#28- Empowerment Through Education in Cambodia with Sichiv Sek
DFG #28- Empowerment Through Education in Cambodia with Sichiv Sek
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hello and welcome to the Designed for Greatness podcast. Conversations with Candice to help you elevate your mind, body, and spirit. Open your heart and own your divine greatness. Today you have episode number 28, my conversation with sichiv sec. I have been so looking forward to this conversation ever since I got home from a humanitarian trip I took about nine weeks ago to Cambodia.
I have just been looking forward to getting back in touch with IV because when we were there I connected so much with IV and her story and it has just been completely eye-opening to see where she came from and, and what she's doing now, and it's truly, truly. A story of empowerment and what one person can do to change the lives of so many people.
So without much further ado, such Chev, welcome to the podcast. Thank you. I'm so excited to be on a podcast today. [00:01:00] Thank you Canice for having me. And thank you for at least make a trip to Cambodia and see the real life happening in Cambodia right now. It's my honor to be on the podcast today. Oh, well, it's our honor.
Thank you so much for joining us. I think the best thing we can do is to just get right in to your story. Tell us a little bit about what life was like for you in Cambodia when you were growing up and, and how you got to this place now. Where you are working for sustainable Cambodia and, and help everybody understand all of all of those things, what that entails.
Thank you, Candice. So would start first with the history of Cambodia, which is, it's happened long ago. I, I mean, we have really had time in the past with the war, like, it's happening, which is destroyed the country completely back then. So we, we have a we call a region the, the KH Rouge that's happening.
That really was that the com [00:02:00] Cambodian kill Cambodian peoples, and it's happened long ago, which is back then they try to collect people mainly. They would ask Cambodia people who get the well education or higher education to just come in one spot. And then the, the bullet board is the name of the leader.
He was the one who try to at least get rid of the, the well educated people. So, which is it would help him to lead the way, which is with the uneducated people, which is easy to f Just follow him what he said. So he's one of the, the, the policy, I mean, one of his mind is just, just to get rid of the educated people.
So he try to play a trick. To the well educated people that just, they just come to our country. They just come, come back home. You know, back then mainly when it happened for many, many Cambodian people who are really had a higher education, who [00:03:00] are daughter teachers and NGO or police or Army and all of that, or knows.
So mainly they, when they have the opportunity, they, they mainly, would travel abroad, like to the us I mean to the escape, to Thailand and to another country to just escape from it's happening in Cambodia. And then when tried to collect all of those way educated people to be killed, he just announced on the radio.
Very, and, and inform that, oh, please just come back to Cambodia. Our country, we are a small country. We just want a, a piece, and they just come back and, and join hand together to develop the country. That's a trick that he play to the well educated people. And then normally, as we know, the, the people who have a really kind heart who had to education, they just wanna help the country.
They just want to have to rebuild the country. So they fly back home, they flew back home. And then bull board, just collect them and kill them. [00:04:00] So, I mean during the KH Rouge they tried to killed the well educated people. And that's really something that a great loss of Cambodian as a small country that we lost many human resources.
Yeah. So the, the genocide, it, it killed off a third, a third of the population. Yes. Is that correct? Yes. Yeah. And many kids were killed back then, and some, some of Cambodia people were killed by the starving. They don't have enough, didn't have enough food because football try to push them to work.
All day long without providing food. Mainly they provide really just a small bowl of porridge, which is they could not, fit them so well back then, but they try to push them away. I mean, to force them to work all day long, sometime day during the day and the night, which is really hard for Cambodian people.
And, [00:05:00] and what I learned is they don't want any young kid during the, the generation, I mean during the KH Rouge get a case and all, so they destroy the pago down the school. So just let the kid work. Even the parent and they try to separate the parents, the kids, and even the husband and the wife.
They try to separate them so they don't have really a strong relationship each other. So mainly they really miss each other a lot. Sometime they lost, you know, my, my family, my mother's family, she lost her. Dear that. Her oldest brother during the KH Rouge, which is the football, just tried to separate it.
And then when it's come back to the peace, they just could not find each other and probably they pass away and all of that. So it really, really heartbreaking for the boarding people. But that is in the past, you know? Yes. In the past it happened. It happened during the, the, I think it was 75 through [00:06:00] 79, somewhere around there.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I know I was born in 78, so I would've been born during the K Rouge. Mm-hmm. So it, it's very interesting, very interesting to think that that mm-hmm. That that happened and, and it really affected. It is, yeah. The whole economy of Cambodia with no educated professional people to, to help. And then the rebuilding process has been quite, quite tricky.
