Kanha Reath has been living in Siem Reap since she was born in 1983. When she is not working, she enjoys going to the library, particularly to read poetry, novels in Khmer, and short stories in English.

Her father passed away when she was two years old, so she has always been close to her mother with whom she still lives now, at 24 years old. She is the youngest of her three sisters and her brother. Her mother used to work very hard to provide her children with food and education, selling goods on the sidewalk. She would stay out of her home all day long, leaving Kanha and her siblings to their own devices for most of the day.

Kanha started primary school at the age of 7, and graduated from high school in 2003. She realizes that this was an incredible opportunity given how poor her family was. Her mother’s insistence on their education was greatly influential and led to her focus on education and learning in future life.
                                                                                                                                
Kanha then spent two very busy years away from her home in Battambang, where she studied at the training centre for teachers. To pay for her living expenses, she worked part time as a teacher for an organization that supports poor people in the area. She became so involved with the local community that she even spent her weekends helping villagers with all sorts of advice: legal, financial or even moral.

She now works as a teacher in a public secondary school 23 Km outside Siem Reap, and has been doing so since 2005. She teaches Khmer literature and morals, for which she first developed an interest during her volunteer work in Battambang. She insists on her responsibility as a teacher, not only in school but in everyday life, to be an example to children.

After a year as a teacher, she had saved enough to attend university and pursue the interest she had had in English since she was a child. She has now nearly completed her first year of English Literature and Build Bright University. She has developed a great passion for books, enjoys reading Shakespeare (!), but regrets not being able to afford to purchase books.

The JWOC scholarship will allow her to continue her studies. She has chosen to take part in the microcredit project to help the poorest of villagers. She believes it is essential to offer them an opportunity to break the cycle of poverty, of which she is well aware. She has in effect experienced it first hand, both during her childhood and her work in Battambang, where she knew several families in the countryside who lived with no more than 5,500 Riel per month ($1.5!).

She believes in education as the solution to most of the problems Cambodia faces, as knowledge and learning are invaluable tools for people to lift themselves out of poverty. Not only are they directly applicable to some professions, but they also help people acquire self-confidence which is, in her opinion, so essential to “construct themselves.” In effect, it is only once people – especially women – will realize the extent of their worth that they will be able to stand up to problems like widespread domestic violence.

She is, however, aware of the difficulties of making education available to all. She describes a vicious circle which she was lucky enough to escape, thanks to her mother’s great insight. She explains that on the one hand going to school is the only way out of poverty. But poverty makes it more difficult to go to school, surprisingly because of attitudes: uneducated parents, unaware of the value of education, often refuse to send their children to school. Again, this is proof of the need to instruct and inform, but adults as well as children.

In the future, Kanha hopes to be able to escape poverty and earn enough to be able to help others less fortunate, and encourage them to develop their own thirst for learning.