• Society

Jolie’s Daughter Shiloh Supports Poor Students

• By Chhum Chantha
• July 7, 2023 4:05 PM

BATTAMBANG – Shiloh Jolie-Pitt, the daughter of Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie, is helping to support 10 poor Cambodian children to graduate from high school each year.

The children live in a remote area of Samlout district in Battambang province.

Shiloh's scholarship program began in 2017, giving priority to orphans, children with disabilities and homeless children.

The scholarship program provides bicycles, rice, study materials, monthly allowances as well as dormitories to help rural children study to the same high levels as other children across the country.

Maddox Jolie-Pitt Foundation country director Kung Munichan said few children in remote areas in the district had gone on to high school, which was 30 to 40 kilometers from their homes. The roads were difficult and surrounded by forest.

“In this area of old Samlout, the children just finished their secondary school diploma (grade 9). Very few people came to high school,” he said.

He first came in 2017. At that time, he said that students of poor parents had to build huts next to the school fence for them to complete their high school diploma.

Kung Munichan (C) is Maddox Jolie-Pitt Foundation country director. Photo: Chhum Chantha

Now, the Shiloh Scholarship Program will support students who want to pursue a college degree until graduation.

The foundation had also built a dormitory with a capacity of 100 people next to Samlout High School so that poor students from rural areas can stay together.

The foundation has also helped the school with study materials, desks, chairs and building repairs as well as training courses for teachers, especially focusing on the quality of English teaching.

With the help of the Angelina Jolie family, Monichan says almost 90 percent of rural students in Samlout have completed secondary school since 2017 and about 70 percent continue to high school.

Shiloh Jolie-Pitt had hired a teacher to teach her the Khmer language, he said. She could seak a little Khmer  and sometimes suggested online meetings with Cambodian scholarship recipients to learn the language and stay in touch.

“Shiloh is one of Angelina Jolie's six children. I have seen that she is very fond of Cambodia," he said. " She always accompanied her mother while visiting Cambodia.”

Angelina Jolie often visits Cambodia and Angkor Wat. Having an adopted son with Khmer blood, she has contributed to the conservation of wildlife and continues to support and train beekeeping in the natural forest to the community in Samlout district.