Meet Sreymoch

I really like to have fun and laugh. I like to watch funny shows on the phone. I like to play games with my friends. There are a lot of children around here, from different places and speaking different languages. We all get along and have fun. I don’t know how many times a day I laugh but it is a lot.

Me and my family live in a small shack in Phnom Penh next to the walls of a temple which was abandoned a long time ago. There are six people in my room but I don’t feel that’s too much. I like having people around me.

My father can’t work because he isn’t well. He has had a problem with his leg for a long time so he spends almost his whole life indoors. He needs medicine, but we can’t always afford it. It can be quite hard living with him but I love him. My mother used to sell snacks on a cart but that got harder during COVID-19, and then the cart broke so she had to stop. Now she washes clothes to earn a bit of money, but it’s not easy. 

I want to try and stay in school. If I could do that, I would be the very first in my family. My father never went at all, he spent all his childhood fishing, and my mother had to drop out after grade 4. My brother dropped out at grade 8 to work in a slaughterhouse. He comes and visits sometimes and brings little presents. That makes me and my twin sister happy.

I think education is important because if you gain knowledge you can be an expert and then I could be either a doctor a teacher. I think I would probably prefer to be a teacher because maybe it’s a little bit easier, and I think it is more fun too. I know lots of games I could play with little kids. I often look after my little nephew so I know I am good with children. The chance to pass on knowledge to little kids and to make their lives happier, that would be such a good thing to do.