IM Chelang, 30, is the fifth daughter among six siblings. Her parents are farmers and live in Kampong Chhnang province. She was grown up and known for her personality as a quiet kid with the future career aim of being a teacher in a rural community and a short story writer. After finishing high school in 2012, Chelang moved to Phnom Penh with relatives and tried to find a garment worker job to save money to pursue her studies at university. In 2014, she was able to study at the university, and she graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Khmer Literature from the Royal University of Phnom Penh University. After graduating in 2018, Chelange returned home to do farm work to help her parents, who got old during COVID-19 spread out.
Chelang has been a volunteer since November 2021 of “Youth Star Cambodia,” a youth club set up and facilitated by a Youth Star volunteer. She received one week’s training on setting up reading and remedial classes before being sent out to the community. Her first volunteer task was to do a peer refresher teaching for three villages in Mesang commune, Mesang district, Prey Veng province. At first sight at the field, she got too much pressure from the new environment and teasing from the community people who presumed she would leave the job for two weeks because she did not talk actively. During this challenging time, Chelang started visiting home by home to collect information relating to slow learners and students who are the criteria for out-of-school. She also saw their parents encourage their children to join the refresher program. She also asked for extra information from the village chiefs and present lists from school teachers for following up on the cases.
“The first try, I failed, but I won’t give up,” Chelang remembered her first task to introduce herself and asked Chanreah, an out-of-school child, to attend a refresher class with her. She tries for a month to visit and meet Saray Chanreah to chit chat, lobby, and encourage the 11-year-old boy to return to school. She added, “What surprised me was that Chanreah could read the text in the book very well after three months of attending the refresher class.”
About months into the implementation of the CCOSC project, there were many activities in the community with out-of-school children, such as tutoring, reading sessions, and home visits to get the out-of-school children back to school and remain there. IM Chelang, Youth Star’sStar’s volunteer, is creating change in the community, which is especially important for the OOSC.
“As a Youth Star’s volunteer and as a friend, teacher, and sister, I am proud and excited to see the improvement and change in habits of out-of-school children to return to study hard for a brighter future.”, Miss. IM Chelang.
Chelang spent four weeks collecting information about out-of-school children. She reported more than 177 students joining the reading class in the village and remedial course at schools in Prey Veng. She teaches six classes daily, adding home visits and peer teaching after classes. As a result, 68 students decided to go back to school. She learned that the reason why students drop out is that students live with low-income families and parents do not value education.
One year as a community volunteer with Youth Star Cambodia, Chelang can overcome all the obstacles. The volunteer task changed the target community positively and improved her personality and ability to speak in public with confidence, flexibility, and maturity. She also learned and skilled a lot from her voluntary job, such as facilitating skills, problem-solving, and adapting to people around her.
“If the children cannot go to school, children will be vulnerable to illiteracy and hopeless without a goal. With education, children can support themselves, their family and society.” IM Chelang said.
IM Chelang recently worked as a volunteer at Clear Cambodia Organization based in Kampong Chhnang province, where she can take care of her parents and her community. She intends to take another exam in a teacher training school, no matter if she fails twice.
Chelang added, “Although I am not destined to be a teacher like others, I love working as a volunteer teacher to help children in the community because I have been through hard experiences.“