Mm-hmm. Yeah. And, and you know, we, we admire our primary minister. The president, I mean, he start from nothing. When we, we start, I mean, when everything, we come in space again and we gather together and just, I mean, we start from nothing in the country to rebuild the country and we start with the human resources.
We try to strengthen the education and that's one of the things happening to my life. So [00:07:00] I'm 28 right now. 28 years old. So it's, it's sometime you would feel that I'm, I'm young, but my story, it's like, because if we are in a very developing country, just get up from the war and it just hard for, mainly for the females students or a daughter to just get a higher educ.
And so, I would say from start from 2008 or 2009, I start my education in the primary level. And I supported by my, mainly my mother, she really, really care a lot about my education and she just want me to get the best opportunity I can, at least to get education. She experienced during the My Rouge that happening and she could not go to school.
She doesn't know how to write, she doesn't know how to read and all of that. She completely understand how hard life is with, with no education. So she just at least want me as a [00:08:00] daughter, a big sister in the family to get education. So she try her best. Even my father, he, both of them. They did the right field, they do no farm.
They raise the cow to support the family, and that's the time that I met Sustainable Cambodia when I was in grade four. So they announced about the program, which is we call the outreach program. So just, just a short introduction to the then roll with like I will grow up at sustainable Cambodia.
So sustainable. Cambodia is a non-profit NGO, that based in, which is the, the west of Cambodia. And then NGO, just in case somebody doesn't know what that means, it's a a non-government organization. Non-government organization. Yeah. We call a non-profit organization in Cambodia. Yeah. And I start in 2008 with Sustainable Cambodia, which is a outreach program, which is one hour only class per day.
So I remember [00:09:00] so well that it's the, it was the very first time that I had the opportunity to see another people from outside the world, which is America. I mean the USA. So they came to visit my school. They're from Utah, and I just. So excited to just look at them and see where they're from and, and, and why they coming to our country and and, and what language do they speak?
That's the time that I really like, oh, there's not only our may as an official language, there's another language that they. Try, they mean they used to communicate with each other. So that's the time that I said to myself that one day in the future I need to speak English. I need to be able to communicate with, with people and, and you speak so well now.
Yes. Thank you. I doing myself. I'm trying my best. Best, you know. English is the second language. And we try our best to learn [00:10:00] because we want to communicate with people around the world. And it's very important right now with English and, and basically in with computer, which is we use in our working field and all of that.
Yes. Yeah. So I would, so with, so with sustainable Cambodia, I just wanna help everybody understand what sustainable Cambodia is. It's A NGO or a nonprofit organization. It is actually a supplemental education system because all of the students there in Cambodia, correct me if I'm wrong, all the students there have to take state education from a state school.
Exactly. But. But that doesn't ever teach a lot of the skills that the kids would need in order to be successful. And so sustainable. Cambodia is a supplemental education system that also helps out with their families. To tell a little bit about, about how you came into coming to school and [00:11:00] what the requirement was for that and, and, mm-hmm.
Yeah. Thank you. So I, I would start from the, the, the time that I mentioned in 2008 that I joined the outreach program. So I remember that sustainable Cambodia staff came into my classroom and then just announced about, oh, we just started our outreach program with one English class per day, if some of you interested.
And then I remember I raised my hand up. Please just sign me up for the class. And then we start a class, we learn English, like the English, very, very basic, like the English alphabet and the colors the very basic conversation. They just be able to speak and all of that. We learn about the phonics, the sound of the English, and that is incredible.
You know, it's, it's just something that we learn from, from the English is, is just like a completely different from our own language. Like, well, it's how mimic and everything. Yes. It's so tricky, Kemmer. It's like my mouth hardly [00:12:00] even knows how to make the Kemmer words. Yeah. Yeah. And so I can imagine how it would be hard to probably even make the English sounds.
I I it is tricky. It's a very tricky, yeah. And, and please know that the sound, some sound in English, we don't, we don't have that sound in Cambodia. I mean our language, so, which is our, our pronunciation and it's. Sometime it just hard to understand, but we try. So and I attend the outreach program for three years and then I've moved move on to the secondary school and still come to sustainable Cambodia school outreach program for one hour class, I mean, one hour in class per day until I move on to the high school.
