Gold Award Project

Girl Scout Changes Lives of Cambodian Children by Creating Computer Lab in Their Village

Mehaa Amirthalingam learned a life-changing lesson while completing her Gold Award project: No obstacle is too difficult to overcome when you have passion. During the height of the pandemic, Mehaa found a way to install a computer lab in Cambodia and get 30 donated computers from Houston to a remote village in the country – all to help children receive free education. Her tenacity earned her a Gold Award, the highest award a Girl Scout can earn.

Mehaa started her project in 2020 after learning about Malaki World Missions from her mother, who attended a fundraising event for the organization. Malaki World Missions is a nonprofit organization that provides resources and runs schools in Kampot, Cambodia, to empower women and children, particularly girls, through education. Families in the village cannot afford to send their children to school because of poverty and isolation.

The Gold Award is the highest award a Girl Scout can earn. Only Ambassadors and Seniors can earn the award. Girls choose a community issue that is dear to them and then they must spend at least 80 hours planning, implementing, and sharing their project.

Before starting her project, Mehaa initially collected and donated clothing and art supplies for the organization and visited the village in 2019. During her visit, she ran a few workshops with the children, teaching them basic computer commands with flashcards. Moved by their plight, Mehaa was inspired to improve the children’s access to education, and her Gold Award project to create a computer lab in the Malaki Village Community Center was born. She not only wanted to offer better access, but she also wanted to create a blueprint for a solution that other organizations can replicate to help to close the educational gap in places around the globe.

Since having the computer lab installed in May 2021, the children have learned how to use the laptop computers and are gaining more technology skills each day. Seeing their progress as they use the same resources as developed areas is gratifying, Mehaa said.

“Education is the top tool for a brighter future,” said Mehaa, now a first-year student at the University of CaliforniaBerkeley, where she is a mechanical engineer and business major. “We need as many people as possible to help close the educational gap. This project makes me feel hopeful for our future. I’m happy.”

Mehaa spent several months researching online learning systems and eventually decided to apply the same applications her K-12 schools used. She then developed an online curriculum and classroom with input from teachers and tutors and created progress reports with help from a team of students at the Global Studies Academy in the Fort Bend Independent School District. She also recruited and trained volunteers, including Malaki World Mission volunteers, through Zoom to help with the lab setup.

With monthly progress reports, Mehaa and her team tracked the benefits and drawbacks of the online learning system and curriculum, enabling her to make real-time changes. Initial reports showed an improvement in the children’s skills, she said.

Mehaa, who drafted a research paper on the educational divide in Cambodia and globally, says her major obstacles in implementing her project were figuring out the best resources to help the children learn and how she would get the computers to the community center with COVID restrictions. She eventually enlisted some willing Malaki World Mission volunteers and college students who had plans to travel to Cambodia. They graciously agreed to deliver the computers to the village.

The computer lab remains open today, with the community center teachers monitoring the use of the computers. Leng Abbasi, the founder and director of Malaki World Missions, makes multiple visits to the center every year. Students have access to the internet and an online classroom system to continue their learning.

Mehaa says after completing her project, she reflected on the things that helped her achieve big and small goals. “I realized how my family is a pillar in my life. A lot of people don’t have that,” she said. “It makes me more compassionate and willing to provide resources and support others. After working across the globe during COVID, I also learned there is a way to do what you want if you are passionate about it, especially with support.”