various trade schools, and finally giving them access to our professional network to connect with jobs in their field.
Furthermore, we assist them in opening bank accounts and give them advice on how to take care of their finances. With our support, the students are able to achieve their dreams, and further benefit their communities.
Health Care Initiative
In Cambodia, health care remains a challenge and a development priority. The country lacks universal health coverage and service fees more often than not exceed families’ annual income. Due to the high cost of medical care, many Cambodians carry large sums of medical debt from a very early age. Sometimes, families have to sell their property in order to afford medical coverage.
We at CYS believe that a life should not be derailed by medical debt, and have committed to a health care initiative. This initiative covers the medical expenses of all enrolled students in our program. The promise of these students’ futures should not be put at risk by unforeseen medical emergencies.
We believe that by making their health a top priority while at the same time preventing them from getting into debt, we assist them in continuously increasing their financial stability.
Familial Support
While some of our students have no remaining family members, others have living relatives such as grandparents, uncles and aunts, or even a parent. These relatives can be extremely important in our students’ lives, as they are often the only biological family that is still living.
Relatives may rely on our students for emotional and financial support. Familial crises may lead students to withdraw from our program.
By making our students’ relatives part of our program and offering
assistance in emergencies, we are able to alleviate some of the pressure from our students, so that they can continue to pursue their education.
We at CYS believe that it is crucial to look at the bigger picture, the backgrounds, and the surroundings of our students. Although in these cases the support may be directed towards the elderly, we ultimately support the youth.
Icon Attribution
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Education:
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Mentorship:
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Health:
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Family:
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