Dear my best valued clients, new friends and old friends!
I wish you to read about my background. And then why we run this school!
My name is Chonn,( pronounced John). I am a tour guide at the famous world heritage site Angkor Wat in Cambodia. I grew up in poverty in rural Cambodia, a country which has endured over thirty years of war. Under the regime of Pol Pot around 1.8 million people were executed. Many of those murdered were educated people. As a result of these murders, after the end of the regime more than 90% of Cambodia’s population is now uneducated. Without education, current and future generations live in poverty.
Because of the conflict in Cambodia, and the mass execution of the educated, parents of the young do not understand the need for educating their children. They have no idea of the potential for their children to achieve their dreams and improve their future through education.
Even though the conflict has subsided and Cambodia is a safe country, very few children are able to finish high school and get a job. Only 35% of Cambodian children are able to finish high school. This is difficult for the children and creates problems for the country as its population remains poor and uneducated.
Why is that only 35% of the children finished high school, even though the public school is free? This is because they need to pay for extra classes, from the teacher. Teachers never teach well in school because they sometimes do it for business. This is one of controversial topic in my country. A lot families can´t pay for extra classes and that´s why a lot of poor children get unlucky.
I was born into a poor family but I was one of the lucky few whose parents were educated. My father died when I was ten years old. Despite our family’s poverty, I still understood the need for education. I kept fighting to survive and continue my education in order to finish high school. I was extremely lucky to be able to speak English. Speaking English allowed me to change my life from being a poor farm boy to a person with opportunities in life. This was all because my parents understood that to achieve your dreams in Cambodia requires education.
I was thirteen years old when I went with my mother to Angkor Wat for the first time. It was the first time I saw people speaking another language that I did not know. It was then I promised myself to learn that language. After that I found a school in my small town where I could learn it.
I was a poor farm boy from a very young age. From the age of fifteen until eighteen I also worked nights in a wooden factory. I then got my first job in town as a security guard. I got that job because I could speak a little English. I went to school in the daytime and worked at night until I completed high school.
I was able to get a job as a receptionist in the same hotel I worked as a security guard for. After that I was a tuk-tuk driver until 2007 when I became an English speaking tour guide of the Angkor region. Most of my friends have not been able to get jobs like this. The best they can hope for is doing the same jobs as their parents. Even very young children have to work in the same jobs as their parents do because their parents don’t understand that education, and especially learning English, can give their children more opportunities in life.
I met Jenny when I was a tuk-tuk driver and we started to talk about life! It ended up with a project; a school for the children at my village and near by!
Now my dream is to help the poor children of Cambodia to have a future through education and in particular teaching them to speak English.
Why?
Cambodia’s economy is driven by tourism. English is the main language spoken in the tourism industry. Understanding English is crucial for getting a job right now. So I am working to teach English to the children in my village.
I still work as a freelance tour guide. Most every day I drive my bike to work and then drive 35 km back to teach in the late afternoon at my village school. Even though this is hard work, I am very happy. I never feel tired.
Why?
Because now I have a dream and a promise to myself to help more and more children to have a better life than the generation before them had. My idea is to create a school to have chance to help more children. In my community there are 12 villages, it´s more than 100.000 people. There are a lot more children who wish to get help from us. I have a dream to make a real school and to make it very interesting for the children who come. I plan to build two classrooms, one library, one computer class and one or two rooms for volunteers. We need the volunteers because they are very much helpful to improve the children to speak good English. Around the school we need a yard with a playing ground and a spot for parking bikes. For this project I wish to raise money from people throughout the world who understand the value of education for children. Who want to ease the poverty of young people in Cambodia and give them the possibility of a greater future.
/Chonn
I wish you to read about my background. And then why we run this school!
My name is Chonn,( pronounced John). I am a tour guide at the famous world heritage site Angkor Wat in Cambodia. I grew up in poverty in rural Cambodia, a country which has endured over thirty years of war. Under the regime of Pol Pot around 1.8 million people were executed. Many of those murdered were educated people. As a result of these murders, after the end of the regime more than 90% of Cambodia’s population is now uneducated. Without education, current and future generations live in poverty.
Because of the conflict in Cambodia, and the mass execution of the educated, parents of the young do not understand the need for educating their children. They have no idea of the potential for their children to achieve their dreams and improve their future through education.
Even though the conflict has subsided and Cambodia is a safe country, very few children are able to finish high school and get a job. Only 35% of Cambodian children are able to finish high school. This is difficult for the children and creates problems for the country as its population remains poor and uneducated.
Why is that only 35% of the children finished high school, even though the public school is free? This is because they need to pay for extra classes, from the teacher. Teachers never teach well in school because they sometimes do it for business. This is one of controversial topic in my country. A lot families can´t pay for extra classes and that´s why a lot of poor children get unlucky.
I was born into a poor family but I was one of the lucky few whose parents were educated. My father died when I was ten years old. Despite our family’s poverty, I still understood the need for education. I kept fighting to survive and continue my education in order to finish high school. I was extremely lucky to be able to speak English. Speaking English allowed me to change my life from being a poor farm boy to a person with opportunities in life. This was all because my parents understood that to achieve your dreams in Cambodia requires education.
I was thirteen years old when I went with my mother to Angkor Wat for the first time. It was the first time I saw people speaking another language that I did not know. It was then I promised myself to learn that language. After that I found a school in my small town where I could learn it.
I was a poor farm boy from a very young age. From the age of fifteen until eighteen I also worked nights in a wooden factory. I then got my first job in town as a security guard. I got that job because I could speak a little English. I went to school in the daytime and worked at night until I completed high school.
I was able to get a job as a receptionist in the same hotel I worked as a security guard for. After that I was a tuk-tuk driver until 2007 when I became an English speaking tour guide of the Angkor region. Most of my friends have not been able to get jobs like this. The best they can hope for is doing the same jobs as their parents. Even very young children have to work in the same jobs as their parents do because their parents don’t understand that education, and especially learning English, can give their children more opportunities in life.
I met Jenny when I was a tuk-tuk driver and we started to talk about life! It ended up with a project; a school for the children at my village and near by!
Now my dream is to help the poor children of Cambodia to have a future through education and in particular teaching them to speak English.
Why?
Cambodia’s economy is driven by tourism. English is the main language spoken in the tourism industry. Understanding English is crucial for getting a job right now. So I am working to teach English to the children in my village.
I still work as a freelance tour guide. Most every day I drive my bike to work and then drive 35 km back to teach in the late afternoon at my village school. Even though this is hard work, I am very happy. I never feel tired.
Why?
Because now I have a dream and a promise to myself to help more and more children to have a better life than the generation before them had. My idea is to create a school to have chance to help more children. In my community there are 12 villages, it´s more than 100.000 people. There are a lot more children who wish to get help from us. I have a dream to make a real school and to make it very interesting for the children who come. I plan to build two classrooms, one library, one computer class and one or two rooms for volunteers. We need the volunteers because they are very much helpful to improve the children to speak good English. Around the school we need a yard with a playing ground and a spot for parking bikes. For this project I wish to raise money from people throughout the world who understand the value of education for children. Who want to ease the poverty of young people in Cambodia and give them the possibility of a greater future.
/Chonn