Meet Dalen

A lot happened this year. I started school. An NGO called SKO really helped me by making sure we could afford it and making sure I had all the right books and pencils and things. I was quite nervous to start school but also excited.

Before I started school, I spent a lot of time by myself when my grandmother was working and it could be boring. Sometimes I would go out and hang out on the streets but that got scary sometimes. Now I am in school I love to learn and spend time with my friends and play games with them. It is much more fun and interesting! We play hide and seek which is so much fun! Another game is a kind of race called monkey, which makes me laugh. I love monkeys. I love to draw them.

I live with my grandmother and my older brother and sister in a small rented house in Phnom Penh. I was actually born in Prey Veng, in the countryside, but I don’t remember it. We went back but I didn’t like it as much as the city because all my friends are in the city. We are happy here. When I am at home, I help my grandmother or I do homework or I draw.

My parents came to Phnom Penh to earn money, but then they broke up and my mother went away. I don’t know where. I don’t remember her. Then my father died two years ago. I remember his face, but mostly from a photograph. My grandmother looks after me very well. We do things together, like preparing the nuts and the snacks which she sells on the streets.

I want to help people when they are sick. I know that if people are sick a person can give them medicine and that will make them get better. That sounds like a really nice thing to do, so I will study hard to be able to do that. I think I have a good heart and if I cure people I will also get very good karma!