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CHANTHY is one of the poor pupils living in Taneng village, Sangke commune, Romdoul district, Svay Rieng province. They are farmers, living in a small house, with farming land of 0.40ha, Chathy’s mother, Lay Vanny, is 60 years old, and her father, Keo Sorn, is 91 years old. Chanthy’s father is an archbishop in a pagoda, and her mother stays at home raising chickens and cows. The family consists of 3 members. Their income is $15 per person per month. Their income is not enough to support the family due to expenses for health treatment and their child’s study. Her family is classified as poor group II, meaning they are very poor in the village. The family cannot pay her for even the old bike.
In 2022 she studied in grade 5 and she is 11 years old. She is a good student in the class. Every day, she walks about 3 km with her friend from home to school. Occasionally, if a friend calls her to ride a bike, she rides with them, but not often. It takes her 50 minutes to get to school from home if she walks.
Chanthy wakes up early every morning to clean the house. Some materials for her studies are not enough, and she wears old clothes to school. Normally, she studies in the morning and her breakfast consists of leftover rice and food from the previous evening. Every day, she needs to bring a bottle of water from home. She is not often on time for school, and sometimes she is absent due to family problems and transportation issues.
In 2022, The Community Advancement Organization supported her with a bike cycle, which has allowed her to go to school on time every day.
From year to year her parents are too old and cannot earn more income and health issues are the main problem for her father. Their income comes down. Sometimes she wanted to give up her studies, but the CAO teamwork gave her some advice and motivated her backs to join school again.
Fortunately, in March 2024 CAO invited a group of visitors from France to visit Chanthy and her family. M. Antoine Simeoni, a visitor from CAO interested in her family and he began providing monthly support from his own pocket to Chanthy, which has the potential to transform her future. This support enables Chanthy to pay for her extra classes, school materials, and daily expenses. The extra classes have helped her gain more knowledge and a better understanding of the lessons from her public classes. As a result, she has improved her academic performance from being one of the lowest in her class to becoming one of the best. Without the support from the CAO and individual sponsors, Chanthy may have had to give up her education when she was in grade 5. Now, she dreams of becoming a teacher in the future and hopes to at least complete high school.