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PLF GRADUATES

HALL OF FAME!

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VISAK – Electronic Engineering

Visak came up through our urban programs in Siem Reap since primary school, and won a PLF scholarship to study Civil Engineering at the Institute of Technology. But always ambitious and dreaming of studying abroad, he began applying for international scholarships in his first year in Phnom Penh and gained a fully-funded scholarship from the Vietnamese government to study Electronic Engineering at the University of Post and Telecommunications in Hanoi. He now works for a Cambodian phone company, managing their database.

“I chose to study engineering because I was good with computer, physics and maths so it was a good fit with my skills. And I hoped that major would help me grow faster than other major. I was very happy to get scholarship from PLF to study in Phnom Penh. But when I arrive there, I felt that maybe can make the opportunity to go even higher, and to study a major that not available in Cambodia. So I applied for international scholarships – two times to China failed, and then the last one, Vietnam, I passed. And it was my favorite major also, Electronic Engineering.

It was amazing to have this opportunity. It was a 5 year study. The first year we just study Vietnamese language. And then for four years we take our bachelor degree with Vietnamese students. Arriving there, I felt many things. It’s very different – the culture, the food, the people. The way of teaching, the way of living. The first year, so difficult for Cambodian students and some didn’t stay. But after we studied Vietnamese for one year, it become more comfortable. And then we study with their students, in Vietnamese and English also. And for the degree, I really love that subject.
I graduated with good result and I got interview straight away back in Cambodia and only 2 weeks after graduating, I start in the job I am working now. I love my job. But in Cambodia the technology is not so developed like in Vietnam. Like my major, it’s a bit difficult to find a school to study in Cambodia. So I hope that one day we have a school and teachers like that, and when Cambodian companies recruiting, they will find their Khmer managers, not foreigners. I hope that next year I will study my master, and then I find a way to improve myself even more. I hope that I can be a university teacher, and help to build capacity in intelligent education in my industry.
Without support from PLF, I wouldn’t have finished Grade 12. So before PLF, I thought I would be a tuk-tuk driver. No plan, no possibility. But after PLF helped me, I could start to plan, and then when I finished Grade 12, I feel like I’m stronger than before, I can make a plan. And look to the future in a different way.
Still now, not many people know about the meaning of life, and the importance of education. So they don’t feel like they need to try. ‘It’s okay. It’s fine. Don’t go to school.’ And have the same life as everybody else in their village, and then the big problem, they give up. They don’t have feeling to try anymore. They can get small job and get money straight away. But they don’t think about a future plan. And that is the problem.
So in the mentorship sessions, I talk to students about the importance of planning, to have a strategy to follow. For me at that age, I had three plans … Plan A, plan B, plan C. Plan A was PLF scholarship, and I worked hard to get it. Then I make new plan to study abroad. Always having a plan. So I think when they see me, they start to see a solution. They know that they want to study at Phnom Penh, but they not sure how. When they see me, they feel like they can see a way to get there too.
𝙁𝙤𝙧 𝙢𝙚, 𝙚𝙙𝙪𝙘𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙞𝙨 𝙡𝙞𝙛𝙚. 𝙄𝙛 𝙣𝙤 𝙚𝙙𝙪𝙘𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣, 𝙬𝙚 𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙖𝙡𝙞𝙫𝙚, 𝙗𝙪𝙩 𝙞𝙩’𝙨 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙖 𝙛𝙪𝙡𝙡 𝙡𝙞𝙛𝙚.”

There are many more students just like Visak with great academic promise for higher education, but lacking the financial ability to get there.

Donating to our scholarship fund ensures they can access college, and go on to employment opportunities that change the trajectory of not only their lives, but their families’ and communities’ too.

Make their dreams come true – and contribute to a brighter and more equitable Cambodia!

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