A mother’s appeal

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!  ​

Ma KongNov (mother of student KongNov) has never attended school nor owned any significant assets, but we were impressed that she bravely accepted the challenge to give a speech in front of 300 people.  Everyone was amazed and moved by her heartfelt words. 
 
Ma KongNov came from a very poor family and has never attended school.  She has been washing plates, picking and selling green plums to earn $1 to $2 a day so that her daughters could receive education.  Even then, her income was never regular nor enough. 
 
She shared that when Victoria asked about her daughters’ learning needs, her daughter requested to have whiteboards and books as she really wanted to study and have knowledge like other children.  ​

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. 

She said, “I have no knowledge and don’t want my children to be poor like me. I only have income when my husband is feeling well but he is always sick, so I don’t have any savings. I’ve been working hard until one of my children can study in Phnom Penh and I’m very happy that my hopes have come true.”  
 
She encouraged earnestly, “I would like to encourage all students to study hard and all parents to support our children to study. When I come back from work, I would go through my children’s work to see which subject, she is not doing well in. From there, I will note it in my children’s report book to let their teacher know about it. Our teachers are attentive and help her on the weaker subjects. Last of all, thank you to all teachers and Madam Victoria for supporting my children, thank you!” ​

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.   ​

A Mother's Appeal from PeopleStories Charity on Vimeo.