In the sad past, the U.S. government reached across the oceans to
Cambodia to deliver carpet bombings in pursuit of elements of the
North Vietnam army in this neutral country.
Then this tiny land was further ravaged by the political insanity and
=93killing fields=94 of Pol Pot=92s Khmer Rouge, taking the lives of
millions more.
Today, private U.S. citizens and organizations are able to reach
across the same seas to deliver =93hope=94 instead of bombs. This can
especially be directed for the children of the overlooked poor, who in
this land of poverty are still, perhaps incredibly, a friendly,
smiling people.
What can one private American of good will do?
There is Hans Eide of Foster City, now a member of the Rotary Club of
Foster City.
During a tourist visit and later as the leader of a San Mateo Rotary
Club=92s 500 wheelchair delivery to Cambodia, he discovered the children
of the very poor are even being deprived of participation in
Cambodia=92s compulsory educational system.
So, why not start a school for the very poor children in Cambodia?
The irony is, the cost of one single destructive American bomb could
have built and funded a whole new school like this, but that was then
and this is now.
Eide worked his way from his birth land Norway to San Francisco on a
freighter for a life of better op****tunity. After serving two years in
the U.S. army, he found those better op****tunities until he was able
retire.
And that is what motives Hans Eide today.
=93I have been very lucky in my life, and this school give me an
op****tunity to give something back to the less fortunate,=94 Eide said.
And as a private American, he has found ways to do it. He has borrowed
school rooms free, saw to the hiring of teachers at a better salary
than the national school system and at a cost of only $250 a year for
each student, including free trans****tation and lunch =97 often their
best meal of the day =97 he is helping poor children in Cambodia to a
shot at what every deprived American child has come to expect, an
avenue out of poverty.
Imagine! Only $250 a year, the cost of an American night on the town
or a pair of fancy jogging togs for our kids can buy these children a
future in a modern world where only an education can open most doors.
Should we be concerned about the children of Cambodia, half-a-world
away from our shores?
In fact, should we be concerned about the impoverished children of all
lands?
Of course, all, but we can=92t help all, or even any, unless some
machinery is set up to do so.
And that is when Americans traditionally respond with compassion and
=93know how=94 and Hans Eide is helping to pave a road for the children of
the Cambodia=92s poor by founding the Rotary Elementary School of
Mongkol Borei.
After starting in April of 2004 with only 50 students, confirmed by
home visits as being from the =93poorest of the poor,=94 the school has
grown to 249, and for these poor, a miracle. The school is planning to
extend to nine grades and is now approved to qualify graduates for
higher education and several of these students didn=92t even begin their
education until their early teens.
How is this being funded? Hans Eide has shown what one motivated
American can do to deliver hope.
He has engaged sup****t from friends, individual Rotarians, a number of
Rotary Clubs and matching grants from Rotary International. He has
even received donated equipment from Rotary chapters in other
countries. A Rotary district from Japan sent over a 100 refurbished
bikes. A matching grant funded by the Rotary Club of Solvang has
purchased a truck converted to a bus for trans****ting 60 students to
and from school each day.
So the school and =93hope=94 are still growing.
For those who wish to help expand this hope, contributions may be sent
to: Hans Eide, 720 Promontory Point, Foster City, 94404. Checks should
be made out to =93Foster City Rotary Foundation.=94
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