Sokly studied at Anjali House for about 8 years. We have seen her evolution from childhood to adolescence. She successfully graduated high school and is now a TESOL major at Pannasastra University. She is also an English teacher and curriculum developer at REACH, another NGO in Siem Reap. 

We are so proud of her journey and we are thrilled to see her dedication in helping the town of Siem Reap through her new job. 

Meet Sokly:

My name is Tep Sokly. I have studied at Anjali House since 2014. It has been eight years now. Anjali House is like a second home for me because Anjali House supports my studying by providing me with school materials, English, computer skills, soft skills, and more. Anjali House always encourages me to keep following my passion. 

From a Shy Girl to Class Leader

To be honest, before I was involved at Anjali House, I was a shy girl. I had no confidence in speaking and sharing my ideas with other people. And I didn’t like studying. My family is poor, it was so hard for them to support my studying expansion. And they were very busy working to find money, so they didn’t have much time to follow my studying. If they didn’t work, we wouldn’t have food to eat. 

Fortunately, my parents asked Anjali House for help. Anjali House give my brother and me a chance to study there. I thought I have such a good opportunity to be an Anjali House student. It not only provides education, but it also teaches great important life lessons. We learn how to share our skills with others. Anjali House gave me chances to share my education with my juniors such as an English Teacher, Khmer, and Math teacher since I was in grade nine. First, I wonder why Anjali House would ask me to do that. When I’ve done that, I understood the reason why. When we help others, we can help ourselves. I wasn’t a smart and a brave student, but after those days it changed me into another person who had responsibility. It built my confidence in sharing with other people. 

Entering the Young Adult Program

At Anjali House there is a program called “Young Adult program” (now called Future Leaders). This program taught me many things about life. I could learn about soft skills such as leadership skills, teamwork skills, debate, public speaking skills, gardening class, painting class…. These classes are very important to my life during my childhood and teenage years. 

Anjali House brings the students to see the outside world. I have joined the community service, I could share what I have learned with other kids at Anjali and outside, I could learn the other part of the world what it looks like, and more about life. My favorite workshops at Anjali were the  Angkor Photo Festival Workshop and Writing Through Workshop. I really enjoyed taking photos, learning new techniques from photographers from over the world, and I can exploring my city with different eyes. Writing Through Workshop helped me build my confidence and improve my critical thinking. I really enjoyed creating poems and stories. Especially I could perform reading my poems and stories in front of other people. I was shaking and freighted but it taught me a lot about sharing my thoughts and public speaking.

Anjali House Memories

I had a lot of unforgettable memories from Anjali House. I couldn’t write them all in this text. There were a lot of tastes that I never forget how I feel. It mixed with happiness, sadness, and funny. Anjali House gave me friends that I never had before. We played and shared what we have with each other, and we always help each other whenever we needed it. During that time, I was such a little girl to them because they always give me love and take care of me as their own sibling.

Anjali House brought a program called ‘Youth Leader’ and I was a leader in that group. Teacher Simon and Don helped me and my team members with how to be good leaders. They gave my group a chance to lead a Writing Through graduation project. We learned how to organize a project. I remember the first thing that I never forget in my life when I was an MC in that project. It was my first time. You know, my legs are shaking and I couldn’t even hold the microphone correctly. But thank my friends and teachers for motivating me and finally, I could do it. I still can feel how it feels now but I still can do it. I am very proud of myself.

When I was a child, there was a time the teacher announced my name as the best student of the month. I was very happy. Teachers, volunteers, and students gave me a big clap. That was very surprising, and it helps me to continue to be a good student and study hard. And it still motivates me now. I keep working hard both in my studying and career. I want everyone around me to be proud of my hard work.

Where I Am Now

Currently, I am a freshman student at Pannasastra University. I am studying Teaching English as a Second Language (TESOL). English is one of my favorite subjects that have loved to study since I was a child. I dream of being an English Teacher. Besides my studying, now I am working as an English Teacher and curriculum developer at REACH Siem Reap organization.

When I get my first job at REACH, everyone admired me for why I was selected as an employee because I had just graduated grade 12. Because most of the employees at REACH are graduated from university or currently studying at university. But for me, it is different from them. I am a very young employee among them. I wanted to tell them that it isn’t about what grade you are in or how old  you are. It is about the talent, hard-working, and experiences that I’ve gotten from Anjali House. Because Anjali House gave me the chance to volunteer as a teacher, motivated me to join community service, life skills workshops and there are more. All these activities helped me to build my capacity.

I recommend to my juniors that you shouldn’t say no to volunteer work, joining community services, and soft skills workshops. They are very important to build your capacity, and confidence and outside knowledge.

Gratitude to All Who Helped Me

I would like to thank you to the people who always support me, encourage me, and give me good advice in my studying and my career. I will promise that I will study hard and develop myself as you want to see. I will share my knowledge with the people who need it. Because I want them to develop themselves as Anjali House trained me as I was their age. 

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Sokly created a workshop for our class of Future Leaders about “How to be ready in grade 12?”. Let’s read our Linkedin post about by clicking here!