Sak Sokthy, a young man who was born with a disability, dropped out of school in the 7th grade when he was 19 years old in 2019 because he had no way to travel to school on his own after a friend who used to bring him there each day dropped out of school himself first. “I quit school because of travel issues. My friend I used to go with quit school first. Then I tried to study to be a TV technician, but I couldn’t break into this career so I turned to studying how to repair motorcycles,” Sokthy…
Author: Raksmey Hong
An agriculture lover since childhood, Hach Chhorn won a scholarship to pursue his studies at Prek Leap National Institute of Agriculture before entering the sector. After seeing his contemporaries in neighbouring countries raising Japanese snails – which can be sold at high prices – Chhorn decided to try raising them. He now farms three varieties, cherry, butter and durian snails. Butter snails, as the name suggests, feature a light yellow flesh, while durian snails have a bright yellow colour – much light a ripe example off their namesake fruit. Cherry snails are a dark, chocolate brown. “I enjoy experimenting. I…
The Sansom Mlup Prey Organisation (SMP) has dug a total of three ponds as part of its pilot project on wildlife-friendly community irrigation ponds in the Kulen Prom Tep protected area in Preah Vihear province, where most residents depend on agriculture and often face water shortages that affect their rice production. The scarcity of water due to climate change and other factors have caused many problems for farmers and impacted biodiversity in the area. The Wildlife Rescue Community Pond Project was established to provide solutions to these problems that will benefit villagers and animals as well as being useful locations…
Phare Creative Studio, based on the campus of its mother NGO Phare Ponleu Selpak, has been running an awareness-raising tour of Battambang province to tackle the plastic litter and pollution affecting the Cambodian environment by encouraging people to change their behaviour. The tour was composed of the theatrical show Mit Somlanh (Best Friend) and a series of workshops where the young participants learned to create fish out of single use materials they found at home, while learning more about the 4 Rs: “Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle”. Mit Somlanh is an engaging theatrical show to raise awareness of the need…
This Life Cambodia (TLC), a non-profit organisation based in Siem Reap province, collected four international awards last week for its confrontational domestic violence video Virtual Reality – Life is Not a Game. The campaign has been widely recognised as a success, notably beating out some established brands and agencies’ work for awards in the past. “To win an award in this context is incredibly special. It reinforces the importance of the work we are doing to fight domestic violence in Cambodia,” said Borany Chea, a section lead with TLC. “We love that it puts a spotlight on this issue and…
Since the arrival of the French about 170 years ago, countless books about Cambodian history have been written. Australian collector of photography Nicholas Coffill believes most of these works lacked the rich illustrations which help a reader to engage personally with its subject matter. “I come from a theatre and gallery background. For me, pictures and images are really helpful in telling stories and helping people to understand the written words,” he said. Meta House is holding an exhibition, which he has curated, titled Photography in Cambodia: 1866 to the present. The works on display range from images that date…
After spending time studying on the island of Koh Ach Seh in Kep province, Lor Samphors – a student of Fisheries Sciences at the Royal University of Agriculture – began to take an interest in environmental research and seabed biodiversity, which is a rare profession for anyone to have in Cambodia and even more so for women. Samphors, a resident of Phnom Penh who is used to urban living, is fascinated by the beauty of the sea and says she is now fully committed to a mission of conserving Cambodia’s natural resources found at the bottom of the sea in…
In 1999, Lucky, a tiny baby elephant calf of just six months was rescued from the forest. Then she has spent more than 20 years living at Phnom Tamao Wildlife Rescue Centre. When she was discovered in Koh Kong, she needed lots of milk and close attention, or she would not have survived. At the time, Phnom Tamao was run solely by the Cambodian Forestry Administration, although it now works closely with Wildlife Alliance Cambodia. Lucky is now the first Cambodian elephant artist to exhibit in the Kingdom, with her pieces going on sale to support the rescue centre’s operations.…
Twenty-five students working in three teams have published an informative book which presents up-to-date information on the major industries of the Cambodian economy. It also explains economic concepts in Khmer and English. The first team began the initial research and began outlining the book. The second group conducted additional research and wrote the content, with the third team designing the book’s layout. Cambodian Economy Book Volume 2 was a two year project by the students of the Liger Leadership Academy (LLA), and was recently launched at Sisowath New Generation School’s Centre for Digital and Distance Learning. “The student authors began…
Despite being partially paralysed by childhood polio, Chay Thida loves to swim. “At first I thought that without the use of one arm and one leg I would never be able to, but I was inspired by videos of amputees and paraplegic swimmers. I thought to myself ‘I have one good arm and one good leg, so why shouldn’t I swim too?’” Thida, now 33, told The Post. “I decided to enroll in swimming lessons. The first class was really scary, as it was different from what I had been teaching myself – learning to breathe correctly and be comfortable…