Upload
phoumirak
View
221
Download
0
Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
8/9/2019 Community Eateries Grant Report
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/community-eateries-grant-report 1/9
2010SINGAPORE
MANAGEMENT
UNIVERSITY
THA SOTHUN
[COMMUNITY EATERIES GRANT
REPORT] This is Sothun, graduate in Business Management from Singapore Management University (SMU).
This article will run you through my brief biographical background and explain how it inspires me to
initiate and co-lead Project Aphireak. It also reflects on my striking learning experience that I had
never expected and how I really appreciate your giving me the chance to spearhead and successfully
carry out this meaningful project.
PROJECT APHIREAK
8/9/2019 Community Eateries Grant Report
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/community-eateries-grant-report 2/9
INSPIRING, EMPOWERING…
8/9/2019 Community Eateries Grant Report
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/community-eateries-grant-report 3/9
A KAMPONG BOY.
I was born in the province of Kampong Cham, Cambodia, in 1985 in which
the cold-war-driven civil war in the country was still raging. I remembered
my family and the whole village would always pack up and leave the village
at around 2pm or 3pm everyday to avoid being raid by the Khmer Rouge
struggling fighters as my village was at the frontline of the battle. One of the
morning we came back to see that a big mortar had beautifully torn a big
hole in one of side of our concrete bungalow worker house left over from
the previous regime.
I lived in a family of four children, my mum a fish monger cum farmer and my
father a commune clerk. I was lucky enough that my father instilled the love
of study in me from young and I did it well up to my university. I lost some
inspirations and strengths at various points in time along the way, but I have
never forgotten that I would need to strive hard for the family.
When I was about 10 years old, my father ran away with his mistress leaving my mum alone to take
care of the four kids. It was not so sad when he left us because he hardly saw us either before then.
Probably we were just too small to ever feel the sadness although each one of us did cry the
moment he told us he was leaving. However, I think my mum at least felt a bit of relief thereafter as
she would not suffer any more violence or abuse from him; a relief from the most miserable
moments in life.
Unfortunately, the relief did not last any long
after all of us growing up a few years later and
needing more and more money to go to school.
My eldest brother stopped schooling at Primary
grade 2 while my second were forced to finish his
study at grade 7 to help out the family. I was
fortunate to have a few of my teachers and
neighbors convince my mum to strive to push me
up to her best efforts because I always achieved the first grades at school. Perhaps, it was also
because I didn’t have the charms or skills selling fish, pickles, deserts, snacks, lotto, or sugarcane
juice as my second brother did nor could I herd the cows or do farming like my eldest.
Everyone did their great jobs in keeping me out of their businesses and up in school. How I admired
my mum giving me that new bicycle in grade 11 and how I appreciated my brother giving me that
first-ever pair of popular Volentino leather sandals at grade 12 to go for the National Mathematic
Champion competition. It was love and encouragement. It was an inspiration and empowerment for
me. With that every little act of care, though explicit, I have the drive to dream and promise myself
how I can pay back all these uncountable debts.
Through time up to my university, the burden was getting heavier and tighter though I could save
quite a big sum of spending by staying with monks in a city pagoda. I was sometimes rethinking and
reconsidering if what I was doing was right or if I had been too selfish to keep it on. “Should I stop
Host family's grandson aka jungle boy
kenny (leader), Host's son Naroth, Tommi. I really like Naroth as he always smiles and
dreams too. He needs around US$500 to be a middle man to bring his village products to
sell in the market because it’s just too far and costly for individual farmers to do that.
8/9/2019 Community Eateries Grant Report
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/community-eateries-grant-report 4/9
here?” I always asked myself. Very many people in this country go jobless and crawl back home
despite having university degree, a waste of time and money. And a shame!
But it was those few other people who
influenced me personally and emotionally. I
overheard that there was this one gentlemanwho earned over US$500 just doing French
translation and interpretation. Later on I heard
that this other man earned over US$1000 after
working several years with an international
non-governmental organization. So my fantasy
changed over time from being a translator to a
nice manager of some organization. I then
heard that there was this nice countryside guy
winning a Japanese scholarship and coming back with so much a pride that he made almost US$2000
a month. Emm… “I’ve got to make it too” I was dreaming.
HOPES AND DREAMS!
The love. The encouragement. The inspiration. The drive. And the hope… I have them all. I must
achieve it. My dream… my bright future. And I would be able to pay back everyone. I want you all to
smile with hopes and dreams just like I do.
I nervously and wishfully went to search and apply for the first scholarship to Japan. I failed. I didn’t
make it even in the first round. But I came back to
the village to tell my mum, brothers and sister that I
should and I would get one. They were happy; of
course I was too. After two years of relentless
efforts picking up English, I finally made it through
all the three rounds. I was given the 4-year
scholarship award to Singapore to study in the
prestigious Singapore Management University.
