Category: 2018-2019

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How Do I Change Cambodia? (Year 3 Reflection)

“Use the potential, talent, and passion you possess to be the change you want to see in the world – Angely”

The Lives of My Villagers along the Mekong River in Kratie Province.

I was born, raised, and had been living my whole life in Cambodia, a country that has been constantly reforming after the destructive history of the Khmer Rouge genocide which did not only killed millions of people but also leaves many damages on this once-prosperous country and its citizens. The trauma and the intense oppression from the genocide leave the older generation fearful of new possibilities, revolutionary ideas, and innovative ways to help change this country. The stereotypes, discriminations, and traditions of our culture keep all of us in a fixed mindset-box which contradicts the possibilities of new technological and innovative solutions to the major problems in our society. For instance, the gender gaps in Cambodian society that discriminate women from pursuing careers in entrepreneurship, technological, architectural and scientifical fields which results in the lack of human resources that results in the decrease of the development of the whole nation. Due to these inequalities and gaps I have seen in this once-prosperous country, I strongly believe that fair and equal distribution of career opportunities and rights for people, especially those who belong to certain racism or gender, will benefit the country and the world as a whole and leads to a better future for humankind.

 In our society, there is this invisible stereotype that lives inside the mindset of people that limits girls, people with disability, LGBTQ community or people with different skin colors and religions from being who they are, limits their opportunities and choices, take away their rights and freedom. As an example, most people would think that men are better coders and business managers than women​, which therefore results in fewer opportunities giving to girls in order to pursue these fields. However, I believe women are as talented and can be as successful as men if given the same education, career opportunity, and freedom. If society can encourage all kinds of people, regardless of their identity, all nations would bolster because of the increase in human resources. 

Promoting opportunities and encourage girls and children towards participating in programming, entrepreneurship, and science. 

Technovation 2019 (1st place from Junior Division)

My Technovation team when we finally finished the main course and just pitched our ideas to the judges. It was a privilege to be a part of this changing community.

This school year (2018-2019), I and the other four girls built a team (The Credos) for a business and coding competition called Technovation. This competition aims to enhance girls’ interest and skills in entrepreneurship and technology by creating a 12-week program to teach girls both of these skills. What is even more special about Technovation is the competitions that are held both nationally and internationally that allow girls to compete, pitch their business ideas and showcase the application that they have developed throughout the course. Everyone who has participated in the regional pitching events was blown away by the innovative ideas, confidence, and professionalism and especially, the entrepreneurship and technology mindsets that all Cambodian of those courageous Cambodian girls have shown. Because of the hard work we put in, there was a successful achievement that happened that day of the national pitch event. 

Our team (The Credos) won the 1st place from the Junior division, even though we are just 13-14! This achievement and the overall program are great inspiration for young start-up developers and coders. Most importantly, it debunks the stereotype that girls aren’t as talented coders and entrepreneurs as boys and showcases that the stereotype that girls or children aren’t talented coders and entrepreneurs is definitely just a one-sided story. 

First Lego League Robotics in Singapore: Developing the Possibility of Change for the Astronauts and the Future of Technology. 

In March 2019, I was a part of the Robotics team that went to compete in Singapore with hundreds of other teams from around the world. There were 5 girls and 5 boys that worked together on this project. The FLL competition requires students to program the robots to complete missions which include researching problems that the astronauts are facing when they go out in explorations that are within our solar system and coming up with ideas to solve these problems for them. This project highly encourages students, especially girls who normally can’t find opportunities to work on technology-related and science-related projects. It gives all of us a chance to play with block-coding, robot controlling and researching on real scientific problems. 

Our Team’s Robot

This project shows me that girls and young students are a strong force that supports and pushes the whole team towards success. We can research about scientific problems and come up with innovative ideas to help astronauts with their problems, and more importantly, we can embrace and promote collaboration in the team well.

A Team Spirit Moment

Our creative solutions are presented to the judges, and many appreciations, astonishments, and supports are shown from the smile of the judges when we confidently presented our project to them. Finally, we won an award from the competition which is ‘Overseas Best Performing Team’ and received a trophy and medals. This success is not just about winning the competition, but also about how students and girls can develop the possibility of change and have the potential to create a better world. 

