Events
Trip to Ankor Wat, May 2008
Inauguration of Facility at Teuk Thla, January 2010
Trip to Sihanoukville, May 2010
Meeting with Hillary Clinton, November, 2010
Interfaith Conference on Spirituality, January 16, 2011
Conference on Women Innovators in Cambodia, January 22, 2011
Trip to Sihanoukville, May 2011
Parents' Visiting Day, January 2012
Alan talks to Pung Chhiv Kek, director
of LICADHO, a human rights organization, and Carol Rodley, U.S. Ambassador to Cambodia, at the Harpswell conference on Women Innovators in Cambodia, January 22, 2011 |
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Trip to Ankor Wat, May 2008
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On this bus trip and two-day
outing, very few of the Harpswell students had ever been to Ankor Wat,
the largest temple complex in the world, right in their own country |
Inauguration of Facility at Teuk Thla, January 2010
(photos by Jodi Hilton)
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Students welcome arriving guests |
Alan welcomes Daniel Pritzker, a major
supporter of Harpswell |
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Alan welcomes His Excellency Roland Eng,
Ambassador at Large and former Ambassador to the United States |
Arrival of Somaly Mam, one of the 25 women honored in the Hall of Great Women and founder of an organization that provides shelters and rehabilitation for girls who have been rescued from the brothels |
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"We cannot choose the country where we are born. But we can, and should, recognize that we are all part of one human family.
When we help women achieve higher education, we are helping not only those individual women. We are helping the entire society. As studies by the World Bank and several other international organizations have shown, educating and empowering women is the single most effective way to help developing countries. Women are not the problem; women are the solution --- to worldwide poverty, to hunger, to lack of health care, to slavery and sex trafficking, to suppression of freedom and dignity. Women have been marginalized in almost every culture in every century of human history. But women are the most powerful force for positive change in the world today.
The mission of the Harpswell Foundation, which you can read on the wall near the office, is "to empower a new generation of women leaders in Cambodia."
To choose our students, we go to high schools all over the country. We try to find young women with intelligence, ambition, and leadership potential. We have a rigorous selection process consisting of interviews and essays, as well as transcripts and grades. We are looking for future leaders.
In our dormitory and leadership center, we give our students free room and board and medical care. Those things are all necessary for the body. But we also give them food for the mind and the spirit. We give our students weekly leadership seminars, where we discuss what makes a great leader. We give them English lessons and computer lessons. Three times a week, we hold discussions of national and international events to sharpen their critical thinking skills, to teach them the problems and challenges of Cambodia today, and to show them how Cambodia fits into the world community.
After our first two years of operation, our students were first in their class at the Royal University of Phnom Penh, the Royal University of Law and Economics, and the National University of Management.
We call this conference room the Hall of Great Women. In the future we plan to hold workshops and conferences in this room on the subject of
education, leadership, and women's empowerment. I hope you will have a chance to look at the walls. We have chosen as role models 25 great women from around the world, in the arts, in the sciences, in politics, in social activism and human rights - all women who have pushed the world forward. It is my hope, and belief, that someday, our students will be on these walls."
-- Alan Lighman, excerpt from remarks at the inauguration, Hall of Great Women
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Buddhist monks bless the new building |
From left to right, H.E. Ing Kantha
Phavi, Cambodian Minister of Women's Affairs; H.E. Carol Rodley, American Ambassador to Cambodia; and H.E. Margaret Adamson, Australian Ambassador
to Cambodia |
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Speech by Din Vutha, fourth-year student |
Speech by Heng Lim Heang, third-year student |
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After the speeches, guests are entertained
by Apsara dancers |
Left to right, Ing Kantha Phavi,
Somaly Mam, and Chakrya |
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Harpswell Trustee David Roe cuts the ribbon |
More photos can be seen by clicking here.
Trip to Sihanoukville, May 2010
Meeting with Hillary Clinton, November 1, 2010
On November 1, 2010 Secretary Hillary Clinton was in Cambodia and spoke at a "Town Hall" meeting organized by the American Embassy. American Ambassador Carol
Rodley personally invited 50 Harpswell students and staff to attend the event
and to meet Secretary Clinton. After the event, Ambassador Rodley told
Alan (via e-mail) that two of our students stood up and asked Secretary Clinton very good questions.
Secretary Hillary Clinton
speaking at a "Town Hall" event in Phnom Penh, November 1, 2010 |
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Meas Chansatya (far right,
holding microphone and clipboard),
second-year Harpswell student, asks Secretary Clinton about
the U.S. position on a recent Thai-Cambodia border dispute |
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Interfaith Conference on Spirituality, January 16, 2011
 Abdulrahman |
 Greenstein |
 Khemacaro |
Three religious leaders, from Buddhism, Islam, and Judaism, spoke about the meaning of spirituality in their religious traditions, with a spirited question and answer period involving our Harpswell students and others. Speakers were
the Venerable Yos Hut Khemacaro , from Wat Lanka in Phnom Penh;
Imam Yousof Abdulrahman , Director of the Mohammed Culture Sustain Association of Cambodia; and Rabbi Micah Greenstein , Senior Rabbi of Temple Israel, Memphis Tennessee, in the United States. Venerable Khemacaro helped rebuild the community of Buddhist monks in Cambodia following the Khmer Rouge devastation in the mid 1970s and worked with the United Nations Border Relief Operation from 1988 to 1992 in Thailand as an adviser on educational and human rights programs.
