Taking Steps for My Dreams!

In 2017, PeopleStories organised “What’s Your Dream?” Drawing competition the very first time and it was all about encouraging children to imagine and dream about their future .    

Sopheak, 11 years old then, was one of the 10 winners.  She was studying at Grade 6 and had a dream of becoming a chef! 

We often wonder how a young child could dream of something that distance and big… Let’s hear how her dreams came about. 

Sopheak developed a love for cooking from observing her mother, who is a great cook.  She shared, “I really like cooking.  I cannot cook well but I really like it.” 

In fact, she started her cooking adventure when she was only in Grade 3 where she was still very young.   She recalled, “When I was 9, I cooked rice.  First, I used the firewood to start the fire. Then, I boiled the water.  I washed the rice and put it into the water. I waited till the rice split and drained it.”  

It was a wonderful and empowering experience for her to be able to cook the rice by herself.   Perhaps the sense of achievement is something that really empowers her love for cooking. ​

What has she been doing after the competition to realise her dream?  She revealed, “Instead of just learning from my mum and dad, I have started learning from friends, Victoria and even sometimes from watching cooking videos!”  Besides, she also put in the efforts to practise.  She said, “I practise until I get it right.  It was hard but I think it is a good thing that I need to do.”   

In 2019, PeopleStories held a Khmer writing competition in which she was also a winner!  This time, she wrote about her dreams of becoming a police officer and a chef at the same time!  This pushes our curiosity further as we want to hear more about her police office dream. 

A little proud news that Sopheak shared, “Since the beginning of this school year, I have been appointed as one of the three class leaders in my class of 51 students.  As a class leader, I am responsible for the class work assigned by the teachers, manage my classmates and help with school and class work.”   

She further explained, “I have the dream of becoming a police officer because I always become a leader in the class and I also like the leadership role.” 

From a dream to become a chef to a police officer, Sopheak has shown us the importance of taking steps to pursue something that is so close to her heart.   She told us a little secret of her success at closing of our conversation, “Focus on studying, study hard and don’t play a lot.  Have confidence in yourself and be brave.” 

​Sopheak has been taking steps to realise her dreams and has thought of new dreams along her learning journey.   We wish her all the best and look forward to see her dreams come true, one by one.