Category: 2016-2017

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2016/2017 Yearly Reflection

Throughout the course of the year from 2016-2017, I participated in many explorations and as well as many events in Phnom Penh. In the exploration and events like Carbon in Cambodia, Ted talk and Tos-Tov project, we had a discussion from interviewed and researched. From those executions, it helps to form us a creative solution where we can propose it to make changes in Cambodia in many ways. I noticed that all of these projects have a huge dramatic impact to Cambodia in term of solving the problem we all experienced in our daily life.

Liger’s mission is to make the change in Cambodia. One way that Liger tried to do in order to reach the goal is through education, educate the students to become a change agent and have the agency through many projects and events that I listed above. Cambodia is a developing country and it’s slowly growing but at the same time, I also faced many problems from my experienced. Cambodia tried to make a lot of changes and improvements already such as education, infrastructure, international relationship and etc. Even though there were many changes already, we still need to work harder and harder to change this country into a better place. I love my country, I want to see Cambodia in the future with happiness, environmentally friendly and especially everyone lives in a happy life. Climate change is a world global issue where a lot of regions already concerned about it already like Cambodia. As a developing country, we can not do much about climate change but we can slowly stop it if everyone takes action from their daily life. In this year I involved in the Carbon in Cambodia exploration where we learned about climate change and focused on the carbon. It’s just a waste of money when people don’t really care about the value and the impact of wasting the food. Before, I didn’t know that wasting food can increase the impact of global warming but after learning in this exploration, I realized that human shouldn’t waste their food even a single piece of rice. Part of this project was to distribute the message that we had learned and created something where we can share to others people around the globe but as well in Cambodia. In Liger we did a small experiment where we tried to calculate the food that had been wasted during our three meals for four weeks. At last, we came up with the idea of getting the data that we collected in Liger, the information that gets from our researched and turned it to a short video clip as well as the graph where it explained the data from our collection. Mostly, in the video, we tried to give out the message and explained about the impact of wasting food. During sharation, we presented the information to a lot of visitors, especially we can share the information with the Cambodian students. After finished editing the video, I uploaded the video to the Liger Youtube channel which was a great way to share the message. Furthermore, I tried to send out the email to the ministry so that I can post my video clip on their website. But, unfortunately, they didn’t reply back so we couldn’t post our video. Even though we did not make it happen but we still have a determination, have a commitment and tried to become a change agent for Cambodia. All of these small steps are really important in term of changing Cambodia. Without a small step, the big change in Cambodia also not going to occur. I’m enjoyed what I had done so far and I promise I’ll continue changing Cambodia in the future.

At the beginning of the school year, there was a Ted talk in ISPP. It was a great opportunity for me and it’s finally time for me to give out the message and shared what I had learned about the impact of air pollution. Because of lack of education that’s why I’m here to give out speech and tried to get everyone to involve the action to fight against the air pollution in Cambodia. Every time that I have traveled, I have seen the effects of air pollution with my own eyes, right here in Cambodia so I cannot ignore the problem. I believe that the facilitators and anyone who traveled around Phnom Penh have seen air pollution too. We are a human being, we’re here to make this world into a better place but now if we take a look to our own region it gets even worse in term of air pollution. It’s not late to stop air pollution, but we need to work hard enough, get everyone involved with this action in order to make it happen. I strongly believed that education is the only way that can stop the air pollution in Cambodia, as well around the world that’s why I’m here. As an example from my own experience, before I get this amazing opportunity to learn in the Liger Learning Center, I didn’t know about air pollution at all. Moreover, I didn’t even know what’s air pollution. After learning in Liger for a few years, I started to understand more and more about air pollution. At the same time, I feel passionate about it and wanted to stop air pollution in this developing country. I can not wait to present the information that I had learned and experienced from my past. Part of my speech was to give out message about air pollution but also propose a solution where everyone can do it in their daily life. The solution is about each individual. If our actions create air pollution, we should be responsible for offsetting that pollution. For example, if we produce a lot of pollution by using vehicles, we can offset that pollution by using a bicycle or walking instead. Another way would be planting trees and reduce the amount of trash we burned. But it really depends on each of us, if we want to stop air pollution or not. “Be your own life and be responsible for your own work. Your dream will become true and this world will have no more troubles with air pollution if we take responsibility.” I still believe that education is the only way to get people involved in the action against air pollution. If Cambodian working harder and harder on this problem, eventually our citizen will live in a good happy environment and we will not deal with any more troubles and diseases from air pollution.

