Son's trust fund builds Cambodian kids' school

http://www.surreyherald.co.uk/

via Khmer NZ News Media

Jun 17 2010 By Vicki Eltis, Surrey Herald

A SIX-classroom school in Cambodia will be opened in the autumn in memory of an Esher College pupil who died in a house fire two years ago.

Thoeun Sergeant was only 17 when he perished in his bedroom as a fire spread through his home, in Silvermere, off Byfleet Road, Cobham, in 2008.

The A-level student was born into a poor rural community in Cambodia where many children still have little or no access to the most basic education, before he was adopted by Ingrid Morris.

Mrs Morris was determined to get something positive out of her son's death, so with other family members and Thoeun's friends, she started Thoeun's Trust to build the school in a Cambodian village, called Leap.

Building work started in February and the six-classroom school is expected to be complete this autumn, ready to serve more than 500 children from Leap and surrounding villages.

The villagers were so keen to give their children an education that they donated the land and built a road to the site themselves. The provincial governor approved the project and the Cambodian government has agreed to supply teachers and textbooks.

Mrs Morris said: "I am really pleased with the building work and that it's going as well as it is. I'm hoping this is the first of many similar projects and we can go on to build more schools. As an additional bonus, the construction project is bringing work to a desperately poor area and a sense of optimism to the community as a whole.

"Trying to move on from Thoeun's death has been very difficult but by setting up the trust and working on

the schools I can move forward. Hopefully hundreds of kids can benefit so something good will come from this terrible tragedy."

Mrs Morris also hopes to enable students from Thoeun's college in Esher to visit the project during the academic year 2010/11.

Thoeun's Trust, now a UK regis-tered charity, is holding a special fundraising dinner and auction with entertainment at the Inn on the Lake, at Silvermere Golf Club, Cobham, on September 17.

For more information on the charity and the event log on to www. thoeunstrust.com.