Hopes and dreams

University students in the dorm know that back home their families and communities are facing continuous struggles. Most of their parents didn’t go to school, but these are the few lucky ones. As children they were able to attend a nearby elementary school. To attend high school they left their villages and moved in with family contacts in the provincial capital Saen Monorom. Some even got a scholarship and went to boarding school in other provinces.

Education expenses have always been an issue in this community where earnings are modest. Family budgets are tight given the dependency on agriculture and the ongoing disruptions caused by large-scale rubber plantations. As one student explains:

“Our farm is very small now and as it is divided up for my elder siblings to have their own farm, it is even getting smaller and smaller. It is very difficult. How can we live from our farm in the future?”

But despite this, parents support their education fervently. They don’t complain about the sacrifices they make to send their children to school, but instead push them to study harder. These parents want their children to find a way out of the hardships and insecurities they face with shrinking farmland and forest resources. As one dad told his daughter:

“I want my children to have knowledge, I wish them to have a good education and then a good job. I don’t want my children to become like me.”

Language is another barrier, as these families don’t speak Khmer. Students’ parents who themselves never went to school, don’t have the skills to support them. One student wanted to give up, but his parents and elder siblings encouraged him to keep going. They told him:

“In the future, it will be very difficult when you do not go to school. We only have little land left, but you can have a job.”

For the students in the dorm, part of their plan is to support their younger siblings in the future to get an education.

The dorm provides a home away from home for the Bunong students. It gives them guidance, strength and inspiration to pursue their studies as minority students in the megacity Phnom Penh. It gives them a sense of belonging even in a world that is so foreign to where they grew up. The younger students develop self-worth and confidence as they witness older Bunong students graduate. It creates solidarity among a discriminated group and peer to peer support, as one student puts it:

“It is very important because we know each other and how life is back home, we are warm together, we support each other, we are not alone.”

Life for students in the Capital Phnom Penh is difficult at the beginning, as they are used to the calm countryside.

“I found it difficult in the city because of how many people there were. I did not know how to move. I thought it was very difficult to find my way from the dorm to the University or to other places. It’s all very messy here, very confusing. It was a big help for me that I could ask the older students in the dorm how to find my way. This was extremely important, otherwise I would have gotten lost and I would not have dared to find my way through the streets. The older students gave me hope that in the future, I could manage by myself. Since then I became a role model for the new students, now I can help them and they see that they too can learn how to find their way in this big city.”

The dorm is even more crucial for the students, whose families have no existing contacts or network in the big city. There is no extended family who could take the young students in, care for them during their studies and make education affordable. Like one student says:

“I am a very fast learner and I have always been very good at school. But I have no family in Phnom Penh and we have not enough resources. To study is expensive, and city life is expensive. A place to stay, transport, food, the student fees, books… it’s all very expensive. I was afraid that I could not succeed to study and follow my dream. But thanks to the dorm, it was possible. I also found friends here, we discuss our problems, we meet and find solutions. They all face similar problems.”

For female students there are even more challenges to overcome to get a university degree.

In the past families hesitated to let them leave the village and live alone so far away. But now with the dorm, they are reassured and encourage them to pursue their dreams. Now, some female students have even chosen subjects that are still rather unusual for women. As one student put it:

“I’ve liked IT for a long time. There are not so many women in IT and I think women are just as good as men. In the future, I’m going back to Mondulkiri where I want to work for the government to support IT in the province.”

The Bunong students know that this is their only chance in life to get a higher education. They are hopeful for their future and committed to use their time at the dorm to both better their lives and that of their community. As two students explain:

“I decided to study law to improve the situation for the Bunong in the future. There are not many Bunong lawyers, and I see that there are many injustices against Bunong in the villages, especially in terms of the land problem, where outsiders took Bunong land and no one could find justice for the villagers. “

“I chose to study agriculture as I’d like to have my own farm in the future. And there are many Bunong farmers who need support, and I want to go back and work close with them on the farms”.