April Chiasson

Words Cannot Fully Express Your Impact

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Greetings!

My name is Yinglian, (a CWEF scholarship recipient). Throughout my freshman year, with your generous support, I was able to overcome the financial burden that had been weighing heavily on my academic pursuits, allowing me ample time to focus on my studies. I am here to express my heartfelt gratitude to each and every one of you for your selfless contributions. Your kindness is like a warm ray of light that illuminates my path towards the future.

As a child from a poverty-stricken rural mountainous area, I understand the profound importance of education. Through relentless efforts in junior high school, I was fortunate enough to be admitted to the best high school in Nujiang Prefecture. While the country’s favorable policies have played a crucial role in helping me realize my dream of attending high school, the financial strain on my family only intensified once I started my high school journey. My family’s already tight finances were further strained by my mother’s unemployment, leaving us at a loss for what to do. It was then that my teacher introduced me to (CWEF). Just as its name suggests, (CWEF) has become a beacon of hope shining in the darkness, filling me with aspirations and visions for the future.

Thanks to this program, I can finally concentrate on my studies with peace of mind and have access to funds to purchase educational materials, helping me address my weaknesses. Consequently, the pressure on my parents has eased significantly, and I have seen smiles return to their faces. With the support of the Concordia Hope High School Program, my academic performance has also improved. It has not only extended a helping hand during my difficult times but has also nurtured my intellect and nourished my soul. It has taught me gratitude and planted in my heart the seeds of responsibility, gratitude, and courage to strive forward. These seeds will undoubtedly grow into towering trees, forever lush and thriving.

No matter how flowery the words or how eloquent the language, they cannot fully convey the immense gratitude I feel within. Thank you for your wholehearted support, which has given me the courage to face life’s challenges, the confidence to venture out of the mountains, and the vision to embrace a bright future filled with shining stars and endless hope.

May I wish all of you, the kind-hearted individuals, good health and success in all your endeavors!

With utmost respect,

Recipient: Yinglian

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Help more young people like Yinglian by donating to scholarships here!

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picture of phunry

Phunry Held Onto Her dream

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University students in white and plaid uniforms bustle around the college campus, paying for the next semester and chatting with friends. The new school year is about to start at Royal University of Law and Economics in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.  

Phunry, a petite girl with a big smile, is in her second year at the school. She is studying public administration and hopes to one day work as an assistant administrator of a commune or district office.  

These are big dreams for a girl from Preah Vihear province, a southern province ranked highest in the country in multidimensional poverty (CSES 2016; 2017). Her parents were sustenance farmers, farming a small rice paddy that provided just enough food to feed their family of five.  

When her father passed away, the family struggled even more, but Phunry continued to study. She held onto her dream of being something more than a farmer. In Cambodia, women are more than twice as likely as men to have none or only some education (CSES 2016; 2017).  

Despite family pressures to stay and work, she continued to pursue higher education. She graduated from high school and enrolled in university, becoming the first in her family to attend university. 

“I have the opportunity to study now, and I have to try. I want to be able to support my family and community,” Phunry shared. 

In 2023, Phunry applied and was awarded the CWEF student scholarship. The scholarship will cover her tuition fees throughout her education. Her perseverance and grit have served her well during the first year of school and she is excited for year two. Phunry is grateful for you who have made this opportunity possible through your generosity! 

Get regular updates about your impact through CWEF by subscribing here.

Want to help more young people like Phunry? Donate here.

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References:

NIS/MoP (National Institue of Statistics/Ministry of Planning) (2018). Cambodia Socio-Economic Survey (years: 2017 and 2016). Phnom Penh. On-line: http://www.nis.gov.kh/index.php/en/14-cses/12-cambodia-socioeconomic-survey-reports

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Group Counseling on Healthy Communication for 20 Teachers in china

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It’s easy to overlook the importance of communicating well. If someone has never been taught good communication skills or witnessed it in others, an individual may not even know the ways that he/she is communicating poorly. For teachers, communication is the primary effort almost all day, every day.  What would the impact be on the lives of students and the teachers themselves if teachers mastered healthy communication skills?

CWEF saw this need and realized the treasure trove of possible long-term benefits. Made possible through your generosity, CWEF supported a group communication counseling session for 20 teachers at Bohua School in Yunnan, China. This is the same school where your giving continues to enable multiple mental health programs. Teachers participated in a game that focused on practicing and improving their communication skills by describing cards to each other.  Communication and reflective listening continued until the receiving party could clearly and accurately understand the card’s appearance based solely on the verbal description given.

Communication skills that the teachers at Bohua School learned and practiced through this activity:

1. Recognizing the difference between facts and opinions

2. Checking and confirming understanding of what was said in a timely manner

3. Using a gentle and respectful tone of voice

4. Employing empathy and respect for another person’s perspective

5. Working towards understanding another’s point of view

6. Teamwork – working together to complete a task

If you’ve ever been spoken to by someone using these skills, you may appreciate how much more effective the communication can be, and how much better you felt afterwards, when these elements are present vs. when they are not!

Again, this activity is just one example of many mental health initiatives and opportunities that your giving is providing to the teachers and students at Bohua School in Yunnan!  As teachers work to improve their communication, it’s easy to see the potential for great positive impact on not only the teachers’ lives but also on the lives of their students, entire classroom, and school for years to come.  

THANK YOU FOR YOUR GENEROSITY IN SUPPORTING MENTAL HEALTH FOR TEACHERS AND STUDENTS AT BOHUA SCHOOL IN RURAL CHINA!  You are providing invaluable mental health care and education in a less-resourced region where mental health support is greatly needed. You are helping to create an environment that educates and equips young people so that they can become leaders in their own communities!

Want to receive updates about your impact or how you can be involved? Sign up to receive updates here!

Love the work we’re doing and want to join in? Donate here.

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One Filter = 15 Years of Clean Water!

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Romaskean and her 4 year-old son, Rothana

“The water looked clear and clean,” Romaskean said, “but it started to give us diarrhea and hurt our stomachs.”  

In partnership with CLEAN Cambodia, Concordia Welfare & Education Foundation (CWEF) gave Romaskean and her family a bio-sand filter in June 2023. Biosand filters, also called slow sand filters, use a combination of sand and a biofilm to remove pathogens, iron, and turbidity from the water. Users dump water into the top of the filter, and it slowly passes through the biofilm layer and then through the sand layers, purifying the water in the process.  

The benefit of a biosand filter is they can last up to 15 years and don’t require electricity or fuel to work. Each day Romaskean must pour water into the biosand filter three times to keep the biofilm alive and active. Because Romaskean received training on how to maintain the water filter, she knows how to regularly add water and swirl the top later of sand. During a visit to her village in November 2024, CWEF staff checked-in on Romaskean and her biosand filter.  

Romaskean with her brand-new water filter – thanks to donors like you!

She uses it every day and her family continues to no longer have the symptoms caused by waterborne illnesses. She is grateful for her long-lasting, easy to use purification system that provides clean drinking water to her whole family.  

Romaskean lives in this house with 7 others. Her family farms cassava and rice. Their water source is a well dug behind their house. 

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To those of you that support CWEF,THANK YOU for your generous giving! Because of donors like you, Romaskean can live her life free of waterborne illnesses! Now that’s LIFE-CHANGING!!

 New to CWEF? Receive update e-mails from us by clicking here.

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You’re the Big Dipper

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“I remember when I first entered high school, I was very anxious and uneasy. At this moment, the hope (of a scholarship from CWEF) surged into my heart like a clear spring in the desert.

I was hesitant and uneasy because I feared losing my education due to financial difficulties, but CWEF has alleviated my anxiety. With the progress of the CWEF’s hope project, I began to move forward with determination.

