Sela Cham
Build Bright University in Siem Reap
First year. Studying Hospitality and Tourism
Language School Teacher

"My family name is Chham and my given name is Sela. I was born in Domdek District in 1985 after my father was killed by Khmer Rouge. He died three months before. Since then I’ve never seen what my father looks like. I don’t have any brothers and sisters. Just my Mom and I now are living together.

My and I spent one year living in Domdek, then we moved to Svay Leu District which is in the northern side of Phnom Kulen. This district was the battle field between Khmer Rouge soldiers and the government soldiers. It was in 1986. We spent time living there for six years, then we moved in Siem Reap to vote the election that supported by the United Nation or UNTAC in 1993. My life was so tough when I was with the government soldiers. My Mom was the cook for all the soldiers in the Military Base. I was one of the boys who was asked to carry the bullets for the soldiers to fight with the Khmer Rouge army. If we don’t carry the bullets for them, they won’t let us play with the gun powder.

When I was six years old, the General taught me how to take parts and clean the gun and also showed me the different kinds of the bullets that go with each gun. The guns were so heavy. So the General tied it up against the forked tree to make it easy for me to shoot that gun. I was so excited and very brave. I was hit two times by the pieces of the machine gun’s bullets when the Khmer Rouge shot to warn the people in the village. It exploded very close to my clay house. I had a bad injury. That was when I was seven year old.

When we arrived in Siem Reap, everything was wonderful. The problem was we didn’t have jobs to do. My Mom went to ask people for a job. One week later she got a job as the cook and did all the cleaning in the house, too. I spent nearly one year working with my Mom to save enough money to go to school. I went to school in 1993 when the election was held. That was when I was eight years old. At school, I was the big boy in my class.

Every students must complete six years in primary school. But I spent only four years because all the teachers found that I was smart enough to pass the primary school. I finished primary school when I was twelve.

My life was so much harder than before. In secondary school, I had to spent a lot of money on my uniform, school supplies and so much money on extra Math, Chemistry and Philological classes. I couldn’t afford that much money. Once I really want to quit my school, but Mom disagreed.

In 1998, I found one pagoda in the town next to the Old Market where the monks taught English for free of charge. That was the first time that I learned English. I attended the English class with my teacher for one and half year then he had to move to Thailand to get more education about Buddhism. Since then I haven’t been able to find any other places that learn English for free. Otherwise I couldn’t afford $3 or $4 class per month. If I stop going to the class I will forget the English that I had learned. So I started teaching the younger children to help me remember everything I had learned.

Two years later I got job as a waiter. It helped me so much with my English. That was when I was in High School. I worked so hard on it. I had to work and go to school. So I stoped teaching for one year until I’ve finished my High School."

In September 2005, Sela enrolled in his first year of university at Build Bright University. He is currently studying toward a Tourism and Hospitality Degree. He is currently attending the following classes:

- English for Tourism
- Khmer Culture and History
- Marketing for Tourism
- Introduction to Tourism
- Accounting
- Geography and History of Cambodia

Sela is studying in at Build Bright University because he wants to benefit his community through teaching others. He explains that with higher education people will recognize his credentials and this will allow him to be a certified teacher. Through his teaching of others, Sela hopes to give his students more opportunities to improve their living conditions, and offer them the education to obtain jobs.