Michelle Obama Arrives in Cambodia

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by Robert Carmichael

U.S. first lady Michelle Obama arrived in Siem Reap province, Cambodia Friday, the next stop after her visit to Japan on her Asia tour to promote education for girls.

Cambodia is one of 11 countries to be targeted in the first year of Obama's "Let Girls Learn'' initiative, launched last summer through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

The initiative aims to reduce the number of girls - 62 million worldwide - who do not attend school.

​​Obama was greeted on Friday by Cambodia's first lady Bun Rany Hun Sen, who is set to join the her and Peace Corps Director Carrie Hessler-Radelet to meet with high school students participating in community-led programs supporting education for girls.

Training event, roundtable

Obama is then due to deliver remarks to Peace Corps volunteers participating in a girls' education training event and host a roundtable with local community leaders and civil society members, who are implementing projects to support girls' education in Cambodia.

Kim Dara heads the Cambodia office of World Education, a non-profit that works with the Ministry of Education to improve access to schooling.

Dara explained that girls in Cambodia face specific challenges. While most villages have primary schools close by, for example, secondary schools are often farther away. That can make travel to and from school dangerous for girls. Another important issue is the lack of latrines and washing facilities in many rural schools.

“[if] they need to go to the toilet they have to go home and then they don’t come back again. If this happens often, then it can be a way that makes them [not] feel comfortable at school and as a result they drop out. And so the project helps the school to identify the problems,” said Dara.

Cambodia has 2.9 million children in school; just under half are girls. The Let Girls Learn program, which the U.S. government recently launched, aims not only to break down the barriers that prevent 62 million girls worldwide from attending school, but also - by working at the community level - to keep millions more from dropping out.

Adolescent girls are particularly badly affected, and the cost of girls losing access to education is immense. Studies show a direct link between more education for girls and a healthier and wealthier population.

Dara said providing scholarships for girls is one way to improve the chance that they will study further. Financial pressures on impoverished rural families, he said, cause many girls to quit school early.

“In Cambodian culture they like to keep girls at home especially to take care of their younger siblings, rather than [keeping home] boys,” said Dara.

While in Siem Reap, Obama will also visit the ancient site of Angkor Wat and participate in a meet and greet with embassy employees.

Human rights

Although the Cambodian government has welcomed Mrs. Obama's input on education, it is likely to be less enthusiastic about reports that she will speak about politics and human rights.

That she plans to raise those issues was made clear in a briefing given prior to her departure from the United States.

Evan Medeiros, the senior director for Asian Affairs at the National Security Council, told reporters that the first lady would meet with members of Cambodian civil society “to reinforce our view of the importance of having an open and inclusive political system to allow civil society to have a role in good governance”.

Medeiros said Michelle Obama would also speak publicly about areas of importance to the U.S., including equal access to economic opportunity.

That, in one of the world’s most corrupt nations, might well annoy Phnom Penh, although a Cambodian government spokesman told VOA Friday that the first lady would be welcome to raise any topic she liked.

The first lady’s main message, though, will be about improving learning for girls. Dara believes that will prove valuable.

“Her visit to Cambodia will be a message to Cambodian people, especially her encouraging girls to go to school and to show them that they have opportunity that’s the same as the opportunity as the boys. So I have a strong belief that this will be a positive result,” said Dara.

Michelle Obama’s visit to Cambodia marks the first time that the wife of a sitting U.S. president has visited the small Southeast Asian nation.

The American first lady is scheduled to leave Cambodia on Sunday.

http://www.voanews.com/content/michelle-obama-to-visit-cambodia-talk-education-for-girls/2688065.html

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Getting the red carpet ready

Sat, 21 March 2015

Lara Dunston and Thik Kaliyann

Follow @phnompenhpost on Twitter as we livetweet US first lady Michelle Obama's visit to Siem Reap

Police were out in force in Siem Reap yesterday as the town anticipated last night’s arrival of the First Lady of the United States, Michelle Obama – though only some details of the visit were available.

Accompanied by Peace Corps director Carrie Hessler-Radelet, Obama was expected to be greeted at Siem Reap International Airport by Cambodia’s First Lady Bun Rany and government officials.

Obama will be in town through Sunday as part of her tour to promote the international Let Girls Learn initiative, launched in Japan on Thursday.

Obama is the first sitting first lady to visit Cambodia. Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, was the first to visit, though it came four years after her husband’s assassination. Hillary Clinton, another former first lady, visited in 2010 and again in 2012 in her role as US secretary of state.

