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Javier Mere Prado:
International Studies student to help Cambodian students
by raising funds for scholarships

November 2007—These days, $125 will buy some bags of groceries or a few tanks of gasoline in the United States. It will also pay for a year of college in Cambodia, as a Texas State student recently discovered when he was on exchange in the Southeast Asian country. As a result of the exchange, Javier Mere Prado is raising the money to fund four years of college for 10 Cambodian students.

Javier, a graduate student in Texas State’s International Studies program, taught English and Western Culture at the Royal University of Phnom Penh as a participant in Texas State’s Wilson Asian Faculty/Student Exchange Program. The program sends Texas State students and faculty to Cambodia to provide expertise in areas of need. Cambodia is in the process of rebuilding its social and economic infrastructure after years of devastating war.

Javier (top left and bottom right) with his students at the Royal University of Phnom Penh.

“One of my students asked me to correct his English in a letter to his grandparents, in which he asked for $125 to be able to continue for another year at the University,” Javier said. “Since his grandparents probably don’t read English, I think the student must have wanted to tell me his life story. In the letter, he said that his parents had died in the war and that the teachers in his home town had raised the money for his first year of college. He wanted his grandparents to ask the teachers for help again so that he could continue another year at college.”
Under the Wilson Exchange Program, students at the Royal University can apply for scholarships of $125, but the year’s scholarships had already been distributed when Javier looked into obtaining one for his student.

“It seemed like such a small amount of money—it’s what we spend going out to dinner in the U.S.,” Javier said. “I thought about giving the student the money out of my pocket, but decided it wouldn’t be appropriate.”

Javier knew, however, that he had to do something to help Cambodian students. “In class, we talked about new communication technologies such as text messaging and internet chatting. Few of the students had access to computers and some had never heard of internet chatting. The students were very limited in their resources. Every day, some new information about their poverty would astonish me,” he said.

As he was flying back to the U.S. at the end of the exchange, Javier decided to fund 10 additional college scholarships to be offered through the Wilson Exchange Program, beginning in Summer 2008. He plans to raise the money from friends and family.

“Think of it,” he said. “Ten Cambodian students can attend a year of college for only $1,250.”

Javier, who will graduate in December 2007, plans to return to his native Queretaro in Mexico, to teach English at the university level and perhaps to pursue a diplomatic career. “I’m proud of being Mexican, and I want to do something for Mexico, as I’m doing for Cambodia,” he said.