That was the time that. Really challenging for my family because in the village where I live, we, we don't, we didn't have a high school, so, which is we only have one high school in our district, a main district, and we [00:13:00] have about 12 villages around the district. And it's too far for the student to travel by bicycle, back and forth from home to school.
And that's the time that my mother start to concern like. Will I be able to continue my high school or just, just, just left school from, from that, from now? And that's the time. I, you know, I cry a little bit because I heard that from my mom that maybe I could not continue because we. We don't know anyone in the district and we have no place, and I don't have a transportation to go to school.
We only have a bicycle. But it's a good opportunity came again with sustainable Cambodia that they I remember my mother was invited to join the meeting. That's the head village came into my house and then invited my mom to join a meeting and he said, oh, it's a meeting about sustainable Cambodia and Geo.
And my mom said she would join. And then on that [00:14:00] day people gardening together at the Buddha Temple, which is, we call the pagoda in Cambodia. That's the place that people would just gather together and sit and sit under the, the big tree and, and just. Get to know each other and learn what people just bring into the villages.
So su a sustainable Cambodia staff just announced to the village. Like, get, get the village know more about what sustainable Cambodia does and why we start to help the village. I mean, why we have the village where I live and all of that. And they try to explain how important education is and everybody who joined the meeting, they've been through the K Rouge, the, the Visa and then, and all of that.
They really, really understand like they need education, their children need education. So then they announced that they recruit high school students to attend in the school program, which is, we call the KBSE Stanford, right? Future Center. So INE Pride [00:15:00] Future Center is one of the school Center of Sustainable Cambodia Education program.
Which is it located in ine? INE is the name of the district, and it's a mountain area over there. And that's where I grew up in the mountain area. So my mother got application form and then she, she brought back home and then I filled up and then passed it on to the teachers. And then two week letters two Cambodian, I mean, two sustainable Cambodia teachers came into my house.
They did the family assessment. So the family assessment is just a, a form or the, the, the tool that's the teacher is just come in and they wanna learn more about our living condition. Like what, what I would need, like a what, what is the most priority that the sustainable Cambodia should help us?
So, and then I was selected to be high school students at sustainable Cambodia, and I also attend the government school, the public school. And one of the great thing is they offer me a [00:16:00] place to stay. So I stay at a school dormitory for three years to complete my high school under the support of sustainable Cambodia.
So staying at a dorm, you know, I never been away from my mother and my my family at all. So I, I remember my first week at the dormitory, I cry a lot at night because I miss my parents and never been away. And, but it's, it's something that I realized that. Being a females student, being a woman, I need to stand up for myself.
I need to, to, to build my confidence. And we call it a unique, like, need to be something special. Oh, oh, unique. Yeah, unique. So it's come to my mind that my parents, they try their best to send me to school. And why not? I. Try my best and why not? I work hard to [00:17:00] bring a good result as a good new to the parent, so they make them happy.
At that time, I, all I want is I want my parent to be proud of me. And they just want to repair, then they try their best to work in the right field, day and night to support me in, send me to school and all of that. So then I I, I will say I become a new person, became a new person when I stayed at home.
I'm more match, I mean nurture, like like the way that I live in and the way I communicate with people at the school. I, I feel like I am a grow up person. Well, you had, you made a decision, it sounds like you made a decision. Yeah. To what I call own your, own your greatness. To own your strengths, decide you, you have a, a reason to be there and to claim the space that you have there and, and to do your very best.
And I love how you said you became a new person because that truly is a, a mental. [00:18:00] Intention and an attitude that is so important. And how many brothers and sisters did you have? You were the oldest, right? I have two older brothers. I am the big sister in the family. I mean, I am a third child, so I have one younger sister and one younger brother.
And my two older brother, they also gone to college as well with the support from sustainable Cambodia. So in the family of five and seven, including my parents, we consider it as a big family and raising five children, it's not easy for my parents at all because they only do the right field and raise the cow to support the family, right?
But, but guess what? All the five children. Get higher education. That's all my, like, so thankful and we, so I feel so blessed. Having my parents, I mean, they don't have nothing and they don't have a property. They don't have a lot of money, but they have such a strong heart and, and willingness to just like.[00:19:00]
School sacrificed everything to make sure that you guys got an education. Yeah. And that, that seemed to be a really big theme in Cambodia, is there's so much focus and love and support put into the rising generation because. The, the people understand what happened with that genocide and they want to rebuild and they're all about grit and hope and looking to the future and making a better, a better world for tomorrow.