During her trip, Obama is expected to meet female students at Hun Sen Bakong High School and deliver remarks to Peace Corps volunteers involved in the initiative.

Local authorities also said she planned to visit Angkor Wat and Ta Prohm.

Siem Reap deputy governor Bun Tharith earlier in the week said that security would be tight, though he declined to provide details beyond Obama’s planned visit to Angkor Wat and Ta Prohm this afternoon.

“We arranged a couple of meetings between our officials and US Secret Service. They have a lot of security personnel,” Bun Tharith said. “Some of them will [come] from the White House and some from the US Embassy in Phnom Penh.”

The deputy governor said that roads will be blocked around the areas where Obama will stay and visit, although he said he did not know which hotel she would be checking into nor did he have details of plans to visit the temples.

“What we do is to provide the best security during her visit,” Bun Tharith explained, adding “I cannot tell how many police will be guarding the roads or how many US Secret Service will be there during that day. It is a secret thing.”

Obama’s trips have in the past been criticised by some for their expense, said to exceed those of former first ladies due to her large entourage of White House staff and security. In 2010, during a visit to southern Spain, the First Lady and her entourage booked out at least 30 rooms worth between $500 and $6.600 a night at the five-star Hotel Villa Padierna near Marbella, the New York Times reported. On the plus side, media reported at the time a study that said the visit might be worth a billion dollars to the local tourism economy.

Business owners in Siem Reap’s old quarter wondered this week whether they would get to see the spectacle that Marbella enjoyed when Obama, daughter Sasha and a large entourage filled the leafy lanes of the old town, which were temporarily blocked to the public. It’s not known if the First Lady, known for her keen eye for fashion, will make time to shop at any of the town’s high-end fashion boutiques.

There has also been speculation in Siem Reap as to which Cambodian social media sensation might join Obama to promote the initiative.

In Tokyo, YouTube celebrity Michelle Phan fielded questions to Obama submitted via Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Throughout her trip, the First Lady is updating an online diary.

http://www.phnompenhpost.com/getting-red-carpet-ready

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Michelle Obama meets students Siem Reap

Sat, 21 March 2015

Ethan Harfenist

Siem Reap province

First lady of the United States Michelle Obama implored a group of young female Cambodian students on Saturday morning to follow her lead and stand up against forces holding back their ambitions to strive for an education.

During the first stop on her visit to Siem Reap, home of Angkor Wat, Obama listened to a group of 10 girls explain hardships they faced, such as having to balance work with school, and pushed them to push against the odds.

"People told me I wasn't smart enough for college, law school. I ignored them. You must too," she told the students at Hun Sen Prasat Bakong high school in Siem Reap.

"I have two daughters your age; good to know women halfway around the world are just as smart and capable."

Obama was flanked by Cambodian first lady Bun Rany, wife of the country's long ruling prime minister, Hun Sen, and was promoting the Let Girls Learn initiative that is a focus of her trip.

Through an interpreter, Obama and Bun Rany discussed the importance of women's education, with the latter stressing that girls need to know that they don't just have to stay in the kitchen.

Children carrying US and Cambodian flags escorted Obama and Bun Rany to the school, where one girl presented her with an original poem as a greeting.

http://www.phnompenhpost.com/michelle-obama-meets-students-siem-reap

[khwaibah]

Hope she has time to see PUB Street.

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SIEM REAP, Cambodia — Michelle Obama on Saturday urged Cambodian students to finish their education, follow their dreams and speak up to demand greater freedoms and more equality in their Southeast Asian country.

The U.S. first lady did not explicitly criticize Cambodia’s human rights record or its government, which has been ruled for 30 years by authoritarian strongman Hun Sen, the prime minister. But she sent a pointed message, and one that she delivered seated beside Hun Sen’s wife, Bun Rany.

Mrs. Obama is on a five-day trip to Asia to promote the U.S.-led education initiative “Let Girls Learn,” which she and the president announced earlier this month. The community-based program, to be run by the Peace Corps, is meant to help millions of girls in the developing world stay in school and overcome economic or cultural pressures that force many to drop out.

“Let Girls Learn” is starting in 11 countries, including Cambodia. Mrs. Obama’s visit follows a three-day trip to Japan, which is helping to fund the project.

U.S. first lady Michelle Obama greets students at a local high school in the traditional manner, Saturday, March 21, 2015, on the outskirts of Siem Reap, Cambodia. Mrs. Obama on Saturday urged Cambodian students to stay in school and take advantage of their education to demand greater freedoms and more equality in their Southeast Asian country. (Wong Maye-E/Associated Press)

The trip has given the first lady, who is traveling without her husband, a chance to soak up some of Asia’s rich culture. In Japan, she visited Buddhist and Shinto shrines, and in Cambodia she traveled to Siem Reap, home to the famed Angkor Wat temple complex.