Two years a go there were 8 students including me had a project called TosTov where we tried to create a system to help the passengers and the drivers in Cambodia to interact more with each others. We had this idea from our own experienced, most of the time when I wanted to come to Phnom Penh or go back to my hometown my family always struggled and find a hard time to get the taxi. Even though we know the station, it takes us an hour just to wait for the taxi to leave, so it not efficiency. This’s a major concern from most of the passengers that we had interviewed. So our solution is to create an app where the passengers just message to our server phone number and the app will automatically reply back with the best status for the passengers. The main reason that our team decided to use text message because from our researched, more than 60% of the population use the normal phone and also there is a bigger potential market for our app. As a change agent we always looking for an opportunity to make change and use our knowledge to apply to problem. We have a good team with many skills, some of us work on technician part, some working on designing, marketing and advertising. We’re here to make change in our own country, as a developing country we will face many problems but we cannot ignore it but instead try to solve the problem and find a creative solution that is best for Cambodia. There are many startup companies that tried to solve this issue but they not look at the big picture. Cambodia still new to the technology and not a lot of people know how to use or even have a smartphone. It’s really annoying when we want to go to somewhere but we need to wait so long until the taxi leave the station. From the business perspective meaning the longer they wait for the taxi the more money they will lose. So if we can make this system work it will benefit two things, first the system can help the passengers with efficiency and second it will attract more locals and international business to invest in our country. I still believe that our team can make it happen and I will give my best work on this project to help change Cambodia. I’m proud of my team even though we are young but we can work like the adult and especially we can help change our own country.

In conclusion, as a change agent I still strongly believe that I can change Cambodia. As an example, I already started changing Cambodia from the three projects which are Carbon in Cambodia, Tedx, and Tos-Tov. Liger’s mission is to create change that’s why I’m here and I will try my best, give my best work to make it happen and to change this country to a better place. I love Cambodia, this place is where I started my life and it gives me hope in my life. I want to see the improvement in this country, no one will start to change if we, as a Cambodian citizen not start from ourselves. There are many problems in this country needed to change, so if we put our hard work and find the best solution that could improve the country, we will get something back from it maybe not today or tomorrow but in the future. That’s why we need to start to make change from now and everyone in this country have to involve in order to improve and create changes in this country. I’m proud of Liger that has a huge dream and mission in this country by recruit young Cambodian students teach them to become a change agent. I believe, everyone will try their best to bring the best quality works and projects to change Cambodia into a better country.

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Summer reading reflection

START SOMETHING THAT MATTERS

Everyone wants to make a difference to the world and it’s a good thing to do as a human being on this planet. There was a guy who came up with a genius and creative idea to help the kids in Argentina who lived in the poverty situation that lacked shoe, meaning many of them were barefoot at that time. There were many people who tried to solve this problem but there was a big issue, the project realized on donors which lead them to have a lack of control on the supply, especially the correct sizes of the shoe to give out to the kids in need. That was why Blake Mycoskie, now a founder of TOMS came up with the thoughtful idea where he wanted to create a shoe charity sustainable business (TOMS) to help the kids in need. So his formula was that when he sold a pair of shoes then give out a pair of shoes to the kids that were barefoot. But without the effort, all the hard works that his team put into the project, especially the elements and strategies that involved in the business, TOMS won’t exist till today.      