Imam Abdulrahman received his bachelor degree from Saudi Arabia in the field of Shriah (Islamic Law) and Dakwah. After his return to Cambodia, he was in charge of an Islamic teaching program at the Good Source Organization, which accommodates hundreds of students across the country. Rabbi Greenstein
is a two-time President of the Memphis Ministers Association, is on the Executive Board of the National Civil Rights Museum, and is past-President of the Southwest Association of Reform Rabbis, covering six states.
Micah talks with Harpswell students |
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Rabbi Greenstein said that "for Jews, repairing the world as best we can is our obligation and duty as partners in our eternal covenant with God. Our goal is not physical security, since everyone dies somehow and sometime. Our goal in being God's partner is to experience a life of meaning, purpose, and significance." The Venerable Yos Hut Khemacaro said that before we can help others, we must help ourselves, and before we can help ourselves, we must help
our minds, and before we can help our minds, we must have stillness in our minds.
Alan and the Venerable Khemacaro
contemplate stillness |
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Conference on Women Innovators in Cambodia, January 22, 2011
On January 22, 2011,
we hosted a one-day conference in the Hall of Great Women of our new facility at Teuk Thla. The conference,
titled "Women Innovators in Cambodia," featured five Cambodian innovators
in the arts, medical science, business, and social entrepreneurship. The audience of 175 people included not only our own students, but also people in various fields from all over Cambodia, heads of NGOs, and the American and Australian Ambassadors to Cambodia. On this conference, Harpswell worked in cooperation with the Cambodian NGO Committee on CEDAW, a group of
Cambodian NGOs supporting the goals of
CEDAW, the international Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, created by the UN in 1979. For further information about CEDAW, see www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/cedaw.
So Farina |
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Key note talks were given by So Farina and Vathiny Ov Liljestrand. Ms. So has spent seven years at the Documentation Center of Cambodia (DC-CAM), researching Cham oral history. At the end of 2010, she published her master's thesis on the experience of Cham Muslim women under the Khmer Rouge Regime. Ms. Liljestrand is the Executive Director at the Reproductive Health Association of Cambodia (RHAC), which provides services and training to Cambodians, focused on family health and HIV/AIDS prevention. RHAC has an extensive youth outreach program and is working to receive funding and support for sexual health education in Cambodia's high schools.
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Vathiny Ov Liljestrand |
Students flock to Vathiny after her lecture |
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Panelists included Ly Pisey, Leng Leakena , and Hin Theany . Ms. Ly is a member of Social Action for Change (SAC), working on the most urgent social problems Cambodian women face today. SAC is a part of a network of grassroots organizations supporting workers in the garment, sex, and farm industries of Cambodia. Ms. Leng is a founding member of the Messenger Band (MB), a group of women who collect data on the living and working conditions of women in Cambodia and turn their stories into lyrics, raising awareness of these issues and creating solidarity and hope among Cambodia's poorest. Leakena is still a garment worker and participates in MB activites part-time. Ms. Hin is
the Country Director of Mol-Liner shipping company. She also owns the Cambodian franchise of Pho24, a Vietnamese noodle restaurant.
People gather in the courtyard
after the conference. Panelist Hin Theany is on the left. |
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The conference was organized with the help of Harpswell Leadership Residents Nellie Moore, Eva Pilipp, and fourth-year student Kaing Menghun.
Trip to Sihanoukville, May 2011
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Marie Eckstein visited Harpswell for two weeks in May 2011,
gave a leadership seminar, and participated in all Harpswell activities.
Marie is former Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer of the Dow Corning Company, with a background in chemical engineering. She has a great deal of experience in engineering and business and is helping
Harpswell engage with the business and corporate world.
Marie (left) came with us
on our trip to Sihanoukville |
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Parents Visiting Day, January 15, 2012
Every two or three years, we invite the parents of all of our students to visit the Harpswell dormitory and leadership centers. On this occasion, about 100 parents came from provinces all over Cambodia, some of them taking long bus trips. Given Cambodian culture, it is critcal to have the support of the parents of our students, not only during their years in our facilities, but also during their professional careers afterwards.
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Our ceremony began with a "Wishing Dance,"
performed by our students |
Our students were trained in Apsara dancing by Harpswell student Chorn Sokuntheary, who learned dancing as a small girl |
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The event was held in our Hall of Great Women in our Teuk Thla facility |
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Speeches were given by a representive of each class. Here is Keo Sopean, first year student, Class of 2015 |
To read the speeches of all four representatives,
Click Here.
Eng Chandy and Srun Chanthy, both third-year students, demonstrate our Cambodia Daily discussions, which analyze
national and international news and teach critical thinking |
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But Kanha and her parents sign a Commitment
Letter |
Alan with Rous Sreypov and her parents |
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After the ceremony, all parents, students, and staff had lunch in the courtyard |
