Her name is Sokma. I met her on a warm Cambodian afternoon, while visiting a Muslim school. While speaking with my tuk-tuk driver, after yet another tiring day visiting Angkor City, I told him I was looking for a place to volunteer in Cambodia. He told me his community's Muslim school was in need of English teachers and that if I was willing to, he would take me there on a visit, arrange a meeting with the headmaster and maybe, if I liked it, I could become a volunteer there. I decided it was a good idea, so I went with him.
Everyone was nice and kind to me, I talked to the headmaster, we agreed we were going to try to get some funding for my teaching placement and then we heard the call for prayer. He excused himself, said he had to go to the mosque and called 3 girls to keep me company.
They were all giggling and staring at me, they said "Hi" and sat next to me. One of them brought me some palm sugar water, the other was quite shy and the third one was really friendly and talkative. She asked me a lot of questions about me, my life, my friends and family, about my travels, about the reasons behind me leaving my home behind. I answered each question with delight. I started asking her questions about her own life, her hopes and dreams. She is from a small village in South Cambodia, but has been living in Siem Reap for a 4 years. Her family is still in the small village where she comes from, but she only sees them one or twice a year, as it's expensive to go there and the road is really bad. She told me how she studies finance and she teaches English at the school for the muslim community. She told me about Cambodian history, she knows a lot about world history and about all this places the she would like to visit. She wants to travel, to see the world, to meet different people, to discuss ideas and above all, to learn. She often thinks about being a tour guide, as she speaks 3 languages and loves interacting with people. I listen to her words, to her passion dripping from her tongue like sweet honey, I saw the sparkles in her eyes talking about the world outside her shell. I listen to her for hours, completely mesmerized not only by her outside beauty but also by her amazingly huge soul. And then I asked something to which I felt I already knew the answer: "Why don't you do that, go out into the world, get out and meet people?" She answered with the same smile that she had before, even though I knew she was saying those words with a heavy heart: "I can't, I have to do what my family wants me to do. They want me to study finance, to make money and get a good husband. That's not what I want, but it doesn't matter, I want them to be happy and proud of me."
My heart started hurting, I wanted so much to help her, to bring her with me and tell her that it doesn't have to be like that, that she doesn't have to..but I only told her never to give up on her dreams.
I know she will never travel the world, become a tour guide and meet different people, she will become an accountant and a dutiful wife. I know that, and that is why it saddens me when people actually have the option to be free, but choose to live in a golden cage of dreamless desperation. Make your own opportunities to follow your dreams, create your own path, don't let others tell you what to do, listen to your heart, listen to your soul, step out of your shell and embrace the warmth of living your life, not the life someone told you to live.
Be alive. Be happy. Be free.
Everyone was nice and kind to me, I talked to the headmaster, we agreed we were going to try to get some funding for my teaching placement and then we heard the call for prayer. He excused himself, said he had to go to the mosque and called 3 girls to keep me company.
They were all giggling and staring at me, they said "Hi" and sat next to me. One of them brought me some palm sugar water, the other was quite shy and the third one was really friendly and talkative. She asked me a lot of questions about me, my life, my friends and family, about my travels, about the reasons behind me leaving my home behind. I answered each question with delight. I started asking her questions about her own life, her hopes and dreams. She is from a small village in South Cambodia, but has been living in Siem Reap for a 4 years. Her family is still in the small village where she comes from, but she only sees them one or twice a year, as it's expensive to go there and the road is really bad. She told me how she studies finance and she teaches English at the school for the muslim community. She told me about Cambodian history, she knows a lot about world history and about all this places the she would like to visit. She wants to travel, to see the world, to meet different people, to discuss ideas and above all, to learn. She often thinks about being a tour guide, as she speaks 3 languages and loves interacting with people. I listen to her words, to her passion dripping from her tongue like sweet honey, I saw the sparkles in her eyes talking about the world outside her shell. I listen to her for hours, completely mesmerized not only by her outside beauty but also by her amazingly huge soul. And then I asked something to which I felt I already knew the answer: "Why don't you do that, go out into the world, get out and meet people?" She answered with the same smile that she had before, even though I knew she was saying those words with a heavy heart: "I can't, I have to do what my family wants me to do. They want me to study finance, to make money and get a good husband. That's not what I want, but it doesn't matter, I want them to be happy and proud of me."
My heart started hurting, I wanted so much to help her, to bring her with me and tell her that it doesn't have to be like that, that she doesn't have to..but I only told her never to give up on her dreams.
I know she will never travel the world, become a tour guide and meet different people, she will become an accountant and a dutiful wife. I know that, and that is why it saddens me when people actually have the option to be free, but choose to live in a golden cage of dreamless desperation. Make your own opportunities to follow your dreams, create your own path, don't let others tell you what to do, listen to your heart, listen to your soul, step out of your shell and embrace the warmth of living your life, not the life someone told you to live.
Be alive. Be happy. Be free.