And it is just beautiful. Yeah. And the attitude. So when we, when we got to go as my youth link, youthLink is the company that I work with. It's a nonprofit organization also that that does the humanitarian trips. And when, when we came with YouthLink to the Sustainable Cambodia School, one thing that stood out to me more than anything else was that those kids wanted to learn so [00:20:00] bad.
They were so excited to be at school. They were hungry for knowledge. It was like, give me more. What else can I learn? Please, please give me more. What else? I wanna learn so much, give me more. Like, they were just sponges, soaking everything in and their desire to learn was just beautiful and contagious among them.
And it was just this, this beautiful elevating kind of an atmosphere to be in. And, and that that's, that's unique. It's really, really amazing. So, so, you know, I would say sustainable Cambodia organization is one of the well-known one in Poat because we start over 21 years ago, which is have to rebuild the human resources in poat.
Every, even we just develop in, in one province of Cambodia. But it's one of the things that I really, really thankful for sustainable Cambodia, that they have support. Over [00:21:00] 46 460 Cambodian students who right now become like have a job we, we call them as our alumni graduated university students.
So that's a big amount of the, the, the graduate that DB have, which is they're now working in. Different provinces, even in and working like everywhere in Cambodia. And that's the human resources that we, we try to educate them and, and crow them. And like we plant them, we refer them to a seed which is sustainable Cambodia, which is watering them and new treat them.
I mean we try to plant the seed so when the seed grow. They would have a fruit and then would continue to help each other in, in Cambodia, a whole country. So another thing that, why I love sustainable Cambodia and why I've been at sustainable Cambodia and I was a student and I work for Sustainable Cambodia for almost nine years because I just [00:22:00] love the way that sustainable community help the children and especially the education.
Yes. It's, it's pretty amazing and I would love to get into what sustainable Cambodia does. And, and the thing that impressed me, I've been on multiple humanitarian trips throughout the world, but I, this was the first time that I really saw an organization being really successful with this sustainable aspect of what they're providing for the families of the students that come.
So what I saw is you, you take on only students that are very low income, but with a high commitment. Yeah. And, and when, when you, when there's that, that type of a student there, this, you go and you do these assessments in their home and from these home assessments I'm just looking back at my notes that I took when I was there, [00:23:00] but you make sure that the families.
Are able to send the kids to school. So you make sure that the families are taken care of, that they have clean water, that they have a, a, a latrine, a, a toilet system in their, that they, that, that they use that's healthy, that you make sure that they have agriculture and, and vegetation and and a community pond and healthcare and animals, and.
It is incredible that for each child that is able to attend the sustainable Cambodia school, their whole family is, is watched over. Please speak to that just a little. 'cause that to me was just mind blowing and beautiful. Thank you. So again, sustainable Cambodia and is oat, I mean the nonprofit organization.
And they mainly run two important program right now, which is we call, one is the education [00:24:00] program that we have, the school, we run the school. And then the second one is the community development program, which is we support the family. And I believe just what I mentioned earlier, what they can do is just to try to survive and they just wanna make the income they, and from day by day to support the daily, the daily daily living and support the children. So what we learn is when we start, we, we start education program as a very, very first start at sustainable Cambodia.
Then we have the children and then. We just, we started to learn more that while we have the childrens, the family just faced really, really challenging with the income they need to move to another places in, in Cambodia, even to go abroad to work as a labor worker in another, I mean, the neighboring country.
So, and they don't have a clean water to drink. Some children, they miss school because they try to help the parent to carry the [00:25:00] water along the way to go home. And the parents, I mean, the family could not stay healthy because they don't have a clean water and the hygiene, even little tree, the toilet and all of that.
So that we learned from the students. And then that's the time that we created the community development program, which is to just support, which is to help the family, I mean, to match what they need because we know exactly what they need and why not we help them. So we support them. We call a Vosh program, which is with the water and hygiene and sanitation.
So we support the family with the water well so that they can access to the water, and we provide them with the water filter so that they can have a clean drinking waters and. Also we provide a training with the hygiene, like to clean their body. We provide tooth plus tooth peas and soup and all of that.
So make sure the kids and the parents, they, they stay healthy [00:26:00] because the parent need to work to get the money to support the family. What if they're sick? They could not make any income. So that's why we want to have the family so. As soon as they can access to the clean water they have for clean water to drink, they stay hygiene.
So we also have the agriculture pro project, which is we provide a home gardening to the parents, the family. So they, they grow vegetable at home. They use the water from the water well to water the, I mean the, the garden. So they grow many, many different kind of vegetable at home for the family. And also not only to for, for, for family, they can harvest the, the vegetable for the market.
