My name is Votha. I was born in 1995. I am an English teacher for TASSEL an organization of Cambodia. I have been working with TASSEL for almost ten years. I have only one brother. His name is Vuthy and he is 27 years old. He was a good student, often getting number one in his English class. Unfortunately, my family could not afford money to support us, so he decided to drop out when he was in nineth grade. He also used to go and work in Poi Pet for about six months to support my family. We live in Preas Srae Village, Snoeng Commune, Banan District, Battambang Province.

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My family and I are farmers. When I was younger we lived happily and worked very hard in our farm almost every day. Everyone was very helpful. When I was seven years old I started my first grade. Also, when I was ten years old, I became a grade-three student. During that time I was not a good student and I would also get tortured from my teacher. In addition, I sometimes failed the exams and I repeated my third grade because I often got sick and also did not have much time to study at home. I had to spent most of the time helping my parents’ work, such as taking care of the cows, plowing, harvesting, catching crabs, frogs, snails, fish and so on. Also at night, I had to go into the forest to find food for my family, like shooting mice, birds, and snakes; plus I did not  think that education was important. Due to my father wanting me to be educated, he would teach me every night. Furthermore, he also taught me how to help other people. Because of him my studies became better a lot.

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When I finished the ninth grade, my parents were afraid that they were going to spend a lot of money to support me during high school. They decided to send me to the orphanage in Nor Rea pagoda in Battambang province which was about 25 kilometers from my homeland. I moved and stayed there for a month before the public school program started and my parents would often visit me. They were so sad to see so many kids in the orphanage. One day they visited me. Seeing me not eating enough, they were shocked so they decided to bring me back and send me to stay in Sampov pagoda which is about 10 kilometers from my house. The school was just a fifteen minute walk from the pagoda. I studied Khmer at Hun Sen Phom Sampov High School and English at AES School. When I was in grade twelve, I became an English teacher at AES School. After I graduated from high school, I found out about TASSEL and decided to apply. I had a chance to be part of TASSEL in 2015. At that time I was so happy because I could help poor people, earn some money to support my family and finish my university education. I could not believe my life completely changed because of my parents, especially my father.

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The reason why I decided to join TASSEL was because TASSEL is an organization which has been working to serve the poor children and old people in rural areas without discriminating. I have found that the TASSEL Organization has been providing good quality English programs to the kids in the rural areas. Nowadays we are helping in 8 villages (1. Ratanak Branch in Battambang Province, 2. Roka Branch in Roka Commune, 3. Banan Branch in Banan District, 4. Samrang Branch or Snoeng Branch in Snoeng Commune, 5. Kom Ping Pouy Branch in Takream Commune, 6. Jeepan Bra nch in Plov Meas Commune, 7. Somlot Branch in Somlot District, 8. Ta Toak in Somlot District). Besides teaching English to the poor kids, TASSEL has been offering some rice and medicines to the poor families and helping sick people by sending them to the hospitals in the rural areas.

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I am so happy to do what I do to see people smile. I have had my own desire to help develop my own country since I was at my secondary school. Through my own experiences, I knew no English until high school. I realized that my life has been completely changed because of TASSEL. When I spent my first year with TASSEL, I learned so many things and I could say that so many children improved a lot as well. In TASSEL, I felt like everyone was my family because they cared so much and I also felt like TASSEL is my second home. The actions in TASSEL are almost the same as what my father told me, that I have to be intelligent, kind, friendly, and helpful. Those traits are what I myself wanted to do when I grew up. I also want to keep on doing good things to serve other poor people through TASSEL because I know how hard and difficult it is to live.

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TASSEL is the place where students go to learn English from their teachers. TASSEL does not only teach English to the kids but also loves, cares and serves them through hearts. I feel extremely happy because of TASSEL, nowadays I receive so much love from everyone around me. Now I see what the right things that TASSEL does are. I am so thankful that I have a lot of role models in TASSEL so that can learn to change my life.