Synopsis:

Six sixth form students from Berkhamsted Collegiate School go to Cambodia to find out about education in the country and how their World of Difference will improve the prospects of 15 teenage girls.

They arrive in Phnom Penh and are struck by the vibrant street life and the exotic beauty of the place and the people. But Cambodia has a terrible recent history ­ the systematic repression of education and the intellectual class by the Khmer Rouge in an attempt to return the country to an agrarian economy. The students visit the Museum of Genocide and Killing Fields to find out more about these events.

Visiting these memorials helps the students to understand the importance of education to the people of Cambodia. The repression of the Khmer Rouge regime and the following years of war killed many people and stifled economic and social development. Cambodia effectively ’lost’ a generation and no family is untouched.

The students then travel to Kampong Chhang to meet the girls who will benefit from their project. The girls come from families with low incomes and, without the project, they would certainly have to leave school to find work. The project pays their school fees so they can finish their secondary education. It has also paid for the building of dormitories as many of the girls live in remote rural areas and could not make the long journey to school each day. To build a picture of education in the area, the group also visit a pre-school that has been given some funding for building improvements so that it can stay open all through the rainy season.

Curious to discover what opportunities are open to young women without an education, the students travel to meet some women who had to leave school early to work to support their families. Many have been forced to take low-paid work in garment factories, or as sex workers.

Finally the students visit the schoolgirls’ families to find out what they want for their children’s future.