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Chealida Chhon

Hello! I am Teacher Chealida and I have four members in my family including my parents, my older brother, and my older sister. We are a farmer in village. We grow mushroom from rice straw. we are so busy with it, however we still manage to grow it. We grow mushroom on day and harvest at night mostly. 


I was born in Battambang. My family had no land to live after civil war moving from the refugee tents in Thailand. My family was suggested to live in Battambang with our grandparents. We assisted to clean the house and keep it safe. That time, there were so many thieves stealing something like fruits and something else in the house. After my grandparents died, we had to move because the grandparents’ land was not belonged to my family. We just stayed in temporary because we did not have a land to live in. The grandparents’ siblings came to live in and they had many members so that we had to move because we could not make them uncomfortable with us. We could not depend on others too much. We had to learn to survive by ourselves. We tried to work so hard to buy a land to live and grow mushroom. My grandparents were not literally my real grandparents. My dad was just their nephew who was an orphan. My dad’s parents died during Khmer rouge regime. However, he managed to live until he made his family. My parents worked so hard to feed all their children and forced his children to get studied. My parents never want their children to give up the study despite the poor condition we had. My father used to be a bicycle rider and motorcycle driver. He rode a very old one to transport any products or people every day. He earned one day for one day. My siblings used to work at a brick factory to support their study because my father was very sick that time. I really wanted to work with my siblings so much. That time, I was a little kid, 6 years old so that I could not help my siblings at all. When I was 12 years old, my brother, father and I created a job as a water seller in village. We used a machinery to pump water underground and we used pipes to transport for sales. My brother and I carried plastic pipes to connect water for sales every break time from school. My brother and I depended on that job to support the study until we finished high school. We all had no enough food due to the poverty. Only my brother and I managed to afford the study until we graduated from college. My oldest sister could not continue her study at high school due to the poverty. My brother and I still continued to work during studying at high school until the college. My brother and I managed to work as a waiter and also other jobs to earn little money to support the college. I also worked during studying at college. I used to be a waiter serving food in any celebrations during weekend or holiday. Rich family needed waiters when they had a party, especially wedding. Those were very common jobs for college students here. The job that I had, as a waiter faced many competitions so that I tried to apply for a part time job as an English teacher at a private school in order to support my college. In addition, I used to be a local tour guide in Battambang. I met so many foreigners and I worked in the hot sun with the bicycle almost every day in high season from November until January, but the rest I worked three to ten days a month in low season. My work needed me to ride a bicycle with foreigners between 20 kilometers to 30 kilometers a day. Sometimes, I felt exhausted and I was about to give up. I thanked my parents, my siblings, and also those foreigners so much because they always felt free to encourage me to challenge my obstacles in my lifetime until I got a job in TASSEL. Ultimately, we made it.


I was joining a class with Teacher Sarem and some TASSEL teachers at my university in 2015 or 2016, I am not sure about that. It was so interesting that TASSEL has been working so hard to help exact poor families as well as providing education for free. While I was watching the videos and photos show, I felt so compassionate with the little kids that they really needed us to help them and it reflected and also reminded me about my family’s condition. Several years later, I met my friend, Teacher Naron who was a kind and friendly person. She told me about TASSEL again and it urged me to want to apply for a job here. TASSEL needs only people who can sacrifice and have strong will to help poor elderly and kids. 


I have been working in TASSEL for five years, including four years in Jeepang and one year in Roka. When I was working Jeepan, I experienced so many sufferings. People who live there do not have enough food to eat. They do not have full-education, especially English. They enjoy studying English with us so much. Kids are very cute and they are so surprised about generous actions in TASSEL. The Jeepang school looked so horrible. While it was raining, the class could not start. The roads in villages were mostly complicated to travel and students took long time to come to school. All Jeepang teachers always helped fix broken walls and roofs. On the other hand, we have built a new school instead of the old one in 2024. In addition, some old people who live there used to be soldiers of Khmer rouge or government. After the war, some lost their hands or legs for their whole lives. I hope TASSEL will be able to create more opportunity for those who are in need. In 2024, I moved to help Roka. People’s situations are not very different from people in Jeepan. The children really need help from us. They really want to learn English. Unfortunately, some kids had to work with their parents to earn money one day for one day on their holiday. Students in Roka are smart and curious even though they need to help their parents' work. Surrounding the villages is the large rice field so that many people were fisher men. Fish, snakes, frogs, fresh water crabs, and insects like crickets and grasshoppers are their common food. I can say that TASSEL has done so good job in order to suppress the poverty in Cambodia. Rice distribution and family sponsorship are significant for us to do. I love to carry rice bags and help bring the sponsorship for the elderly who live alone in rural areas around Battambang. I am proud of what I have done with TASSEL in order to create more opportunity for the homeless and those who don't have enough to feed themselves properly so that they can have the chance to get education and learn English like other children in the city. I am delighted and wait to hear that TASSEL graduated students will find good jobs so that they can help their families and make the community much better than before.



Chealida Chhon
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