Cloud School gives students in Cambodia the same opportunities as their Wollongong peers

A trip to Cambodia in 2017 inspired Wollongong woman Carmen Rudd to take the skills that local budding entrepreneurs were being taught to locations which wouldn’t normally have access to such programs.

The not-for-profit project, Cloud School: The Classroom In The Cloud, aligns with Carmen’s business ZigZag Hub, which supports young entrepreneurs in Wollongong and Nowra.

Now, Cloud School is leading the way in helping disadvantaged youth in Cambodia, India, Pakistan and Wollongong have the same opportunities to create self-sustaining futures.

Cloud School director and Carmen’s daughter-in-law Sophie Rudd said the educational programs, which include English, entrepreneurship and coding, relied on technology to allow young people access regardless of their circumstances, location or background.

“When Carmen first went to Cambodia in 2017, she came across a village with a couple of school teachers and said ‘oh, my gosh, they’re running a school. I want to see how I can help them, especially with what we do with ZigZag Hub’,” Sophie said.

“She thought it was perfect to go and help kids that need to learn English or entrepreneurship and get them those skills.

“That way they can start their own businesses and make their own income in their own countries.

“They’re now teaching over 200 kids in Cambodia.”

The program is a blend of teachers on location, Zoom calls with Wollongong facilitators and an online learning platform built by the Cloud School team.

“The program is conducted in-person in Cambodia, unless a student wants to learn a skill those teachers don’t have,” Sophie said.

“For example, Andre (Hollis), one of the facilitators, he’ll teach coding to maybe a couple of kids who want to learn that over Zoom.

“In Pakistan, we’ve got a young lady, she’s 21 and starting an initiative to help people in different villages.

“It involves young women sewing bags to sell so she’s gone out and talked to people in the areas and figured out how they can make money and what are the problems they can solve.

“We’re sponsoring her and her community because we want to help her with this initiative.”

To ensure Cloud School continues, it is hosting fundraising events, including bi-monthly networking events called Cocktails for a Cause and a black tie gala event at the Lagoon Restaurant in Wollongong.

The gala will include a silent auction, live music and a presentation on stories from students and teachers from different locations.

Funds will go towards continuing facilitation of the program and to help more students.

“In Cambodia, they do have access to technology, mostly phones and some laptops, but it is a goal of ours to bring more laptops to them,” Sophie said.

Carmen returned to Cambodia with Andre last October, where they witnessed the students’ progress during the program.

“They were able to really see that difference we’re making and know that we can be all the way over here in Australia, but we’re making differences through what we can teach them,” Sophie said.

In the Illawarra, Cloud School also works with students from Wollongong’s Novo Education Space, an independent school tailored to students who need a different kind of environment to succeed.

“The content in all the locations is the same. We want to show them that it doesn’t matter which location you’re in, we can provide you with the same quality of programs, and the distance isn’t going to change that,” Sophie said.

“With online, the biggest benefit is you can achieve the same results.

“What we learned in COVID is, if we can do this online, wow, who knows who we can reach.”

The Cloud School Black Tie gala is being held at the Lagoon Seafood Restaurant, George Hanley Drive, North Wollongong, on 17 November 2023. Tickets for the gala are $150 and are available here.