Woohoo…
I must accept that I was not among the best or the
smartest of all the over 500 applicants, but I appreciated the interviewers giving me the chance. I
should have noted down their contacts so that I could personally thank them now. It means so much
to me and I think it is so to others as well; the chance… the empowerment.
In Singapore, the problems or rather challenges were even bigger. It took me at least two years to
catch up with others. There was so much pain and humiliation, but that only made me bigger,
stronger and bolder. I value all the time I have been spending here. I appreciate the opportunity and
the empowerment I receive here. For every year, I have been dreaming bigger and bigger and I have
always achieved at least an important milestone for myself that I can be proud of. And that I can
reinforce my belief, my value and my dreams: The Inspirations and The Empowerment.
Small little gifts from our own pockets that hopefully can inspire them to work hard.
This little half-faced chap on the right really followed us all days. On the last day, he
wrote me a letter that would enlight en me whenever I read it.
8/9/2019 Community Eateries Grant Report
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/community-eateries-grant-report 5/9
I BELIEVE..
I do what I believe in. I believe in helping the unfortunate. I believe in inspiring people to dream and
to strive for their dreams. I believe in empowering people to walk their dreams. And I believe I can do
it and I do it.
With CCD staff & local mgmt team Help in construction First Aid training
I came to Project Aphireak for the same motivation, the same belief, and the same agenda. Initially,
a few of my friends and I were discussing on leading another meaningful project before graduation.
We thought that we would have less time and less resource to do such things when starting work.
After a few recce trips personally and with my teammates, we finally decided on taking up this
pro ject to support the local initiative to improve their people’s living conditions and natural
conservations.
“Project Aphireak aims, through the eco-tourism development in the community, at creating new
income sources for the people of Konleng Phe village, Kampong Chhnang province, while at the same
time enhancing the sustainability of natural resources and wild lives.”
The main scopes of our project are fundraising for the construction of a
home-stay facility for visitors and training on business management and
natural conservation to the management team of the facility.
Yeah, it sounds very big and challenging. We discussed among ourselves
if we could achieve that vision or even just the few missions for this first
phase we planned. Personally I was reluctant and scared.
However, I was convinced by my teammate to take the lead. In fact, I
was also inspired meeting and talking to them, the villagers. I wasimpressed by how they struggle together to work through their various
problems with their limited knowledge and resources. I was driven to
think how I can possibly help them go on with their full energy to achieve
what they believe in.
I was convinced that to accomplish the vision we need to maintain the
people’s commitment and dedication and at least produce an important real outcome for them to
continue on. In other words, we need to inspire and empower them to pursue their dreams. And the
scopes of our work do just that, giving them and us some starting point to work on to meet the goals
Me & Kenny who convinced me about the
project. To my surprise, he told me how he
dream and plan to develop the village using a
creative business model.
8/9/2019 Community Eateries Grant Report
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/community-eateries-grant-report 6/9
together.
Time was running fast. We could no longer hang over and concern so much. The dream told us to
put our hands and feet together and work. Through small little things such as BBQ, sales of food and
snacks, accessories, clothing, and crafts, we managed to raise quite a handsome amount of money
but still to nowhere close to our budget. And that was how I learnt to value every little support fromothers and to give others supports – however little it is. Thanks to every one of our friends and little
men on the road, we could relieve ourselves not a little but a lot. Our sponsor City Development
Limited (CDL) was really kind to fill up the gap in the last minute and recharge our battery full for the
exciting and challenging work ahead in the village.
We have two main objectives in the village – firstly to share
with the management team of the homestay facility on
business management and natural resource conservation,
and secondly to assist our host organization to gather the
information for the marketing brochure.
Over the course of our own knowledge and researches, we
managed to share with them quite a bit on the two
subjects but we also learnt a great deal from them
especially on the natural resource management. What
really amazed me and all my teammates were the
experiences interacting with the locals there. I couldn’t
imagine how we bonded so well with them within just a
few days and felt so much fun and enriching. The planned daily workshop of 2 hours became all-day-
long class. Until late night there were still many kids and teens coming for English lessons. Over the
evening or lunch break, there were always locals to share with us their stories and experiences.
Besides, we learnt to do many new things… say planting rice, plugging and planting lotus, cooking
the various local dishes and special food delights such as the tasty sticky bamboo rice and many
yummy deserts. We couldn’t just remind ourselves that it wasn’t meant to be a fantastic holiday
resort. But the experience tickled us that our project would shine and we smiled and laughed
quietly.
