This is Mony’s story.
Mony is 10 years old and in grade 4. His mother works at a shop selling water, his father is a tuk tuk driver and they live in a rented room. Government funded schools in Cambodia run for 4 hours a day, either in the morning or afternoon. This does not give students enough time to learn the content required to pass the grade and if your family is poor and needs you to work, you don’t have time to go. Mony told us his classmates didn’t want to be his friend because his study wasn’t very good. He couldn’t read and found maths very hard. He said, “I come from a poor family so nobody wanted to be my friend. I felt so embarrassed, and my heart was broken.”
Our partner operates within the slums of Phnom Penh, engaging with families and children who have not yet entered formal schooling or who are falling behind. They identify children eager to learn and accompany them throughout their entire educational journey, extending some to university and beyond. Our partner runs several activity centres designed specifically to offer tutoring and remedial classes in Khmer and basic Mathematics. Additionally, these centres create an environment where children can dedicate time to their homework and engage in various classes, including English, Computer, Art, Music, and Sports.
Mony has been studying with our partners for about two years and his life is so much brighter. He said, “I feel so much better than before. Here, I see teachers who care for students, they explain the lesson very well, the students are more friendly and they help me. I feel so much happier to come and study here. Now I can read the long story books in Khmer and for maths, it’s not difficult for me anymore. I can even read some short stories in English! I am so excited by the stories I read that I tell them to some young children that live near my house. Sometimes I buy snacks for them too from the small money that my parents give me. I want to help them study well and not feel ashamed like me. Now I have more friends at the public school because they come to ask me for help when they cannot read or don’t know how to do maths.”
Mony wants to be a soldier when he grows up so he can protect poor people, because “when you are poor, people look down on you”. He is so thankful to our partners; he no longer feels ashamed and has so many opportunities.
This particular program is not just about getting kids into school, but rather about taking the children that society has written off and encouraging them to think bigger. It’s about discovering their life’s purpose, reaching their potential and growing in leadership. Significant time is dedicated to identifying children from challenging backgrounds – slum living, street children, exploited or abandoned – guiding them into education, fostering a love for learning, and inspiring them to see a future beyond what currently seems possible.