Age: 18
From: Kompong Speu Orphanage Center
Major: Tourism
School: National University of Management
Currently, at home, there’s my mother, my grandma and my older sister, Sophanny. My mom works as a saleswoman to provide for the family. My parents divorced when I was two years old, and afterwards, my mom decided to move our family to live with my grandmother in Kompong Speu province. My grandmother allowed us to move into her kitchen.
My mother started to earn money by washing dishes for wedding caterers and by collecting firewood for people who were willing to pay her for her work. When I was in 10th grade, my mom borrowed some money from the bank to open a store. She wanted to make some income selling household goods. I began school when I was 4. Then when I turned 8, my mom sent my sister and me to live in an orphanage. It was a difficult decision for my family. My mom decided to send us there because she didn’t have money to pay for our education. She didn’t even have enough to feed us all our meals everyday. I remember trying to argue with my mom and refusing to go live in the orphanage. At one point, I even said “I will die if you send me to the orphanage.” In the end, I went to live at the orphanage, even though really did not want to.
During my time in the orphanage, I graduated high school with high scores on the national exam. I lived in the orphanage for 9 years. It was there that I heard about Global Children Cambodia. As a result of my good test scores, I was given a scholarship from Global Children to continue university in Phnom Penh, where I’m currently studying. Currently, I am a first year university student at the National University of Management. I study tourism, and I’m in my second semester. This has been a dream of mine since I was little. My dream is to become an English translator, or an English teacher. In 10 years, my dream is to be reunited with my family, so that we can live together once again in the countryside. I want to become an excellent English teacher and share my life experiences and knowledge with future generations.
