Happy Khmer New Year – here’s wishing everyone a joyous, prosperous and industrious turn around the sun!
As in previous years, we held a big celebration here at Little Hearts to usher in the new year. But something was different this time around. On new year’s day we look ahead to a new period of education, work and personal development, but it’s also a time to reflect upon what has occurred in the previous year – all the things we have achieved recently, the challenges we’ve faced, the growth we have undergone together, and the lessons we have learned along the way. So we celebrated this Khmer New Year by looking at our organisation’s past as seen through the eyes of its former residents: we invited many of those who had moved on to return to their former home for a reunion, so that we could find out where life has taken them. Eighteen former residents answered the call, including recent graduates like Sothon, Jack and Ilang, but also older ‘kids’ who lived with us many years ago.
The visitors arrived at Little Hearts at 2 pm on Friday and proceeded to mingle with current residents and play various traditional games that are typically played on Khmer New Year, including ‘Hide the Scarf’ and ‘Catch the Chicken’ (yeah, that one is as much fun as it sounds!). Then, after we’d all had dinner, kids and visitors continued to catch up and sang karaoke well into the night.
In the course of the evening we heard many stories about our former wards’ lives. We chose three of them to share with you because they epitomize both the goodness and the toughness of what we do at Little Hearts.
Chamrong
Chamrong Touch, 27, was one of the very first kids we welcomed to Little Hearts way back in 2009, when the orphanage was still at the old location in the Kien Khleang neighbourhood in northern Phnom Penh. He moved with us to the new facility in Akrey Ksat and remained at Little Hearts until 2020, when he left after having graduated from Don Bosco Technical School, a vocational institute in Phnom Penh where he studied electrical engineering. He landed his first job at HOLO Elevator Engineer Co., where he stayed for two years before switching to his current employer, GT Engineering Elevator & Escalator Co. He now supervises a work team to whom he provides guidance and training, ensuring that all engineering tasks are clearly understood and completed effectively.
He remembers his time at Little Hearts fondly. Everything was provided for him, he says. All he had to do was follow the rules and focus on studying. But reality hit him when he stepped into the big, wide world. He was an adult now and suddenly had to do everything on his own. It was difficult at first, but eventually he was able to apply the lessons he had learned at Little Hearts – perseverance, dedication to continuous education and personal development, goal-setting – to real life.
Meymey
Sovinnan (Meymey) Horn, now 25, lived at Little Hearts from 2013 until early 2019. After leaving, she worked for two years as a kindergarten teacher in Ta Khmao, the provincial capital of Kandal. She then shifted careers and joined a pastry shop that specialised in wedding cakes, where she worked as a cake designer for another two years. It was at the pastry shop that she met her husband, a fellow cake artist. Now, she has taken on the role of a full-time homemaker to care of their home and their six-month-old baby boy.
Meymey is genuinely happy with where she is now, despite having had to give up work. Success, she realises, isn’t about wealth or a flashy career; it’s about being content with the life you lead – something she has achieved. Her only regret is not having finished her studies. She left Little Hearts having completed high school, but without taking the national baccalaureate exam. She didn’t think it was necessary back then, but she now wishes she’d listened to Tony, who always reminded her of the importance of earning a diploma, as this would have opened many doors for her.
So she’s glad to see that the current crop of Little Hearts residents are taking their education seriously. Whenever she meets them, she reminds them to study hard and make education their top priority.
Bodhi
You may remember Bodhi Sitha, our football superstar. Bodhi left Little Hearts in 2021, when he was just 14. He was fully committed to his footballing career and resented Tony’s insistence that he focus on education as well. Indeed, he chafed under the rules imposed by communal living and felt he would be better off elsewhere, so he moved out and stayed with a foster family for a time, then lived on the premises of his amateur football club. It was a bitter pill to swallow for Tony and the staff, who had invested a lot of effort in making Bodhi feel at home here, and who worried that he could easily be led astray. Despite the disappointment at seeing Bodhi leave, Tony stayed in touch with him to check on his progress from afar.
Now 17, Bodhi has almost achieved his dream of being a professional football player: he plays on the youth team of Visakha FC, a Phnom Penh-based club that competes in the Cambodian Premier League, the highest level of professional football in the country. (The club also provides accommodation for young players like him.) To augment his income, he also puts his tall frame and striking looks to good use by modelling part-time for local apparel brands. And much to Tony’s relief, he has recognised the importance of completing his education, so he has resumed his studies in tandem with his athletic aspirations. Now in Grade 10, he’s a bit behind other kids his age, but is working on his school subjects with renewed determination.
After leaving Little Hearts, Bodhi quickly understood the importance of discipline, especially for an athlete – the very thing that he had so disliked about living at Little Hearts. Here, he had everything he needed, from basic necessities to education to companions and watchful adults. It was a safe environment where things were taken care of. But once he started living on his own, he learned that nothing comes easily in the world. Without anyone to take care of you, you have to work extra hard to survive, and that takes discipline above all. We’re glad Bodhi learned this, albeit on his own terms, and we like to think that his years with us had something to do with it.
Reflections
As we spoke with our former residents on this auspicious day, one thing stood out – they all share a deep appreciation for the value of education and the importance of discipline, in life as well as learning. Even in cases like Bodhi’s, where former residents parted with Little Hearts in fraught circumstances, much of what we had taught them stayed with them for the long term and made a difference in their lives. It’s clear that who they are today is in large part because of the guidance and support they received at Little Hearts, especially Tony’s unwavering dedication to helping them finish their education.
So please join us and our former residents in extending our thanks to Tony, for establishing Little Hearts and dedicating himself to the improvement of young lives; to all staff members who have worked here over the years to keep the kids on track; and to our generous sponsors for making the whole enterprise possible.
As we look forward to a new year, we are content in the knowledge that we have made a difference in the lives of so many, and strengthened in our resolve to continue in the same vein.