Our friends and families in Cambodia just celebrated Khmer New Year (KNY) between April 14th and 16th.  Everyone enjoyed the three day public holiday to the fullest as it has been 2 years without any celebration due to the pandemic.

Khmer New Year (KNY) is full of tradition and customs. It also marks the end of the harvest season, a time to rest for farmers who have been working hard on their crops all season.  With the harvest season winding down in mid-April, farming communities shift their attention to the new year, before the rainy season that typically begins in late May. ​

Standing tall and speaking loud at the 2022 School for Life Scholarship ceremony, a grandmother spoke with her full heart, ‘I would like to advise our students to study hard and listen to teacher during class and please do your best to complete your education.’ .  
 
It is our pleasure to introduce Doeung Yom, a grandma of one of the 150 PeopleStories scholars, who has inspired many not just with her heartful speech at the Ceremony but the story behind her strength, resilience and be the biggest dreams catcher!

Having received little education, all her five sons worked as fish sellers. Relying heavily on the environmental factors, her sons barely made enough money to support their families.  Being the witness of the power of education, grandma believes that education is essential for children especially the ones who come from the poor families.  It is a chance to change their lives.  With that spirit, grandma Doeung Yom sometimes gave what little she had to help all her seven school-going grandchildren to complete school.​

Her dream is now coming true because you have played a part. Please continue to help the children of rural Cambodia to complete school, give them a helping hand and gift a donation today.  
 
Story written by: volunteer Bok Hoon Ong ​

The new school year has started in Cambodia!  This year Victoria, our Founder and CEO, was able to return to Cambodia to take part at the annual scholarship ceremony together with other honourable guests including the Governor of Bakong district and the Direct of Education Ministry.  It was not only a celebrative moment, but it also gave the children and their families a boost of confidence in life as their much needed scholarships remain possible. ​

Due to the nature of their work, Reaksmey's parents are hardly at home. Hence, the 8 siblings usually have to take care of one another. As a middle child, Reaksmey shares, “I always help to look after my younger brothers and sisters as well as the housework in my family. Sometimes, I will need to help my mother with tying fishing hooks until midnight.”  While these are normal tasks for Reaksmey to do, they may seem physically demanding and challenging for other children in more developed countries. ​

“When I was selected for the scholarship, I felt happy and lucky. My family was also very happy and urged me to study hard to show my gratitude to the scholarship team, my family as well as my country.” She shared emotionally. 
 
We are glad that Reaksmey and her family feel supported. While we do not need her to show her gratitude to us, what we do hope is that she will study well for her dreams and hopes.  
 
We hope you have been inspired by Reaksmey’s story because we most certainly have! Please support children like Reaksmey to complete school, head on over to our donation page! We would greatly appreciate your help! 
 
Story written by: volunteer Zeleen Thum ​

Coming from humble beginnings doesn't have to define us.  The willingness to learn, the determination to want better can change lives. Just 5 years ago, KongNov was in her village with her family, not in school. She was given an opportunity to attend school and she took it. One door after another has opened and KongNov has walked through. Sometimes it was exciting, sometimes it was scary, but that brave little girl from the village kept going.  She’s still going and shows no signs of slowing down.

Wrapping up her speech facing hundreds of audiences at an ICT conference, she spoke loud and clear, “I hope in the future a Cambodian child will have a personal skill. I also encourage all students to seize these great opportunities.  Don’t be afraid to fail, but be afraid to not try.” 
 
Why not join us to uplift more girls for their STEM education?  100% of your generous donation helps a child finish school. 
 
Story written by: Volunteer Kathy Aunkst ​

When Da Dot was 28 years old, he stepped on a landmine, on his family’s farm, and lost both of his legs.  “Dot” means legless.  ​

Victoria met with Da Dot in 2017 and we’ve all been interested to see how he is doing four years later.   Da Dot’s story really touched many hearts especially our newest team member Kathy.  She spoke with much emotion, “I read about Da Dot’s story as part of the People of Siem Reap.  Having dealt with such adverse challenges in life, Da Dot’s positivity inspired me greatly and I immediately found myself wanting to learn more about him.” 

​Story written by: volunteer Kathy Aunkst ​

PeopleStories provides students in need with greater access to education and Sambath is one of our 120 scholarship students who is studying at grade 9 in Rolous Secondary School this year. ​

In fact, he has up to 4,000 titles of books including novels, psychology, encouragement / motivation, business, dictionaries, legends, history, history of the world-famous people, education, language books (English, Korean, Thai, Chinese…) for self-learning, kids’ books (numbers, alphabets) and story books for young children.  A well-stocked book store indeed! 
 
With your help, PeopleStories School for Life scholarship program is making positive changes to students’ lives. 

Want to support students like Sambath to complete school?  Here is how: https://bit.ly/PS100Dreams202021 ​

Story written by: volunteer Bok Hoon Ong ​

A special agenda in 2021 School for Life ceremony became the most talked about segment for the attendees.  Can you guess what it was?  It was the speech by KongNov’s mother, Oeurn Sakhorn!  ​

Although she was not educated, she was willing to learn.  When PeopleStories offered her the job of cooking for the volunteers visiting the school, she was hesitant first as she felt that her cooking was not good enough.  Victoria took her to the market to share about the ingredients that would be welcomed by our volunteers.  She tried out a few dishes and perfected them.  She was paid for half a day’s work to cook at the school and she was grateful and happy. 