That is, we call it as they because they reliant, which is they, they have something to rely on. They have, they can harvest the vegetable and just go straight to the market and make an income. Yeah. Even though it's, it's not much, but it's something that the, the [00:27:00] parents start to realize, oh, they, there's something to just help them along the way, and they have hope again.
They don't have to travel to another places in Cambodia or work in another neighboring country at all. Just staying home, send the child to school and grow vegetable and all of that. And then not only provide a a home gardening, we also have the, we call it as the animal pass on project. Which is we provide a cow for the family.
So the family in Cambodia mostly. We raised the cow for meat, not for milk. And and I would say 10 years ago we, we used the cow. I mean, we raised the cow or the water buffalo for the farming during the farming, but not really for now because it's, it really technology right now. They use the machine mainly, but right now Cambodia people, I mean many, many family, they raise the cow for mid and sometime the cow is one of the investment for the [00:28:00] child education.
You know, when they raise the cow, when the students, I mean when the children start to go and hire and hire, especially when they go to university. The parent could just sell the cow to use that money for the school fee, so that my mother did so she sold the cow and gave me the money to go to school.
So in Cambodia, many, many people, they don't actually have really a good finance or we save, we have a saving money in the bank. We believe. We don't have that. Mainly our own property is the cow. Or the water buffalo. That's what we have. And also, not only the, the animal pass on, we also provide a chicken.
We provide duck, which is the family could raise chicken and duck so that they can produce the egg. They lay the egg and then they can sell the egg in the market even for the family as well. So that really something then. We feel it's such a [00:29:00] blessing for the family that we support them with the hygiene water, clean water, train, home gardening and animal pass on and all of that, and the children gotta go to school.
So that is very successful. That is all people want. It's incredible. It's incredibly successful and it's a win-win every yes. Everywhere. It's, and the self-reliance that, that you empower the community with is huge. And they're, they're not dependent on their child to do the labor so the child can go to the school and it's, it's just a really incredible situation.
And all of the hygiene and the clean water and the food and the waste systems, it's just. I wish I could clone this and, and have it all over, all over the world because it's a, it's a really incredible way to, to really help out and mm-hmm. And it's neat. I, I have a saying I [00:30:00] love to say, and it's together we rise and it's truly that mentality.
Your win is my win, you know? Yeah. I, how can I help you? And then how can you pass that on and help someone else? And that kind of leads into, so now you work for sustainable Cambodia, they, you, you did all of your schooling. With them as your supplemental thing. So that's why you're able to speak English.
That's why you are able to be be profitable and, and to be marketable as working for them. And so now what are you doing there in sustainable Cambodian? How are you giving back? Mm-hmm. That. Thank you. So I will start, when I, when I finished my high school I got a full four year scholarship to go to, to university from sustainable Cambodia, and I was supported by two wonderful American people.
They support me through my high school. They, they donate the money for me and I used that money to pay for my school fee at university. [00:31:00] And I graduated my finance and banking bachelor degree and I'm so grateful and when I be, when I be a part of sustainable Cambodia, it is something that, you know, at first, I, I started sustain, I started a first job at sustainable Commodity as a librarian who work in the library to maintain the book and teaching the kid and all of that.
But from then, from day to day, from years to year sustainable commodity, try to provide case and I mean they just want the staff to build their own capacity, the ability. At least to keep growing and growing from year to years. And I move from one position to another position until I, yeah, just keep getting promoted.
Yes, yes. I recently just promoted to be we call a deputy operation director right now at Sustainable Cambodia. So being really, really close with the exec executive director to work among the group, and not to mention we have [00:32:00] 42 staff, the full-time staff at Sustainable Cambodia right now.
So when I'm working at Sustainable Cambodia. As a deputy I'm an upper and deputy director. I also oversee the scholarship and the sponsorship program. I also teach English to one class to graduate students and helping the student at the school and all of that access the, the people and mainly the teachers and the students and coordinate with the relationship.
I mean, there. The, the work between the students and the sponsor, and even to the donor as well, I would say as the communicator in, in the school, in the organization right now. And I really, really love the job. You know what? That bring me my joy to work at sustainable Cambodia is. I feel so grateful when international people, I mean, from another side of the world, they just came in and then they learn more about sustainable Cambodia, about our past in Cambodia.