Young Students are Capable and Passionate Raise Awareness about Necessary Change

Almost all events, conferences, campaigns or other social activities consist of mostly adults, trying to raise awareness and encourage change in communities, but I believe young students have the ability to do the same, with their open-minded ideas and the vision of a better future. 

Cambodian Model United Nations Conference, The solutions worth implementing. 

Delegations from the Liger Leadership Academy

In May 2019, there is a Cambodian Model United Nations Conference that is organized by three senior girls from the Liger Leadership Academy and participated by young high-school students who, surprisingly, are mostly girls! It was a mind-blowing experience, with young students expressing their concerns towards global issues and sharing ideas towards making a change, not only in their community but also for common good for the world as a whole.

The Delegates of Different Countries who are in General Assembly 3.

Each student came to the conference with a country that they will represent as delegates. The students represent their country very well while debating on the different resolutions on each of the issues. I was the delegate of the United Kingdom who was debating in General Assembly 3, which covered the topic of Gender Equality for the LGBTQ community and the Question of Improving Air Quality Throughout the Globe.

I was talking about my statement in a resolution for the Question of Improving Air Quality Around the Globe.

Despite the young age, students took initiatives to come up to the podium and presented their ideas with formal language, respect towards racism and differences in different countries, especially, their ideas were very practical for realistic practices for governments around the world. I believe youths are a strong force for our future, so creating opportunities and encouragement for them to express their ideas and solutions for global issues can be a big benefit for mankind. 

Ideas Empowered at ISPP TEDx Talk 

I was talking about Empowering Literature in Cambodia and the Benefits of Reading and Writing.

Where are the best resources for creative ideas? Where can we find great and inspiring empowerment? Well, the TEDx Talks presented in the theme of Ideas Empowered that are delivered on December, 1st, 2019 is amongst the most mind-changing presentations you can ever find in Cambodia. Young students delivered presentations that showcase their perspectives and concerns towards the different field of issues, from Environmental Topics, Literature and Culture topics to Growth-Mindset, Stereotypes and Discriminations Topics. I was one of the speakers of this event, and I was talking about Empowering Literature in Cambodia because I believe that literature has the power to change lives, encourage, and embrace voices from people, and change the mindsets of the society. I talked about the importance of reading and preserving literature and how it can help us to achieve both personal and social goods. (To know more about my talk, check out this portfolio post)

The tremendous flow of different ideas and mindsets from the bright young presenters shook the audience to the core, leaving them refreshed with new perspectives towards society and life. raising awareness about global issues, helping them to unlock their potential from the part of their mind they have never been aware of, encouraging audiences to step out of their comfort zone and to start reaching for their dreams and a life well-lived, and more advantages that the audience experience. It was one of the most inspiring events for me because seeing the bright young students that are the key to our future generation filled with such enthusiasm to change the world into a better place is just what we need for this world. 

It is understandable that Cambodia or other countries, that have been through great disasters in their history, are fearful of changes and revolutions in ideas and mindsets, for instance, stereotypes or discriminations against people with a certain age, gender or race. However, I wish to encourage everyone to start embracing new ideas, mindsets, solutions, and technologies that can lead our world to a better future. Instead of protesting those new concepts, try to consider its advantages that can help our world. Encourage voices from all kinds of people, regardless of their age, gender or race. If we want a bright future for the next generation, we need to start taking action and creating the change right now! Everything starts from ourselves, so begin to explore your own potential, talent, and passion and how can you use that to contribute to change this world. How can you raise awareness about change, encourage change, develop the possibility of change in your very own community? I believe that each and every one human being has a unique potential to be a part of the change. We are important change-makers and we have the ability to do so. Therefore, we need to work and collaborate together to encourage the possibility of a bright future for the next generation. 

 

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How Technovation 2019 Shapes Me and My Vision of Change?

A large number of females all around the world are really new to the idea of Technology and Entrepreneurship, due to the stereotype: ‘Girls who cook, Boys who code’.

 For decades, women are seen as uneducated, incapable of running businesses and belong to the kitchen, when men are out in the business world, programming applications and have most of the right to pursue a career they want. 

Is it reasonable, fair, and beneficial to continue this stereotype? 