 

In 2006, Blake Mycoskie took some time off from his work to travel to Argentina just to relax and enjoy the culture there. He spent his time learning the national dance, playing the national sport and drinking the national wine. He also noticed that everyone in the cities to farmers and students wear the traditional shoe, the alpargata. In his mind was that maybe there is a market in the US for the traditional shoe but his mission here is not supposed to work so he didn’t care much about it. And here was where the story had begun. One day he met an American woman in the cafe who was a volunteer who gives out shoe to the kids in need. She explained that many kids who lived in the poverty villages were lacked shoe which means many of them were barefoot. Her team realized on the donors which mean they had a lack of control of the shoe supply. Even though, there were large quantities of the shoe but often not the correct sizes. So there are still many kids who were barefoot after the shoe dropped. His first thought was to create his own shoe charity where he would ask his friends, families, and others for money and buy the correct shoe sizes for the kids in need. But this won’t be sustainable, it will work if there a donor but if there aren’t any donors it won’t work. So the only way that it could make the project sustainable was to create a business and his plan was to sell a pair of shoes and give out a pair of shoes. Mycoskie started to work with Alejo, who was a polo teacher. He started with a simple design that similar to the traditional shoe, the Alpargata as a sketched. After they got the design, they traveled and hope to find a shoemaker that could work with them. After a long traveled they found an old shoe factory that agreed to work with them. So they asked the factory to make 250 pair of shoes at the first start. He returned back to Los Angeles with those shoes in the bag. Mycoskie had no idea what will happen next, he returned back with a great product but he had no experience at all with fashion and don’t know how to get people or the local stores pay for the product. Because of he didn’t know any fashion business, he decided to meet his friends and get their advice like the design style, the TOMS idea and the suggested store the interested with the shoe. Just the shoe itself, it was not interesting for the stores or sellers but the story of TOMS where Mycoskie wanted to help the kids it makes the shoe business even more powerful and important for both buyers and sellers. Once he got this rolling everyone started to buy the shoes from more stores and celebrities. Moreover, there was many news of TOMS on the front page which leads more people to buy the shoes until he needed to manufacture more shoes for the customers. Every business, no matter how big or small it is, they always face the fear along the way. But it just about one thing if you want to be successful, Face Your Fear. As an example for TOMS, they have not experienced at all with fashion but they faced their fear, try hard in the team to find the solution, talked to people who have experienced that could help to solve the problem. If you scared the fear you already failed, you haven’t tried it out yet. Even though you didn’t succeed in the first time but that’s not failed, it just a lesson you can learn from it. So failure does not exist unless you do not try your best to face your fear. Blake Mycoskie was a young businessman, he just does what he loves and his passion even though he knew that TOMS just a simple business to help kids in need. So from time to time, TOMS got a few volunteers, who willing to help and work with TOMS to improve the business. I noticed something here form the author that quoted the phrase Be resourceful without resources. As an example for TOMS, Mycoskie used his apartment to run the business, the kitchen was covered by many boxes of shoes and his bedroom used for a meeting with the vendors. It’s sounds a bit silly but it’s something we should appreciated, not only TOMS that started like this but if we look Apple or Facebook they all were started in a small tiny room just like TOMS. As I mentioned earlier sometimes you don’t need the expert to help you with the businesses or projects but it can just simple as your friends or families to help too give you advice. Like just what Mycoskie did with TOMS at the start, he went out with his friends and asked them for advice with his new project. When TOMS becomes a large well known company, Mycoskie didn’t make his company looked fashionable or stylish but instead he tried to reuse the furniture what left in the building from the previous business. The employee’s desk just simple as a wooden desk and everyone stay close together except there was a divider between the desk. It was a smart efficient way to organize the company, it helped the employees to stayed close together so whenever there is a problem it helps the communication efficiency between the employees. Every single person, project or business should be trusted whether it is trusted for customer, partner or just simply as the employee itself. TOMS won’t exist till today if there is no trust between the employees and the customers. If we look at about 10 years ago TOMS was just a small business that founded by a young man, Blake Mycoskie. But now TOMS worth over 625 million dollars and from the past 7 years they gave out shoes for the kids in need around the world for about 10 million pairs of shoes.

 In conclusion, I learned so many things from this book not just how TOMS started but it’s about how Blake Mycoskie deal with all the problems that TOMS faced from the start. Moreover, without the elements that I mentioned above and how Mycoskie get those elements involved with the business, TOMS won’t exist till today. I also love the way that the author organized the book. At first, the author gave a brief introduction of how TOMS started, then the author introduced the readers of the elements that get involved with TOMS with some examples. The author not just give the examples of how TOMS uses the elements but the author also gives many others examples of businesses that had a similar strategy or method. These type of trying can help the readers to get a larger understanding of the elements and it unique from other books. Lastly, I highly recommend everyone to read this book, especially who have an idea to start a charity projects or businesses that will cause a huge drama impact to the world.         

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Khmer Rouge Trip to Oddar dMeanchey and Siem Reap

I had gone on a trip for the Khmer Rouge project. Reading through articles and watch the videos was not enough to explain the truth of the history. So we had a trip to Siem Reap and Oddar Meanchey to interview the victims and the soldiers who worked for the Angkar. I went to the museum at Siem Reap that founded by one of the solider from the Angkar. I saw a lot of weapons, the weapon that caused the war and destroyed my country. So the guy who was a soldier was our tour guy, he guided us to Oddar Meanchey, the place where people buried Pol Pot (Saloth Sar) and Ta Mok. We interview a lot of victims there who has experienced the Khmer Rouge regime, I can imagine what was like to be a victim at that time. So after Ta Mok past away after we discovered the place the house turned into a museum, it was a huge house surrounded by the mood. It was a great experience to hear different perspectives from the soldiers and victims who experienced the regime, it even better for my understanding of Khmer Rouge after the trip.   

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TED Talk

Go toward my passion, make the change that needed to fix and applied my science knowledge to the world. I love science, I feel passionate about science, I cared about the effect of air pollution on our atmosphere and it’s finally time to change our habit to protect the planet and our next generation. As I already mentioned that I love science and public speaking so this year I was interested with TED Talk. 14 minutes of public speaking in front of a few hundred people were difficult, especially, it was my first time so I get a bit nervous at the first time. But this even taught me to calm down when I speak and one of my favorite part of the event was to engage with the audience, asking questions and dominate the whole theater. 

“Be your own life and be responsible for your own work. Your dream will become true and this world will have no more troubles with air pollution if we take responsibility. “

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Khmer Rouge

Khmer Rouge was a big part of Cambodian history, the regime happened for 3 years 8 months and 20 days. It was an unforgettable history that every single of us has to understand and learned from it. We could not do anything about it, besides, understand about our history and keep create changes in Cambodia. It was a sensitive project where we have to understand the misery that Khmer Rouge did it to our ancestors. They treated the citizen just like the animal where our ancestor worked 12 hours long from sunrise till midnight and having three spoons of liquid porridge with a small amount of nutrition. Imagine you were one of those victim how do you feel. After learning about the history of Khmer Rouge I was taken aback, I was shocked after watching the videos. Everyone was really upset, depressed about what the history that destroys the whole country. But this exploration had taught me one important lesson which understood my own history as a Cambodian citizen. Moreover, this exploration was a serious and sensitive experience so I have to feel passionate about this. Keep pushing myself, no matter what happened during the regime I have to learn about it and accept the truth. Our product after learning about the history, we created a hole to represent the place where the Angkar buried the victim, created a questions wall, print out the picture of the victim who suffered in that time, and lastly, the painting of the worker at the rice field.  

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Change Agent

In the exploration, we try to find the change maker that make the change to the community and the world. For our first project, we try to find the entrepreneur change maker which mean they are making money but also to the world. When we found out who we gonna reach out to we need to do some research about that person so that we feel confident to say that person is a changemaker. After we do some research we started to write the email in a formal way. It’s really challenging for me in the first time because I never reach out to someone that I never know them before. Also, they are the entrepreneurs so we have to put a lot of work to make the email catch their attention. We reach out to many kinds of people in different countries. Some people that I reach out to is difficult like Nick Woodman, he is a founder of GoPro. So I don’t that he receive my email or not because he is a busy man and really hard to reach out to. For the second project is a similar process but except we find on the social enterprise that is a changemaker. Through this exploration, I had learned a lot and it improves my learning to the next level. I had learned so many projects from the change maker around the world and in Cambodia. Our major intention of reaching out to the change maker is to improve our network skill but also we ask the permission to record the video. We use the video to distribute to other young change maker and inspired more people to make the change in their community especially Cambodia. We had put it on our own blog but we also have our own Youtube channel that has all of the interviews.

Blog:http://changeagents.ligercambodiablog.org
Youtube:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsnZFjtVgq-ex7G_xCD5l5A

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Writing Couplets

Life is like a wave, we need to be brave to fight struggles. I left my home to the forest and I try my best to find a red flower. I go up on the mountain to see a red plant that has a bright spot sand. Walking across a waterfall seeing a beetle just like a red flower. I wish I could get that flower but I never reach to that power. Suddenly, I fall into the hole……

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I fall in love with you but I don’t know who you are

I fall in love with you seen my first year in Liger. But I don’t know who you are. I always dream about you every night but still, I can not figure it out who you are. I always traveled around the country and see many things in my own eyes. But they are not who I want. Even I heard about you I still want to meet and stay with you. I always spent time looking and research about you but it so dark that I can not find you. The route is too small and no light at all to guide me to meet you. One day I realized that you always around me. I keep research about you and asking people about you and they tell me that you are close to me. I want to stay with you and see the full bright moon together. And finally I know who you are and you are the nature and the trees around me. My love to you is unusual, everyone said to me that I’m crazy but I still love you. You are the one who inspired me to understand who I am today.

 

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Carbon in Cambodia

This year I involved in the exploration called Carbon in Cambodia. In this exploration, we tried to calculate our school carbon footprint and tried to find out whether Liger is neutral or not. In our class, we divided into three small teams such as International Polar Bears, International Carbon Footprints, and Green School. International Polar Bears was a team who participated in a polar bear competition where we tried to come up with the solutions to help to reduce the carbon emission. International Carbon Footprints was a team that worked on calculating the student’s emission. Green School was a team who worked on calculating the carbon emissions in Liger. So we tried to calculate the carbon that we released every year and compare it to the tree that absorbs that carbon. As a result, in order to make Liger as a neutral school, we need to plant about 6,000 more trees to balance with our carbon emissions. What I love about this exploration was that we were independent and at the end of the week the teams came together to educate each other about our progress. I was involved in the International Polar Bears project, we came up with the idea of reducing the food waste in our campus. So we set up a three weeks experiment where we calculate the food waste and turned it into a carbon emission.      

 

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Poem about Life

Be my own life

I play my life in my own destiny, I know what it is to be myself. You push me to the next level but you never know how I feel. Thank you for helping but just keep thinking the way you help me. Being expert doesn’t mean you need to be the master but being a failure is the way to success. Don’t guide me the same as you guide yourself, you and I are different so what I complain is the way you put me to you. I know who am I, you and I apply in different directions. Don’t say that I’m wrong if you just think about yourself.  

I feel my eyes the same as I feel my future. The way I think it just a dream but the way I act it’s a decision in my life. What I see it’s not always the truth but when it becomes the truth is after I explored it. My opinion it just a theory but what I see is just a dream. The decision that I make it’s not the same as my expectation but I still carry on in my life. I noticed that failure never exists but what actually exist after you fail is an experience. This quote keeps me carrying on in my life.