The Cambodia Project (High Q Cambodia NGO)
 It was purely by chance that we started the project in Cambodia. In 2004, our CEO, Shem, traveled Siem Reap - Angkor, Cambodia's second largest city, where he, like many others before him, was drawn to the awe-inspiring ancient temples of Angkor. Sadly, the beauty of Angkor is marred by rampant poverty, which is rather ironical since Angkor attracts hundreds of thousands of tourists each year. The tourist industry is booming and tourist trade can easily sustain the population. So why are the Cambodians so poor?
The answer: they simply lack the necessary language skills.
There are for-profit language schools in Siem Reap - Angkor that teach only English, but they charge their students between US$10 and US$25 per month, which, although may seem as almost for free to a foreigner, is yet far too expensive for most Cambodians, who on average earn about US$30-50 per month. Moreover, some needed languages, such as Italian, Spanish and German are not provided at all by other language schools, as their teaching is probably not profitable. However, these languages are still needed, as there are, for example, some 5,000 Italian tourists annually in Siem Reap, with the numbers growing rapidly.
 Being experienced educators, we saw an opportunity in which we could play a role in alleviating poverty. In July 2004, we began the process of setting up High Q Cambodia NGO, a non-profit education center in Siem Reap - Angkor, which is wholly funded and managed by the company.
 Teaching commenced in September 2004 and our initial days of registration were phenomenal! The locals heard that we were charging only a nominal fee of US$3 per month and they nearly broke down our doors in their haste to register. We registered hundreds of students within days. To date, we have already had over 5000 students.
Our objective is to provide highly affordable and effective foreign language courses and we believe we are achieving that goal.
 By applying our pedagogical and technological know-how, we created customized courses that are targeted at overcoming specific learning difficulties that Cambodians have, and we have seen the fruits of our labor. Students who could barely speak a sentence in English are reading Shakespeare! The school's tuk tuk driver who couldn't understand the meaning of "Hello," is wowing tourists with his knowledge of Angkor, and earning huge amounts of tips as a result.
Our success is not ours alone. We would not have done it without a committed team of people - Cambodian staff and overseas volunteer teachers, who share our vision.
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