At a high school outside of Siem Reap, Mrs. Obama greeted students with a traditional Cambodian gesture of hands pressed together, with a head bow. She walked the compound’s dirt paths and then met with 10 girls who shared tales of rising early to feed their families and help with farming before heading off on long treks to school and studying late into the night.

“You are role models to the world,” said Mrs. Obama, seated on a wooden school chair beside the students and Cambodia’s first lady. Education brings empowerment, she added, and urged the teens to “finish your education and then follow your dreams.”

“Use your voices to advocate for good things — whether it’s more education, better health care, more freedoms, more equality,” she said. “Not just here in Cambodia, not just here in Siem Reap, but in the world. I hope that you all will feel empowered to do that.”

As Mrs. Obama spoke, Bun Rany smiled and made no comment. However, she expressed Cambodia’s “full support” for the education initiative, and said the government was giving priority to female students for state scholarships.

Mrs. Obama’s trip marks the first by a sitting American first lady to Cambodia. Barack Obama became the first U.S. president to visit Cambodia in 2012, and pressed Prime Minister Hun Sen in private on a variety of human rights and political issues during a meeting that White House officials described as tense.

Hun Sen is one of the world’s longest-serving heads of state, and has been regularly criticized by political opponents and human rights groups for monopolizing power and brutally crushing dissent. His supporters say he has helped stabilize the country, which is still haunted by a 1970s genocide that saw nearly 2 million people die under the ultra-communist Khmer Rouge regime.

During its brutal reign, the Khmer Rouge closed schools and executed intellectuals among its many victims. Foreign aid and investment have helped the economy grow rapidly in the past decade, but the education system and overall development remain stunted.

Even today, most Cambodian children drop out of school. According to 2014 statistics from the Education Ministry, 95 percent of children enter primary school, but only 20 percent finish secondary school.

Poverty is the main problem, especially in rural areas, where families can’t afford the minimal costs of education and keep children home to help support the family, according to UNICEF.

Cambodia’s problems with child prostitution, child labor and human trafficking also play a role, and often target girls.

After meeting students Saturday, Mrs. Obama spoke to a group of U.S. Peace Corps volunteers who will be running the global project and called on them to share American values with their students.

“Values like equality, inclusiveness, fairness, openness ... aren’t just American values, we know this. They are universal human values,” she said. “When girls get educated, when they learn to read and write and think, that gives them the tools to speak up and talk about injustice and demand equal treatment. It helps them participate in the political life of their country and hold their leaders accountable.”

To wrap up the day, the first lady changed into casual clothes, sneakers and sunglasses and toured Angkor Wat, Cambodia’s grandest monument, built in the 12th century by the Khmer empire.

A tour guide led her to one of the area’s popular photo stops, where the temple’s iconic towers are mirrored in a reflecting pool.

“It’s beautiful,” Mrs. Obama said. “It’s amazing.”

The first lady returns home on Sunday.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/us-first-lady-in-cambodia-to-promote-girls-education/2015/03/20/57e08666-cf61-11e4-8730-4f473416e759_story.html

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Michelle Obama talks education for girls

Sat, 21 March 2015

Ethan Harfenist

Siem Reap province

A message of empowerment marked Michelle Obama’s historic visit to Siem Reap on Saturday, as the first lady of the United States aimed to advance her Let Girls Learn initiative in a country where females still face significant disadvantages in education.

Obama arrived in the Kingdom on Friday night, and spent her Saturday meeting with high school students and Peace Corps volunteers before capping off her journey with a tour of the Angkor Wat temple complex.

Her presence roused excitement in the tourist town, as restaurants unfurled welcome banners and onlookers waved at her motorcade with excitement.

The first lady began her day with a visit to Hun Sen Prasat Bakong High School accompanied by her Cambodian counterpart, Bun Rany.

There, they were greeted by children enthusiastically waving Cambodian and American flags before they sat down with 10 girls involved in non-profit organization Room to Read’s girls’ education program.

The girls shared stories of balancing hardship with learning with both first ladies.

One student, 19-year-old Savean, told them that she rides her bike 40 minutes to school every day and volunteers as an English tutor in her home village despite her demanding home duties.

Phounam, 18, expressed her desire to practice medicine, because her village is so far away from a hospital.

