My name is Zoe Eleftheriou. I am a 24-year-old Brit, who’s lived all my life in a town called Kent (it’s just below London). This will be my 6th time living in Cambodia and in all the places I have been fortunate enough to travel so far, Cambodia is my favourite country! I love learning about the beautiful Khmer culture, eating the exquisite cuisine, exploring and learning about the harsh history, and being amazed by the incredible temples.
Through travelling to other countries and learning more about other people’s lives, it has made me truly appreciate how lucky and fortunate I am. My brother and I have always been encouraged to reach for our dreams by our parents and that the only person in the way of getting those dreams is ourselves. My parents are my biggest supporters and role models and I know that I would not be where I am today without them.
After finishing school, I was unsure of which career path I wanted to take, so decided to take a gap year in travelling. It was in this gap year that I completed my TEFL course and travelled to Cambodia to volunteer teaching English. Easy to say that I fell in love with the country, the people and found my passion for teaching. From this experience I decided to come back the following year as a head rep to show other British volunteers the beautiful country of Cambodia and oversee them whilst teaching in different schools.
When I am not travelling, I work as a nursery practitioner in England. (This is equivalent to nursery and preschool in Cambodia). I have had this job on and off (because of travelling) for the past 5 years. In this time, I have completed my level 3 qualification, first aid training, workshops on safeguarding, food safety and prevention duty. My proudest achievement was being promoted to a lead role within the facility and ensuring that all my key children were ready for school.
Now that I have returned to Cambodia, I am hoping to stay for a long time (I would even push to say forever). I love the opportunities and the differences that I can make here. I have found the love of my life and from this have gained a Khmer family. I am very excited to be starting this journey at REACH, to share all the knowledge and passion that I have, to help make a positive impact on other people’s lives.