In this context, I became a member of the experimental class for physics, chemistry and biology in combination. In the last joint examination with Yunxian County, I achieved the seventh place in the whole school.

Without the hope given to me by CWEF, I would not be able to learn without any hesitation and may stop due to external interference. If I am a lost pedestrian, then you are the Big Dipper.”

From a letter by Yue, a high school student from Yunnan China that received a CWEF scholarship.

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Because of you, fewer obstacles stand in the way of higher education for Chinese girls like Yue! Thank you for being, as Yue said, their ‘Big Dipper’ and ‘spring in the desert.’ Your sacrificial giving is educating and equipping these girls to become strong leaders in their own communities!

Note: due to current policies in China, we are no longer able to share pictures of the students who receive our scholarships. Please allow Yue’s words of gratitude to paint the picture of your impact on her life instead!

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Yingping, CWEF high school scholarship recipient from rural China, standing in front of a wall framed by flowers

She’s Now Determined to Get Ahead

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This letter is written by Yingping, one of CWEF's high school scholarship recipients in China.

Dear Donors:

Greetings to all of you!

Thank you very much for the attention of the state, the school, and the donors to us poor students and for giving us practical help. We can’t express our gratitude in person, but we can only express our deep gratitude to the school and all the people who care about us and help us poor students.

SCHOOL-RELATED EXPENSES ARE TOO HIGH

Society is developing. For a poor family, educating a student is not easy. Besides, my family doesn’t only have one student to provide for, but I also have a younger brother in junior high school.

The distance from home to school is quite far for me, traveling back and forth costs 90 yuan.  So sometimes I stay at school overnight.  

MANY FAMILY MEMBERS HAVE CHRONIC ILLNESSES

When my parents were young, I didn’t have a lot of pressure.  But now my parents are slowly getting older. In the blink of an eye, they are more than halfway to 100 years old.  Their bodies are not in good shape.

My father has bronchitis.  He takes medication all year round.  My older brother and younger brother also suffer from bronchitis. 

When I was a child, my brother fell ill, and we had to spend the family’s savings on his treatment. My parents often say that their bodies hurt, but they refuse to go to the hospital for checkups because they are afraid of spending money. 

In a year, they cannot afford to buy one pair of shoes. All their clothing was given to them by relatives who did not want them anymore. This makes my heart ache deeply.

YOU PROVE THAT YOU CARE

Under such circumstances, the state and the school allowed me to have better study conditions, in part, by providing me a CWEF scholarship.  Thanks to the state and the school for not forgetting us poor students.

In the school, the teachers prove that they care for us students by their actions. Thanks to your help I have the heart to work hard to get ahead.

“Thanks to your help, I have the heart to work hard to get ahead.”

Yingping, CWEF Scholarship Recipient from China

I will try my best to finish my current studies and be ready for my future studies. Thank you to the country, the school, the leaders, and all the donors.

Yingping

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THANK YOU to all of you who have demonstrated your caring heart for young girls from low-income families in China through your giving and volunteer work! 

You are making it possible for Yingping and many others like her to pursue higher education. Your generosity through CWEF is raising up hundreds of Chinese students to become strong servant leaders in their own communities!

Love the work of CWEF? Get connected with us! Receive our updates and newsletters by clicking here.

She’s Now Determined to Get Ahead Read More »

One of CWEF's mental health course teachers giving a student at Bohua school in Yunnan a big hug

How to Prepare Students For Their Next 90 Years

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As an adult, are there things you wish someone had told you earlier in life? To help young people be well-prepared on important life issues, CWEF is incorporating practical life lessons into its mental health course. CWEF partners teach this course to 250 migrant children at Bohua School in a rural area of Yunnan, China.

Connecting with the students through humor

Icebreakers before the start of class

Preparing for Adulthood. One of these recent mental health classes focused on preparing sixth grade students for many of the physical and emotional changes they will experience in puberty. At first the students shyly declined to speak. But under their teacher’s guidance, they eventually opened up about this normally-taboo subject. Through the class, teachers encouraged the students to also accept themselves and the changes they will experience. Teachers encouraged students to look forward to becoming adults.