Alternating between beaming smiles and pensive nods of understanding during their presentations, Obama offered some uplifting remarks herself.

“The fact that you’re here proves how smart, strong and capable you all are, “ Obama told the group. "It’s important women in my country know you exist.”

Obama relayed her own stories of adversity, revealing to the students that before she became a successful lawyer, many doubted she had the gumption to pursue higher education.

“People told me I wasn’t smart enough for college, for law school… but I ignored them,” she said. “I want you to ignore them, too… we need you to be the leaders of tomorrow.”

Bun Rany echoed her sentiment, saying through an interpreter that Cambodian women must follow their educational pursuits to prove that women, “don’t just belong in the kitchen.”

Obama’s motorcade then proceeded to the Sofitel Hotel, where the first lady was set to deliver remarks to Peace Corps volunteers involved in Let Girls Learn, a program developed by US President Barack Obama’s administration that is aimed at making educational opportunities for adolescent girls the world over.

There, the first lady, who the White House had previously said would not shy away from discussing human rights while in the Kingdom, made arguably her most politically-charged comments while speaking on the importance of women’s education in fostering an active and meaningful civil society.

Michelle Obama talks to members of the Peace Corps serving in Cambodia in Cambodia's Siem Reap province on Saturday. Photo by Ethan Harfenist

“It’s not always easy for a government to meet the needs of its people. My husband certainly gets his share of criticism and disagreement, but we wouldn’t have it any other way. Not in America,” she said.

“The opinions of our people and our country, both men and women from every background — that’s what makes American strong and vibrant.

“Those aren’t just American values,” she continued.

“The foundation for those values… is education. When (girls) learn to read and write and think and to speak up and to talk about injustice and demand equal treatment, it helps them participate in the political life of their country.”

http://www.phnompenhpost.com/michelle-obama-talks-education-girls

[Jip99]

Hope she has time to see PUB Street.

I bet she is lucky enough to get the "10th one free" Tomb Raider cocktail in The Red Piano bar !

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Cambodians Hopeful on Girls’ Education After Obama Visit

Say Mony, VOA Khmer

23 March 2015

SIEM REAP, CAMBODIA—

Phorn Chan Bonavy is a 6th grader at Kesaraream Elementary School in Siem Reap, where First Lady Michelle Obama just completed a three-day visit—the first sitting first lady to do so.

Phorn Chan Bonavy says she wants to finish high school, but she is concerned that she might drop out, to help her family earn a living, like so many other girls across the country have had to do.

However, she seems determined to complete school, even though that will require she help her family. “If I have to help my parents, I would work and study at the same time,” she said.

Van Marath, the school principal, says she is excited about the first lady’s visit and hopes her “Let Girls Learn” program, which will take place in 11 countries around the world, will help girls like Phorn Chan Bonavy realize their dreams.

“I think ‘Let Girls Learn’ is a very good program because our Cambodian tradition values boys and leaves girls behind,” she said. “But now we are focusing on girls.”

Part of the program will be to support community-led solutions through the Peace Corps, which is already working in more than 60 countries, including Cambodia.

Addressing volunteers here on Saturday, Obama said education can be important beyond an individual.

“When girls get educated, when they learn to read and write and think, that gives them the tools to speak up and talk about injustice and demand equal treatment,” she said. This “helps them participate in the political life in their country and hold their leaders accountable, to call for change when their needs and aspirations aren’t being met.”

Visiting a local high school earlier in the day, the first lady also pointed out the importance of investing in girls’ education, and in convincing others of that importance. “It’s going to be up to you all to help make the argument that investing in you is the best thing that your family can do for you and for their community,” she said.

Around the world, 62 million girls are not in school. School dropout rates among female students in developing countries like Cambodia also remain a concern.

Education Minister Hang Chuon Naron said poverty can be a big impediment to girls’ education, and he welcomed the first lady’s initiative, “so that Cambodian girls and women can be educated as those in developed nations.”

Cambodia’s first lady, Bun Rany, called Obama’s visit “historic,” and said it would be helpful for Cambodian girls and young women to reach their higher educational goals. “We should try to get all the benefits from this initiative, especially so that we are able to study,” she said.

Pung Chhiv Kek, president of the rights group Licadho, who joined a round table discussion with Obama, said the first lady’s visit “encourages everyone to pay attention, especially to girls’ education.”

“Let Girls Learn” will have a lot of positive impacts, she said. “Although we might not see them immediately, I am confident in the future we will.”

http://www.voacambodia.com/content/article/2690544.html