When I was growing up, my father was disabled by a landmine – my mother used to transplant seedlings for other people in the village – we were very poor. As a child, I didn’t go to school and had no good clothes to wear. Everyday I sold cakes and took good care of my siblings. My two younger sisters were very small. They couldn’t earn money to support the family. All of these factors made it difficult for my family to have enough food to eat. When I was 11, my mother got a chronic disease and died because we had no money to cure her. I had to make everything better for my family because I was the eldest sister. After two months, my father was told by the neighbours to take me to the orphanage in Kampot Province but they wouldn’t accept me even though it was my birthplace.

When we arrived in Phnom Penh, my two sisters, my father, and I had no home and no food. We lived under a tree near Independence Monument. I had to beg to get money to buy food for my baby sister. One day I met a widow who was over 30 years old who let us stay in her house and gave us food. She said she wanted to buy my two younger sisters for $300, my father said nothing, he just wanted my family to stay together until he died. We left her house and went back to the tree crying. One week later, there was a journalist who came to meet my father and took photos of us. After two days the lady who wanted to buy my two younger sisters brought a newspaper to my father with the headline “mother dies, disabled father can not adopt three children.” A few days later, I heard many cars with sirens – I was so scared – I thought that the lady had maybe told the police to arrest my father – I cried and cried just hugging my father and my sisters …….. in fact it turned out to be Prime Minister Hun Sen’s car. About four hours later, a big, strong man called us to the Prime Minister’s villa. I cried and tried to persuade my father not to go but we went the next day. We ended up staying in Ta Kmao (Hun Sen’s villa) for three months. Afterwards we moved to Kien Kleang orphanage. My father died one day when I was studying in Phnom Penh – I wasn’t with him when he died. It made me so sad because I knew I would never be able to call for my mum or dad again. In the orphanage I have enough food, I can go to school, have enough clothes, and I have friendly friends. I am especially happy to learn photography. This makes me happy and I expect that I will have a bright future. My life changed because of the article in that newspaper. I will never forget that.