Onward and Upward

With a feet-on-the-ground presence, PeopleStories has been working closely with various schools in rural Cambodia since 2017 and this year we have our first group of scholarship students progressing from secondary school to high school. Such a fantastic milestone to be celebrated!
 
With this incredible milestone, we took an opportunity to catch up with two of our PeopleStories Scholars who have just graduated from Grade 9 from Chea Smonn Secondary school.  They are now getting ready to progress to Grade 10 at a new school, Bakong High School, in November 2019.

​First, we spoke with BunSao who is a 16 year old young man. Both of BunSao’s parents are farmers. He also has 5 brothers and 2 sisters. Having 8 children in the family, life hasn’t been as easy for him nor his siblings. In fact, some of his siblings had to quit school and start working at a very young age in order to bring home some extra income. 

How different do you think your life would have been without the scholarship?
If I didn’t get the scholarship, I probably wouldn’t have performed well in class. Maybe I’d even have dropped out of school! [chuckles] You see, my father is poor and we don’t have money to send me to after school classes. Without those extra classes that’s covered under the scholarship, I don’t think I would’ve been able to get the extra help I needed to understand and learn some complex things. I probably wouldn’t have even progressed to the next Grade and would just be finding a job like my siblings.
 
How do you feel now that you have finished Grade 9? Is there anything you look forward to doing in Grade 10 at the new school?
I’m really happy that I can progress to High school! I just want to study hard; my goal is to be one of the most high performing students in Grade 10! And maybe learn some Physics? I want to be an engineer one day and maybe I can start learning some things about it in my new school. 

So you want to be an engineer? Why?
I just think Cambodia needs a lot of engineers. We need many new buildings and construction works to improve our country. If I’m an engineer, I can help my family a lot. Plus, I will be very strong! [laughs]

We then spoke to 15 year old Chit Pokim, whose dream since she was a little girl is to be a teacher. She has been a PeopleStories Scholar since secondary school, and this year she was awarded the Highest Performing Student at Chea Smonn Secondary school. 

​So we heard that you also want to be a teacher when you grow up? Is that true? 
Yes! [giggles] I really want to help the children in my village learn useful things. I believe education will give them a better future. Also, as a teacher, I think I can earn enough money to support my family.
 
What do you think High School is going to be like?
I’m very excited about going to my new High School! [laughs] I’m looking forward to meet some new friends. For sure there are going to be new challenges coming my way but I study even harder than before in Grade 10!

​How has the PeopleStories Scholarship impacted your life?
I have two other sisters in my family and my father is a fisherman. My family is very poor and that’s why my older sister had to quit school to find a job at a very young age. She works as a cashier at a guest house.  If I didn’t get the scholarship from PeopleStories, I’d most probably have to find a job to support myself going to school. That would have been very hard, but I have no choice. I’d still do it because I love school so much. [pauses] But I’m thinking, maybe if I had to work and go to school at the same time, I probably wouldn’t have won the Highest Performing Student Award.
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Interviewed by: Teacher Song at Chea Smonn Secondary School
Translated by: PeopleStories Team

Find out more about our School for Life and its scholarship program here