Or Must we debunk this stereotype and start encouraging women? 

What is Technovation and How it fights the stereotype of girls towards innovation? 

Technovation is an international program that offers girls all around the globe (in the age of 12 to 18) the opportunity of learning the skills to become tech entrepreneurs. This 12-weeks program invites girls to work in teams to identify any major or small problems in their community and create a mobile application to help solve the problems. At the end of the program, the teams are required to pitch their ideas to regional pitching events and determine the regional winners. In addition to that, we also submitted our work to the global judges for international competition. 

The program focuses on four mains skills including: 

  1. Ideation (Identify a problem in the community) 
  2. Technology (Develop a mobile app solution)
  3. Entrepreneurship (Build a business plan to launch the app) 
  4. Pitch (Bring the business to the market). – Technovation Challenge

    Related image
    From: Incarabia

The immense impact Technovation has made is hopeful for the future of Girls. According to Technovation Survey from participants, more girls are interested in Computer Science, Entrepreneurship and Business Leadership. 

Visit the Technovation Website and Detailed Description of the Program

My Personal Journey in Technovation Cambodia

Image may contain: 1 person, standing
I’m presenting the features of Amara to the Judges during National Pitch Event.

Due to my interest in Business and Entrepreneurship, I have been joining Technovation for 3 years in a row. During these years, I have grown a lot in terms of understanding Entrepreneurial Concepts, Business Management, Leadership Skills and Embracing a team, Professional Pitching, and Public Speaking. After joining this program, I have developed a passion for Tech Entrepreneurship, because I see the need in my community and the great change that Tech Entrepreneurship can bring to my country, and the world. 

Continue reading “How Technovation 2019 Shapes Me and My Vision of Change?”

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FLL Robotics Competition, An Experience of a Lifetime

As the world has revolutionized greatly by new inventions of Technology, It is crucial to study and understand further into the field. In the present days, there are great inventions that can help humanity with our daily lives, including different applications, hardware, software, and robots.

FLL (First Lego League) is a robotic competition that inspires and empowers students from all around the world to code robots and do scientific researches to compete together in Singapore.

The Field of Missions for the Robot to complete

This year, I am one of the participants that involve in the FLL Robotics Competition 2019, theme: Into Orbit.  The three main components of the competition include programming, project researching, and core values. For the programming part, I have been involved with technical skills which are Coding the Robot by using the EV3 program. To prepare for the competition, My team and I also need to research on a problem that astronauts face during long-term explorations within our solar system.

The topic that we chose was ‘Circadian Rhythm’ which refers to the unfamiliar pattern of habits astronauts face when they go up

Our Team’s Robot

into space. Circadian refers to the human biological clock of living organisms that controls all of the hormonal releases and other functions of our body that works by using the light that is detected from the optic nerve. On Earth, the 24-hour cycle is valid and continuous which makes our body circadian clock works well according to the cycle of sunsets and sunrises. However, environments up in space like inside the international space station (ISS) has a different pattern of lighting. A day inside the ISS, there are 16 sunrises and sunsets a day (1 per 45 minutes) which really messes up the astronaut’s circadian rhythm and gives them side effects on their health including the rise of acids in the stomach, wrong hormonal releases which can lead to headaches and other health problems.

After analyzing the problems, we have come up with a solution to help astronauts deal with this problem better, which is to create an artificial 24-hours cycle of day and night time to help adjust the astronaut’s biological clock to work better. To implement the solution in spaceships, we are planning to use a type of glass that has high capability to prevent light so that we can keep the spaceship dark for 12 hours to make it seems like night. For the 12-hours day time, we are going to use a special type of lamp which os the LED lamp because it has special effects on the astronaut’s environment.

The week of the competition came, and we flew to Singapore to stay there for a week with our host families. There, I have learned about a newly industrializing country, especially its continuous development of infrastructures and technology. We visited a company called ‘Cloudera’ to study business management and tech development in the entrepreneur world. 

A Team Spirit Moment

After all of the hard works we have put in for the presentation and the robot runs in this competition with hundreds of other teams, my team (LLA 1) had won an award ‘Overseas Best Performing Team’ and received a lego trophy and one medal for each member.

