ISF’s Employment Programme provides students with the vocational training needed to find gainful employment in Cambodia.

Khanha was born in Kompong Cham province in eastern Cambodia but grew up in Phnom Penh for most of her life. ISF was just starting out when she joined the Education Programme back in 2009. ISF was her first experience of attending school, starting at at eight years old in grade one. Khanha did very well in school and passed the exams to enter state school in grade two.

She made it all the way to grade eight but unfortunately had to drop out at that stage. Her sister needed help with her salon and that took priority as there were a lot of mouths to feed in their home.  Khanha has five sisters and two brothers and they all shared a single room home with their parents. Her father is a taxi driver and my mother is a housewife. Sadly, her sister’s business didn’t work out and she had to close the shop which then left Khanha with very little opportunities. It was then that she joined the Employment Programme at ISF.

Khanha received culinary training in Khmer and Western cuisine and also drink mixing and barista training at the Food & Beverage Centre (FBC) for eight months last year as part of the programme. After she completed the training, ISF helped her to apply for a job as a barista at a coffee shop here in Phnom Penh called Gloria Jean. She was thrilled when her application was successful and  was offered the job.

It’s still very new – Khanha only started the position in July but so far so good by all accounts. On her first day, she just observed her new colleagues serving customers and slowly began to take orders from those she felt comfortable serving. She likes the job a lot and is earning a better income than before and is enjoying a day off every week.

Khanha’s family are delighted that she has a good job and are very grateful to ISF for the support she’s received. Getting herself up early every day and going to work has contributed to her personal growth too as it’s helping her, at 17 years of age, to stand on her own two feet and be independent. Without ISF, Khanha reckons that she might still be looking for a job so she’s very happy to be the position she’s now in. In the future, she dreams of opening her own business in Phnom Penh.