KEP, Cambodia (UCAN) -- The sound of sewing machines mixes with the soft chatter of women at a Salesian-run school in southern Cambodia.

The sewing school opened in 2002 in Kep, a seaside municipality 170 kilometers southwest of Phnom Penh. It is now part of an expanded Salesian apostolate based at Don Bosco Center Kep, which includes a youth camp, retreat house and other facilities.

Besides learning to sew, students at the school also spend about an hour each day on basic literacy lessons and topics related to human development, especially interpersonal relations and morality.

Four groups have completed the 10-month course. Some of those students have come from Muslim villages near the school, but the current fifth group is special in this regard, because 15 of the 17 students are young Muslim women.

Morn Vanny, the school's 25-year-old coordinator, is a Buddhist as are more than 90 percent of Cambodia's 12 million people, most of them also ethnic Khmers.

"I am really excited and happy to work with Muslim students here, " she told UCA News. "They are very nice, they try and work hard. We respect each other."

She noted, for instance, that the school "asks them to remove their headscarf during class, and they do." This is in keeping with a Khmer cultural norm that students honor their teacher by not wearing head coverings during lessons.

"Even though we have different religions, we are close to each other," Vanny said.

Seum Lep Khol Siyas, a 17-year-old Muslim student, told UCA News she is very happy she is learning to sew at the Don Bosco school, because she will be able to support herself in the future with this skill.

"In this place, other religions are always welcome," she said. "For me, all religions are good, but I would not change my religion. We respect each other."

Sitting near Siyas was Maria, 19. As she worked on a clothing design, she shared with UCA News: "If I had not come to live with my uncle in Kep, I would not have had the chance to study here. My parents do not want me to go far from them, because they are afraid for my safety."

Many of her friends have gone to work at factories in Phnom Penh, Maria said, but she would rather work at home, using her sewing skills in her village. A factory job would pay more, she admitted, but sewing in her community is preferable to her.

Ny Sarak, 18, similarly told UCA News she "likes sewing." After three months at the school, she can make her own clothes. She hopes this skill "will help me earn money to support my family," even while working from home.

Vanny pointed out that all the young women study for free and the center has a policy against religious discrimination, so students of all faiths are welcome. Some who finish the course find jobs as garment workers in Phnom Penh, she said, and others set up sewing machines and work from home.

The Don Bosco Center hires some who do not find work elsewhere to make clothes for the Children's Fund Program that Don Bosco Cambodia runs. They each earn 10,000-15,000 riel (US $2.50-3.75) a day doing this. The center currently employs eight former students to make clothes for the program.

Providing special care for children and young people in difficulty has always been a Salesian commitment, according to the official "Rationale and Objectives" statement of the Kep center.

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