Ing Somaly was born in 1986, in Siem Reap Province.  She is 21 years old and has 2 sisters. Somaly comes from a family with a long farming tradition and in her early life both her mother and father grew rice.  However, when she was 4, her family moved to Wat Bo Village in Siem Reap town and she lives there to this day.  Her parents moved in order to gain better jobs and they are now both market traders. In her spare time Somaly likes to read and enjoys playing with her pet dog.  Her favorite place in Siem Reap is Angkor Wat – as she thinks it is beautiful and is proud of the Khmer culture.

Somaly has always regarded education as incredibly important.  She thinks that it is the biggest problem that faces Cambodia today.  She has a problem with the government handing out gift aid to poor families in the countryside and instead believes that they should provide decent free education to all Cambodians.  As a result of her views Somaly has dedicated her life to her studies.  She is always keen to learn and is very dedicated.  However, Somaly still believes some of the hardest challenges she has faced in her life have been to do with education, especially exams!!  However, her family found it very difficult to support her in her endeavors and so she turned to JWOC for help.

In August 2007 Somaly was awarded a JWOC scholarship.  She now helps with the Microfinance Project.  She chose this initiative because she saw it as a great opportunity to help the poor people of Cambodia.  Somaly believes that giving villagers the opportunity to support their families is one of the most important issues that faces Cambodia today as people do not have access to the credit which would enable them to begin their own business.  She also enjoys the Microfinance Project because it gives her an opportunity to meet people she has never met before and to visit places she has never visited before.  Her aim for the future is to be able to learn quickly and transfer her own skills to future scholars.  Somaly believes that it was her drive that ensured she was awarded a scholarship; she thinks JWOC recognized her ambition, motivation and desire for knowledge.

Somlay is in her second year at Build Bright University majoring in English Literature.  In the future she hopes to be a teacher so she can share her knowledge to other people.