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Savuth's story
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Despite the fact that he still has both of his parents, Savuth learnt to get on his own very early. His parents are peasants. His father has been handicapped since he fell on a mine six years ago while collecting wood to sell it in the local market. His family is settled in Sra Srang village in the surroundings of Siem Reap and owns a rice field, which provides enough rice to feed the family. Their small wooden house shelters Savuth's parents, their five children and the widow grand-mother. Savuth, aged 11, is the eldest one. However, the soil is too poor to ensure two harvests a year and Savuth's father can hardly help his wife. As a result, the family becomes too poor to enable Savut, who started going to school at the age of 6, to keep on attending classes. Thanks to Thy's advise, his older cousin, Savuth still manages to learn a few useful English and French words and initiates himself to selling techniques towards tourists, offering them a 1 USD set of ten postcards. Although he first only imitates and follows Thy, he soon does better than her ! The amount of money gathered daily is not only enough to allow Savuth to go back to school but also to pay for his two younger sisters, aged 9 and 6, to be schooled too. School is supposed to be free in Cambodia. In fact, as the teachers earn an average 25 USD-wage per month, each pupil has to pay them an additional 100 to 200 riels per day (between 2,5 and 5 cents). What is more, pupils also have to pay for the stationery and textbooks. Savuth is now in grade 3. He still enters the Angkor temples area to meet foreign tourists willing to spend one or two dollars for postcards, in the afternoon but he now attend school every morning. Let's mobilize and share our wealth to help those courageous children. |
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