Hello! My name is Thea Souphyrom. I was born in Prey Kri village, Chol Kiri district, Kampong Chhnang province. This village is in a remote area along the Tonle Sab River, the heart of Cambodia. I have three brothers and one sister and I am the third child in the family. In my family, I am the only person with the greatest opportunity to graduate from college. Unfortunately, my three brothers and my sister had to drop out of school since they were in primary school. They quit their schools because the family was struggling to survive; they needed to work extra hard to help my dad and mum so everyone in the family could eat enough.

 

I grew up with a lot of hardships. Most of my childhood life was not sleeping in my tiny and rotten house but sleeping in a jungle, in a rice field, on a riverbank, and on a fishing boat with my father and my brothers. Do you know why? I went to school in the morning but I worked for the rest of the day despite I was about 7 years old at that time. I remember one day, my father and I nearly sacrificed our lives on a tiny fishing boat while we were fishing – a giant rainstorm was hitting us! My youngest brother nearly died in a jungle while he was fishing, too; he got bitten by a venom snake and it took three hours to get to the hospital. My second younger brother was about to drown to death while he was fishing with my parents. My whole family did not eat enough at all. We often cooked little rice with plant roots that we found on​ mountains.

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Since my family was too poor to continue to send me to school after I finished grade 6, I decided to become a Buddhist monk so I could have another chance to continue my study in a Buddhist school until I graduated high school and college. After graduation, I worked in some private schools to help support my family. In late 2014, I found and joined TASSEL where three of my friends had been working there. Right after I joined TASSEL, it reminded me of the hardships and struggles to survive that I used to have when I was young. Besides teaching, I go to villages to visit my students and the villagers to understand more about their lives and their family situations. The situations most of the students in TASSEL have undergone are extremely horrible. There are a lot of sad stories that my students are facing and they truly need help. I completely understand the difficulty the villagers and the students have. Their sadness and suffering have touched my heart. TASSEL is the right place and family for me to share and spread my love and sacrifice to help change these horrible situations and give hope to those who are in deep suffering. Eventually, I NOW see a big change. I am so fortunate that I have got a chance to be part of TASSEL. I love TASSEL and I will give my best to help bring hope and happiness into the lives of the less fortunate.