Cambodia Corps, Inc.  (CCi)

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In developing countries non profits are referred to as non government organizations or "NGOs."

CCi Objectives

Provide ethnic minority Montagnard highlander students of Mondulkiri and Ratanakiri Provinces, Cambodia with the support necessary to earn degrees at domestic universities:

  To qualify for NGO and government employment in their home provinces to improve those services for their people. 

  To acquire human and indigenous peoples rights for their people and stop the destruction of their tropical forest habitat through advocacy in international forums, e.g., the Asian Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Network (AITPN) and Tebtebba.

Program Description

In 2003 our organization assumed management of a secondary education child’s shelter in Mondulkiri Province.  Most students are orphans and homeless Montagnards therefore a humanitarian need is also addressed.

That year we also started the university program for shelter students who completed high school.  Under the supervision of our program services manager, they’re provided with full support and live in the CCi Indigenous Student Center in Phnom Penh.  Native speakers in Khmer and their tribal tongue, within budget constraints they receive English classes to become trilingual, highly valued in the NGO sector.

2008 - CCi university students & staff of two, Indigenous Student Center, Phnom Penh.  Paco Gregg, VP rear center.

Prior to our program, only one of Cambodia's Montagnards had a university degree therefore a wide variety of majors are needed.  CCi student majors consist of MD General Practice, MD Surgery, Law, Economics, Information Technology, Civil Engineering, Pharmacy, Agriculture & Rural Development, Business Management, Electrical Engineering, Teachers Education, Community Development, Veterinary Medicine, Mathematics, Banking & Finance, and English.

Having vastly improved the child’s shelter boarding school in Mondulkiri, in 2007 we transferred it to Village Focus Cambodia.  We now devote all our efforts to the university program and in 2008 began accepting Montagnard students from Ratanakiri Province.

Through 2010 nineteen CCi students earned degrees and another completed his curriculum but didn’t graduate.  All twenty are serving their people.  Seventeen are employed by environmental preservation, human rights, and village development NGOs, e.g., the World Wildlife Fund and the World Conservation Society while three are government officials.

The Bottom Line

As the offspring of a highly marginalized people and once the poorest of the poor in their communities, our students are very motivated to effect change.  These young adults bear enormous responsibilities and challenging the ruling elite in Cambodia can be risky.

All they ask of you is to provide them with education.  University tuition and living expenses per student average US$2,300 yearly.  Shortsighted, international aid only funds education through the 9th grade, the UN Education For All mandate.  We depend entirely on individual contributions.  As a U.S. IRS 501c3 public charity, contributions are tax deductible.

CCi officers and directors work uncompensated.  Total payroll is $435 monthly for our local staff of two at the Indigenous Student Center in Phnom Penh.  Supporting Services (fund raising and administrative expenses) are 5% yearly leaving .95 cents of every dollar for our program in Cambodia.

There's no other program like ours in Cambodia and perhaps worldwide.  We're parrying one development issue, homeless children, into the human capital required to address greater problems. Therefore we’re achieving a return on investment for the cost of their education and support.

Thomas M. Daniels, III

Chairman, President, Treasurer                   
915 Goebel Ave.
Savannah, GA  31404

USA tel:    912 944 0998
Cambodia cell:     011 855 12 858 710

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