Illiteracy is a major challenge for many of our students’ parents. This lack of literacy skills makes it difficult for them to get regular employment and means that they’re vulnerably to exploitation. To help our students’ parents overcome this challenge and transition into stable jobs, we’ve been running adult literacy classes since 2010. Today, we proudly present the 6 students’ mothers in our Chbar Ampov class of 2014! They did a fantastic job, committing to studying Khmer language for one year and successfully graduated on 30 June 2015.

Mr. Hing Butha, our literacy teacher, proudly said “I am very impressed with them because they studied hard and  participated in the class regularly, even though they spend their days working long hours to get money to buy food for their family. Their achievement shows their commitment and perseverance to stick with the programme for one  year.”

Two of our graduates, Mrs. Sreng Va and Mrs. Chann Theourn, were successful getting a full-time job with a garment factory in Phnom Penh. In the past this factory did not want to accept them, because they were not able to write and read the factory’s application form. The women were so excited to get this opportunity because it helps them support their family. They said “We never before thought that we would have the opportunity to read and write some Khmer words and have a full-time job. This job helps us to get regular income for our families and we strongly hope that we will be able to escape our poverty one day. We are very grateful to ISF and our literacy teacher who provided us with the opportunity to join this class and help make our dream come true. We will share the skills we learned at ISF with our family members and other illiterate women.”

Our other 4 graduates have their own businesses in the community, selling Khmer cakes. Gaining literacy skills has been a big help to them as well. One of these Khmer cake entrepreneurs said “Before I could not read or write. But now I can read and write some Khmer words and I can count and change money when we sell cakes to buyers. Because I now work more accurately and faster, I am able to earn more income to help my family survive.”

We also run an adult literacy programme for the parents of our students at Stung Meanchey. The 7 adults currently enrolled started in January and are studying hard to finish their course in December. So that more families can gain essential literacy skills, we will start a new class to 10 fresh students in August 2015 in Chbar Ampov. Congratulations to our Chbar Ampov class of 2014 and all the best to our current Stung Maenchey students!