The Cambodia Rural School Project
The Sampong Nippon
Foundation School
(November, 2001)
Porm Rida is a 11-year-old second grade student. She was ranked first among the 31 students in her first grade class. Her parents are divorced and she lives with her mother. Her father has a second wife and is living in the same village. Her mother is a hired farm hand, planting the rice in other peoples’ fields in exchange for money to support her family.
In Their Own Words. . .
| On her sister: | “We used to have a rice field, but my mother sold it to pay for my older sister’s medical treatment after a bomb explosion.” [Unexploded ordinance and landmines are a lingering problem in Cambodia, causing 823 injuries and deaths in 2000 according to the Cambodian Mine Action Center.]
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| On the new building: | “I like the new building because it was hard to study when we learned under the house of Uncle Vet. Now, we have a new school building and we have enough tables so we can all sit, and the rain and sunshine don’t bother us during class.”
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| On school subjects: | “I like Khmer class because that is where I learn how to read and write. I also like mathematics because I want to know how to calculate.”
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| On her free time: | “I help my mother to cook and I like to read Khmer books. I like having long-jump contests with my friends, and talking and telling jokes with them.”
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| On her future: | “I plan to go to school until fourth grade. Then I will stop to find a job so that I can help my mother. I will probably be a hired farm hand as well.”
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| If I could go anywhere…: | “I would go to Pailin because my sister is living there. She says that you can get good jobs there.” |