Business Management Session

 

 

 

 

 

 

Overall, this exploration was a wonderful learning experience and I appreciate all of the opportunities and achievements we had throughout this amazing journey. 

 

 

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Identity Theme | Where I’m From

Have you ever wonder ‘What makes you who you are?’ and ‘What are the factors that help to define who you are?’  

Well, that is what we have been discussed and studied about. Each person in this world has different personalities, thoughts, ideas, stories, and Identity. But the interesting part is how did those personalities develop in each of us? Is it all comes from those genes that we inherit from our parents? Is it from the environment around us? Or Is it our choice to become who we want to be?

A big part of Identity is our names, the word that we live on with our entire life. I believe names can have an impact on people and their personality. To further dig into this topic, I have written a writing piece that explains how my name has left an impact and identity to my life. It is inspired by a beautiful writing piece from the book The House on Mango Street.  (If you want to see the explanation of my name, you can read it in About Me Category)

Besides Name, The Place and the Origin that each of us comes from plays a huge role in who we are and the person that we became. We have stories to tell, opinions to give and memories to treasure. Those are all from the place that we come from. So, Where are you from and Where am I from?

Here is a poem that I wrote about my Identity and where I am from. It is inspired by a poem by George Ella Lyon. (The structure is also from Lyon’s Writing)

Angely

Hannah

Literacy Essential

Where I’m From

 

I’m from screws and nails, from frying pans and sunflower oil.

I’m from the swings and toys that laid next to the sweet small house, the most vivid memory of my childhood.

I ’m from the green leaves that made those oily potions.

The river tamarind trees whose seeds I can still taste on my tongue.

I’m from the sticky rice cakes made during Phchum Ben and the white shirts and silk skirts in pagodas, from my mom and grandma.

I’m from the sweat that drops down my grandfather’s neck and the neighbor’s old bike that gave me that scar on my left ankle.

I’m from the quick-moving hands my mother has when she sews and gives the grade to her students.

I’m from write with your right hand! And Where’s your book? And those old songs my mother put…

I’m from the hard-working days and endless efforts in those farming fields

I’m from the dolphin province, and the warm, welcoming village

I’m from the sweet egg drink and dried, salty cucumbers

I’m from the brave people on the wall of my grandmother’s house, whose faces are identical to my mom.

I’m from the tale of my grandfather’s bravery whose name became part of mine and face I only remember from an old picture.

The legs my family run for their lives_

The wishes they  prayed for the chance to live

The big wooden house which their souls still linger on

The farm that my grandfather had always treasured

And all of the others buried memories

I’m from every moment of those people before me, the seed that falls from great history. This is me.

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TEDx ISPP 2018 | Empowering Literature in Cambodia

Literature is one of my main passions, especially reading and writing. However, I found out that there are several challenges that Cambodian authors face nowadays that can threaten the Literature including copyright infringement, unbalanced interest towards technology instead of reading and writing, and the tremendous loss from the Khmer Rouge Genocide. 

My goal is to encourage other people to preserve and cultivate the value of Literature because of its various advantages that can benefit individuals as well as the bigger communities. I wanted to create a bigger community of help to empower literature in Cambodia as well as the world. Therefore, I gave a public speech in the TEDx ISPP event on the 1st of December, 2018 about Empowering literature in Cambodia. There I talked about the numerous importance of literature and the reasons why it is worth empowering and very important to me and all of us, as a part of citizenship and the factors that contribute to its decline in usage. 

To elaborate, there are 4 main reasons that explain why Literature is very essential to us. The four core benefits of literature include critical thinking, writing, and comprehension skill building, imagination and creativity expansion, the learning of cultures history recording and the support of social development, and last but not least, it showcases of the state of humanity. Despite that great benefits of literature, there are many factors that contribute to its decline in usage. 

It was a wonderful learning experience that helps me with my researching, networking, public speaking skills and more. For example, when I needed to email the author of a book and a director of a film to ask them for permission to use their works. It also gives me the chance to raise my voice, encourage others and be a part of the change. 

