Sok Eay

A Collaborator of Metta Karuna Siem Reap

Story

Siem Reap is well known for its tourism so it has a lot of luxurious resorts and shops. But most of the local people in Siem reap are poor farmers just like the people in the other cities of Cambodia.

There is a mountain called ‘Phnom Kulen’ about 48km away from the city of Siem Reap. When you follow the winding path through the trees, you can see the villages hiding in the wood.

This year, JSC established a small primary school in one of those villages. Its name is ‘Samrong village’. Before we founded the school, there was a woman who fervently demanded a new school in this village to JSC, and she even donated her own land for the new school building.

Mrs. Sok Eay(52) has lived growing crops in ‘Samrong village’ since 2002. She had lived in a bigger village before but she moved here because she didn’t have any land to grow. However, this mountain area is the hostile conditions for farmers to raise rice. So, most of the villagers grow fruits or other crop plants. But the most difficult thing for the villagers is its location. Samrong village is surrounded by the wood and all the facilities like schools, hospitals or the markets are too far from it.

“The nearest primary school in this place takes 2 hours from here. Notably, when it rains, children cannot go to the school because the roads become flooded in an instant. So many children give up their study before 3th grade.” She has known JSC’s coordinator Srey Mom who visits the village every week. One day, she suggests building school on the land behind her farm.

“Thanks to JSC, the school was built and now children can come and study. But at the present time, the problem is lack of teachers. Only 2 teachers teach the students in the school. So they can learn only basic khmer language.” This year, 87 students attend the school. She said that she wants to see every child in this village going to school every morning.

“People are more important than land. Even if we have land for school, we cannot educate children without teachers. Yes, we are always lacking people. So I hope the better road to this village in the near future. Then, doctors and teachers will come here easily.”