Reader's Digest - USA (2019-08)

READER’SDIGEST

To Teach

is to Touch

a Life

Forever

Inoneofthepoorest

areasofCambodia’s

capital,a retiredteacher

discoversa thirst

forknowledge

MYSTORY

I

t allbeganin 2014 whenI met

CambodiancoupleKoyChhim

andRenyPhoeurk,whowere

volunteeringata charityin

Sydney.I wasimpressedby

Koy’spassiontohelpprovidean

elementaryschooleducationfor

childrenlivinginunderprivileged

areasofCambodia.AsI ama former

primaryschoolteacher,weshareda

BYJudithBond

lot in common. Koy asked me to

visit him if I went to Phnom Penh

and, six months later, I did just that.

During my visit to Cambodia,

I spent a day with Koy, Reny and

their family. Koy told me that he was

working with children who lived in

Toul Pongror, the garment factory

district, and home to some of the

city’s poorest people.

Under the Khmer Rouge, the

regime that ruled Cambodia between

1975 and 1979, an entire generation

missed out on an education and,

consequently, professionals and

teachers are in short supply. Schools

charge fees, yet wages are low, so

many children remain at home

unsupervised while their parents

• often single mothers – work very
  long hours in the clothing factories.
  Without an education, opportunities
  for the youth are slim. Koy’s goal
  was to get these children off the
  streets and give them an education.
  Within six months of my visit, Koy
  had established two schools, The
  Laneway School and The Train Track
  School. Two months after that, I
  returned to Phnom Penh ready to
  help as a volunteer teacher.
  Koy and Reny and their five
  children welcomed me into their
  home on the outskirts of Phnom
  Penh for three weeks. A typical day
  began early with a wake-up call
  from the geckos on the wall, and
  the crows and dogs outside. After a
  cold shower, I’d enjoy a breakfast of

12 august 2019