Student raised $52,000 after reading about hardships of country's youth

U.S. teen brings new school to rural Cambodia

Student raised $52,000 after reading about hardships of country's youth

	Rachel Rosenfeld, center, from New York, cuts a ribbon to open the R.S. Rosenfeld school in Srah Khvav village in Siem Reap province, about 143 miles northwest of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on Wednesday.
Heng Sinith / AP

updated 7:37 a.m. ET, Wed., Dec . 26, 2007

BANTEAY SREY, Cambodia - Hundreds of Cambodian villagers welcomed the arrival of a new school Wednesday, a gift from an American teenager who raised $52,000 after reading about the hardships of growing up in Cambodia.

Rachel Rosenfeld, 17, made her first visit to the Southeast Asian country for the opening of the R.S. Rosenfeld School, which brings five computers and Internet access to 300 primary school students in a small village of Siem Reap province, a poverty stricken area that is home to the country's famed Angkor Wat temple complex.

Rosenfeld, of Harrison, New York, said she learned about the village of Srah Khvav after reading a newspaper article last year that discussed the plight of poor Cambodian children who often have no access to education. The American said she was horrified to learn that some young Cambodian girls end up being sold into prostitution by their parents.