In early November of 2010 US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited Cambodia as part of a short tour through Asia. She was scheduled to address Cambodian students at a "town hall" type forum where approximately 600 students were part of a question and answer session. Jim was asked if ISPP had any high school students who would want to attend this and of course he quickly formed a group of interested students. He then asked his counselor to help him out and I insisted I could be helpful too... Well of course I just wanted to see Clinton speak. Students and chaperones had to show up at the event venue on the Mekong River about 3 hours before the start of the event. There were lots of security lines and everyone complied. Inside the room we noticed many female secret service agents / body guards which I thought was good to see. After a long wait Hillary Clinton did arrive and was all smiles and stories. She called on many female students and the occasional male. None of the ISPP students were called on unfortunately. Clinton was very inspiring to the hope full students who are part of that future of Cambodia. I thought she had some great advice to many of the female students who are still expected to be very traditional in their ways.
It is hard to see in this picture but here you can see Sophea who is one of the Cambodian teachers at my pre-school. She also attends classes at night and was asked to ask her question. She still talks about how exciting that was! She asked Clinton what inspired her.
Here are the cars outside the building ready to whisk Clinton away to meetings with the King and the prime minister of Cambodia.
The ISPP students who attended the event.
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