For more information, visit this slide presentation that I used for my TEDx talk: 

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1whqrjmhyBHWs2K1etxIWI37mawBwKSAuuOjywg99jnA/edit#slide=id.g46dd97658e_0_0

  

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ត្រីខៀវ និង ក្រហម (The Blue and Red Fish| Khmer Poem Writing)

ត្រីខៀវ និង ក្រហម

(បទបន្ទោលកាក)​

 

នេះនឹងស្រដី          ថ្លាថ្លែងពីត្រីពីរហ្វូង

ឈ្លោះគ្នារំពង         ពីព្រោះតែហ្វូងទីទៃ។

ម្ខាងជាត្រីខៀវ      ស្រែកឡើងកញ្ជ្រៀវហាស្តី

ថាយើលោកត្រី      មានពណ៌ដូចស្អីក្រហម។

ត្រីម្ខាងថាយើ       ខ្លួនយើងទេតើម្តេចខ្វល់

ម្តេចនៅអំពល់      រសាប់រសល់ធ្វើអ្វី។

ត្រីខៀវក្រេវក្រោឌ   ចាប់ផ្តើមតម្លើងសម្តី

ស្រែកថាអើវៃ           ខ្លួនឯងចេះស្អីតូចទាប។

មើលយើងនេះណែ   ចេះអបចេះអែក្សត្រី

ដោយចិត្តភក្តី           ដោយសារសម្តីទើបមាន។

មិនដូចឯងទេ            ចេះតែសរសេរនិងរៀន

ចេះតែបង្រៀន           កុំមកបៀតបៀននិងយើង។

នេះហើយរឿងក្តី        សូមលោកប្រុសស្រីជួយគិត

ជួយកែរពិនិត្យ            បញ្ចេញគំនិតផ្ទាល់ខ្លួន។

 

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Inspiring Action in Quality Education (Goal 4)

Quality Education is very crucial for nearly all aspects of our developing societies. However, it seems that girls and children who live in poverty or difficult circumstances do not have a chance to enroll and get the education that they deserve. But although those children and girls are struggling to get to schools, there are many people and NGOs around the world which are helping to solve parts of this problem.

Mohammed Ayub teaches children from slums at his makeshift school in a park in Islamabad, Pakistan, March 12, 2015. Ayub turned a promise to his dying father to make sure his siblings got an education into a life dedicated to teaching the less fortunate of the city.

(Photo from Newsela article) 

For Instant, in Pakistan, there is a promising man who has been helping thousands of Pakistani people get the education that they have longed for. He is Mohammed Ayub who is a 57-year-old government worker. The inspiration for opening an open school at the Pakistani Capital is from his father, who had a request for him to get all of his siblings a good education. One day when he saw a boy working and washing the table in a shop, he started thinking “He is not different from my brother”. After all, he began to teach the boy and constantly asking new people who do not get access to education to study with him. First, he started to teach for about one hour to two hours a day at the market. Then, he moved to different other places because his school takes up the space of others. Those students who have finished studying in his school later return to help teach the younger generations. In addition, there are several other volunteers who helped him with this Out-In-The-Open School program. Overall, he has left a great influence on his students and the people around him, leading him to win a national award called “Pride of Performance ” from a worker for the prime minister.

Another significant project is from lady Michelle Obama from the United States. She said that the US will help 200,000 girls to get to school. Obama has a strong passion for developing education for girls and started launching the help in Pakistan which gained a huge praise from the government of the country. She also leads a program called Let Girls Learn which will help about 62 million girls to get an education. In support, there are several other countries including Japan, South Korea, and the United Kingdom that are willing to help run this program by supporting the financial field. Obama has inspired and been a great role model for many girls and has left a huge impact in the education development field.

For more information related to this text, read this two articles: 

https://newsela.com/read/michelleobama-pakistan/id/12669/

https://newsela.com/read/pakistan-teacher/id/8163/

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Kolab Pailin (The Rose of Pailin)

Image result for kolab pailin

(Photo from http://www.elibraryofcambodia.org/)

Kolab Pailen (The Rose of Pailin) is one of the most famous literary pieces in Cambodia from generations to generations. There are many reasons why this novel is loved by many people in many generations. One of the main reasons is that this novel reflects the society and mindsets in Cambodia.

