Ratana is a 15-year-old girl studying in Grade 7 at state school. She lives in a rented room with her family near the Stung Meachey rubbish dump. Her mother and older brother work as a cleaners in a rubbish recycling centre. Her father was an alcoholic and passed away in 2014 as a result of liver failure. Her younger sister is 11 years old and she’s also an ISF student in our catch up programme.

She joined Youth Club in November 2015. On the first day, “all students introduced themselves, and voted for the President, Vice-President and Secretary of the club. I don’t have a position, but I often lead a small group when we work together.” The first session was about peace. “I had to write down one good thing about myself on a leaf and put if on the peace tree.”

One of the sessions that had the most impact on her was when the Club talked about substance abuse. Ratana explained “I recognised a lot of what they were talking about. I saw it in my father. We discussed how alcohol abuse can not only have a bad effect on the user, but on their community as well. When I learned more about this, I want to one day I have the opportunity to share this knowledge with my neighbours and help reduce substance abuse in my community.

Ratana explains how she learns plenty of other things during the sessions as well, “during the activities, we have group discussions on different topics and then do a presentation. She continued, “At first I was a bit scared to do a presentation, but I’m getting braver. I’m happy to join the Youth Club because I can meet my friends on the weekend and can learn so many things that I don’t learn in school.”

*Names of students under 18 are changed.