They just so [00:33:00] impressed and, and they just, they just wanna help and that's really touch my heart, I feel. They are different nation and, and why they try to help us as a Cambodian nation. And I said, why, why not me as the Cambodian people to, to try to help our own country? And that's one of the things that keeps pushing me and.
Cg, please just do more. Please just do the best you can. Just do what you can do to help the next generation. Mainly, we don't really care like how much income we make in, in sustainable Cambodia, even in the area where we live, but what we focus the most is how much we can give back. I mean. How, how could we do more to have many, many children that they are really calling for help and all of that.
So, well, and I think the neat thing that you are able to do is you, you pair a, a family with the need that has a child that, that needs [00:34:00] to go to school. You pair that child with a sponsor. Yes. And. That's $300 a year, right? Yes. Yeah. So, so $300 a year sets up this child for education and their family up for the hygiene and the water and the agriculture and the latrines and the food, and and so.
The sponsorship of the child ends up blessing their whole entire family. And I think the thing that's neat is that you're able to pass on pictures of, of what's going on and, and the, the child does letters speak to that a little bit. Okay. So I'm talking about the sponsorship child sponsorship program at Sustainable Cambodia.
So, as you know sustainable Cambodia is a non-profit show. Which is we have over 500 students attending our school program right now. They stay, I mean, they learn [00:35:00] English computer for free. We, we don't charge anything. So it's a free education that we provide to the students. And you, you would wanna know how you could do that with all 500 students and how you manage the funding to, to run the school program.
So the child sponsorship program is designed mainly for international people. They just, like, if they're entrusted to invest in child in education in Cambodia, they, they just sponsor one child, which is $300 as an annual sponsorship per year. So with the $300, I mean the $300 donation from each individual sponsor around the world is pulled together.
To support for the school, the school building, teaching and learning, and, and the healthcare, the very basic healthcare for the children to, to pay for the teacher salary and, and everything that I, I mentioned earlier at the school. So with the [00:36:00] $300 you would feel it's not much, but it really, really meaningful and it's, it just make a huge difference with the $300 to change one child life at sustainable goals.
Yes, and the sponsor mainly they could communicate with the children. Just connect through me and we have a website which the sponsor can just look through and which child they wish to sponsor and all of that. When they start to sponsor a child, we will stay, connect with them and provide them the update, how the school going, especially.
The learning progress and the family update of their sponsored child. So just like Candice Meson, I, I am the one who passed it on. I always consider myself as a bridge. That to pass through the, I mean in between the, the child and the sponsor to pass on the information sharing life story, what happening in our country, the [00:37:00] culture and, and all of that.
It's absolutely beautiful and I would say for the students who. Have a sponsor. They really, really feel like they belong. They, they feel like there's someone right there with them. There's someone that they don't, they don't even know each other. They like, I mean. It's just something beautiful for the children to just look at the sponsor photos and see, oh, this is new and this is, is where you live and you, you from this country and that country.
And some, some sponsor, they share about the snow and, and the animal really common in, in their country where they live. The students said, oh, we don't have that in Cambodia. And it's just something that I would say it's an eyeopening opportunity, at least for the, the children, the student. They can feel the world, they, they can feel the world around them.
They can feel, oh, at least they know, they know the airplane. They know how to travel and, [00:38:00] and know even the map. I mean the globe, like they know which part that the sponsor live. So that absolutely beautiful and. The student mainly, they would keep in mind that oh, they have, they have the second parents in another side of the world and try to support them and look at them and all of that.
It's, yeah, it's, it's beautiful and Well, and, and you actually got to meet your sponsors, right? Yeah. Tell us that story. That's pretty amazing. Yeah. So just like I mentioned, I was sponsored by two wonderful American people. And I in late March this year, I was invited to join the multi-district conference, which is under the R and that's the time that I, I would see, I would say that is as a surprise from my sponsor because when I connect with them, they said all, they might not make it to come and see me and all of that.
But then the first day that I arrive in Gainesville, Florida. [00:39:00] The gardening event at the evening, and then they just pop up and said, I'm there. I'm here with you. And that's the time that I met my sponsor. The very, very first time in my journey, life learning and all of that. I'm so grateful to meet them in person and all of that.
We had a conversation I shared with them like what I've been through and all of that. They said, oh, they're so proud of me. And, and, and something they said that CCU you just, you just come to visit me. I don't have to just go to Cambodia and, and visit you. That something is so beautiful to see them and yeah.
