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Channou Ry

Hello, my name is Channou, and I was born in 1998. I have been working at TASSEL for four years. I graduated from university in 2021. Briefly introducing my family, I have two older sisters and one older brother. All of them are married and have children. My parents are farmers. These days, I am not staying with my parents, as I have moved to Battambang town since I was in high school.


Back to my childhood, I had grown up in a family where arguments basically ruin almost everything. The only horrible memory I will never forget was how suffering my mother was when she had arguments with my father. I often saw both of them shouting and yelling at one another; frequently, I saw my mother was hit and cried in pain. The worst thing was that she tried to commit suicide and run away from us several times, especially when she fought with my father. All of my siblings, including me, lived in fear, for we were really afraid that we couldn’t stop her. Despite my mother living in suffering, my siblings and I were so scared of getting hit whenever we did something wrong. Since my father was so violent, my brother once ran away from home. Due to the poverty and violence, my sisters decided to quit school at a very young age. My mother was the only person who responded for the whole family. She had to work under the sun heat all day for every single day. My mother has had a sorrowful life experience since she was little. Her father was killed by Khmer Rouge soldiers when she was very young, three or four years old. At that time, my grandfather was a half-Chinese businessman; also, he worked for the government. After my father was killed, my grandmother became an alcoholic, so she started to treat her children badly. She forced my mother to earn money instead of going to school; furthermore, she hit and blamed my mother for no reason. One by one, all of her children began to run away from her, including my mother. According to these difficulties, my mother keeps saying that she is the unluckiest person on earth because her mother didn’t love and care for her; plus, she married my father, who broke her heart. She wishes she would have not existed as a human being. How my mother’s life has been through is the terrible thing I cannot ever get over.


For the rest of my life, I used to envy and admire the other kids who are having such a lovely and warm family that I have always wished for; however, TASSEL has changed my thought, and it is a blessing. TASSEL is not only a workplace to me, but it is my second home. Everybody really loves and cares for each other, especially the pure love from the foreign teachers. It is the best feeling that can help me to forget about any problems, and it makes me feel that I am not here alone. In the same way, I am so thankful and grateful to work here so that I can help many poor children in rural areas who have no ability to study English at good private schools. Moreover, I get a great opportunity to help the villagers by visiting their houses and listening to their unpleasant stories. They are facing many problems, the same as my family, and that is the reason I definitely understand their situations. Also, TASSEL is an excellent place for me to improve my English proficiency. I am glad to study with wonderful and kind foreign teachers. Besides, they also show me their love and kindness, which is really impactful. I enjoy studying and learning with them; especially, I love how I can see and talk to them in person here. It completely feels different.


Through TASSEL, I can say that my life has changed a lot in a very positive way. Thanks to TASSEL, I can help and be with those people who are having hardships and challenges, plus not enough food and no love. Because I can get so much love from the TASSEL, I can share it with the children and the villagers. I really love my life now, and I am so blessed to have a chance to be a part of TASSEL, which has been blessing many lives in Cambodia, including mine.

Channou Ry
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