It is heartening to note that while she may not be educated, she understands the value of education and chooses to put in the efforts for her daughters to attend school.  Very often, daughters in poor families had to sacrifice their education to bring food on the table for the family.  KongNov is indeed fortunate to have a mother like her.  
 
Do join us in our mission to help other rural Cambodian families in similar situation by providing them with ladder out of the well.   ​

My name is KongNov and I am 14 years old. I would like to share my story with you and how PeopleStories is changing my life.
​
We had a lot of difficult in my family such as my father is always drunk, so sometimes my mother just raising children on her own. Sometimes we don’t have money to buy food so we need to eat salt fish sauce prahok with rice. Sometime I picked up jujube from the ground to sell in the market to help my mum. There are young children in my village who were forced to work, and my sister also had to dropped out from study to help our family.

My life has changed a lot. I can gradually see clear about the world and the future. When I heard that I was selected for the Road to STEM scholarship, I felt very happy and excited. I don’t want to believe it! I think this scholarship will help change my life.

Imagine 5 years later, I can see myself achieve my job (professor), help PeopleStories as a member, and help children especially from poor families.

I have some advice to all students that please do not stop studying! If we stop studying, it is like being in the pit of darkness. If we quit school at a young age, we cannot do any work and have a life time of regrets, especially poor students. We must work hard to save our family. Get out of poverty as well as help out our children, the next generation. Remember knowledge is wealth!

Supporters to PeopleStories like you give me strength. Guide me on the path. I will be determined to learn as much as I can.

Thank you!
​
KongNov

In 2017, PeopleStories organised “What’s Your Dream?” Drawing competition the very first time and it was all about encouraging children to imagine and dream about their future .    

Sopheak, 11 years old then, was one of the 10 winners.  She was studying at Grade 6 and had a dream of becoming a chef! 

We often wonder how a young child could dream of something that distance and big… Let’s hear how her dreams came about. 

What has she been doing after the competition to realise her dream?  She revealed, “Instead of just learning from my mum and dad, I have started learning from friends, Victoria and even sometimes from watching cooking videos!”  Besides, she also put in the efforts to practise.  She said, “I practise until I get it right.  It was hard but I think it is a good thing that I need to do.”   

In 2019, PeopleStories held a Khmer writing competition in which she was also a winner!  This time, she wrote about her dreams of becoming a police officer and a chef at the same time!  This pushes our curiosity further as we want to hear more about her police office dream. 

From a dream to become a chef to a police officer, Sopheak has shown us the importance of taking steps to pursue something that is so close to her heart.   She told us a little secret of her success at closing of our conversation, “Focus on studying, study hard and don’t play a lot.  Have confidence in yourself and be brave.” 

​Sopheak has been taking steps to realise her dreams and has thought of new dreams along her learning journey.   We wish her all the best and look forward to see her dreams come true, one by one. 

"I am 17 years old and studying in Grade 10 this year.  I am one of the mature students at my school and most of my classmates are a couple years younger than me. My parents took me to school late because we are poor and could not afford many of us going to school.   We  live in a rural village and my big family has 9 of us.  Fortunately I have been on a scholarship since 4 years ago, otherwise I would have to stop going to school already.  I really love school and I would like to become an engineer one day!

When I first heard about COVID-19, I didn't understand about it nor knew how dangerous it is. Thanks to my teachers who gave us good information and knowledge about the things I need to do and not to do.  COVID-19 has given us many challenges and my life is very different now.  

My school has closed since mid-March and I find it very challenging to continue with my learning.  For the first time ever, we are introduced to online learning which I was excited initially.  However, I discovered all sorts of issues as I don't even have a smart device or computer.  Not to mention that there is no internet access from home as our village is remote and basic.  Some of my friends get hold of smart devices, however, they could not afford to top-up their SIM card all the time.  Having said that, some teachers are kind and offer us some paper-based exercises, but it is difficult to arrange a time to obtain them as teachers are not free all the time.  To be honest, I can't complete all the exercises as there are so many things that I don't understand and there is no teacher there to explain.  

COVID-19 has also affected my family significantly.  Some of my elder brothers and sisters used to have full time employment and were able to help support our family.  Many of them are now unemployed and we are all relying on my father to feed the 9 of us!  My family doesn't have any farmland hence there is no reserve of rice to feed all of us.  To make the matter worse, our family has bank loans which we can't even repay now!  My father sells fish at the market and can only bring home around $3 a day.  PeopleStories has delivered relief packages to us, which are helpful.  However, there is just so much more we need and we are really struggling.

A few months ago, one of my sisters who lives far away from us had a new born baby and we were all so happy for her.  Unfortunately, her husband ran away due to the pressure from COVID-19 and she is now left behind to raise the baby.  Luckily, my mother is willing to look after the baby for her, so that she can continue to work at a factory.  She is so far apart from her baby which makes her and our family very sad.  On the other hand, one of my brother has become alcoholic since unemployed and we are all scared and worried about his situation.  

As for me, I started working as a painter at construction sites.  When it is internal painting, the work is kind of ok but it is very difficult to paint the external walls as the weather is very hot and I have to climb up high without much safety measures.  It is not an easy job but I am glad to bring home around $6 a day!  In my spare time, I like reading books and try my best to keep up with the exercises that my teachers give me.

I wish COVID-19 will be gone very soon and I am determined to return to school in the near future.  My dream to become an engineer hasn't changed and I will work very hard to achieve that!"