I'm so, I'm so grateful and for everything and the sponsor, they just like. Completely changed my life with the donation of $500 a year for the scholarship support. Really, really changed my life to become who I am today. I would say I, I may not become who I am today or come this far without the support from sustainable Cambodia and [00:40:00] from my sponsor.
So it's, the life was hard, but without someone to just lend their hand to support me, I, I may not able to, to be, become who I am today. So, I'm so, so grateful. Well, it's, it's pretty neat. I know a lot of people have a desire to impact lives, to touch hearts and impact lives. And I know of a few things that can impact lives more than providing a child and education and their family self-reliance and, and health.
Yeah. So it's pretty incredible. If, if someone wanted to sponsor somebody a, a child in Cambodia to come to sustainable Cambodia School, where, where, what would they do and, and how, how would they contact you? Yeah. So if, if some of you would love to sponsor a child at sustainable Cambodia mainly, so we have a website which is sustainable cambodia.org as the website, so.[00:41:00]
You mean just, just look through the website and visit the webpage. You will see the bottom set sponsor child that when you click on the web, that would display the student photo, little faces and the short story of the bio of the students. And also I mean, you can sponsor a child through the website.
And also you can just connect me through my email, which is at sustainable Cambodia do org. That's my email account. So just, and I'll put, I'll put all of that in the show notes so everyone can, can have that information. Just connect to me and mention that, oh, I've. Would love to sponsor a child. Can you recommend a child for me?
Yes, I could recommend a student for you. And the thing is, if you go to the website, you would see the, the children. So you could decide like which one you would love to, but if you could not decide it, I know it's sometime hard to decide to choose which one, [00:42:00] and yeah, so just, just email me. Then I would send the information after recommendation, like which children who need the most, I mean, who is in the high need.
So after that you got a student. And then would send a link for the donation of child partnership and then you complete the payment and all of that. And what I would send, which is because of welcome package, after you completed donation, after you found the students. So the student would write a special letter, which is, would describe their family, their home life, their school life, and all of that as a handwritten one with the little throwing of the children.
And that would be scanned into a document. And I will put it in and then would email to the sponsor as the welcome package, including the welcome letter, welcome letter for to help the sponsor understand more about our program. And we have the school update, the school greeting, and a short update of the [00:43:00] student that put together kind welcome package, which is all in one that help the sponsor to understand more about our program.
Then I would send out all of that. And also the sponsor can keep in touch with the children by exchanging the letters. So they can do a letter, even the handwriting one, or in the Word document or in in anything else, just a note. So they can email me and even send a photos, a video of where they live.
And I would put all of that together and all the letter from the sponsor will be printed out. And hand it to the students and then the student will start to respond back by writing a letter back to the sponsor. So they keep a change the letter band for us and for some sponsor they make a trip to Cambodia and to see the children in person.
That's really, really beautiful. And mainly I coordinate that, arrange the family visit for the sponsor when they [00:44:00] come to Cambodia. So I arrange that and make a trip for them to see the student family in the will. Situation where, where they live and all of that. To meet their parents to meet a sibling and, yes.
Yeah, that's incredibly special. And I know there was a lot of people on my Youth Link trip with the Dancing Moose team that there was a lot of, a lot of. A lot of the team sponsored children, and I know they're already interacting and exchanging emails and pictures and there's some bonds there that are incredible.
I, I feel like every child need a champion and, and we all just wanna be seen and validated, and this is such a, a special way to do that. Well, as, as we wrap up here, IV. Do you have any wisdom to share as far as what helped you become where you are? I mean, we've talked [00:45:00] about Cambodia and how it's, it's gone through the genocide and it's, it's, it's coming back and it is a story of, of rebirth and hope and grit and and, and how about you?
What, what do you feel is, has really made the difference for you? Yeah. So, so, you know, while other people helping us, we need to help ourself. You know, I would say if you, if you try to plant a seed and the seed doesn't wanna grow, we could not grow that. I mean, we could not plant a seed at all. So that other thing, it's for myself as a females as a woman, and been through all the hard time that I mentioned earlier, one thing that really, make me become who I am today, is I never lost the hope. The hope always remain in my heart. Just like there's always something gonna gonna work. And also I [00:46:00] have a strong commitment to just like just working and, and what I feel is I believe on myself. Even I don't do it well, but at least I try my best and.
Also, I never get tired of learning new things, just wanna learn more and more. And one of my passion, what I'm so passionate about, is just use what I learn. I mean the knowledge. All I learn, the skill, the talent that I have. I will use that as much as I can to help the next gener reason, to just want to help other people and, and that, and, and why I want to help like that, because I've been through the hard time and I completely understand that.