Talking about the physical changes of puberty

Live intentionally. To help students be intentional with their futures, the teachers gave every student a paper which was folded into 10 sections. The students assumed, for the sake fo the exercise, that their lives would be 100 years long and that each section of the folded paper represented 10 years of their life. Then each student closed their eyes. They reflected on how they felt about the first ten years of their life, which is all the years that they’ve lived so far.

Writing down one of her dreams for the future

After this they tore off the first section of paper, wrote their feelings down, and put the torn off paper into a box. Then the teachers instructed them to take some time to think. Think about what they wanted to do with the 9 remaining sections of their lives. In this way, students appreciated how they can’t get the past back. But they also reflected on how they can make the most of the time they have left.

By supporting our work in Yunnan, you are providing migrant children with the opportunity to cultivate vision for their futures and learn practical life lessons that may pay out enormous dividends over their lives. THANK YOU for partnering with CWEF to educate and equip children from disadvantaged areas of China, helping them to become servant leaders in their own communities!

Would you like to hear about opportunities to help educate young people from disadvantaged areas of China? If so, sign up for our mailing list by clicking here: RECEIVE CWEF UPDATES.

How to Prepare Students For Their Next 90 Years Read More »

Pov, a young Cambodian and Concordia Welfare & Education Foundation (CWEF) college scholarships recipient, working on a 3D cardboard 'S' statue that he spray painted gold for one of his college visual design courses.

Actually, Textbooks are Really Helpful to Have

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When I was a child, I often felt scared. The other people in my village didn’t like me. They didn’t like me because of my father: he would often get drunk and do violent things. When I was 4 or 5 years old, my mom and dad decided to divorce. In my dad’s absence, my mom worked the land as a subsistence farmer, took care of the household chores, and raised me and my four sisters all by herself. Then many years later when I was 17 years old, my dad died.  

Pov recently reading in his university-level English class!

My mom worked as a subsistence farmer; so she did not earn money like other people do from their jobs. Therefore, it was challenging for her to fund the education of me and my four sisters. The financial situation caused me and my sisters to miss classes. We also didn’t have the money to buy study materials. Like books. Or backpacks. Or other materials. 

Pov and his friends showcasing some products that they made to sell for a class!

The next concern for my family was that we didn’t have enough money to pay for university. When Concordia Welfare & Education Foundation (CWEF) awarded me a scholarship, my situation got a lot better. It relieved the burden on my family to pay for my school. CWEF pays for my school fees and school supplies every year from the first year until now.

When Concordia Welfare & Education Foundation (CWEF) awarded me a scholarship, my situation got a lot better. It relieved the burden on my family to pay for my school.
-Pov, a Cambodian college student

Pov making an ‘S’ statue for a visual design course

Pov speaking at church

Finally, I am so grateful to CWEF for providing me with a scholarship to help me purchase my study materials and pay for college tuition. I appreciate that the donors support my university education. It is so helpful to all the students that need knowledge who come from impoverished communities or other places where people do not have enough support.  

Pov and his classmates discussing various class assignments

Today, I am 22 years old, and I’m in my 3rd year at Phnom Penh University of Arts (PPUA) studying visual communication. 

Thank you!

– Pov

THANK YOU for your willingness to help a young Cambodian in need go to college! And thank you to each of you that sacrificially gives to pay for his college expenses so that he can leave a life of poverty behind him!

Are you new to CWEF? Would you like to help more young Cambodian men like Pov attend college? $1500 sends one student to college in Cambodia for a year but any amount helps! Click here to donate today!

Actually, Textbooks are Really Helpful to Have Read More »

A profile picture of CWEF high school scholarship recipient, Keyu.

