Meet Chandy

I am Chandy. I wasn’t too sad when schools closed because I was lucky to have a computer so I could study at home and the rest of the day I went to the market where my parents work. I do like school, but I also liked spending time at the market and talking to people there. My family say I talk too much!

If I can, I would love to finish school and then go to America to study English in university. I love it when I see America on TV, it looks beautiful and with wonderful shops. In my spare time I watch a lot of English shows on my parent’s phone, mostly cartoons. That’s fun but it’s also teaching me. Another way I have fun is playing with my friends at school, or drawing pictures.

There are 11 people in my house in Banlung town so it can be quite crowded. That’s one of the reasons I like it when my big sister takes me to the café near our house. It’s my favourite place, stylish and relaxing. That’s where I had my idea to one day run a business. I’d like to create a nice coffee shop, and then work to make it successful. Then, when it is popular, I would open a few more, not too many. I could give jobs to lots of people and make lots of people happy with beautiful cafes.

I know it takes hard work to succeed but I think I can work hard and my parents push me if I ever get lazy. They sell shoes in the market and they tell me: ‘Life as a shopkeeper is hard, it takes up all your energy. If you get educated you will have a better life.’ They are right but I like to have fun, too.