The children, the student, they really need that. And they, sometime, they don't really call directly for help, but I feel that when I was a child, I need that help. So why not? I've been through all of that and I experienced that. Why not? I'm back to have that because I understand [00:47:00] so well about that and just give them some advice, suggestion, and then it's success.
And what make me staying at sustainable Cambodia and, and continue to feel joy working is I. I have had many generation of the student who've been to the school and gone to university and, and every year, mostly during the teacher day, they send me a messages and thanks me and thank you for making my life completely change.
Thank you for being a good mentor. Thank you for being a good teacher and all of that. So that really bring a flower to my heart and, and just like, oh, I'm so grateful. And I wish all of them the best. I don't want anything from them. I don't want anythings that All I want is just want to see them success in their life.
Yes. Seeing someone's success and knowing that you had a little bit of a part to play in that there is just, I don't know if there's much better than that and I, I love how you're, [00:48:00] you're speaking to. Owning our divine greatness. Right. Owning that you have something and you're just gonna do your best with it, and it's only gonna get better.
And deciding to be a seed that's gonna grow. Yeah. Yeah. I loved how you said that you, if the seed doesn't wanna grow, it's not gonna grow. But deciding Yeah. It's not gonna grow it. Yeah. Yeah, deciding you wanna be a seed of growth and you're going to do everything, get whatever opportunity comes, you're going to grasp onto it and make the best of it and do your best, and the failures come and you just keep getting up and you just keep going.
And pretty soon you're at almost the top of the organization and you're helping other people and you're connecting sponsors and kids and seeing life, and they come back in generations. Incredible situation. Yeah, it is absolutely incredible. Ugh. Well, is there anything that you have on your heart that you would like to leave us before we close?
So, one thing, and so thank you Candice, [00:49:00] for having me on podcast today and, and what, what I really want the people, it's just a short message from me as the a young mother from Cambodia and as a woman who've been through everything like just mentioned. So just stay happy and believe in yourself and being a unique, like independent woman.
Then just, just do what you can do and make yourself happy. Always stay happy, even like think something's not really okay, but staying happy and also always smile. I, I always smile to people even like happy, but smile is a free gift that you can just give to other people and smile from you.
Sometime could make a, a difference to the people that just met you sometime they've been through a hard time. And then when you just smile at them, it just bring them hope and love yourself more and do your best you can to have other, so help other, I mean like being [00:50:00] kind to other people and everything.
I mean, when you're being kind, doing good things. It'll come back to you in the really positive way in your heart. It's really so true. Bring a happiness into your and your life. Thank you. So true. Thank you. Thank you for being with us here today. It's just been such an honor. Thank you.
Thank you for joining me today to learn a little bit about Cambodian history and to see firsthand how their rising generation is truly succeeding. It's beautiful to see how they are genuinely committed to lifting each other. Sajiv is such a beautiful example of a woman born into difficult circumstances who was championed by her parents.
She truly took advantage of every opportunity and blessing that came her way, and she made the conscious decision to honor those that had made sacrifices for her by doing her very best every day and choosing to be happy, she made the decision to be a seed that grows. [00:51:00] And it made all the difference. Now she is the one championing other children, empowering them to follow in her footsteps and to rise what a beautiful soul IV SEC is.
Now if you're interested in sponsoring a child in Cambodia, I was there and I can guarantee. You will change not only the life of that child, but also of their entire family. Each sponsorship not only makes it so the child can attend the sustainable Cambodia School where they will get the education that they need to succeed, but it will also help their family become self-reliant with clean drinking water, latrines, gardens, healthcare animal programs.
What an incredible way to make a difference in the world. IVs contact information is in the show notes below, and if you're interested in going on a humanitarian trip, which I wholeheartedly endorse, they change your heart forever. I'll also put the information for Youth Link below if you enjoy this [00:52:00] podcast.
Please do me a favor and subscribe to it. Please take two minutes to rate and review it. If you're watching on YouTube, click the little subscribe button to subscribe to my channel. This will help others find me and allow this podcast to grow. And if there's something in this podcast that touched your heart today, please share it with a friend.
Together we rise. I hope this podcast inspires you to own your divine greatness and to use that greatness to step up and serve this world in your own unique way. Find me in my courses@candacenas.com and always remember, you are designed for greatness. Own it.
