By Nathan Sommer
Murphy News Service
When 2013 University of Minnesota graduate Fatuma Youb joined the Peace Corps one month after her graduation, she was seeking an opportunity to live abroad and experience different parts of the world independently.
“I had been very sheltered by my family and friends, and I wanted to leave that and see what I could accomplish on my own,” Youb said.
Youb was assigned to volunteer in the Pursat Province of Cambodia, where she now works as a health educator teaching high school students at Kandieng High School and young mothers the importance of nutrition and physical activity.
Malnutrition is a widespread problem in the area, so a major aspect of Youb’s work focuses on helping local families maintain a sustainable diet with the resources available to them.
Youb quickly noticed another problem shortly after she began instructing physical education once a week at Kandieng High School.
“Despite having hundreds of students interested in sports, the school does not have any sports fields, courts or facilities,” Youb said, adding that most students must walk at least several kilometers to the nearest volleyball court or soccer field. Youb said the current sports facilities are unsafe for practice, as they are on uneven ground and often flood during the rainy season.
That realization inspired Youb to utilize the Peace Corps Partnership Program (PCPP) to plan her project to construct a recreational sports court outside of Kandieng High School. It will be used for volleyball, basketball and soccer as well as physical education that Youb believes will benefit students’ physical health and academic performance.
“Team sports can give students experience with teamwork, cooperation and working together toward a common goal,” Youb said, adding that “these skills will help them both on the court during competition and in the classroom.”
The court will also serve as a gathering place for the community to celebrate special events or holidays and a location to dry rice during the town’s harvest season.
Youb, however, believes one of the most important aspects of her project is the impact it will have on girls in the community. She said many female students have scarcely been given an opportunity to learn or engage in sports or other team activities and are often shy and inexperienced when it comes to such things.
Youb hopes her facility will provide female students with a safe place and a positive environment to practice sports with one another.
“By teaching the girls sports and providing them with a space to play, they will be leaders in the community,” Youb said, adding that her project will be “a great way to empower the women and to show the boys that girls can play sports too.”
Youb must raise $4,650 in donations to make her project possible. Communities receiving funding through the Peace Corps are required to make at least a 25 percent contribution to a project’s total cost and outline their potential success indicators.
Such requirements are instilled by the PCPP to ensure community ownership and give the town its best chance at sustaining the sports facility long-term.
Local contractors have already been contacted to work with the school’s students and faculty on the court’s construction, which will be blessed by a monk at a community celebration upon completion.
Youb has only raised about $700 for her project, as contacting her friends and family has not been enough. She hopes to have the project finished by the time her service in the Peace Corps ends in September 2015, and is currently working with Kandieng High School’s director to develop the school’s first athletic program.
Moving forward, Youb wants to be involved in public health and continue to volunteer nutrition education for those in need of support, particularly young mothers and their children. She wants to apply her work to the United States and begin the application process for public health graduate school, when she will then narrow down potential career paths.
Anyone interested in supporting or learning more about Youb’s project can visit www.peacecorps.gov/donate, searching either the last name Youb or project number 14-303-021.
Reporter Nathan Sommer is studying journalism at the University of Minnesota.