Ni ht time En lish lessonsCookingteam
Cleaning team
8/9/2019 Community Eateries Grant Report
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/community-eateries-grant-report 7/9
I ACHIEVED.. As a team, we successfully carried out the missions of the project though we had a big challenge to
raise the funds much bigger than the typical ones. Personally, I also fulfilled my objectives and, to my
amaze, I achieved much more than I had expected.
Not only did I take part to give hopes to those
committed villagers, but I also learned and improved
myself on few various things. I learned to work better
as a team and as a leader. I learned more about myself
through self reflection and feedbacks from teammates.
My mindset has changed. I had probably given too
little attention or value to small little thing that I only
realized later how much it is worth as mentioned
earlier. I am so happy to have influenced these
few little kids to envision their future in hopes,which I myself never realized only until much
later age. I have, in my belief, inspired and
empowered many people and even myself over
the trip. And I am really very happy!
All the work and achievements my team and I made did also come from the encouragement and
empowerment from many other parties.
Firstly, our host organization Community Capacities for Development (CCD), www.ccdcambodia.org, is to be admired for their continuous efforts in strengthening and supporting community livelihood
initiatives and programmes and promoting the conservation of natural resources. Besides being the
backbone for the success of our project, the organisation did also provide invaluable lessons for us
all to learn from. The individual accounts of the founder and the organisation team personally
inspired me to a great extent. The whole team, I believe, was also greatly impacted. “They have been
fighting many hard ways for their life, and we commit suicide just because our GPA falls,” said one of
my teammate.
Secondly, our school Singapore Management University or SMU, www.smu.edu.sg, is to be credited
for its committed spirit to serve communities, and actively encourage and support, financially andemotionally, students to go out and explore their potentials to give back to the society while at the
Last group picture
Host as cook & her assistance
2 CCD staff, Bunnath and Socheat with me and Kenny
during recce trip
8/9/2019 Community Eateries Grant Report
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/community-eateries-grant-report 8/9
same time improving their individual calibre. Personally I am proud of and
appreciate the opportunity to join the SMU community.
Lastly, I, on behalf of my whole team, would like to thank every one of our
friends, donors and sponsors who supports us in this exciting opportunity
to improve ourselves and help the community. Also I would like to deeplythank the sponsor of my community service grant who helped me
personally in the financial term so that I have the chance to reinforce my
value and to act on my belief. You have boosted my energy level and I am
now pursuing my dreams further with smiles and inspirations. ;-)
Mr Chhoern aka Peter Pan, village chief Mr Phon, our host Mdm Puch. Mr Peter Pan was the head of the community fishery committee,
one of the first few with CCD founder and director to fight against
the rich men, fishing-lot owners, who illegally claimed that they
owned everything as far as the water reached and that no villagers
were allowed to fish even in the water below their flooded house.
He has been advocate for human rights and communitydevelopment programmes and been invited to share his
experiences in seminars and talks and to mentor other
communities throughout the country as well as in many other
countries including Vietnam, Thailand, and the Philippines, etc. His
life as of those other advocates was threatened from time to time
in many real shocking occasions including the surrounding of his
house by guards equipped with guns and rifles. His head was
widely known to be worth around US$2,000 if I remember
correctly. He has been accredited with many certificates and
awards hanging on one of side of his wall in acknowledgment of
his work and achievements. Yet, he still depends so much on his
farming and fishing that he needs to struggle just to send his
children for higher education in the local town of Kampong
Chhang.
Though poor and not so well educated, Mr Chhoern is a man of
respects and inspirations.
Mr Thoern, current head of the community
fishery community, playing sei (chatei). Mr
Thoern is admired for the contribution of a
piece of his land for the home-stay facility
location.
Fruit bat settlement. Thanks to Mr Choern and Mr Thoern and their whole committee, the
fruit bat settlement is now under c onservation. No one would be allowed to hunt and
disturb their sleep anymore.
Entrance to Roang Domrei (Elephant Shelter) conservation area, consisting of 5-hectare
lake, forest, and wild animal s. It is the fi rst achievement of their conservation work.
8/9/2019 Community Eateries Grant Report
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/community-eateries-grant-report 9/9
THANKS FOR THE INSPIRATIONS & EMPOWERMENT!
Symbol of my inspirations.
I’m Thab Soknet, 6th grade at Konleng Phe village, Kok Bonteay commune, Rolear Pha’ier
district, Kampong Chhnang. I will study hard like brothers and sisters to serve the country.Since you all came here, I love you very much because everyone of you is kind, gentle,
and friendly. When you go back, I’ll miss you all a lot. Lastly, I, Soknet, wish you all a
happy trip back home. Wish you all happiness. Thank you.
Konleng Phe, 19/12/09. Signature
Thab Soknet.
On the left is the letter from the boy I mentioned earlier. Below is the translation: