Srey Mom is an ambitious 24-year-old girl who dreams of a big career. As an orphan, however, she doesn’t have a traditional familial background that can support her education or that she can turn to for professional career advice.
Thomlang – Cambodian Youth Support meets the unique needs of students like Srey Mom through pairing their interests and goals with opportunities to expand upon their skillset. For Srey Mom, this meant not only helping her enroll in university, but also helping her in breaking into the labor market for the first time.
In an effort to ensure that Srey Mom has a smooth transition into the workforce, we assisted her in applying for internships. CYS was able to connect her with the Australian NGO “OIC Cambodia”, which is an organization that aims to grow speech therapy in Cambodia, specializing in speech impairment and swallowing difficulties.
Read her story in her own words below:
Hello dear supporters!
My name is Srey Mom and I come from Takeo province. Nowadays I am doing an internship at OIC Cambodia. At first, I was not very clear about how to write a CV and where to find open jobs online. I wasn’t confident to send the application to the jobs, but CYS taught me how to do it and helped me to find this internship.
As an intern, I have to work in administration, finance, and taxes. I am so happy with my work. My team is so friendly and they teach me a lot.
At the same time, I am continuing my studies at university. My goal in the future is that I want to become a good manager. The best for me would be to manage an NGO in the future because then I can help my country and other poor people in Cambodia like myself.
In the end, I want to say thank you so much for all of your support. You really help me so much with university, my rent, and finding a job.
All the best,
Srey Mom
Srey Mom has been working as an intern in the Finance and Administration Department at OIC since November and has been able to acquire experience that is required for work in this field. She balances this internship with her university classes on the weekend.
Since this is currently an internship and not full-time employment, Srey Mom is not earning a full salary. This aspect would have prevented her from applying for internships altogether, as she wouldn’t be able to afford her daily expenses. However, we believe that students can greatly benefit from the learning environment that internships provide and therefore decided to cover Srey Mom’s routine expenses until she earns a full salary. This includes helping Srey Mom with finding a room for rent in Phnom Penh that is close to both her university and the OIC Cambodia office and covering rent. We also provided school supplies and furniture, along with additional living expenses on a monthly basis.
Take a look at Srey Mom's room in Phnom Penh!
This form of support allows Srey Mom to fully engage in the internship as well as her university classes. Srey Mom will gain valuable experience from her internship in an international NGO and lay the stepping stones for a promising career.
Read more about Srey Mom’s university enrollment in our previous blog post:
Support students like Srey Mom on their path to an educated and independent future by donating to CYS today!
