
Chan Lom
Hello! My name is Chan. I was born in 1998. I joined TASSEL in 2019. I teach in Samlot Village nowadays. I have three older sisters and one younger brother. I was in primary school from 2004 to 2010. I was in secondary school from 2010 to 2013 and finished high school in 2016. I grew up in a poor family. I took care of cows after class. I looked for fish, crabs, and snails every day. My family and I normally ate what I caught in fields.
I graduated from university in 2021. Applying for a teaching position at TASSEL was not easy and I had many interviews. The interviews were so difficult that I once wanted to give up. Fortunately, I got a chance to work at TASSEL. It is obvious that my life has changed a lot since I started working with this organization. It is my great opportunity to help poor families and underserved children.
Little by little, I found out that my students are sometimes fainted because they are not eating enough. I noticed that through family visits. I realized that TASSEL has not only provided English, but also food. It is shown that the students are not eating because their families cannot earn for a living and that happened because of the lack of work I their local villages. They do not have enough water for their crops and they lose income during the harvest season. As soon as I got to know the students and their families were bad situations, I discussed the situations with the leaders. Then, the leaders reached out to Teacher Joji. Thankfully, the starving families and children get help with rice. Obviously, I can help the hunger and teach the children through TASSEL’s love. My heart transforms and I thrive in TASSEL. TASSEL is my right place to help save many lives.
Another thing that I would like to address is how special TASSEL is through the senior center program. This program started in October, 2023 last year. It is such a great inspiration that I feel energetic to work even harder. This means I can teach the students, feed the hunger, and be able to erase the elderly’s emotional illness and scars in their hearts. I could tell the saddest people are not the children, they are the elderly. They have so much pain and have suffered from the war. They lost their family members during Khmer Rouge. Their children were killed without clear reasons. Many died of hunger. Luckily, there is hope for the elderly because TASSEL is there for them. They smile and can sense love through the senior center program. I really appreciate this program because I together with TASSEL and the volunteers’ support, we can be able to take away sadness and replace the elderly with so much love and care. TASSEL has taught me more to care and serve the old people. I am so thankful to TASSEL and all foreigners for giving me the opportunity to transform my heart.
TASSEL is my family. TASSEL is the hope for hopeless and very sad people. I would never get to know more clearly who I am without joining TASSEL. I will commit to work with TASSEL for the rest of my life. I hope this quote means a lot, “caring for one another is the love that will never end.”
