Courage Without Borders
Curriculum Training at Pagoda in Kampong Som
Conducted by CIVICUS: Center for Cambodian Civic Education
"I
always closed the COURAGE training with a story about my maternal
grandmother YI Hao emphasizing her two most salient traits in nurturing
me--SACRIFICE and LOVE.
"A
woman, who to her dying days at the age of 84 in the US, couldn't even
sign her name but with an "X" . Nonetheless, she had all her 8 sons and
daughters (including a younger brother whom she raised as a son)
educated with at least a college degree in Cambodia, the US and France
(if a luxury now, how much more so then for an impoverished, illiterate
descendant of Chinese refugees!), and who adopted her orphaned
grandchildren as her children and uncompromisingly took them away from
the desolate Svay Rieng farm to Phnom Penh, across landmines to the Thai
refugee camps and on to the United States in order they may have an
education.
"Now
most of her grandchildren have advanced degrees, with
great-grandchildren living the fruits of a great-grandmother they hardly
had time to know. Not bad for a woman born into stricken poverty,
abused by her husband, marginalized by a deeply class conscious society
where only pedigrees matter, endured a genocide. My grandmother was
certainly illiterate, hardly a learned person by any stretch of the
imagination, but she was full of wisdom and vision.
"Society
needs you. Our young people need you. Wherever I turn in my extensive
travels, I see our young people lost, in need of direction. They need
you. You as teachers, to be sure. But more than that, they need you
first and foremost as their mother, as their father.
"Our
generation should have been the generation of sacrifice. We have
failed our young miserably. But it is not too late. The young
people--your students, your sons, your daughters, they need your
SACRIFICE and LOVE. More than ever, these are what our young people
need most especially!"
- CIVICUS Cambodia president Theary C. Seng
More at "What's New at CIVICUS Cambodia"
6 comments:
Hey Theary, you jap stuff looks so cool! I like, I like!!! Take care...
អក
P.s May I call you, sometimes?
ms theary seng, i like reading your story about your beloved grandmother, whose diligence, sacrifice and love overcame so much of your family's life obstacle. that's an inspirational story about your grandmother, a strong woman that lived through it all. god bless her heart and soul and god bless your loved ones. i'm sure it's an inspirational story for all people both inside and outside cambodia the world over. god bless you for your tireless works and love for cambodia and your wanting to help make a real, lasting difference for all in camobdia. you seemed unselfish in your teaching and sharing of what your learned, gained and experienced in your life. even yourself is an inspirational perhaps the trait you inherited from your grandmother. i wish you continue success in whatever you do anywhere. cambodia needs more daughters and sons like you and your family, really.
the same can be said to pm hun sen and his parents, you know...
they did it without being in america and earning any advanced degrees like ms seng's relatives.
(no accusation of bragging intended in using the comparison)
thats right without earning a degree like theary that is why pm hun sen is giving a whole srok khmer to viet name hahaha I like that very much
a thai
8:34 PM
You are not a Thai, but you are one who is made from Cambodia.
why siem and youn always pick on cambodia? i think china and america and russia and france and british and isreal should nuke these two evil countries for picking on cambodia all the time, really!
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