Flourish Consulting Group at Phnom Kulen mountain range in Siem Reap, Cambodia. Credit: Courtesy of Neha Pasupuleti
For the first time, a group of Ohio State students traveled to Cambodia to help give access to education for young girls in rural parts of the country.
They raised money for the Program Advancing Girls’ Education (PAGE) initiative, which gave two more girls access to education than the 10 students that were normally possible.
Through the Fisher Global Consulting Non-Profit Program, which allows students to provide business solutions to non-profits and social enterprises during a two-week trip, the group worked with The Secret Garden Hotel in Siem Reap, Cambodia.
“This was the first time that Ohio State students have gone to Cambodia and gone to the social enterprise,” Julia Raines, a fourth-year in marketing who went on the trip, said, “so it was really exciting being able to have this new experience.”
The hotel works with local non-governmental organizations such as the Life and Hope Association, which runs the PAGE program, Raines said.
PAGE’s main goal is to take young girls from rural parts of Cambodia and allow them to go into higher education, Zeynep Yildiz, a fourth-year in finance who participated in the project, said.
“It’s an organization that gives them the opportunity to graduate from high school and hopefully go on to university and from there, find a job,” Yildiz said.
Most women in Cambodia are expected to do household work while men have more opportunities to continue their education, Neha Pasupuleti, a third-year in operations management who went on the trip, said.
“This program is really uplifting those girls and giving them that empowerment that they can learn things beyond those household and family skills,” Pasupuleti said.
The girls decided to create a GoFundMe to raise money for PAGE, with the help of Carol Nagy, a nurse and humanitarian who helped establish PAGE and organize the fundraising campaign, Raines said.
The group has raised a little over $2,000 ($3,300 AUD) as of Tuesday.
The funds will go toward PAGE’s student enrollment, uniforms, student meals, school materials and more, Raines said.
“It’s really great to see how the money that you are investing into this GoFundMe is really going to people that need it the most,” Raines said.
PAGE will also enroll 12 new students this school year, exceeding its usual limit of 10, thanks to the GoFundMe donations, said Claire Koebel, a fourth-year in marketing and a member of the trip.
“That means that they’re able to help two more girls than they expected because there’s inclusive funding, which I think is really, really amazing,” she said.
Koebel said it is valuable to give these girls opportunities to gain an education.
“In turn, they can go out into the world and help out their family, and also serve as role models for other young Cambodian girls,” Koebel said.
