HOW CHANTHY WENT FROM FARM GIRL TO BECOME BANKER AND WIFE
Chanthy at Build Bright University
Twenty-six-year-old Dok Chanthy, has already achieved many of her childhood dreams. She is well educated, has a promising career, is able to help her family, and is a new bride.
Chanthy’s starting point presented many obstacles to achieving such success. She grew up on a very poor farm in Oromchang village near BakChinhchien with her parents and four brothers. Chanty was the youngest of the five children.
During the farming season Chanthy and her mother started each day at 5:00 AM, transplanting rice seedlings to the field where they would grow into mature rice plants. She and her brothers often went to the lakes to catch fish that she and her mother sold in the market for added family income. Also, there was the caring of the pigs and chickens to keep her busy.
Chanthy began her journey with JGG in 2009 as one of the first students in JGG’s English Outreach program. At that time, the program was taught by professional teachers. However, in early 2010 JGG announce it would change to using Student Teachers. Chanthy passed the qualifying test and became a member of the first generation of JGG Student Teachers. Chanthy said she screamed with happiness when she found out she had been selected.
As a Student Teacher, Chanthy taught English to 6th grade students from Monday to Friday in the afternoon from Noon to 01:00PM and 7th grade students from 5:00 to 6:00 PM. Finally, at 6:00 PM she studied her English with the professional teachers provided by JGG.
Her computer training, along with the other first-generation Student Teachers, was funded by JGG and provided by a computer school in Pursat city.
Rain or shine, every Saturday, and again on Sunday, the group would peddle bikes to the computer training school 17 kilometers (10.5 miles) away. The dirt roads were so difficult that even an automobile might take almost an hour to complete the route. Later, JGG built a computer training room in the JGG Learning Center where Chanthy taught the computer to younger Student Teachers.
Chanthy, JGG's First Generation Student Teacher with Friends in front of JGG's Library
Chanthy graduated high school in 2013 and was awarded one of three Wings of Hope scholarships given that year to the best graduating Student Teachers. She moved to Siem Reap with other Student Teachers to live initially in a rented house provided by JGG, and then in the JGG dormitory when it was completed. She studied Banking and Finance at Build Bright University, graduating in 2017 with a bachelor’s degree in Banking and Finance.
In her first year at university, Chanthy worked as the manager of JGG’s English Outreach program. This required her to work in BakChinhchien during the week and to take the six-hour bus trip each weekend to attend university full-time in Siem Reap. Working closely with JGG’s Chairman who lived in the US was a great learning experience for Chanthy.
Chanthy at her current work at Siem Reap
In her second year at university, she worked as a receptionist at the Angkor Home Hotel located in Siem Reap. Having to use English with visitors from all over the world greatly improved her English conversation ability.
In 2015 she took a position at Vision Fund Cambodia Institution (currently WB Finance a member of Woori Bank, the largest bank in Korea) as a Data Encoder which allowed her to improve her computer skills. This position required that she again live away from Siem Reap during the week, returning on the weekends for her university classes.
Eventually, Chanthy was promoted to her current position as Branch Teller at WB Finance. She continued to live at JGG’s Siem Reap dormitory until early 2020 when she married. She still lives in Siem Reap with her husband.
Chanthy wishes to say “THANK YOU” to everyone at JGG and Wings of Hope and expresses her gratitude to both charities for the many years of support they have given her. “They opened the doors to so many opportunities. They made my dreams come true.”
Chanthy at her wedding day