There are four main characters, Khun Neary (Lady Khun), Chao Chet, Balat (Provincial Officer) and Lhoung Ratanak Sombat (Lady Khun Father). Khun Neary is beautiful and bossy but, she is also considerate and kind. She is the daughter of a rich man in the village whose name is Lhoung Ratanak Sombat. Her father is the master of the gemstone digger group. One day she met a new worker who is Chao Chet, who is hard-working and really helpful to her whole family. One day, when her whole family and she went into the forest, their car broke and had to sleep inside the forest for the whole night. That night, there were thieves who attacked the family. Chao Chet, the new worker, went and shot back and forth with the thieves with full bravery that he nearly died at that moment. At the near-death moment, he confessed his true feeling for Khun Neary, saying that he has longed for her since he met her for the first time and Khun Neary also confessed back to him. However, Balat who is the provincial officer also liked Khun Neary and he was strongly opposed to this engagement. However, the two main characters fought with any obstacles they face until they could marry each other in the end.

This novel reflects on many problems and development of Cambodian Society. It is one of the treasures of literature in Cambodia

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Poetry Workshop

To continue on my journey with Literature, I have attended a Poetry Workshop that is held at Phnom Penh with the other 7 participants. During the workshop, I have learned new techniques to improve my writing skills, specifically writing poems.

One of the new techniques I have learned is “Show Don’t Tell” strategy when the writer does not just tell the story by saying What is It but writing to explain why and how it becomes what it is and show the depth of the objective. To practice this, we did a writing exercise where we have a picture as our prompt. I have inspired a lot from this activity because using a picture as the prompt for our writing is a new insight for me. It has improved my writing piece a lot when having a picture near me to look up to. 

The picture she showed us to exercise the concept of “Show don’t Tell” was a scary room that is haunted. This is the short story that I wrote inspired by that picture: 

The Haunting Room

The moment I walked into the house, the doors were slowly moving, creating a strange and haunting rhythm that shook my body. The rooms were like relics from a mysterious past that contains countless painful memories. I shivered as the smell of blood reached up to my nose and realized this is horrifying. 

Then, Jessica, who is the facilitator in the workshop, gave us a chance to Meditate about a place that reminds us of a memory or our favorite place. Then, we did freewriting activity and here is a piece of my free writing, 

The Warmth of Childhood

Sounds of Calmness and joy, the universal rhythm of nature when water and Earth blend together. The picture is fading in and out, The picture through a little girl’s eyes making a strange shelter out of the sand. Not knowing what is happening around her, she built the sand shelter with concentration. It was her world, it was the place where she belonged to and that moment is the moment she feels the most like herself. as a unique person. She started to step out and into the water of souls calling out to her, the peaceful waves smoothing her steps. She was walking to a loving person’s arm, the word “mom” crept in her mind. At that moment, her world was so small, her mom was the queen and das as a king. They are the only people she truly knew, The arms were holding her close she could hear the beat of the mom’s warm heart. In that moment of joy, the waves splashed as though it seems to be enjoying the warmth of this vast ocean of love and pleasure. It was that wonderful single moment, that all mattered. 

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The Course of Ratio

Imagine you want to compare the numbers of women and men in the entire globe, but there are billions and billions of them. How can you easily compare those big numbers? 

Well, Ratio is our solution in this case.  “Ratio” is the comparison of two numbers in relevant to each other in the simplest form. Back to our problem, the ratio of women and men can be 1:4(one to four)meaning the number of men is 4 times greater than the number of women. 

(Photo from newsx.com) 

Ratio allows us to compare two related numbers easily and it helps us to understand the comparison faster in the simplest form. 

What do I mean when I say the simplest form? For example, in math class, there are 20 girls and 30 boys. We can say the ratio of girls to boys is 2:3 because we divided 20 by 10 and 30 by ten and we get its simplest form. If we want to make the number as its simplest form, we need to divide both numbers with the same number just like the upper example. 

Ratio is very useful when it comes to cooking. It allows us to cook in any size of the meal using the same formula. For example, the recipe is created for a 2 people meal but you want to cook that meal for a big party, you can look up its ratio and just multiply the number to make it suitable for your situation. 

For example, we need 2 eggs and 3 kilograms of flour(The ratio of eggs to flour is 2:3)to cook for 2 people. If you are using that same recipe for 18 people, you can multiply 2 with 18 and 3 with 18 to follow the ratio.