Story by Ying Bun and photo by Soeum Youra, World Vision Cambodia
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Porn Phy shows the drawing she did to send to her friend, Chanty. |
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Twelve-year-old Porn Phy, the third child of eight children, had a job that most adults, let alone children, would desire.
Phy was a child labourer at a brick factory near her home. Her family was extremely poor and needed the income from her work.
“I carried bricks and placed them on carts, and arranged them orderly in the kiln. I worked from 7am until 5pm everyday. Typically, I would earn about 4,500 riels [about S$1.50] a day, all of which I gave to my mother,” described Phy.
It was a gruelling job for young girls like Phy to carry heavy bricks in the factory, but she had no choice. She had to support her family. Along with Phy, her father and oldest brother also worked at the brick factory.
For Phy, learning how to read and write, and having the opportunity to go to school was a distant dream that was unimaginable to her. When World Vision approached Phy and asked her if she wanted to be enrolled in non-formal education at a drop-in centre, Phy was surprised and decided to give it a try.
It took Phy a few days to get used to the drop-in centre. Though Phy did not know any of the children there, she quickly learned that they all came from the same background, and were entangled in child labour too.
“At first, I wanted to return home since I knew no one there. After a few days, I had a few friends. The other children as well as the Moms and Dads [children call the staff at the centre Moms and Dads] were kind and helpful to me. I learned to be a good friend, a good student, and a good child. I made some close friends and we shared lots of fun together,” related Porn Phy.
Since she could not read, Phy would ask her friends to read to her. Together with her close friends at the centre, Porn Phy would study for about half a day, and spend the other half playing jigsaw puzzles or playing a local game called Shuttlecock with her friends, a game similar to kicking small beanbags.
After leaving the centre, Phy and her family moved to live in her grandfather’s village in Moung Russey District, Battambang Province, where World Vision built a tin roof house for her family. The project also supported her family with items such as kitchen utensils, food and home-gardening tools.
Phy tries to stay in touch with the friends she has made from before. With the help of World Vision, she has managed to send string bracelets, pictures she has drawn, a letter, and a thousand riels note [about $0.35] to one of her close friends, Chanty.
“I miss my friend Chanty. I sympathise with her. Her mother passed away and her father remarried. She is living with her older sister, who hits her sometimes,” says Phy sadly.
This is the first time Phy has sent her friend a letter. Though it is short, with incomplete sentences, the letter is meaningful to both Phy and her friend. For Phy, it is the first time that she has put her thoughts into words. There is no other way Phy can express her feelings to her friend who now lives in a different place from her. She hopes she will meet Chanty and her other friends again.
“Studying is much easier than working in the kiln. I do not want to work again at the brick factory,” says Phy.
Phy is diligent with her school work and makes time for it. “Sometimes I teach my younger brothers and sister. I play the role of a teacher, and I hope to be able to develop my village in the future,” shares Phy.
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