My name is Sreyrath and I am 25 years old. I grew up in poverty in rural Cambodia. I am the youngest among four siblings in a farming family in Siem Reap. My parents are illiterate, but they always encouraged me to pursue my dreams through school.

I successfully graduated high school because of my parents’ support in 2014. Not to burden my parents, I started working full-time as a teacher assistant and English teacher at a private school and organisation during the day, and studied a Bachelor's Degree in Teaching English as a Foreign Language in the evening at the University of South-East Asia, Siem Reap, in late 2015. Later, in 2017 I also started Japanese language study at Yamamoto Japanese Language Educational Centre. I graduated from my Japanese School in late 2018 and graduated from the University in the following year.

After graduating from the university, I worked as a volunteer in both educational and environmental sectors within Cambodia and neighbouring countries, Thailand and Indonesia. I have gained more knowledge of languages and learnt diverse traditions, cultures, and lifestyles from other volunteers that I have worked with.

In March 2020, all schools were closed because of the pandemic, lots of children in my home village could not access online study, so I decided to run a free English and Khmer class for children who were 4 to 13 years old to study on the weekdays. Through teaching I know I can share this dream of a better future among those who wish to develop competence in English, and a great opportunity for them to pursue their dreams like I did. Now, I am so excited to work as an English Teacher at REACH. My goal is to pursue a Master's Degree in TESOL in order to become an effective teacher in Siem Reap.