Success Stories: Chaikky, a selfless teacher

It is hard to know where to begin when talking about Chhaiky and her story. She is by far one of the most inspiring people we have had the pleasure of coming across on our journey to Cambodia.

Chaikky is the principal of the school we worked with. Not only does she inspire confidence and knowledge in her students, but she also embodies the generous spirit and selflessness that inspired us to invest in her community. During our trip to the school where we donated over 250 backpacks filled with school supplies and an array of supplies for the school, we had the chance to sit down with Chhaiky and find out about her story and how she created her school and brought her dream to reality.

Chaikky has dreamed of being a teacher since she was a child. Despite her poverty-stricken upbringing and her parent’s disapproval for pursuing her secondary education, she persevered and found a way to acquire her certifications to finally become a teacher in her community. There was only one problem, there was no school.

Her husband Damdin, who was our contact and guide for the entirety of our first mission in Cambodia, recognized his wife's passion for education and knew he had to do something to help her pursue her dream. With the help of a friend and a successful GoFundMe campaign, Damdin raised about $1,800 to build a school in their community for Chaikky and had a school built just for her. Of course, you would think Chaikky’s dream was realized, but there was one more hurdle to overcome; finding students to fill the school.

One of the main issues that Cambodia faces is, ironically, the education around education. Getting families to understand the importance of primary education is a difficult task, especially when you have to compete with putting food on the table. Convincing parents to send their kids to school to learn English in lieu of working for the family often seems like a tedious and impossible task.  Most families require their children to either start working at a young age in their rice fields or take care of their siblings.

Chaikky was not faltered by this obstacle. Once the school was built Chaikky travelled door to door, explaining the importance of education to the families in her community. It took a decent amount of convincing and time but slowly her community school grew from just a few children to what is now 300 students and counting.

Not only did Chhaiky help us organize our initial trip, but her husband was also our guide and translator in the community, he also introduced us to other communities that were even poorer than theirs. Chhaiky told us that her passion for her students to have a better life was her motivation to be a teacher. In order to better provide for the children, she split her $5 a day salary and used half of it to hire and pay another teacher. Even though she’d left herself with almost nothing to live, she was still more concerned with her student’s futures than her own.

We were beyond touched by this story and knew we had to do something. When we got back to our hostel, we created a brief video explaining Chhaiky's story and asked for help from our friends, family and followers via social media. When we woke up the next morning, we realized a generous community of givers also touched by Chhaiky’s story, had raised almost $3000 on the GoFundMe we created and we also donated $1,000 of our remaining funds to her. The money was meant to be hers and her families but instead, she chose to use it to hire two new teachers, as well as buy new supplies for the school. Despite the impact on her own family life, she refused to accept any of the money for herself.

Investing in the future of Cambodian children not only offers them an education, but it also gives them hope. It is due to selfless teachers like Chhaiky that schools in low-income villages are able to thrive with the help and support of people like you.