Your Support is the Greatest Help: Scholarships for Chinese Girls

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Excerpts from a Letter Written by Keyu, who received one of CWEF’s high school scholarships for Chinese girls made possible by the generous gifts of CWEF donors like you:

“My name is Keyu. I’m a 17-year-old high school student. My father died in an accident when I was 14 years old, which was a heavy blow to me and my family. There are six people in my family.

HOW CHINESE EDUCATION HAS CHANGED. I was born in a poor family, but also in a beautiful society. When my parents grew up, they could not afford books, which led to the end of their education in primary school. Now, the national compulsory education gives many of our children the opportunity to enjoy too many educational resources. I am very lucky to be born in this era, when education can change my fate. 

Inside Keyu’s Family Home

THE FUTURE KEYU DREAMS OF. I often fantasize about my future life and hope that my mother will live well. I want to be a very successful person. Even though I am ordinary now, I still want to grow up and become different.

MEMORIES WITH DEEP IMPACT. My father was always a person I admired. I think that I learned to drive a car mostly because of my father, who passed the driving license when I was very young. His driving skills made me feel very safe. So I always wanted to be like him. My father was sometimes meticulous and serious, but he would use the only money left in the house to buy a few kilograms of mutton to eat at home in the winter. Many memories have a deep impact on me.

The Outside of Keyu’s Family Home

THANKS TO EVERYONE FOR THEIR HELP!  I am very grateful for the precious opportunity given by the foundation. Thank the country and society, Thank you for the kindness that this golden age has also given us. China is a country with warmth. Poverty makes our starting point backward, but I believe that as long as we persist, we will achieve what we are pursuing. 

Finally, I still want to thank my motherland, thank you! Your support and love are also the greatest help and encouragement to me. Here, I would like to thank you with respect for everyone who is helping with the “development of youth education.”  I sincerely thank each of you, thank you! Thank you for your help. I am very grateful! I also wish you all the best!” ~ Keyu

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BECAUSE OF YOU and your generous donations through CWEF, Keyu’s family received extra financial support so she could finish her high school education. Now she dreams of attending college, succeeding in her career, and giving back to her family. You are helping fulfill Keyu’s dream that someday her mother will live well. THANK YOU for sacrificially standing in the gap for Chinese girls like Keyu!

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four girls students sitting at desks listening to CWEF supported mental health class lectures on bullying

How to Prevent Toxic Bystanding and Bullying

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How common is school bullying? Over half of the 36,000 participants in a school-bullying survey conducted by Tencent reported being bullied at school. Whereas one-fourth of survey participants admitted to bullying others. 

Because of the generosity of people like you who donate to our programs, CWEF and its nonprofit partners can host mental health classes for students in the Chinese province of Yunnan. In the hopes of protecting more students from the distress and dangers of bullying, the teachers of our mental health courses taught students all about this important issue!

The instructors shared real and heart-breaking stories about children that had been so badly bullied at school that they considered killing themselves. Through these stories, students could feel the deep and sometimes irreparable pain their actions can bring to someone else. 

From there, the teachers talked about all the types of bullying: physical, verbal, social, and gender-based; and they gave the students clear examples of what these different types of bullying look like. Finally, they educated the students on how to protect themselves by avoiding playing alone far from other people, for example, or by telling someone in authority about the bullying when it occurs.  

In all of this, the teachers emphasized how watching someone get bullied but doing nothing to stop it is just as harmful as being a bully yourself. Students were admonished to take courage, do the right thing, and stand up for others in need! Through this course, students gained a deeper understanding of school bullying, grasped concrete ways to protect themselves, and realized that they should not ignore bullying but stand up against it.  

THANK YOU for caring so deeply for the children of China! And THANK YOU for demonstrating that heart by giving generously through CWEF to make life-changing classes like these possible for children from rural areas. You are equipping young people to become strong servant leaders in their own communities! 

How to Prevent Toxic Bystanding and Bullying Read More »

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