I trust you are doing great.✨😊

I am doing fantastic and productive with all my amazing volunteering, studying, and taking full charge during the holiday. Thus, I am writing to update you about those activities that had done lately. I am so delighted to share it with you, and I hope you enjoy reading it.

Last month, I joined one organization's training about cleaning water and sanitation. It was a great and fun workshop. It was conducted in 2 days and had more than 30 people join including RACSR members and public high school teachers from 4 high schools in Siem Reap that were supported by Project W and our RACSR.  The purpose of that workshop was focused on delivering lessons to the main educators who were mentioned above. All the lessons covered water education, sanitation, and developing school infrastructure to provide safety, and support all kinds of students, and also promote education and hygiene in schools to beat the standard of the Ministry of Education Youth and Sports. 

All the support provided by the school must be included such as cleaning water, toilets, cleaning hands stations, and menstruation products for female students and teachers.  Meanwhile, that was part of our Project W- WASH for education has been collaborating with the WASHSDO project which specializes in water and sanitation education. That was one of our RACSR implementing projects and supported Global Grants. To provide sustainable development and solutions in rural schools by providing educational workshops to main teachers and then they will continue sharing information with students. I learned a lot from those workshops. I learned new techniques of how to run effective workshops. Moreover, I understand the process and how the government rated scores for each school. Especially, I built trust and respect between you adults and middle adults. I gained more confidence and professionalism. I had shown my knowledge, skills, ability, and adaptability to the old generation as a teacher and led them to see and appreciate the next generation. Nonetheless, I could see some changes and development after joining workshops myself.

Even more, I received an opportunity to host the ministry of The Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports to visit and learn about community works and projects. More than that, to show him how we believe in education that can break the poverty cycle, and how our members develop from rural students to become such young and capable leaders. I was honored to Meet Dr. Hong Chun Narong. He is a role model and inspired many students in Cambodia including me. He has a similar background from a poor family and he changed his life through education. That was like dreaming. I could not believe my dream had come true and faster than I expected. I used to dream about meeting him one day and introducing myself to him. I did it. He gave me his attention and wonderful advice. He said “Do your best and opportunity never comes to people who never try” and “You will be there someday if you try and do your best “.  He also told me to keep being respectful, working hard, and resilient. That is wonderful advice and I will keep it in mind and apply it to my daily living.

Additionally, I joined Cycling events which were hosted by Intrepid Company. That was a fundraising event to raise money for donating to CRST NGO. I rode 50 kilometers back and forth from Intrepid’s campus to Phnom Bok Mountain. There were over 50 people from different tour companies in Siem Reap CRST students and me. Besides cycling and charity work, it was an amazing experience. I met new people and learned from their experiences, creating networking and business connections. I also couldn’t believe I could reach the destination and came back with enthusiasm. We had two break times for snacks. When we arrived at the mountain we continued climbing up to the top, enjoyed the view, and visited the temple. It was refreshing, peaceful, and beautiful. On top of that, we successfully raised 1,300 Australian dollars. That's an incredible result. I was chosen to be a representative of CRST to thank all supporters, donors, and hosts for creating this amazing event. On behalf of CRST students, we genuinely appreciate and are thankful for this amazing support. It helps them a lot along their journey of developing themselves to be better people and have a better future.

Nevertheless, volunteering and contributing to society's education is the priority. I had to focus on my education at school and improve my knowledge. I have one year left of university, so I started working on my next plan after graduation. Likewise, I worked harder this year to build up my GPA. Thus, I need to have a good plan for my studies.  I am on midterm exam duration and promise to do better than last term. I will show you the results after the semester ends. On the other hand, I started my new term of English class and this term is focusing more on improving public speaking skills, and speaking. I love and enjoy this class because it provides the skills I need.  I will do my best to learn and improve it.

Lastly, I spent my holiday on Pchum Ben Day with a big family in my hometown. Pchum Ben Day is a Cambodian ceremony and a big holiday.  We celebrated it to remind and respect our relatives who passed away. We normally celebrate both at home and on the pagoda. At home, my family usually makes Khmer cakes called Num Ansom and we cook several Khmer foods. After we finished we shared and gave some to our neighbors, older people, and close friends. Then, on the lunar calendar day, we bought other supplies and brought food and cake that we made for the pagoda and gave them to the monks. After that, the monks prayed for our ancestors to die peacefully and have a great new life. After finishing all the ceremonies at the pagoda we went back home and prepared for our ancestors' ceremony at home. This year is special because I was the one who organized the celebration. I was happy to help around and learn from my culture. I also spent time cooking, having meals with my big family, and reconnecting with them. We created the best memories together.

That’s all from sharing this month, and I will keep updating about my life journey again next month. Thank you so much for always supporting me and allowing me to grow. I am extremely thankful for your generosity and kindness. I wish you all the best.

Kind regards,

Lita Seng
Public Relations Committee Chair
Rotaract Club of Siem Reap