University Education for Young Women in Cambodia

Our GATE program currently supports 243 girl students. Currently, we are providing 105 families of the GATE students with rice support to make sure that vulnerable families have adequate nutrition. Below is a story about Pheak, a student who has recently graduated from our GATE + GATEways program. With hard work exerted in school, she has proven to be very successful in the work force. 

We met Pheak at the garment factory where she works as a Chartered Accountant. Pheak graduated in September of 2014 from Vanda Accounting Institute at Phnom Penh. Lotus Outreach has supported her since the seventh grade, through high school, and university.  Adding to her LO scholarship, she also won a scholarship from the Accounting Institute. 

To further support her studies and gain work experience, Pheak started a part time job while in her third year at University and was already employed before she ended her fourth year. While there are a lot of unemployed university students, Pheak said that all her batch and the juniors she knows have secured good jobs in their field.

We asked, “Why,” how come you were able to secure this great job with a $300+ salary even before graduation?

“I think it’s because I had joined the workforce early and didn’t wait till the end of my course. I started working as a receptionist in my third year and already had some work experience. I had also used my scholarship money to study computer and English. Further, I bought a computer with my salary and scholarship support and began to practice all I learned at college and at work. I feel I was therefore prepared to cope with the interview with some confidence, as I know what to do when they asked me, even though my English is still not strong. Even so, I was very nervous when I applied for this job. I had to go through 3 rounds of interviews and computer and English were very important and I was especially nervous about my English. I bought a computer at the beginning of third year and used it to practice at home all that I was learning in class. What we learned at Vanda and the software we used were different than what I had to use here when I started so I had to be flexible and adaptable. We used Excel at Vanda and here we use more complicated system. I was still nervous about keeping my job in the first month so I also worked at home after office hours to practice so I could quickly become skilled in that system. Now, with this experience behind me, I feel confident that I can get a job with a better salary if and when I wish to." 

To learn more about Pheak's history, we asked a about her home and family.

“I come from a tiny district, Nimith at Banteay  Meanchey and was supported by the GATE program since grade seven. My parents and family moved to Siem Reap when I was in grade 9 for better job opportunities. They have now resettled at SR and run a recycling business that has improved their livelihood. My mother asked me to drop out and come with them but I refused to stop studying as I was under scholarship and would have lost it. I lived with relatives through grades 9 and 10 then the program allowed me to stay at a residential home for 11 and 12 so I could focus on my studies better."

Pheap, like many other GATE/GATEway funded students, has demonstrated resilience and perseverance.  

We asked how Pheak feels she has grown as a person and how different would she have been had she not received support from LO over all these years.

Pheak responds through welling tears….

“Now I feel that I am a person who has confidence in myself, responsible, and independent. It’s different from when I was young—always under control and guidance of my parents—and I didn’t have a direction for myself because I was still young.”

"Now that I am grown up, I have a good job and I have money, so I realize my real potential and what I can do. I am now much happier than before. "

She ended the interview with saying, "especially, I still want to thank Lotus Outreach again for the support until now. Without the support, I can’t imagine how my life would have been, so I am extremely delighted.”

Pheak is one of hundreds of poor Cambodian village girls from impoverished communities that Lotus Outreach has supported through high school and into University and training courses, thereby building human resources emaciated by decades of civil war and the Khmer Rouge purges. 

The GATE and GATEways objective is to enhance the life options of at-risk girls and their families and to reduce their vulnerability to violence and trafficking.The GATE program currently provides primary and secondary educational scholarships and holistic support to 422 girls in Banteay Meanchey, Siem Reap and Phnom Penh provinces. This past year 87 GATEways scholars were supported by Lotus Outreach and Cambodian Women’s Crises Center (CWCC) which was made possible through the support of donors like you. The following is Sima's story, a driven scholar that has been supported by both the GATE and GATEways program.

Sima, who is currently twenty-three, joined the GATE program in tenth grade. Sima states, “My family situation was such that going from grade sicth to grade seventh – my parents wanted me to drop school at and I did not attend school in the 2^nd semester. Being very young at that time, I had to follow my parents and although the CWCC were looking for scholarship girls, my parents did not hear about it.”

When Sima was in ninth grade her parents were again putting pressure on her to drop out of school due to family poverty. Once the school principle found out she immediately approached Sima’s parents and let them know that she Sima could receive a GATE scholarship if they kept her in school.

While Sima was receiving her GATE scholarship, she was determined to make a positive change for all of the GATE scholars. It is importantly noted that when Sima sees room for improvement, she lets people know! Sima was the first student to request rice support which inevitably became part of the GATE program. Sima also requested that stipends be distributed in the beginning of the month rather than middle, to make paying rent and purchasing food easier. Sima has shown signs of her forward thinking since highschool!

Sima said, “I was the special case in 2010 and while two other girls didn’t get the funds untill later, I got my stipend every month.” Sima reflects on her past, “In grade 11 I decided I wanted to be a lawyer. One of my friends told me she wanted to be a lawyer and we were one and two in the class. We were very competitive. We also ended up studying in the same university and we were always competing, she even did the French degree as well.”

Upon her graduation a few years later she received a scholarship at the Royal University of Law and Economics. After graduating from University with a double degree in Law and French with the support of GATEways, Sima received a scholarship to peruse her Masters degree in Law. Although this was a great opportunity, Sima’s family requested that she take a few years off of school because they needed her to work to help make ends meet.  

In July 2014, Sima started at working for ADHOC(The Cambodian Human Rights and Development Association). Since then, her salary has increased impressively and she is now sending more than half of her salary home to her family. Some of the money that she is sending home is supporting one of her sisters in school.

Sima speaks about her recent job experience, “First I was working for enfant du Mekong as a social worker, not really the job I wanted. Then I saw there was a job available at ADHOC. The job is teaching Law to the community and I really love that. It was especially interesting to me as it is helpful to the community to teach them about rights. Sometimes I advise them on how to approach the court – domestic violence/gender/women’s rights/marriage – right age and not forced – marriage certificate – many of them don’t therefore have marriage certificate / rape.”

“70% of the rape cases I have put forward have been processed in the court and I do the follow-up to ensure case are being taken up or issue a legal position to push the process and ensure the case is going through the court toward a verdict,” Sima says proudly(rightfully so!).

Sima plans to go back to school to earn her Masters in Law after a few years of working. We are encouraging her because of the great work we know she will do and the many lives that she will impact

Sima is very thankful the support that has provided by donors like you. Her success is a wonderful example of how GATEways can change lives and impact many more. Thank you for believing in women like Sima!