Computer Literacy Teacher

Phin Veasna

Growing up, my family were very poor, so I worked extremely hard. My younger brother and I had to herd cows all day every day to support my family. My family moved around a lot, and so I lived with my grandparents since I was around six years old and was unable to stay with my parents. Despite being illiterate, my grandparents taught all their grandchildren the value of a good education, so when I lived with them, I was able to attend school.

It was very difficult for me to attend school in my hometown as I was living in a rural area. There were no English classes at all when I was young. However, in 2010, the Cambodian Rural Development NGO came to my village and began teaching English to students in the surrounding villages that could not speak English, which was a great opportunity for us.

My brother was lucky enough to get a sponsorship from a teacher who is from Australia which enabled us to move to Siem Reap and begin studying together in Angkor High School. During this time, we were homesick, and this was challenging, but we did this life until we graduated from school as we knew that it would help us.

After this, there was a new opportunity for me and my brother to continue studying at University. I passed a scholarship from Journey Within Our Community (JWOC) after I finished my High School. Now I am a scholarship student of JWOC. As I needed to work to support myself, it was a little bit difficult to balance my volunteering hours, job and university, but I managed to make it work.

Now, I am a full-time English teacher at REACH Siem Reap. I am very excited to work here with such a passionate team and good programs. I teach in the lower-level green classroom. I know how difficult life can be without the support of an NGO, and how important my role is. I will do the best I can to help the kids and youth at REACH.

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