My Message to Global UGRADers from all around the Globe "One Thing I Wish to Have Brought with me to the U.S"

First of all, I would like to welcome and congratulate, from Cambodia, all new members of the Global UGRAD family—You’re all amazing. Having a chance to pursue your study abroad is an exciting experience. However, for most of you, if not all, it is also a mixed feeling between excitement and chaos. You may feel a bit nervous about what you should do to overcome challenges you will face during your stay in a new environment. Some of you may have a very short time to be well prepared prior to your departure. BUT don’t worry, everything will be okay. What you have to do before leaving is to think what you should bring with you. It can be what you really need to use and which cannot be found elsewhere besides in your home country or what is used as a symbol of your country to show your international friends—you will make a lot of friends there.

To me, there is one thing I wish to have brought with me to the U.S so that my American as well as international friends could try it. Can you guess what it is? Well, it is Prohok, a Cambodian prominently common food for Cambodian people. Prohok is a kind of food made from fish, mostly small fish, mixed with salt and kept untouched for a few months in the jar before it becomes Prohok. It is used to cook multiple different foods. Should you have a chance to visit Cambodia, it is a good idea to try it to know how it tastes. If I had brought it, I would be able to cook some real Cambodian foods for my friends so that they know how Cambodian foods look like, how they smells, and how tasty they are. I wish I could rewind the time backward to the time I was in the U.S.

Therefore, if you have something to share with other people, make sure that you have it in your suitcase. It is your chance to represent your country on the global stage, you are an AMBASSADOR of your country.  

"Rean Tver~Ey", Radio Talk Show

A Thank You Post by FUSAAC (Obtained from https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=670496913032859&set=pb.185526634863225.-2207520000.1405772974.&type=1&theater)

       "Rean Tver~Ey", in English "Why do We Learn? or "What We Do after Learning?", is a radio talk show organized by the Fulbright and Undergraduate State Alumni Association of Cambodia (FUSACC), with a strong support from the U.S Embassy in Phnom Penh. The main objective of this radio talk show is to help youths choose a career at their best. By the phrase "choose a career at their best", FUSACC intends to help youths to make a right decision in choosing majors in college so that they are able to find jobs they are passionate about and aspire to do.

       There are eight main contributors of this program, all of which are Ms. Neang Sophina (Project Coordinator), Ms. Hy Dalin (Project Leader), Ms. Nget Rachana (Online Marketing Team Leader),  Mr. Sok Eng (Production Team Leader), Ms. Leng Chorlida (Radio Presenter/MC), Mr. Uk Sovannara (Radio Presenter/MC), Ms. Veng Molika (Speaker/Mentor Team Leader), and Mr. Lang Mesa (Advisor). Besides, there are also many volunteers who play an active role in making this project possible.

On Air Radio Show

On Air Radio Show

My Dream Job

“What do you want to be when growing up?” is a question commonly asked by parents to their children when their children are young, and this question was also asked by my dad when I was eight years old. However, as a young boy, I just told him what I had heard of. “I want to be a governor,” I told him. However, as I grow up, and have witnessed different life-challenging events people in my country are facing, together with knowledge accumulated from everyday both-on-and-off-campus life, I have found a way to realize my true passion. I want to be a rural engineer (infrastructure, water resource, and environmental engineer), an engineer who plays a pivotal role in transforming people’s way of life from nature-dependent to practical, real-world problem-solving minded, and whose purpose is to trace the root of the environmental, infrastructural, and water-resource related challenges that affects the livelihood and well being of the people.

If asked why I choose this major and how I will do to attain my goal, I will definitely have to say that it may take days to describe in words. However, briefly speaking, the reason is that I see the potential of the role of this major playing in introducing a change to the country, a change for the better for all of the citizens. So far, Cambodian people have been suffering nonstop, aside from political conflict that stirred up the country in the past few decades, from poverty stricken conditions and sanitation problems. Farmers are left to do farming without a clear idea what it will turn out to be at the end of the harvest season. They don’t know whether they will have enough water to irrigate their farms during the hot period, best described as a drought if serious, and whether there will be too much water resulted from rainstorm or flood events. Often times, Cambodian peasants face with this issue, and this is amongst factors leading to poverty. Regarding to sanitation issues, the accessibility to safe drinking water is still limited, especially for people is rural and remote rural areas, the management of sewage wastewater still is bad and ineffective, and the disposal of waste into the natural environment still is done without proper treatment and regulation.

Taking a major as a rural engineering, I have begun my first step towards my dream. The opportunities to travel outside of the country to fetch new ideas, experiences, and techniques from foreign countries have pushed me another step further closer to my dream. And I will try my best to absorb as much knowledge as possible so that I will be able to translate my dream into a reality. 

My dream job is a job which can help build a descent society in which the less privileged receive equal opportunity as citizens of the country. 

Workshop on Future Career and Fields to Study after High School

Goal Setting Session

Phnom Penh-- On July 3, 2014, a group of volunteers from Toul Tompong High School, cooperated with the Cambodia-Japan Cooperation Center (CJCC), conducted a workshop on topic "Future Career and Fields to Study after High School" at CJCC Conference Hall, Royal University of Phnom Penh.

      The core objective of the workshops is to enable students to make a sound decision in choosing majors in college which most suit their goals and talents as well as what the society needs. In the workshop, guest speakers from various fields were invited to share their experience and advice with the participants to encourage them to set a life goal so as to make a right life decision. There were an estimated number of 500 participants, all of which are high school students-- 11 and 12th grades. 

Q & A Session

The workshop began with an opening speech by the CEO of CJCC, followed by a short description of the aims of the workshop by the director of Toul Tompong High School.​There was also a short story performance by high school students about their decision after finishing high school.

The Six Guest Speaker for the Morning Session

An Menghong, Head of the Volunteers of Toul Tompong High School, said "As a citizen of the country, it is our civic obligation
to help our fellow young people to have a clear idea what they are going to do. I think that for high school students, most of them get information from their family, relatives, friends, and the like, and some of those pieces of information are not reliable. Therefore, it is critically important to organize such a workshop where students come and ask directly to the guest speakers who represent their fields of study."

 

When Giving Advice

         The workshop produced a fruitful result. At the end of the workshop, students seemed to have a clear direction what they are going to do after receiving good pieces of wise advice from all guest speakers, and they wanted such a workshop will be hosted every year so that all students can learn to make a right decision after high school.