Tangyi is the new girl!

January 7th, 1979 marked the end of the Cambodian genocide and the overthrow of the Khmer Rouge forces.  Despite 45 years of rebuilding the country, Cambodia remains facing many development challenges and one of them is the inequality of girls and women.
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UNESCO reported that, “88% of girls in Cambodia made their transition from primary to lower secondary school, but only 1 in 5 of those girls graduated from upper secondary school.”  We further learned from the Children of the Mekong that, “Only 37% of Cambodian women reach upper secondary school.”

PeopleStories School for Life program aims to help deserving children complete school.  In 2020, we passionately expanded the program with our STEM for Girls scholarships.  Founder Victoria shared with sparks in her eyes, “I believe in equality.  To me, it means the state of being equal, especially in status, rights and opportunities. I dream to see a world where everyone has the right to education regardless of their race, religion, gender, family background and physical ability."

PeopleStories STEM for Girls program is to help talented young girls to pursue their high school education in STEM.  As STEM education is almost non-existed in the rural villages, our program supports girls living and studying in a quality STEM high school in the capital city of Phnom Penh. This also means that the selected girls will have to relocate from their rural villages and live in Phnom Penh.

Since 2020, we have successfully supported 3 young talented girls (Pokim, Kongnov and Sreymey) to complete their STEM high school education and 2 other girls (Solin and Tangyi) are on their journey as we speak.

We often wonder why these girls are keen to be part of STEM for Girls?

Just relocated away from her village home to the capital city last month, Tangyi is the new girl who has been selected for the PeopleStories STEM for Girls scholarship.  Tangyi shared, “I am the eldest child in the family and I have 3 other siblings.  Going to school is not an easy task as my family is very poor.  I want to be part of the PeopleStories STEM4Girl because I want to change myself, my life.  I want to develop my knowledge.”

Starting her PeopleStories journey in 2019, Tangyi has been part of the School for Life program since she was 12 years old.  Now at the age of 16, what would be Tangyi’s dream? ​

She shared, “I have many dreams!  Before I moved to PP, my horizon was limited.  After seeing so many new things, my thinking has changed and my new dream is to be a Fashion Designer.”

There is no doubt that Tangyi is enjoying her exciting experiences with her STEM high education and living in a big city has given her plenty of opportunities to broaden her horizons.   How about challenges?  We wonder what kind of difficulties she is facing living in the big city?

Tangyi spoke emotionally, “When I moved to Phnom Penh, I was missing home so much!  The biggest difficulty I face is living alone without my parents and family!”

With homesickness, how does Tangyi manage it?  Does this bring any regrets to her STEM for Girl decision?  She shared, “I try to be patient and often get in touch with my family via phone calls.  When I told my parents about this, they urged me to learn to live alone because they won’t be able to follow me forever.  It is time to be more independent.”

Tangyi is a joyful, responsible and determined girl.  In 2022, she made an attempt to apply for the same scholarship but unfortunately failed the school entry examination.  A year later, she prepared well and tried again for the school entry examination and passed it with great results.  Her resilience and thirst for greater STEM education is clearly noted by all the teachers and friends.

Tangyi was deep in thought and then shared, “I really value this scholarship and will use it to gain not only knowledge but reach my dream!  My advice for other young girls in the village is you need to try to be patient.  Please learn more.  When you learn you gain a lot of knowledge. When you have knowledge, you can pursue your dreams and change your life.”

Let’s wish Tangyi all the best with her STEM education.  We truly look forward to hearing more about her journey.

If you are passionate about gender equality and wanted to do something to give girls greater equal opportunities, please support our STEM for Girls scholarship:
https://bit.ly/Donate_PS2024

Story written by: Volunteer Victoria Miloschewsky