Kasumisou Foundation helping Cambodian AIDS, poverty victims

By Mark & Barbara Rosasco

Since 1998 Kasumisou Foundation has provided support to some of Southeast Asia’s most disadvantaged people. During the past ten years we have worked in five countries: Burma, Cambodia, China, Indonesia and Laos. Our efforts are currently focused in Cambodia where we operate or sponsor three primary programs.

• AIDS Patients Family Support Program ( FSP)
• Apsara Arts Association Dance School (AAA)
• Rural Assistance Program (RAP)

AIDS Patient Family Support Program a (FSP)

Since the spring of 2000 , the FSP has provided essential living support to destitute women afflicted with AIDS in the Phnom Penh area. This program targets women who are in the mid to late stages of AIDS. These women are typically ( although not always) homeless and have few if any other sources of support. We provide each of our women with modest housing and a twice-monthly cash food allowance, the amount of which is determined by the number of dependent children in the household. We also pay the school expenses for their dependent children, provide basic medicines and transportation to and from medical appointments.

When our patients are hospitalized , the FSP team makes daily visits to help with basic patient needs such as feeding and bathing as well as providing companionship and counseling, outside of the hospital, our staff closely monitors each patient’s medical progress and whenever necessary, acts as a sort of ombudsman between the patient and medical care providers. Our team includes a qualified pri8mary school teacher whose specific responsibility is to monitor the academic progress of every child in the program and to help all of our children stay on a path to success in school.

Finally, when the time comes, we arrange and pay for funerals for our patients and find suitable housing for the orphaned children whom they leave.

Currently we are providing care for 60 to 70 AIDS afflicted women and their 125 dependent children. We apply our limited resources to caring for the “ sickest and the poorest” and we have never refused to provide care and support to any AIDS afflicted woman in real need.

Key components of the FSP are:

- Weekly visits by our home care team.
- Modest housing including food and utilities based upon size and needs of family.
- School expenses for all FSP primary and secondary school age children.
- Basic medicines
- Simple outings to boost patient morale and cultural exposure to children
- Assistance to enable patients to take advantage of available free medical resources in their community.
- Assistance to place orphaned children in homes where we can continue to monitor and support them.
- A modest but dignified funeral.

Annual funding need: $85,000
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Apsara Arts Association Dance School (AAA)

From its inception in 1999, AAA has continued to provide future building daily education in traditional Cambodian dance, music art and culture to extremely poor "at risk" young people age 7 to 20 years.

The school was started in October 1998 by teachers from the Royal University of Fine Arts in Phnom Penh, and, since January 1999, Kasumisou Foundation has been the primary sponsor of the AAA program. Approximately 100 children attend daily classes at the AAA and 20 children live at the school because they are orphaned or because they come from families which are not capable of caring for them.

In addition to the students who attend daily classes at the AAA school, AAA teachers provide instruction on weekends to ch8ildren at the Phnom Penh Municipal Orphanage and to children at an AIDS hospice located outside of Phnom Penh.

AAA students receive daily training in traditional dance, Khmer musical instruments and traditional song. All instruction is offered free of charge and the school makes a special effort to offer this opportunity to children from extremely disadvantaged backgrounds. The only requirement for participation is that the students must demonstrate a strong desire to learn about their nation’s traditional culture.

Why does Kasumisou Foundation sponsor the AAA school?

Temptations such as drugs, alcohol, prostitution, theft and gang related activities are epidemic in Phnom Penh and the children of the poor are particularly vulnerable. AAA teachers are dedicated to sharing their knowledge of Cambodia’s traditional culture and their reverence for traditional Khmer values with the school’s many vulnerable students. AAA students gain not only a knowledge and appreciation of their nation’s traditional culture, but also a sense of self respect and personal pr8ce in the accomplishment which can be of immeasurable value in protecting them from the temptation sand risks of contemporary Cambodian society.

We also provide room and board to 20 orphaned or abandoned children, about half of whom are AIDS orphans. Our dance school is housed in a traditional dance sala that was built in 2001 and it is complete with lighted stage and basic modern amenities.

Annual funding need: $45,000

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Rural Assistance Program (RAP)

Celebrating its 10th year of green community investment in Prey Veng Province , the achievements of our RAP program have dramatically improved the lives of the thousands of people in our 24 villages.

Our Rural Assistance Program ( RAP) promotes diversified organic farming and reforestation with the aim of achieving food security and improving the health and incomes of peasant farmers. At its inception in January 1999, the program targeted just two villages in rural Prey Veng province. Now, poised to enter its 10th year, the program’s target area has grown to encompass 24 villages with an estimated population of 12,000 to 14,000. The program is in a constant state of evolution as we seek to address the changing needs of our target villages, but the basic components and priorities are the following:

- Conversation to 100% organic farming techniques in our villages by our farmers in order to rid their produce and the environment of the effects of Cambodian farmers’ long standing abuse of chemical fertilizers and pesticides.
- Installation of water wells ( more than 300 so far) to help the farmers in this water scarce region to remain productively employed on their land, even during the annual dry season.
- Provision of tree seedlings and instruction and encouragement in reforestation techniques. This badly deforested area suffers from soil infertility due to the lack of vegetation to provide the biomass so essential to the natural cycle of soil fertility. We provide our farmers with locally appropriate species of trees for transplantation around their homesteads and along roads and paddy dikes.
- Support for AIDS afflicted farmers and their families. AIDS has become an increasing crisis in the lives of many farmers in our target area. We support our AIDS afflicted farmers with transportation to medical appointments at the provincial health center (approximately one hour away by road), organized group counseling sessions and support for their efforts to gain financial self sufficiency.

Annual funding need: $35,000

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