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.
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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!
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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!"

"I believe education will help me for a better future!  I am 20 years old now and just returned to school to study at Grade 7 again this year.

You see, I quit school when I was 16 whilst studying in Grade 7 because my family is poor.  There are 8 brothers and sisters in my family and I am the 6th.  My family used to have a few buffaloes and I was the one looking after them.  One day, my father asked me to stop going to school and to look after the buffaloes. I wanted to take care of my family so I followed his advice.

"I am 5 years old and I love coming to school.  I can write and sing, which makes me very happy!  At school, I get to see my friends and we play games.  I love eating sweets and my mother helps me brush my teeth.  My dream is to eat lots of rice!"

"I am 44 years old and have been the school director of a small primary school in the rural area of Siem Reap for more than 10 years. Before that, I was a teacher here for another 10 years...

"Last year, I started my first year in secondary school but I quit in the same year.  My parents passed away when I was only 10 and things haven been tough.  In fact, I didn't enjoy school and found it really difficult to learn.  Now I am 15, I help others looking after their cows.  Everyday, I walk 5 cows and 2 buffalo to the field and return them home.  I like sports and love playing football.  However, I don't know what kind of dream job I would like to have one day."

"I grew up in a large family with 9 siblings. Being the 3rd eldest one, I had to quit school at grade 4 and start working. I was only 13 then! I still remember crying all night when that happened!

"I am 70 years old now and I still ride my bike every day. I like going to see what’s happening in the community and I love festivals a lot. I think I can dance very well!