About This Project: 
Per Seametrey – “Our school is a new site, and we need to replace many of our crumbling books, to install shelving units, tables, chairs, and cushions to make the place inviting.  We are here to let our students know that learning is fun!  Instilling the love of reading in children at an early age is paramount especially at this age of digital technology. Besides language development, reading stimulates imagination, concentration, reflection and also social skills. It is important to educate children to find pleasure in simple, affordable materials like books and not depend on modern sophisticated and expensive technologies that most of them cannot afford at home. To rival computers, the library has to be a beautiful welcoming place. We hope you will help us turn the children into avid readers.”

About This Organization: 
Per Seametrey – “Seametrey’s founder, Muoy You, was born into a very poor family.  In 1975, the Khmer Rouge came to power, and Cambodia went to hell.  Approximately 2 million people died from execution, starvation, disease, or landmines, among them Muoy’s own parents and siblings.

Muoy was lucky enough to be in France at that time, on scholarship from the French government.  Her late husband and she lived in exile for 31 years.  All that time they looked for an opportunity to come back to help rebuild the educational system.  In 1998, Muoy founded Seametrey, a Khmer acronym for Freedom, Civilization, and Love.  Since September 2007, it’s had a burgeoning primary section & recently an English language section for youth.  The school’s policy is social integration.  Parents can pay according to their income.  Some parents pay full fees, some pay 50%, others pay what they can, in cash, in kind, or in service.  The school now has 104 students ages 2 to 22.

Seametrey’s mission is to build human excellent to lift Cambodia out of corruption.  Its goal is to make quality education accessible to the less fortunate.  It works for a profound, structural change in Cambodia.